Developmental Experiments in Hypnosis

Two-hundred-forty children, including ten boys and girls at each year level from five through sixteen, were selected from the entire public school population of a small city for testing on the Children's Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. For most of these children, testing was repeated yearly for the next two years. Reliability for the Children's Scale was quite satisfactory for individual prediction. There were absolutely no differences in the hypnotic susceptibility of boys and girls in this sample. Intelligence had only low positive correlations with susceptibility. The correlation of age with susceptibility, measured either cross-sectionally or longitudinally, is positive and significant, but small. Changes in individual performance over time are generally minimal, and hypnotic susceptibility may be considered a relatively stable component of personality structure.     

Preconception Sex Selection: The Perspective of a Person of the Undesired Gender

Personhood is a foundational concept in ethics, yet defining criteria have been elusive. In this article we summarize attempts to define personhood in psychological and neurological terms and conclude that none manage to be both specific and non-arbitrary. We propose that this is because the concept does not correspond to any real category of objects in the world. Rather, it is the product of an evolved brain system that develops innately and projects itself automatically and irrepressibly onto the world whenever triggered by stimulus features such as a human-like face, body, or contingent patterns of behavior. We review the evidence for the existence of an autonomous person network in the brain and discuss its implications for the field of ethics and for the implicit morality of everyday behavior.     

Peer influence on event reports among adolescents and young adults

When two or more people witness an event together, the event report from one person can influence others' reports. In the current study we examined the role of age and motivational factors on peer influence regarding event reports in adolescents and young adults. Participants (N=249) watched a short video of a robbery then answered questions with no co-witness information or with information believed to be from a co-witness. Public and private response conditions were included to explore motivations for peer influence. Co-witness information influenced participants' responses, although the effect was equally strong in the private and the public co-witness conditions. Peer influence on event reports was steady across a large age range (11- to 25-year-olds).     

The relation of personality types to physiological,behavioural, and cognitive processes

Three personality types, labeled resilient, over‐controlled, and under‐controlled, were identified through cluster analysis of classroom observations of 63 children, and used to understand biological, cognitive, and behavioural processes that influence academic achievement and aggression. Resilient children were found to be high in trait cortisol and high in academic achievement. Under‐controlled and over‐controlled children showed the greatest change in cortisol levels under stress, low levels of academic achievement, and attributed hostility to others in ambiguous situations. Under‐controlled children also exhibited high levels of externalizing behaviour in the classroom. The findings suggest that the single processes or traits assessed in this study do not mediate the associations of personality types to academic achievement and behaviour. The implications of the findings for the personality type construct and for personality processes are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Behavioral Goals for a Diverse Organization: The Effects of Attitudes, Social Norms, and Racial Identity for Asian Americans and Whites

This research identified 5 behaviors that may enhance the effectiveness of a diverse organization and used Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of reasoned action to identify predictors of these behaviors. Results from samples of White and Asian undergraduate students from 2 universities generally supported the Fishbein and Ajzen model. Attitudes and subjective norms were significant predictors of behavioral intentions when gender, race, and social desirability bias were controlled. Racial identity also had a significant, positive effect on attitudes toward diversity-related behaviors among the Asian American students, but no significant effect among Whites. These results supported our reasoning that members of historically excluded racial groups with strong racial identities will be most likely to welcome organizational attempts to become more pluralistic because pluralism means that their valued identities will be respected rather than repressed.     

Brief Experimental Analysis of Written Letter Formation: Single-Case Demonstration

Many students experience difficulty in acquiring basic writing skills and educators need to efficiently address those deficits by implementing an intervention with a high likelihood for success. The current article demonstrates the utility of using a brief experimental analysis (BEA) to identify a letter-formation intervention for a second-grade student with handwriting difficulties. The results suggested that the BEA led to differentiated results for letter formation interventions, and the identified intervention was implemented for 8 weeks with moderate effectiveness. Suggestions for future research are included.     

Measurement Equivalence of the Child Behavior Checklist among Parents of African American Adolescents

The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/6-18) is a widely used parent-report measure of youth internalizing and externalizing problems. Accumulating evidence, however, suggests that the CBCL may not adequately assess clinical problems in diverse populations. We investigated the measurement equivalence (ME) of the CBCL in an African American adolescent sample (N = 145). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated poor factor model fit; however, modification indices and an alternative two-factor model produced improved fit statistics. Internal consistency coefficients of CBCL scales ranged from α = .65 to .88 and were generally lower than those reported for the normative sample. The CBCL exhibited convergent validity with conceptually similar scales on the Parent Report Scale of the Behavior Assessment System for Children; however, the correlations were weaker than those reported for the normative sample. The CBCL Internalizing composite failed to predict clinician-rated Emotional problems, however, the Externalizing composite predicted clinician-rated behavior problems. In summary, the CBCL did not exhibit unequivocal evidence of ME, as it both possesses and lacks a number of statistical attributes that would demonstrate its equivalence with African Americans. Future empirical and theoretical work is discussed.     

Counselor Trainees' Self-Statement Responses to Sexually and Physically Abused Clients,and Client Role Conflict

Because sexual abuse issues present a threat to counselor trainees, the authors predicted that trainees who expected to counsel a sexually abused client would respond with an increase in anxiety and negative self-statements. A total of 63 female trainees were assessed after viewing a videotape of a client reporting sexual abuse, physical abuse, or role conflict. Results indicated that, counter to predictions, the trainees who expected to counsel the sexually abused client increased their positive self-statements. Schwartz's (1986) States-of-Mind model was applied to the self-statement ratios, and, according to the model, trainees were unrealistically optimistic with respect to their counseling.