Control of CRT intensity via Apple II software

An inexpensive, easy-to-build device for the Apple II microprocessor is described. The modification permits software control of four levels of relative screen intensity (contrast) settings for any video monitor. The relationship of the technology to choice reaction time and perception research is briefly indicated. Principles governing operation of the modification are also discussed. Finally, a set of step-by-step instructions for building the device is provided.     

Recognition and Ratings of Television Music Videos: Age, Gender, and Sociocultural Effects

High school, younger college, and older college subjects rated explicit, neutral, or Christian television music videos according to theme clarity/recognition and whether the respective videos were liked/disliked. Subjects of each age group were able to recognize the themes of each music-video category with a high degree of accuracy. Younger subjects and males were found to rate the music videos, especially those selected for explicitness, more favorably than older or female subjects. Sociocultural background factors were also found to be related to recognition and ratings of the television music videos. In particular, working class background subjects. subjects who watched music videos regularly, and those that seldom or never attended church rated the music videos, especially the explicit ones, more favorably than subjects from a college town background, subjects who seldom or never watched music videos, and subjects who regularly attended church. These findings were interpreted in terms of media-based social influence processes and reciprocal determinism.     

The spiritual well-being and need of parishioners

In this study we compare the spiritual well-being and need of healthy and ill parishioners, creating data that pastors can use as background in assessing pastoral need within their parishes. Three questionnaires generate the data, and the results demonstrate increased need of parishioners in the hospital. Specifically, women hospitalized for problem pregnancies demonstrate statistically more need than healthy parishioners, and these data suggest that pastors should assess their needs carefully. A group of patients who fight their metastasized cancer create scores statistically similar to healthy parishioners. Demographic variables also have an impact on spiritual well-being and need, particularity the parishioner's age and level of education.This research was supported in part by the Section of Graduate Education and Research, the Department of Family Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.The PIL and SONG were obtained through the Institute of Logotherapy in Saratoga, California. The Spiritual Well-Being Scale was used with permission of Craig W. Ellison.     

Patterns of psychophysiological change in the treatment of agoraphobia

Patterns of change and synchrony were studied in a group of 26 agoraphobics under-going a 12-week treatment program. Clinical, behavioral, physiological and subjective measures were taken at pre-, 4, 8 and 12 weeks of treatment and at 1-month follow-up.Clinically and statistically significant changes were found in all response systems and our results tentatively suggest that the order of change starts with behavioral and clinical measures followed by psychophysiological measures of which psysiological responsivity has the longest lag.Although the group as a whole changed synchronously, there was evidence of individual desynchrony between physiological and subjective measures of anxiety. The most common form this look was for SUDS to decline while heart rate increased. A closer look at desynchrony in the various time sequences revealed that both the form and occurrence of desynchrony vary according to phase of treatment and that time interval between assessment points might-be of crucial importance in the determination of synchrony-desynchrony.     

Problems and prospects in group psychotherapy research

The scientific basis of psychotherapeutic findings involves a number of difficulties which are above all connected with the insufficient state of basic research in this field. In this situation, significant advances can only be expected on the basis of a systematic long-term investigation and research programme. This applies in particular to the problems of personality and efficiency diagnostics and to group process research. On the basis of some intermediate results, it is shown that by the combined and systematic use of procedures a number of possibilities for the differentiated recording of the complex processes in therapeutic groups can be obtained.     

An eye fixation analysis of choice and judgment with multiattribute stimuli

The present paper examined the selection of processing heuristics for choice and judgment across a range of stimuli. Eye fixations were monitored while six subjects made choices or judgments of pairs of gambles, vacations, or gifts. Each stimulus was represented by three attributes that varied in the amount of dimensional interdependency. The two heuristics of interest were dimensional and holistic evaluation. Each manifested a characteristic pattern of eye fixations. Dimensional evaluation required alternating fixations from a single attribute of one stimulus to the same attribute of the other stimulus. Holistic evaluation was characterized by transitions from attribute to attribute within a single stimulus. The results demonstrated that when the stimulus attributes were either interdependent (gambles) or dissimilar (gifts), the processing heuristic was determined by stimulus characteristics. When the stimulus dimensions were neither interdependent nor dissimilar (vacations), the selection of a processing strategy was determined by the prescribed task. This study suggests that any global theory of choice or judgment must be validated over a wide range of stimuli.