The word-superiority effect and phonological recoding

Previous work indicates that the locus of the word-superiority effect in letter detection is nonvisual and that letter names, but not letter shapes, are more accessible in words than in nonwords, that is, scrambled collections of letters (e.g., Krueger & Shapiro, 1979; Krueger & Stadtlander, 1991; Massaro, 1979). The nonvisual (verbal or lexical) coding may be phonological, or it may be more abstract. In the present study, a word advantage in the speed of letter detection was found even when the target letter was silent in the six-letter test word (e.g., s in island). Other test words varied in their frequency of occurrence in English and number of syllables (1, 2, or 3). The word advantage was larger for higher frequency words but was not affected by syllable length. The presence of unpronounceable nonwords and silent letters in the words discouraged reliance upon the phonological code but did not thereby eliminate the word advantage. Thus, the word-superiority effect with free viewing is not based entirely upon phonological recoding.     

Nocturnality as a Defensive Behavior in the Rat: An Analysis in Terms of Selective Association Between Light and Aversive Stimulation

The Psychological Record - One striking aspect of the rat’s daily activity pattern is its strong nocturnal tendency. The present research tests the assumption that nocturnality in the rat...     

Personality Traits in Clinical Depression and Remitted Depression: An Analysis of Instrumental-Agentic and Expressive-Communal Traits

The present study evaluated levels of instrumental and expressive traits and vulnerability to severe depression. A sample of 44 depressed psychiatric patients (i.e., 22 currently depressed patients and 22 remitted depressed patients) completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, a well-known personality measure that assesses masculinity (i.e., instrumentality) and femininity (i.e., expressivity). Analyses revealed that currently depressed patients, relative to the remitted depressed patients, had significantly lower levels of both instrumental and expressive traits. Overall, most currently depressed patients were characterized by unhealthy, undifferentiated sex-role self-concepts (i.e., low levels of masculinity and femininity) while the sex-role self-concepts of remitted depressed patients closely resembled those found in nonclinical populations. The current results qualify recent research on the impact of depression on personality ratings by suggesting that severe depression may contribute by lowering scores on self-report assessments of socially desirable personality traits reflecting agentic, instrumental characteristics, and communal, expressive characteristics.     

Correlates of age-adjusted national homicide rates

In 1980, the correlates of unadjusted and age-adjusted national homicide rates differed, so the age-structure of nations should be controlled for in cross-national studies.     

Reliability and factorial structure of the taoist-orientation scale for samples of Kuwaiti and American students

In a sample of 460 Kuwaiti undergraduates and 273 American students, the Taoist-Orientation scale had different factor patterns in an item-analysis but had good internal consistency reliability for both samples.     

Shyness, Internet use, and personality.

To investigate the association between shyness and Internet usage, 88 undergraduate students completed the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale, the Online Cognition Scale, a computer/Internet familiarity scale, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (short version) and the Abbreviated Duke Social Support Index. Significant correlations were found between shyness, Internet use, and personality traits. A stepwise regression analysis indicated that shyness was predicted by introversion, neuroticism, and problematic Internet usage as assessed by the Online Cognition Scale.     

Sibship size, birth order, and personality among Kuwaiti college students

In a sample of 460 (103 men, 357 women) Kuwaiti college students (M age=21.9 yr., SD=3.0), scores on the Arabic Scale of Optimism and Pessimism, the Death Obsession Scale, the Arabic Scale of Obsession-Compulsion, the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale, the Taoist Orientation Scale, and the Suicidal Ideation Scale were not associated with sibship size and birth order.