Openness to Experience and Development of Adult Identity

ABSTRACT The formation of ego identity through exploration of alternatives and formation of commitments is a central issue in the transition from adolescence to adulthood (Erikson, 1959, Waterman, 1982) In 59 adults ranging in age from 18 to 30, independent identity scales were found to be positively correlated with age The construct of openness to experience was hypothesized to account for individual differences in identity development As predicted, openness to experience was positively correlated with ratings of current and past identity exploration, and negatively related to intensity of identity commitment A comparison of two methods of measuring ego identity showed that identity rating scales provide a more differentiated assessment of psychosocial development than does the identity status scoring method     

SOCIAL VALUES AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AFRICA*

This study was conducted in Southern Africa in the country of Zimbabwe where 75% of the population reside in economically underdeveloped rural areas. Two groups of rural-dwelling subsistence farmers were interviewed in their homes with respect to life-style, stressors and coping mechanisms. The experimental group consisted of 62 farmers who had recently moved to a newly-developed government-sponsored farming community and the control group consisted of 75 farmers who had been resident on their farms for an average of 15 years. The results showed that subjects in the development scheme experienced more stress than those in the control group but viewed themselves as coping adequately. The development scheme appeared to be successful from a psychological perspective in that the subjects were able to continue their traditional lifestyle as well as incorporate modern values based on a cash economy.     

Three-dimensional spatiotemporal imaging of movement patterns: Another step toward analyzing the continuity of behavior

Computer-aided spatiotemporal imaging techniques, like those that are proving to be important in many other scientific fields, are being used to represent and study movement patterns of animals exposed to basic reinforcement contingencies. Data from a video-tracking system that provides real-time tracking of the position of an experimental animal as it moves about in a three-dimensional space can be plotted in up to three dimensions. When the data are plotted in two spatial dimensions and the time dimension, behavior is captured as continuous patterns or structures in space-time. Spatiotemporal imaging of movement patterns permits regularities to be observed that are not seen as readily in other ways such as watching videotapes of the experimental sessions or simply examining rate of responding. By providing a concise spatiotemporal representation of the movement patterns that occurred in a given experimental preparation, the imaging techniques described here represent an advancement in the scientific study of continuously flowing behavior. Although we concentrate here on movement patterns produced by basic reinforcement contingencies, the spatiotemporal imaging technology is applicable to any research topic in which movement patterns are of interest, such as foraging, place learning, sign language, and limb movement.     

Condom Use by Low-Income African American and Hispanic Youth With a Weil-Known Partner: Integrating the Health Belief Model,Theory of Reasoned Action,and the Construct Accessibility Model1

This study used multiple group structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate gender and ethnic differences in a theoretical model of condom use with a well known partner. The sample consisted of urban, low income, African American and Hispanic males and females. The theoretical model incorporated concepts from the Health Belief Model (HBM), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), and Construct Accessibility Model (CAM). A new theoretical concept, condom predisposition, emerged from SEM as a predictor of condom use in all four gender-ethnic groups. This concept combines elements of the TRA (attitude, partner norm) and CAM (accessibility of condom related constructs). Statistically reliable differences were found in the theoretical models for each group. For example, talking about AIDS was positively related to a predisposition to use condoms for African American males and both Hispanic males and females. In contrast, for African American females, it was their concern about AIDS that was positively related to this predisposition. These results underscore the importance of investigating gender differences within ethnic groups, and benefits of integrating different theoretical perspectives.     

Evaluation of an islandwide screening,assessment and treatment program

This article reports on the effectiveness of the Islandwide Screening, Assessment, and Treatment Program of the Child Development Project in Bermuda. From 1982 to 1984, approximately 1100 families with 2-year-old children were screened for children's cognitive and language delay, for behaviour management problems and for other home characteristics that put children at risk for later school failure. Children who failed the screening and subsequent assessment procedures (of whom random samples received treatment) and samples of others who passed screening and assessment were evaluated from 1984 to 1986 at 4 years of age. This article focuses on the results of the cognitive and language programs; the more problematic behaviour management analyses were reported elsewhere (Miller and Scarr, 1988). The screening procedures and assessment measures developed for this project were themselves evaluated and adjusted to maximize efficiency and costeffectiveness. The screening and assessment procedures proved effective in bringing to the attention of the Child Development Project those families and children who need developmental services, and in not overidentifying normal children as potentially delayed in development. Two kinds of treatment services were compared: The Mother-Child Home Program (MCHP), administered by paraprofessional toy demonstrators, and other interventions tailored by professionals to the language and cognitive problems of the child (called ‘tailored programs’). Children who were not extremely delayed or disturbed were randomly assigned either to the MCHP or to a tailored program. Neither intervention program was preferable to the other. Even though improved, the 4-year-olds identified as developmentally delayed at 24 months still lagged behind children who passed all parts of screening and those who failed screening but passed assessment 2 years earlier. The screening and assessment procedures were very effective in the early identification of children with developmental problems, but the treatment programs failed to bring most children to normal levels of cognitive and language functioning.     

