Further evidence of reliability and validity for the driving anger expression inventory

This study provided evidence of reliability and validity for the four scales of the Driving Anger Expression Inventory. Alpha reliabilities for scales ranged from .84 to .89. Measures of aggressive anger expression while driving (Verbal Aggressive Expression, Personal Physical Aggressive Expression, and Use of the Vehicle to Express Anger scales) correlated positively with each other and negatively with the Adaptive/Constructive Expression scale. Scores on the three aggressive forms of anger expression correlated positively with trait anger and measures of driving-related anger, aggression, and risky behavior, whereas scores on the Adaptive/Constructive Expression scale correlated negatively with these variables. Reports of aggressive and risky behavior correlated most strongly with the Use of the Vehicle to Express Anger scale. Forms of anger expression were minimally or uncorrelated with rated trait anxiety and reports of moving violations, close calls, and accidents. Findings replicated earlier findings and provided further evidence for the reliability and validity of the Driving Anger Expression Inventory.     

Reciprocation of perceived organizational support

Four hundred thirteen postal employees were surveyed to investigate reciprocation's role in the relationships of perceived organizational support (POS) with employees' affective organizational commitment and job performance. The authors found that (a) POS was positively related to employees' felt obligation to care about the organization's welfare and to help the organization reach its objectives; (b) felt obligation mediated the associations of POS with affective commitment, organizational spontaneity, and in-role performance; and (c) the relationship between POS and felt obligation increased with employees' acceptance of the reciprocity norm as applied to work organizations. Positive mood also mediated the relationships of POS with affective commitment and organizational spontaneity. The pattern of findings is consistent with organizational support theory's assumption that POS strengthens affective commitment and performance by a reciprocation process.     

Comparison of embedded and isolated administrations of the California Psychological Inventory's Socialization subscale

Alternate administration methods were tested for the Socialization (So) subscale of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI; H. G. Gough, 1994; H. G. Gough & P. Bradley, 1996) in 437 young adult men. One method administered the 46 CPI-So items in isolation from the CPI, whereas the 2nd method administered the 46 items embedded in the CPI. External validity measures of antisociality were also administered over the 2 sessions. Isolated administration produced somewhat higher internal consistency and significantly better concurrent validity and demonstrated construct validity as a measure of antisociality. Additional factor analytic studies of the CPI-So and CPI revealed that the 2 CPI-So versions had different factorial structures and that the embedded CPI-So subscale did not retain factorial integrity or an appreciable amount of reliable and uniquely interpretable variance.     

Anger,aggression, and risky behavior: a comparison of high and low anger drivers

This research tested hypotheses from state-trait anger theory applied to anger while driving. High and low anger drivers drove equally often and as many miles, but high anger drivers reported more frequent and intense anger and more aggression and risky behavior in daily driving, greater anger in frequently occurring situations, more frequent close calls and moving violations, and greater use of hostile/aggressive and less adaptive/constructive ways of expressing anger. In low impedance simulations, groups did not differ on state anger or aggression; however, high anger drivers reported greater state anger and verbal and physical aggression in high impedance simulations. High anger drivers drove at higher speeds in low impedance simulations and had shorter times and distances to collision and were twice as likely to crash in high impedance simulations. Additionally, high anger drivers were more generally angry. Hypotheses were generally supported, and few gender differences were noted for anger and aggression.     

The neurobiology of learning and memory

The study of memory is a great challenge, perhaps the greatest in biological sciences. Memory involves changes in a tiny fraction of an extremely large pool of elements, a conclusion that makes the task of finding those changes using current technologies formidable. What can be done about this roadblock to neurological investigations of learning? One response that has become particularly productive in recent years is to study learning or learning-like phenomena in relatively simple "model" systems. The idea is to extract basic principles from these models in which molecular and anatomical details can be studied and then to use these in analyzing learning in higher regions of the brain. In this article we discuss current progress and emerging concepts derived from the simple system approach using animal models.     

Agoraphobic avoidance and panic frequency as predictors of laboratory induced panic reactions

This study examined the importance of agoraphobic avoidance and frequency of panic as predictors of psychological and physiological responses of panic sufferers to a laboratory based provocation procedure. Psychophysiologic comparisons were made between 22 panic disorder patients and 15 controls, at baseline and across three periods of carbon dioxide gas inhalations (1, 3, 5%; balance oxygen). Subjective measures of anxiety, frightening cognitions and body sensations were obtained across the phases. Physiological measures of minute ventilation, breathing rate, tidal volume, end tidal CO₂ and heart rate were also obtained. Between group comparisons revealed significant differences between the groups on the subjective measures with no significant differences occurring on the physiological measures. Within group analyses revealed that pre-session questionnaire measures of agoraphobia avoidance and panic frequency predicted the degree of anxiety, frightening sensations and cognitions during baseline and 5% CO₂ inhalation. The results indicated that both self-reported agoraphobic avoidance and panic frequency are strong clinical predictors of psychological reactions of panic sufferers during laboratory provocation.     

A study of perceptual development for musical tuning

Musical tuning perception in infancy and adulthood was explored in three experiments. In Experiment 1, Western adults were tested in detection of randomly located mistunings in a melody based on musical interval patterns from native and nonnative musical scales. Subjects performed better in a Western major scale context than in either a Western augmented or--a Javanese pelog scale context. Because the major scale is used frequently in Western music and, therefore, is more perceptually familiar than either the augmented scale or the pelog scale are, the adults’ pattern of performance is suggestive of musical acculturation. Experiments 2 and3 were designed to explore the onset of culturally specific perceptual reorganization for music in the age period that has been found to be important in linguistically specific perceptual reorganization for speech. In Experiment 2, 1-year-olds had a pattern of performance similar to that of the adults, but 6-month-olds could not detect mistunings reliably better than chance. In Experiment 3, another group of 6-month-olds was tested, and a larger degree of mistuning was used so that floor effects might be avoided. These 6-month-olds performed better in the major and augmented scale contexts than in the pelog context, without a reliable performance difference between the major and augmented contexts. Comparison of the results obtained with 6-month-olds and 1-year-olds suggests that culturally specific perceptual reorganization for musical tuning begins to affect perception between these ages, but the 6-month-olds’ pattern of results considered alone is not as clear. The 6-month-olds’ better performance on the major and augmented interval patterns than on the pelog interval pattern is potentially attributable to either the 6-month.olds’ lesser perceptual acculturation than that of the 1-year-olds or perhaps to an innate predisposition for processing of music based on a single fundamental interval, in this case the semitone.     

Siblings of children with mental retardation: Family characteristics and adjustment

Siblings of children with mental retardation may be at greater risk for adjustment problems because of family stress related to the needs of the child with mental retardation. Family dimensions were investigated to determine their relationship to sibling adjustment. Adjustment of 12 siblings of children with mental retardation was examined in relationship to family dimensions. These relationships were compared to those for children from families without a disabled child. For both groups, self concept was positively associated with family cohesion, and social competence was positively associated with family promotion of independence. For only the siblings of the mentally retarded children, family conflict was inversely related to social competence, and family organization was positively related to sibling self concept. Our results suggest that family conflict and disorganization appear to have a more negative effect in families with a child with mental retardation.