Smoking,personality, and imagery preference in Relation to spontaneous bilateral electrodermal activity

Effects of smoking on spontaneous bilateral skin conductance were studied as a consequence of interactions with set and setting. Bilateral skin conductance was recorded in six men and six women who smoked and an equal number of nonsmokers on two different days. On the first day, spontaneous electrodermal activity was recorded before and after a 10-minute rest period during which half the smokers smoked a cigarette. On the second day, one week later, spontaneous activity was again recorded before and after a 10-minute rest period during which the remaining smokers smoked a cigarette. Nonsmokers did not smoke at any time. Following smoking there was a significant negative correlation between a preference for visual over nonvisual imagery and spontaneous skin conductance responsivity in the left as compared to the right hand. Correlations were significantly different in smokers and nonsmokers. Smokers showed significantly greater preferences for either visual or nonvisual imagery than nonsmokers. Nonresponding nonsmokers were higher on the psychoticism (P) scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) than responding nonsmokers. Smokers scored higher on P than nonsmokers. Interactions between personality, cognitive style, and the experimental situation, set, and setting were discussed in relation to the arousing effects of nicotine.     

The differential importance of weight and body image among college men and women

Among a sample of American college students, body image and the degree of desired weight change were associated with academic self-rankings, with social and psychological well-being, and with the development of eating difficulties. The effects of body image and desired weight change on eating disorders were generally found to be greater for women than for men, and their effects on student self-rankings of academic ability, social, and psychological traits were more pervasive for women than for men. The less attractive a woman perceived herself to be and the more weight she wanted to lose, the greater was her overall sense of academic, social, and psychological impairment. Women who had poor body images and who desired to lose weight were more likely to report eating difficulties.     

Ethnic identity, self-esteem, and occupational aspirations of Indian and Anglo-Saxon British adolescents

A questionnaire monitoring occupational aspiration, ethnic identification, adolescent experience, and self-esteem was administered to a large sample of Indian and Anglo-Saxon British male and female adolescents attending school in the West Midlands. The relationship between these variables and differences between the four groups were consistent with predictions derived from the social identity approach to intergroup relations and group behaviour (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Indian males were found to possess a social mobility belief structure that mediates high occupational aspirations and keeness to marry out of their ethnic group. In contrast, Indian females were found to possess a social change belief structure associated with acceptance of the status quo and lower aspirations. Males and Anglo-Saxons reported higher self-esteem than females or Indians. The adolescent experience findings were less clear, but were consistent with the general interpretation of the data that the differences in intersex relations and gender-related experiences are contingent on ethnicity.     

Three-dimensional perspective drawing of two-dimensional functions with microcomputers

In this paper, we present a BASIC program for Apple II series computers that allows the user to obtain perspective drawings of two-dimensional functions of known analytical expression. Also, we outline a procedure for obtaining perspective representations of two-dimensional arrays of data using the same program. The program should run on any computer with graphics mode with only slight modifications in the graphics commands.     

Learning and motivation: Computer simulations of the Rescorla-Wagner,Solomon-Corbit,and Schull models

A suite of programs is described for simulating the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model of associative learning, the Solomon and Corbit (1974) opponent-process theory, and Schull’s (1979) extension of the latter. The programs are written for the Commodore 64 computer.     

Developing probability limits for longitudinal physiological data

The objective of this study was to determine what amount of change in heart electrophysiology is necessary to yield a significant difference between a baseline condition and an experimental treatment condition. In a single-subject longitudinal design, a modification of at test was applied to baseline data, and the performance levels for both .05 and .01 probability levels were obtained. It was concluded that it is both ethically sound and physiologically safe to permit a subject in this type of experiment to physiologically respond at levels that would reach both the .05 and the .01 levels of significance.     

Containment theory and juvenile delinquency: a reevaluation through factor analysis

All seven variables of containment theory were operationalized for questionnaires. Data were collected from 677 adolescents in a variety of high schools and correctional institutions, and divided into categories by race and sex. Factor analysis indicated that the structure of the relationships among the seven containment variables and delinquency was substantially different among black females.     

Parental preferences regarding sex education topics for sixth graders

The purpose of this study was to ascertain which sex education topics parents of preadolescents regarded as appropriate for their children. The sample was comprised of 146 respondents randomly selected from a class list of sixth graders in a suburban school district. A mailed, self-administered questionnaire listing 48 possible topics was used to elicit parental response. Pretesting found the questionnaire to be highly reliable (Cronbach's alpha = .95). Overall, parents strongly supported the inclusion of a broad range of sex education topics regardless of parental age, sex, marital status, income, education, or child's sex. Moreover, parents were largely in agreement with the inclusion of sensitive topics in addition to those which were more physiological or behavioral. Catholics more often than Protestants agreed with the inclusion of birth control, abortion, and sterilization even after controlling for income and education. Thus, the findings suggest that parents of sixth graders find a broad sex education program in the school appropriate. To this end, school officials and sex educators should not overlook the needs of preadolescents for sex education solely on the basis of perceived parental opposition.     

Students' attitudes toward university health services

This study measured students' attitudes toward a university's student health services (SHS) and identified factors that were related to their attitudes. A questionnaire surveying students' attitudes was administered to a sample of 150 students at the Oxford Campus of the University of Mississippi. Analysis of the data revealed that students' attitudes had a statistically significant correlation with the following variables: perceived medical care cost, amount of health information/education received during medical encounters, time spent in the waiting room of the SHS, sex of the student, and income of the student. There was no significant relationship between attitude and age.