The self and others: Imitation in infants and Sartre's analysis of the look

In Being and Nothingness Jean-Paul Sartre contends that the self's fundamental relation with the other is one of inescapable conflict. I argue that the research of the last few decades on the ability of infants - even newborns - to imitate the facial expressions and gestures of adults provides counter-evidence to Sartre's claim. Sartre is not wrong that the look of the other may be a source of self-alienation, but that is not how it functions in the first instance. An earlier and more primary form of looking with and at the other is a source of self-discovery. In early imitation, the infant and adult each see the other not as objects of experience but as subjects of action. Such looking is necessary for the infant to realize its own potential as a self-conscious, goal-directed subject of perception and action. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Bistability in the perception of motion and stationarity: Effects of temporal asymmetry

Evidence for bistability in the perception of motion and stationarity was obtained for a displaced dotfigure embedded in a background of randomly moving noise dots. In the temporal symmetry condition, the figure was presented for the same duration in its two locations; either figure motion or random motion was perceived, depending on the number of noise dots. In the temporal asymmetry condition, the figure was presented for different durations in its two locations; figure motion, a single, stationary figure in a fixed position, or random noise was perceived, again depending on the number of noise dots. Competition between these percepts was established by an analysis of switching rates and by an experiment demonstrating the presence of hysteresis as noise levels were gradually increased and decreased across the figure-motion and figure-stationarity boundaries. This evidence for bistability in the perception of figure motion and figure stationarity (one or the other, but not both, was perceived for the same stimulus) suggested the presence of strong inhibitory competition between motion- and position-detecting mechanisms.     

Worksite Stress Management with High-Risk Maintenance Workers: A Controlled Study

This study evaluated effects of a worksite stress management/health promotion program with primarily minority blue-collar employees showing a number of high-risk health behaviors. In a biopsychosocial approach, participants were assessed with a standardized health risk appraisal that included physical and behavioral variables, plus measures of self-control, health attitudes/satisfaction, and other factors. A controlled group design was employed with pretreatment, treatment, posttreatment, and three-month follow-up. Participants were randomly assigned to a wait-listed control group (n = 26) and a health promotion intervention group (n = 24). The latter received a multimodal intervention including stress management training, educational workshops and counseling, and a self-directed behavior change program. Following posttreatment assessment, the control subjects were given treatment and their data were then added to that of the initial treatment group to comprise a total group of treatment finishers (n = 33). The results revealed a number of significant differences between the two groups at posttreatment and/or for the treatment finishers across time (pretreatment vs. posttreatment and/or follow-up), including certain of the physical and behavioral measures, self-efficacy, and some health attitudes, but no effects for job-related measures, such as absenteeism and job satisfaction.     

Groups and Solos in Context: The Effects of Accountability on Team Negotiation

This study examines whether and how accountability to constituents affects the cognitions, performance, and outcomes of team and solo negotiators. Previous findings for solos were replicated here: solo negotiators respond competitively when they are accountable to constituents. For teams, however, accountability pressures were distributed across the members resulting in each team member experiencing little responsibility for outcomes. As a consequence, teams did not respond to accountability pressures by behaving contentiously as solos did. Analysis of negotiators' perceptions of advantage reveals that solos who negotiate under conditions of high accountability consider themselves to be at a disadvantage in the negotiation even before the negotiation begins. These perceptions may underlie the accountability/competitive relation that characterizes solo negotiation. Implications for negotiation research as well as the study of groups in organizations are discussed.     

Weapons used by juveniles and adults to kill parents

Youths who kill, particularly those who kill their parents, have been a matter of increasing concern in the United States in recent years. Empirical analyses of homicide and parricide cases, however, have been limited. The FBI Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) Data Base for the 10-year period 1977–1986 was utilized to investigate which weapons were used by children in the United States to kill male and female parents and stepparents in single victim, single offender situations. Biological parents were analyzed separately from stepparents. Significant differences were found in the weapons used to kill male and female parents, the weapons used by juveniles and adults when killing parents and stepfathers, and the weapons used by both juveniles and adults when killing male as opposed to female victims. The age and gender differences found in relation to weapons used to kill parents were consistent with a physical strength hypothesis. The relationship found between offender age and weapon used strongly suggests that the number of parricides committed by juveniles could be somewhat curtailed if access to firearms, particularly rifles and shotguns, was severely restricted.