Assessing motivational readiness and decision making for exercise.

Motivational and cognitive processes of behavior change with respect to the area of exercise adoption were investigated. A total of 778 men and women, recruited from four worksites, answered a 40-item questionnaire consisting of statements based on constructs from the trans-theoretical model of behavior change. Principal-components analysis identified two factors--one a 6-item component representing avoidance of exercise (Cons), the other a 10-item component representing positive perceptions of exercise (Pros). Analysis of variance showed that the Pros, Cons, and a Decisional Balance measure (Pros minus Cons) were significantly associated with stage of exercise adoption. Results are consistent with applications of the model to smoking cessation and other areas of behavior change. Distinctions between exercise adoption and behaviors such as smoking cessation, weight loss, and alcoholism are discussed.     

Spare time use and psychological well-being in employed and unemployed young people

Results are presented from a longitudinal study of school leavers spanning the years 1980–1987. Those who were unemployed in 1987 reported spending relatively more of their spare time doing nothing in particular than those who were employed, although the groups did not differ in their reported use of spare time when they were at school. Also there were no differences in reported spare time use between those employed in satisfactory jobs and those employed in unsatisfactory jobs. As other studies have shown, in the unemployed spare time spent in purposeful activities with other people was positively correlated with psychological well-being. Similar associations were observed in the dissatisfied employed, although not in the satisfied employed. The results suggest that purposeful use of spare time may play a buffering role in coping with the stresses of both unemployment and unsatisfactory employment.     

Learned helplessness in high school students following experience of noncontingent rewards

High school students differing in achievement motivation were subjects in a learned helplessness experiment using a yoked triadic design with noncontingent rewards. A strong helplessness effect was observed in both high- and low-achievement motivation groups. A postexperimental questionnaire revealed that perceived response-outcome independence was induced under the noncontingent reinforcement condition, but was not associated with perceived failure. The results were seen as strong support for the original learned helplessness model in two important respects. First they refute recent claims that learned helplessness depends on aversive outcomes, and second they show that human helplessness can be distinguished from experimenter-induced failure.     

Effects of differences in achievement motivation and amount of exposure on responses to uncontrollable rewards

Within a triadic experimental design, 80 subjects classified as high or low in achievement motivation were given either standard or extended exposure to uncontrollable rewards. Subjects high in achievement motivation displayed facilitation following standard training that was eliminated following extended training. While this conforms with Wortman and Brehm's model integrating reactance theory and learned helplessness theory, in general the results were more accurately described by predictions based on a modification of the theory of achievement motivation. Because the experimental procedure induced the perception of uncontrollability independently of perceived failure, the results were seen as extending the generality of the latter theory.     

Parents as primary clients of the school psychologist or why is it we are here?

Psychological service delivery programs are increasingly becoming associated with a host of new divergent functions. One of the prerequisites for diversification in types of services offered is a clear understanding of client identification. Ultimately, when one considers parents as consumers of psychological services, when legal and ethical dilemmas in school-based practice arise, and when accountability issues loom large—a view of parents as primary clients emerges. The author discusses the rationale behind this position, offers supportive evidence for the parent as client orientation, and suggests how school psychology will have to be reshaped over the coming years in order to embrace this view.     

Development of a rating scale to measure social skills in children: The matson evaluation of social skills with youngsters (MESSY)

The development of a scale for assessing social skills with children is reported. The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) was completed on 744 children between 4 and 18 years of age. A self-report form was completed on 422 children while 322 children were rated on a teacher-report measure using a 5-point Likert-type scale. Analyses included test-retest reliability conducted at a 2-week interval using Pearson correlations, factor-analytic procedures and selected analyses of variance and appropriate post-hoc tests. Implications of present findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

The effect of intergender conflict on sex-role attitudes

This study explored conditions under which initially multidimensional attitudes change and coalesce into unidimensionality. One hundred twenty-one college students participated in a pretest-posttest control group experimental design involving a prejudice reduction simulation. One group was exposed to overt statements and action that supported traditional male dominance. This group exhibited significantly more modern sex-role attitudes than did the other groups; and the former's attitudes shifted to unidimensionality while the others' attitudes did not. The data also suggest independence between techniques that produce racial/liberalism and sexrole attitude modernity.     

Dynamics of hostile aggression: Influence of anger,hurt instructions,and victim pain feedback

The research basically examined some of the dynamics of hostile aggression by looking at the effects of different Buss procedure instructions and levels of victim pain feedback on the aggressive behavior of angered and nonangered men. In a 2 × 2 × 2 completely crossed factorial experiment, male undergraduates were initially either angered or not by an experimental accomplice. When later given the ostensible opportunity to administer shocks to the same accomplice in a typical Buss procedure, the subjects were either told that longer and more intense shocks would probably interfere with the person's learning as well as causing him more pain (hurt instructions) or given no information about the effects of shocks on learning (standard instructions). Finally, after each shock they administered, the subjects were provided with either high or low victim pain feedback. The angered men were significantly more aggressive than their nonangered counterparts, and a significant interaction between anger and instructions indicated this was especially true for the men given hurt instructions. Significant interactions between the other independent variables and trial blocks revealed that the angered men, particularly those receiving hurt instructions and high victim pain feedback, displayed the greates increases in aggression. The results provide qualified support for the derived proposition about hostile aggression that signs and/or knowledge of victim injury and pain can stimulate more intense aggression from angry individuals.