Attitudes Toward Homosexuals Among Students at a Canadian University

We examined attitudes toward homosexuals amonga broad selection of undergraduates (101 men, 98 women)attending a Canadian university, where a vast majorityof the students are from working- or middle-class families of European descent. Attitudes towardgay men were more negative than attitudes towardlesbians. Compared to Science or Business students,students in the faculties of Arts or Social Science had more positive attitudes toward gay men, andwomen were more positive than men. Attitudes toward gaymen also improved with time spent at college, but onlyfor male students. Although attitudes toward lesbians improved with time at college, they were notassociated with students' gender or faculty ofenrollment. Thus, a college education may promote areduction in anti-homosexual prejudice among youngpeople, particularly among young men.     

Extending Psychometric Norms for Pre-Cardiac Transplantation Evaluations: The Florida Cohort, 1990–1996

Multidisciplinary pre-cardiac transplantation evaluations determine an individual's ability to benefit from potential transplantation. Psychologists are routinely consulted to perform psychological evaluations and testing to examine the candidate's current functioning and to forecast future functioning in the event of transplantation. The establishment of appropriate norms for psychological tests is an ethical imperative to provide high quality psychological consultations that maximize the utility of information gathered. The purpose of this paper is to present pre-cardiac transplant norms for a battery of psychological tests in a large population of consecutive transplant candidates. Together with other recently published norms on alternative test batteries, these norms allow the transplant psychologist to select from a range of psychological tests that span multiple domains of critical importance including the affective, behavioral, coping, cognitive, and health related quality of life domains. These norms appear to set a standard of practice for the use of psychological tests by a consulting transplantation psychologist.     

Psychometric assessment of cardiac transplantation candidates

Psychometric assessment protocols were used to chart the course of 287 end-stage cardiac patients' psychological adjustment at pretransplantation and, again, in 34 who were subsequently transplanted. The regression and repeated-measures analyses suggested that psychological distress is typical of the adult transplantation candidate, although impaired cognitive functioning is more typical of the acute postoperative stage. Negative affect, cognitive, personality, and coping measures are interrelated at pretransplantation; depression and mental control show significant decreases at 2 weeks posttransplantation. Whereas the transplantation process is inherently distressing, psychological testing may identify cognitive and personality features that require more specific clinical attention.     

Does everybody like a liker?

The primary hypothesis examined was that people giving positive evaluations are themselves regarded as more attractive than when they give negative evaluations. This research tests whether this holds when reciprocity is not at issue. Subjects in six experiments were presented with stimulus persons who varied in the proportion of positive to negative evaluations they gave of various attitude objects (political figures, cafeteria workers, cities, movies, and college courses). Giving predominantly positive evaluations did in fact lead to greater liking of the stimulus person in each experiment. This finding held over (1) audio or written interviews with the stimulus persons, (2) a variety of classes of attitude objects, and (3) both within-subject and between-subject designs. Greater liking for likers occurred even controlling for attitude similarity.     

A simple Gauss-Newton procedure for covariance structure analysis with high-level computer languages

An implementation of the Gauss-Newton algorithm for the analysis of covariance structures that is specifically adapted for high-level computer languages is reviewed. With this procedure one need only describe the structural form of the population covariance matrix, and provide a sample covariance matrix and initial values for the parameters. The gradient and approximate Hessian, which vary from model to model, are computed numerically. Using this approach, the entire method can be operationalized in a comparatively small program. A large class of models can be estimated, including many that utilize functional relationships among the parameters that are not possible in most available computer programs. Some examples are provided to illustrate how the algorithm can be used.We are grateful to M. W. Browne and S. H. C. du Toit for many invaluable discussions about these computing ideas. Thanks also to Scott Chaiken for providing the data in the first example. They were collected as part of the U.S. Air Force's Learning Ability Measurement Project (LAMP), sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and the Human Resource Directorate of the Armstrong Laboratory (AL/HRM).     

Correlates of therapeutic progress by infants with cerebral palsy and motor delay

A group of 10 infants diagnosed as having cerebral palsy or severe motor delays was administered pre/posttest assessments of both standardized and nonstandardized motor-evaluation instruments. Following 6 mo. of therapeutic intervention provided through neurodevelopmental treatment, the motoric gains of these infants were correlated with age, IQ, infant hours in treatment, hours of parental participation, and degree of involvement. Kendall's tau correlations showed a significant relationship between motoric progress and age, parental participation, and degree of involvement. The dilemma faced by habilitation professionals regarding whether or not to encourage parents to participate in therapeutic intervention programs is noted.     

The eye blink as a time-locked response: implications for serial and second-order conditioning

A series of experiments were conducted to determine what factors control responding to the first element of a two-element serial compound in rabbit eyelid conditioning. An examination of response topography indicated that the eye-blink CR is rigidly timed to occur when the US is expected. This response-system characteristic prevents the occurrence of a CR during the first element of a serial compound or during the second-order CS in second-order conditioning. The comparison of a serial gap procedure with conventional serial and trace conditioning procedures suggested that the associative strength of the first element of a serial CS is not strongly influenced by either a second-order conditioning process or by the variable-reinforcement principle.     

A Review of Occupation-Based Life Skills Interventions for Adults with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Adults with neurodevelopmental disorders are at a higher risk for poverty, unemployment, and difficulties in relationships. Instrumental activities of daily living deficits often go unaddressed and minimal research has explored interventions to address them. The purpose of this study was to synthesize findings about occupation-based life skills interventions for adults with neurodevelopmental disorders. Ten articles met inclusion criteria and the American Occupational Therapy Association level of evidence and quality ratings were identified. Results indicate that occupation-based life skills interventions effectively address limitations experienced by adults with neurodevelopmental disorders but the overall quantity and quality of evidence-based interventions are lacking.     

Links Between Anxiety and Allergies: Psychobiological Reality or Possible Methodological Bias?

ABSTRACT The objective of the study was to examine the link between anxiety and allergies to establish whether it reflects a psychobiological reality or a possible methodological bias. A cohort of 1,037 children enrolled in the study. Anxiety disorders were assessed between 11 and 21 years. Anxious personality was assessed at 18 years. Allergies were examined at 21 years by (a) self reports, (b) skin pricks, and (c) serum total immunoglobulin E (IgE). Self-reported allergies were predicted by recurrent anxiety disorders (OR [95% CI]=1.56 [1.06–2.30], p =.023) and self-reports of anxious personality (OR [95% CI]=1.67 [1.17–2.37], p =.004): Objectively verified allergies were not. These results suggest that the link between anxiety and allergies may reflect a methodological artifact rather than a psychobiological reality.