Interpersonal Mediation of Perceived Crowding and Control in Residential Dyads and Triads

The role of interpersonal relationships in mediating the experience of crowding and loss of personal control was investigated in dormitory environments housing two or three students in bedroom units. A combination of survey, observational, and laboratory techniques was used to explore the formation of 2-person coalitions in tripled housing and subsequent problems created for the third, "left-out" roommate. Data strongly suggested that the aversiveness and loss of control previously associated with tripled residential settings may be more plausibly attributed to the inherent instability of 3-person groups and the loss of control associated with being excluded from group activities. In most of the tripled rooms studied, 2-person coalitions formed and most of the crowding and negative affect reported were expressed by the third roommate, who felt left out by the others. Residents of doubled rooms and members of coalitions in tripled rooms did not differ from one another on most dimensions.     

Sex differences in the determination of adolescent aspirations: A review of research

This article reviews research on sex differences in the educational and occupational orientations of adolescents. Because the aspirations and expectations of adolescents are predictive of subsequent adult attainment, these variables are important mediating factors in the process by which individuals of the two sexes come to occupy different educational and occupational positions in adulthood. Adolescent boys aspire to a higher level of education than girls, and the occupational choices of the two sexes are highly sex-stereotyped. Factors influencing levels of adolescent aspiration are reviewed, including socioeconomic background, academic ability, number of siblings, parental encouragement, mother's employment, academic performance, peer aspirations, dating, and participation in school activities. Although sex differences exist in the process by which both educational and occupational aspirations are formed, they are greater with respect to occupational than educational aspirations.     

On a neglected variable in theories of pictorial perception: Truncation of the visual field

Theoretical analyses of pictorial perception have concentrated on the consequences of conflicting flatness and depth information in pictures, but have failed to consider the perceptual effects of the truncation of the visual field attendant on any pictorial display. The importance of this variable both for methods of testing pictorial information and for theory building was demonstrated. Under four different viewing conditions, adults were asked to scale the size and distance of five isoceles triangles at five different distances. The four conditions were unobstructed static monocular view, peephole view, view through a rectangular frame, and view of all the stimuli photographed in a slide. The slopes of the peephole, truncation, and slide conditions’ scaling functions were all significantly smaller than the slope of the untruncated Monocular condition, and the Y-intercepts were all greater. A decrease in over-constancy in the size functions indicated a similar effect for all three truncated conditions. Results are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that truncation of the visual field, both in pictures and in peephole views of the real world, causes a frontal shift in the localization of the visible field, with a resultant compression of perceived size and distance.     

Data on the role of the frontal cortex in vegetative behavior

A homeostatic conditional reflex (CR) was elaborated to the effect of repeated inhalations in rats of a gas mixture containing 8 per cent oxygen. The effect of the conditional response was opposite to that of the unconditional one. After ablation of the frontal cortex, the conditional reaction disappeared. The repeated administration of 40 mg/kg of histamine resulted in a tolerance to the temperature lowering effect of histamine similar to the habituation. An injection of distilled water brought about dishabituation. Tolerance was not influenced by the ablation of the frontal cortex, but the dishabituating effect of distilled water was absent.     

Brightness contrast: a reinterpretation of compound cue and combined cue experiments with pigeons.

A group of three pigeons was trained on a 4-ply multiple schedule: a green color and a vertical line superimposed upon an achromatic background as positive stimuli, and a red color and a horizontal line on an achromatic background as negative stimuli. The pigeons were tested with the vertical line superimposed upon different achromatic background intensities, then with the vertical line superimposed upon different green background intensities, and finally with the vertical line and its training achromatic backgfound attenuated (and unattenuated) by a neutral density filter. The gradients peaked at the luminance of the achromatic background used during training and at the equivalent luminance for the green background when it was substituted for the achromatic background. The brightness contrast, not the background luminance, was the critical variable as the neutral density filter attenuated both the line and the background equally, leaving brightness contrast unchanged; there was no response decrement to this attenuated stimulus. Two other groups of three pigeons showed that they attended to line orientation as well as to brightness contrast. The brightness contrast hypothesis was extended to explain results of attention experiments and combined cue experiments which have used line stimuli in combinations with different backgrounds.     

The effect of reinforcement and verbal rehearsal on selective attention in learning-disabled children

A central-incidental task of selective attention was administered to 100 learning-disabled boys — 48 younger children (81/2–101/2 years) and 52 older children (101/2–121/2 years). Subjects at both age levels were assigned to one of four conditions: (a) a standard condition; (b) a rehearsal condition, in which subjects were taught a verbal rehearsal strategy; (c) a reinforcement condition, in which correct responses were rewarded; and (d) a combined rehearsal-reinforcement condition. Older subjects recalled more central task but not more incidental task information than younger subjects. A measure of selective attention efficiency was also greater for older than for younger subjects. Central recall in the rehearsal-reinforcement condition was greater than in any other condition. Central recall was greater in the rehearsal condition than in the standard and reinforcement conditions. Selective attention efficiency was greater for both rehearsal conditions than for both nonrehearsal conditions. Incidental recall was higher for reinforcement subjects than for rehearsal subjects. Results suggest that induced verbal rehearsal improves central recall and selective attention in learning-disabled children. Reinforcement alone does not improve central recall but may when paired with rehearsal.This article is based on a Ph.D. dissertation completed by the senior author at the University of Virginia. Preparation of this article was supported in part by a contract (300-77-0495) from the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, Office of Education, for the University of Virginia Learning Disabilities Research Institute.     

Parental responses to competence and trauma in infants with reproductive casualty

This study of 31 infants in neonatal intensive care and their parents examined the relationship involving infant characteristics (medical and behavioral), parent characteristics (personality and situational variables), and the development of parental attachment. As expected, infants who were more visually competent had mothers who were more attentive. Contrary to expectation, greater prematurity was related to greater parental involvement. There were important differences in maternal and paternal responses, with mothers using more denial to cope with the medical crisis. Parents who relied heavily on denial were found to have impaired attachment.This study is based on a M. A. thesis submitted to Michigan State University by the first author under the direction of the second author. The authors are grateful for the support and assistance of Thomas Helmrath, M. D., Elizabeth Seagull, Ph.D., Dess Johnson, M.S. W., and the staff of the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at E. W. Sparrow Hospital.