The Psychosocial Development of Children and Adolescents in the People's Republic of China: An Eriksonian Approach

This exploratory study of Eriksonian psychosocial development in school-aged children in the People's Republic of China tested the feasibility of Erikson's model with 360 students from 6 primary and high schools. The 16 Content Analysis Scales of Psychosocial Maturity were applied to the transcribed verbalizations from an open-ended interview and the scale scores were analyzed with two factors, school grade and gender. The grade-related results indicated that the development of psychosocial maturity among these school students showed some consistency with Erikson's model in terms of stage-relevant experience. However, resolution of industry versus inferiority was the main focus of all the research participants. Identity versus identity diffusion was emerging among high school students. A high level of trust existed for all school grades, but grade 1 consistently scored higher than other grades for all aspects of psychosocial maturity. No significant gender difference was found for any stage experience. The implications for the findings and the limitations of the methodology have been discussed.     

Urban School-Based Family Counseling: Role Definition,Practice Applications,and Training Implications

The authors describe an expanded role for counselors in urban school settings that can improve the linkages among families, schools, and communities: school-based family counseling. The focus of this process is to assist children in becoming more successful in the classroom by increasing family and community involvement in addressing specific barriers to learning. The function of school-based family counseling, strategies, and challenges for implementation of this process; a case study of a school-based family counseling intervention; and implications for counselor training are presented. Benefits of the school-based family counseling model for diverse students, parents, schools, and communities also are discussed.     

Acquisition and Manifestation of Prejudice in Children

Three major categories of prejudice have been identified in this article: Conscious/Intentional, Conscious/Unintentional, and Unconscious/Unintentional. Prejudice plays a large role in the development of our children, and through exposure to and understanding of the development of prejudice, the strength that it holds can be understood and diminished.     

The predictive value of the triad for sex offenders

This study examined the predictive value of the triad (enuresis, firesetting, cruelty to animals) in a group of incarcerated sex offenders. The most salient positive finding in this investigation was the association between one or more components of the triad and a highly abusive home environment. There was no compelling evidence to support the prognostic value of the triad of behaviors for predicting adult criminal outcome. The triad appeared to be primarily a maladaptive response to the turmoil and abuse in the home prior to and during adolescence. Finally, it is noteworthy that this study revealed a much lower frequency of triad behaviors than has been reported in the literature.     

The importance of prudent negative consequences for maintaining the appropriate behavior of hyperactive students

Teachers use both positive and negative consequences to influence classroom behaviors. Four experiments were conducted to examine the differential affects of these two types of consequences on the maintenance of appropriate behaviors of hyperactive children. Results of Experiment 1 showed that the use of both positive and negative consequences (combined) was associated with high levels of on-task behaviors. Withdrawal of negative consequences caused a significant and dramatic decrease in on-task performance. The withdrawal of positive consequences produced no change in the rate of on-task behaviors. In Experiments 2, 3, and 4, the on-task results of Experiment 1 were replicated using a different teacher, different children, a counterbalanced design, longer phases, and different types of negative consequences. The withdrawal of negative consequences led to decreases in productivity in Experiment 2. The results of Experiment 3 also suggested that a prudent (e.g., calm, concrete, and consistent) approach to discipline was more effective than an imprudent (e.g., loud, emotional, and inconsistent) approach. Some level of mild negative consequences for inappropriate behavior is an important ingredient in effective classroom management, and qualitatively different negative consequences may have drastically different effects on the behavior of hyperactive students.This research was supported in part by a grant from the Middle Country Central School District No. 11, Centereach, New York, to the second author. We are grateful for the district's continued support. In addition, the authors wish to thank K. Daniel O' Leary for his helpful editorial comments.     

EEG alpha asymmetry and creativity

Results of 3 experiments examining the relationship between creativity and left-hemisphere and right-hemisphere EEG activity are reported. Creativity has been hypothesized to involve the use of primary-process cognition, and such cognition is hypothetically accompanied by activation of the right cerebral hemisphere. In light of these hypotheses, we predicted that highly-creative people should exhibit greater right-hemisphere than left-hemisphere EEG activity during creative performance and that this pattern would not be found in less-creative people. All 3 experiments supported this prediction. This difference in asymmetry was specific to creative performance. It was not present during basal recordings or during a non-creative task.     

Computer-aided instruction in a physiological psychology course

A simulation/tutorial sequence was introduced into an undergraduate physiological psychology class (N=32) to provide a laboratory experience. The college computer center managed the IBM-PC-compatible networked facility. The sequence included neuroanatomy, stereotaxic surgery, histology, electrical self-stimulation, and use of the polygraph. All the software was off the shelf except for the stereotaxic surgery/histology/self-stimulation package, which was written by the authors using ToolBook running under Windows.     

Traditional and Nontraditional Women's Attributions of Responsibility to Physically Resistive and Nonresistive Rape Victims1

This research examined the interactive effect of women observers' sex-role attitudes and a victim's use of physical resistance on perceptions of victim responsibility for a sexual assault. Women read one of two rape scenarios in which a victim either did or did not physically resist a rapist's attack and made judgments concerning victim responsibility. The observers were categorized as being either traditionally conservative or nontraditionally profeminist in their attitudes toward women and their roles in society. An analysis of responsibility judgments indicated that traditional women perceived a victim who resisted the attack as being more responsible for her own victimization than did nontraditional women, whereas nontraditional women assigned more responsibility to a victim who did not resist than did traditional women. These results are considered from a sex-role socialization perspective; the implications of these findings for legal and health care professionals are discussed.