BEHAVIORAL GERONTOLOGY: APPLICATION OF BEHAVIORAL METHODS TO THE PROBLEMS OF OLDER ADULTS

Elderly persons are under-represented in research and clinical applied behavior analysis, in spite of data suggesting that behavior problems are quite prevalent in both community dwelling and institutionalized elderly. Preliminary investigations suggest that behavioral procedures can be used effectively in treating various geriatric behavior problems. We discuss a number of areas within behavioral gerontology that would profit from additional research, including basic field study, self-management, community caregiver training, institutional staff training and management, and geriatric behavioral pharmacology. Special considerations for adapting behavioral procedures are discussed, and suggestions for expanding the role of behavior analysis in geriatric care are offered.     

Objectivism in information utilization: theory and measurement

A self-report scale was constructed and validated that measures individual differences in objectivism--the tendency to base one's judgments and beliefs on empirical information and rational considerations. Validity data showed that, compared to people who score low on the Objectivism Scale, highly objective individuals enjoy thinking more, rely more on observable facts when making decisions, and place less emphasis on subjective and intuitive styles of decision making. Among graduate students in psychology, objectivism correlated positively with ratings of research-oriented careers, but negatively with ratings of mental health careers; also, highly objective students were more critical of nonobjective psychological assessment techniques and placed greater importance on research. Objectivism also predicted preferences for newspaper articles, college course selections, and the criteria respondents use when making decisions.     

Reactions to social vs self-evaluation: Moderating effects of personal and social identity orientations

People differ in the degree to which their identities are based on personal versus social identity characteristics. This experiment tested the hypothesis that people are most concerned about evaluations that are relevant to their salient identity orientation. The Aspects of Identity Questionnaire was used to classify subjects as low or high in personal and social identities. Subjects then anticipated taking a test, believing that their performance would be known by only them, by only a research assistant, by both them and a research assistant, or by no one. Subjects then completed thought-listing and self-report measures of evaluation apprehension. Subjects who scored high in social identity reacted more strongly to the social evaluation than subjects low in social identity. Although subjects high in personal identity were not particularly threatened by private feedback, personal identity seemed to buffer subjects against the threat of social-evaluation. The results are discussed in the context of recent work on private and public aspects of the self.     

The relationship of instrumentality and expressiveness to sexual behavior in males and females

In a study of the relationship between gender-relevant personality attributes and sexuality, 259 unmarried males and females completed the short form of the Bem Sex Role Inventory and a detailed survey of their sexual experiences. Multiple regression analyses showed that, for both men and women, instrumental personality attributes were associated with greater sexual experience, including the frequency of sexual intercourse and oral sex, the number of sexual partners, the age at which respondents first had sex, and more relaxed feelings about having sex. Further, interactions of instrumentality and expressiveness revealed that women who scored high in instrumentality but low in expressiveness were consistently more sexually active and experienced than other groups.     

Romantic Commitment and the Perceived Availability of Opposite-Sex Persons: On Loving the One You're With1

This article reports a study that examined whether perceptions of the availability of members of the opposite sex are related to commitment to romantic relationships among students at two colleges. Analyses of students' anonymous questionnaire responses reveal that students who perceived that there were relatively few members of the opposite sex on their college's campus were more committed to their romantic relationship, considered their relationship to be more attractive, and invested more in it compared with other students. These relations involving the perceived opposite-sex ratio did not vary as a function of the length of the romantic involvement or the students' gender, race, or college. The perceived opposite-sex ratio was significantly related to the actual opposite-sex ratio, but the latter was not significantly related to commitment, investments, or perceived attractiveness of the relationship. Considering the sample as a whole, the students overestimated the availability of opposite-sex persons. It is concluded that perceptions of the availability of persons of the opposite sex may affect the dynamics of relationships between men and women. Implications of the findings for social exchange theories are discussed.     

Correlates of sociometric status in school children in Buenos Aires

Teacher ratings on Spanish translations of the Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scale for Children and peer nominations were obtained for 110 school children (42 boys and 68 girls) in grades 2– 5 at a public elementary school in Buenos Aires. Nominations of likes best were negatively correlated with language processing deficits, attention problems, and sluggish tempo as rated by both teachers and peers, and positively correlated with teacher ratings of social competence, for both boys and girls. The reverse pattern was found for nominations of likes least. Children were assigned to sociometric status groups of popular (n=27), rejected (n=28), neglected (n=7) controversial (n=11), and average (n=37) based on number of LL and LB nominations. Rejected and popular children could be differentiated by teacher and peer ratings of linguistic information processing deficits, inattention, and sluggish tempo. Behavioral characteristics of motor hyperactivity, impulsivity, and aggression were significantly associated with being male but did not differ by sociometric status group.The assistance of Claudia Colon, Educational District of Buenos Aires, and Viviana Smith, Department of the Interior, Argentina, in the translation of measures is gratefully acknowledged. Particular thanks are also extended to the teachers and personnel of Escuela Normal 9 — Domingo F. Sarmiento.     

Locus of semantic priming effects in speeded naming

The locus of semantic priming effects was examined by measuring onset and rime durations as well as response latencies of words with consistent and inconsistent pronunciations, using the postvocalic naming task. We found that the effect of a semantic prime on naming duration was localized rather than spread across the entire word; onset durations were shorter in the related condition than in the unrelated condition, but rime durations were equal in the two prime conditions. Moreover, the priming effect on onset durations was larger for words with inconsistent than for those with consistent pronunciations. These duration results cannot be accounted for by previous proposals, but they can be accounted for by models in which phonemes are activated in parallel rather than serially from left to right and in which motor programs are based on phonemes rather than syllables. Contrary to previous reports of an interaction of prime and regularity (a factor closely related to consistency) on naming latency, we found no interaction of prime and consistency on response latency. We argue that this conflict is only apparent and arises because naming latency conflates response latency and initial phoneme duration for some targets.     

Gender Differences in the Suicide-Related Behaviors of Adolescents and Young Adults

Gender differences in suicide-related behaviorswere examined in an older adolescent and a young adultsample (primarily Caucasian). Suicide-related behaviorswere assessed by the Life Attitudes Schedule (LAS) as well as by measures of depressivesymptomatology and hopelessness. The LAS measures a broadcontinuum of potentially life-diminishing orlife-enhancing behaviors. There are four LAScontent-category subscales: overtly suicidal and death-related,self-related, risk and injury-related, and health-relatedbehaviors. As hypothesized, in both samples, genderdifferences in the expression of suicide-related behaviors were obtained. Males from both samplesendorsed substantially more risk-taking andinjury-producing behaviors than females. Males in bothsamples also reported more negative health-relatedbehaviors than females. In contrast, females reported moresymptoms of depression than males. Hopelessness scoresonly differentiated male and female young adults; maleand female adolescents did not differ significantly on the hopelessness measure. These findings areprimarily discussed in terms of gender-role socializationtheory. Implications for the treatment of suicidality aredrawn.     

Interpersonal circumplex

The social and intellectual climate of the late 1940s and early 1950s in America helped nourish humanistic, person-centered views of human behavior. During that time, psychologists such as Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow, David McClelland, Harry Murray, and Carl Rogers emphasized the positive growth potential in human character. The psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan proposed that personality can best be understood within the context of interpersonal transactions, and he provided a practical, street-smart understanding of psychiatric symptoms that was quite an advance over the traditional medical and psychoanalytic viewpoints. These ideas, along with the concept of dimensionalizing traits rather than categorizing them, inspired my colleagues and I to conduct our cooperative work on the interpersonal circumplex, which culminated in the publication of my monograph. Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality (Leary, 1957).