Values and Valences: Variables Relating to the Attractiveness and Choice of Food in Different Contexts1

This study investigated relations between values and the attractiveness and choice of food in different contexts for a sample of 464 participants who completed a mail survey distributed in 12 supermarkets in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. Participants responded to 5 hypothetical scenarios describing situations, each of which presented 2 alternatives relating to the presentation or consumption of different foods. Participants also completed the Schwartz Value Survey (Schwartz, 1992). Results showed that measures of the attractiveness (or valence) of each alternative and choice of alternative were related to specified value types for some scenarios, depending on context and structural relations among the value types engaged by each alternative. Results also implied that choice of alternative was mediated by the valences.     

Using computer-mediated conferencing to facilitate group projects in an educational psychology course

A course design is presented as a model for incorporating computer-mediated conferencing (CMC) in support of administering, organizing, and evaluating group projects in a psychology course. Students in an educational psychology course use e-mail and an electronic bulletin board system to communicate within and between student groups as well as with the instructor. Critical elements for the implementation of CMC are discussed, and suggestions for ways to avoid problems are offered.     

Embedding instructive feedback into teacher-student interactions during independent seat work

The effects of embedding a constant time delay procedure into an independent seat work activity and using instructive feedback were evaluated in this study. Seven students with mild disabilities participated in the study that occurred in their special education classroom. A multiple probe design across sets of target behaviors was used, and students' responses to instructive feedback stimuli were evaluated during each probe condition. The procedures were implemented with a high degree of fidelity, and the results indicate that (a) the students acquired the target behaviors taught with the constant time delay procedure that was embedded into independent seat work, and (b) the students acquired some but not all of the responses to the instructive feedback stimuli. These findings are discussed in terms of using instructive feedback in classrooms and future research on instructive feedback.     

The impact of confederate responsivity on social skills assessment

The current investigation examined the degree to which judges' ratings of skill, anxiety, and attractiveness are influenced by the responsivity of the confederate. High-, medium-, and low-skilled subject-pool groupings, as well as self-referred clinical groups, were exposed to either a moderately or a minimally responsive confederate. Results indicated that subjects were rated as more skillful when interacting with a moderately responsive confederate than when interacting with a minimally responsive confederate. Further, there was a groups × condition interaction for anxiety ratings such that both the high- and the medium-skilled groups appeared more anxious under the minimal condition, whereas the low-skilled and self-referred groups did not. Self-referred subjects received significantly lower attractiveness ratings than did the high- or medium-skilled groups. Implications of these results and future directions for research are discussed.This research is based on a M.S. thesis carried out by the first author under direction of the second author.     

Circadian factors during sustained performance: Background and methodology

Cornell University Medical College, Westchester Division, The New York Hospital, White Plains, New York It is well established that there is a complex timekeeping mechanism in the human brain. This mechanism is associated with a variety of physiological and psychological rhythms having a period of about a day, and thus referred to as circadian rhythms. The circadian system has recently been modeled in terms of two underlying oscillators, one much more resistant to changes in routine than the other. These oscillators are considered to be endogenous, that is, internal to the organism, and not reliant for their existence upon changes in the person’s environment or general behavior. They thus continue to run even when the sleep/wake cycle is suspended, as in sustained operations. Thus, by their very nature, sustained operations require the individual to override the inputs that are coming from his or her circadian system (especially the indication that sleep is required). The aim of this paper is to provide a background to the area of circadian rhythms research, including a section on the methodology, so that the impact of the circadian system on sustained operations can be better understood.     

Interpersonal Features of Interviews Between Psychiatric Patients and Nursing Staff1

Observer ratings of one-half hour interviews were undertaken to test two basic concepts of interpersonal relations in a sample of 51 randomly paired male psychiatric patients and female psychiatric nurses. It was hypothesized that the behavior of psychiatric patients could be organized around two orthogonal dimensions reflecting status and feeling, and that patients and nurses would exhibit complementary interpersonal behavior consistent with their institutionally ascribed roles. Interviews were rated with the Leary Interpersonal Checklist. Interjudge reliability was established for Leary's coding system. The hypothesis of status and feeling reference points for patient behavior received strong support when the results of analysis of variance were supplemented by factor analysis. Patient scores on the eight variables measured by the Leary Interperonsal Checklist and nurses' scores for 17 complementary variables were submitted to correlational analysis to test the hypothesis of interpersonal complementarity. As predicted, two hypothesized dependence-assistance response combinations provided the highest correlation coefficients. It was concluded that the study provided empirical support for the utility of an interpersonal model within psychiatric settings that has more commonly been identified with relationships free of psychiatric disturbance.     

Specific and varied practice of motor skill

To assess the potential effect of specific and varied practice on the development of motor schema, 64 children in two age groups (8 yr. and 12 yr.) were tested on a simple throwing task at the beginning and end of a 12-wk. physical education program. For the throwing test the children were assigned to either a specificity or a schema group (varied practice). The task was performed without visual feedback, but knowledge of results was given after each trial. Prior to both tests at the criterion target, the specific group was given practice throws using the criterion target distance, whereas the schema group practiced on two other targets. No differences were found between the two groups at the beginning of the program but on the posttest those children receiving a variety of practice on the throwing task performed significantly better than the specific-practice group. Thus it was suggested that a varied practice schedule may facilitate the initial formation of motor schema, and this process may be enhanced by participation in a physical education program.     

Memory for music

Subjects created imaginal interpretations of classical music passages in accordance with themes which were either concrete and comprehensible or abstract and difficult to comprehend. Recognition memory for the musical passages was found to be superior in the former condition. The results support the hypothesis that meaningful interpretation of stimulus material is a major determinant of memory accuracy. The implications of the results for comparisons of music and language are also discussed.     

A repertory grid study of therapist/couple interaction

A case of marital therapy is described in which the presenting problem, one of non-consummation, is treated by the standard Masters and Johnson's technique. Using repertory grids at the start and finish of treatment the changing perceptions of both partners and the therapist were determined. In spite of an ostensibly behavioural treatment, substantial changes occurred in the couple's understanding of the nature of their problem. The changes undergone in the couple's perceptions, and their differences from the therapist's assessments of change give rise to speculations about the nature of the therapeutic interaction and suggest further lines of exploration.