Marital satisfaction and family stress as predictors of classroom behaviors

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between parents' perceptions of marital satisfaction and family stress and their third grade children's classroom behavior. Twenty-one married couples completed questionnaires during home visits. Behavior observations were made from videotapes of children recorded in their classroom during lunch and group academic periods on each of three days. Frequencies of peer interactions, solitary behaviors, and teacher interactions were coded. Regression analyses showed that mothers' level of marital satisfaction (but not fathers') predicted their children's frequency of peer interactions during lunch. Fathers' level of perceived family stress (but not mothers') predicted their children's frequency of peer interactions during lunch. Neither measure for either parent was related to the frequency of peer interactions, solitary behaviors, or teacher interactions observed during the academic sessions. These findings highlight the importance of assessing the potential differential relation of parent variables to children's trans-situational behaviors, and the examination of these variables in relation to different social-environmental contexts in which children participate outside the home.     

The Y chromosome, social signals, and offense in mice

Offense is one type of aggression in mice (Mus musculus/Mus domesticus). Offense was measured in a panel of testers design for two congenic strains of mice. The two congenic strains were DBA1Bg and DBA1. C57BL10-YBg. These differ in the Y chromosome. Offense was measured for the following dyadic pairs: Group 1 (DBA1 tested against a DBA1 opponent); Group 2 (DBA1 tested against a DBA1.C57BL10-Y opponent); Group 3 (DBA1.C57BL10-Y tested against a DBA1.C57BL10-Y opponent); and Group 4 (DBA1.C57BL10-Y tested against a DBA1 opponent). Group 1 was more aggressive than Group 3, whereas Group 2 was no more aggressive than Group 4. Thus, when the experimental and opponent pairs have the same Y chromosome, the congenics differ in offense, whereas when the experimental and opponent pairs have different Y chromosomes, the congenics do not differ in offense. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that these Y chromosomes affect the display of and response to social or other stimuli for offense of mice. These stimuli may be individual recognition chemosignals in urine.     

Political and Nonpolitical Authority in Values Education

This article is an examination of the political (public consensus) and nonpolitical authority as a basis for values education in a democratic society. The author advocates that nonpolitical authority can be a basis for defending the teaching of values in public schools.     

Physical fitness, body image, and locus of control in college freshman men and women

This study examined the relations among physical fitness, body image, and locus of control. The Hall-Physical Fitness Test Profile, the Winstead and Cash Body Self-relations Questionnaire (BSRQ) and the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale were administered to 243 freshmen. Women were significantly more positive about their physical appearance than men. Men were more positive about their physical fitness than women. Men were more physically fit than women. Men and women scoring in the internal direction viewed the physical fitness domain of their body image positively. Unlike men, internally oriented women had more positive perceptions of the health aspect of their body image. Physically fit men and women had positive attitudes toward the physical fitness component of their body image. Physically fit men differed from physically fit women in that men were more internal and held more positive attitudes toward the physical health dimension of their body images.     

A behavioral quantal theory of brain function: an alternative to Lashley's continuity theory of mass action

A behavioral quantal theory of brain function is formulated on the basis of a newly discovered step-wise relationship invariably present among the findings of three experiments by Tsai, et al. on the effects of (1) cerebral decortication, (2) cranial x-radiation, as well as (3) insulin, metrazol, and electroconvulsive shocks upon white rats' adaptive behavior during their learning of successive habit reversals and one-trial reversal problems. Confirmatory results from earlier investigators who studied effects of various current strengths of ECS upon learning and retention of various maze habits are also cited in support of the behavioral quantal theory of brain function which is proposed here as a close-up, more refined alternative to Lashley's continuity theory of mass action.     

Blocking Effects in Two-Choice Discrimination Tasks in Rhesus Monkeys Macaca Mulatta

The Psychological Record - The present experiments investigated blocking effects in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) in a discrimination learning paradigm using a single stimulus modality. Two...     

Effects of peripheral circular contours on dynamic spatial orientation

The rod-and-frame effect (RFE) was investigated with the use of a frame that oscillated about an axis at its center at five different frequencies, ranging from .013 to .213 Hz. The resultant RFE shifted continuously with the roll motion of the frame, and it was significantly larger at the lowest frequency (.013 Hz) than under comparable static conditions. The dynamic RFE was lowest at the higher oscillation frequencies. Oscillatory roll vection--apparent self-motion--was reported by 3 of the 9 subjects when the frame was oscillating at its highest frequency (.213 Hz). The subjects yielded large increases in the RFE during the sessions with reports of vection. Surrounding the kinetic frame with a circular contour eliminated all reports of vection and significantly interacted with frequency to reduce the RFE--but only at low frequencies. The reduction amounted to 21.2% averaged over all 9 subjects at the three lowest frequencies. A surrounding contour, therefore, suppressed low-frequency kinetic visual orientation information that might otherwise have produced larger changes in apparent self-orientation and perceived vertical. Vection-sensitive subjects differed from nonvection subjects by exhibiting (1) a high-frequency fall-off in real-motion gain, (2) a high-frequency enhancement in illusory-motion gain, and (3) only a small and nonsignificant increase in illusory-movement phase lag with increases in frequency.     

Diagnosis and training of basic cognitive performance in children with encephalopathy-typical behavior

This paper reports on the application in practice of a program for diagnosis and basic cognitive achievement training. The program concentrates on performance and its growth in children with encephalopathy-typical behavior. It is demonstrated how deficient cognitive performance may be influenced by level-raising training and transfer effects.     

Acquisition of self-control of a novel muscular activity with EMG and video feedback

To examine the acquisition of voluntary control of a novel muscular activity from the initial stage to the self-control stage, the m. auricularis posterior, which had generally degenerated and had nearly lost its function of drawing an auricle backward in the human body, was selected as a target muscle to be studied. One female undergraduate student who could not move her auricles intentionally was required to activate her left m. auricularis posterior and underwent rest, pretest, training, and posttest sessions once a day for five days. At the subject's request, the electromyograph (EMG) from her left m. auricularis posterior on an oscillograph was provided for her as the feedback signal on each training trial. The picture of her left ear on television was handled in the same way. The EMG measures indicated that the subject could learn to activate her left m. auricularis posterior differentially. The number of training trials on which the subject requested the feedback signals suggested that EMG feedback signal was more useful to her than the video and that the usefulness of the feedback signals varied as the training sessions advanced. It was also concluded from analysis of the self-report data that the acquisition process of self-control of a novel muscular activity could be divided into at least four stages.