A quantitative evaluation of sex differences in implicit personality theories

An investigation is conducted into whether male and female perceivers hold substantially different implicit theories of personality. 24 male and 24 female subjects were asked to sort a set of 36 trait names into groups of similar traits. On the basis of these data, proximities between trait names and proximities between groupings (or partitions) were computed and subjected to a differential statistical analysis. Neither a global test for sex-specific groupings of trait names nor tests at the level of perceived pairwise trait relationships yielded significant differences. It is concluded that aggregation of sorting data over both male and female perceivers is warranted without too big a loss of information. On the methodological side, this paper demonstrates the feasibility of a quantitative approach to handling the problem of data aggregation in the context of studies using the sorting method as a data-gathering technique.     

Objective and simulated stimulation: an empirical study of the effect of indirect suggestion on motor behavior

In an experimental investigation it is demonstrated that motor behavior-in contrast to the opinion forwarded in the literature-is not only elicitable by means of direct persuasion, but also to a great extend by mere indirect suggestion, (feigning of stimuli). A differential investigation of these effects provided evidence that reactions to feigned stimuli are highly person specific and relatively homogenous concerning the respective instruments whereas objective stimuli lead to reactions relatively specific for the respective instrument applied. The findings are interpreted as an analog on to placebo-effects in the area of motor behavior. Their extend may be seen as an argument for a stronger concern with subjective reaction tendencies in this field.     

A componential model for mental addition

A componential model capable of representing simple and complex forms of mental addition was proposed and then tested by using chronometric techniques. A sample of 23 undergraduate students responded to 800 addition problems in a true-false reaction time paradigm. The 800 problems comprised 200 problems of each of four types: two single-digit addends, one single- and one double-digit addend, two double-digit addends, and three single-digit addends. The results revealed that the columnwise product of addends, a structural variable consistent with a memory network retrieval process, was the best predictor of mental addition for each of the four types of problem. Importantly, the componential model allowed estimation of effects of several other structural variables, e.g., carrying to the next column and speed of encoding of digits. High levels of explained variance verified the power of the model to represent the reaction time data, and the stability of estimates across types of problem implied consistent component use by subjects. Implications for research on mental addition are discussed.     

Age differences in the acculturation process

Age differences were assessed in a conceptual model that seeks to explain how acculturation affects psychological well-being among Mexican Americans. The data were from a national probability sample of 859 persons of Mexican decent. It was hypothesized that low acculturation creates financial stress. Moreover, low acculturation and financial stress were in turn predicted to erode feelings of personal control and self-esteem. Finally, diminished feelings of control and low self-esteem were hypothesized to exert a negative impact on psychological well-being. When data from respondents of all ages was assessed, empirical support was found for all of the hypotheses except the linkage between acculturation and financial stress. However, few age differences emerged in the model. The authors conclude that older Mexican Americans may not be more vulnerable to the stressors associated with acculturation.     

Psychiatric malpractice in the military

Available data indicates that the incidence of malpractice in military psychiatry, involving both civilian and active duty beneficiaries, is the lowest of all specialties and may be lower than in the civilian sector. Recovery for malpractice damages by means of claim versus suit is restricted to civilian patients; active duty service members recover through a special disability system. The federal government provides military psychiatrists with considerable protection from personal financial loss when involved in malpractice, but there may be limits to that protection. There have been recent efforts to criminally prosecute military physicians in some instances. A registry review of military psychiatry malpractice cases from 1978 to 1987provides a profile of the malpractice situation and suggests areas of practice that need vigilance. The Department of Defense has established a broad-based, comprehensive program of quality assurance and risk management in the interest of maximizing the benefit of medical care and minimizing substandard practice.     

Central-place foraging by Rattus norvegicus on a radial maze

We studied central-place foraging in rats (Rattus norvegicus) by placing food items that varied in size and weight at the ends of a 4-arm radial maze. In Experiments 1-3, rats increasingly tended to carry food to the center of the maze as the size of those items increased. Very large food items often were hoarded in the center. Rats consumed food faster on the arms than in the center, and rats traveled faster when carrying food than when not. Blocking arm entrances increased travel time between the center and the arms and decreased food carrying at every item weight except the largest. In Experiments 4-6, important conditions that influence the degree of food-carrying behavior were discovered; these were the intersection of maze arms, the presence of a conspecific, and the use of open vs. closed maze arms.     

Robust interactive decision-analysis (RID): Behavioral results and implications

We have proposed a novel interactive procedure for performing decision analysis, called Robust Interactive Decision Analysis (RID), which permits a decision maker (DM) to voluntarily and interactively express strong (viz, sure) binary preferences for actions, partial decision functions, and full decision functions, and only imprecise probability and utility function assessments. These serve as INPUTS TO operators to prune the state probability space and decision space until an optimal choice strategy is obtained. The viability of the RID approach depends on a DM's ability to provide such information consistently and meaningfully. On a limited scale we experimentally investigate the behavioral implications of the RID method in order to ascertain its potential operational feasibility and viability. More specifically, we examine whether a DM can (1) express strong preferences between pairs of vectors of unconditional and conditional payoffs or utilities consistently; (2) provide imprecise (ordinal and interval) state probabilities that are individually as well as mutually consistent with the state probabilities imputed from the expressed strong preferences. The results show that a DM can provide strong individually and mutually consistent preference and ordinal probability information. Moreover, most individuals also appear to be able to provide interval probabilities that are individually and mutually consistent with their strong preference inputs. However, the several violations observed, our small sample size, and the limited scope of our investigation suggest that further experimentation is needed to determine whether and/or how such inputs should be elicited. Overall, the results indicate that the RID method is behaviorally viable.     

A controlled comparative investigation of psychological treatments for chronic sleep-onset insomnia

A sample of physician-referred chronic insomniacs was randomly allocated to either progressive relaxation, stimulus control, paradoxical intention, placebo or no treatment conditions. Treatment process and outcome were investigated in terms of mean and standard deviation (night to night variability) measures of sleep pattern and sleep quality. Only active treatments were associated with significant improvement, but the nature of treatment gains varied. In particular, stimulus control improved sleep pattern, whereas relaxation affected perception of sleep quality. All improvements were maintained at 17 month follow-up. Results are discussed with reference to previous research and guidelines are given for clinical practice.     

Negativism and countertransference

The purpose of this work is to explore the phenomenon of negativism and the analyst's response to it during the course of analytic work with a patient in whom negativism is a central behavioral pattern. Melville's short story, "Bartleby the Scrivener," describing in telling detail the response of a sympathetic lawyer to profound and pervasive negativism in his legal scribe, is discussed as a literary analogy to the analyst-analysand dyad. Aspects of the concept of negativism within psychoanalysis are discussed. The potential usefulness of understanding certain unexpected countertransference responses to pervasive negativism is explored, as this is a relatively neglected area of psychoanalytic technique. A case is presented describing the analysis of a patient whose character, like Bartleby's, is a mixture of profound negativism along with schizoid, obsessional, and masochistic elements.     

Reducing smoking among pregnant adolescents

Pregnant adolescents who smoke present a double obstetrical risk. Not only is the adolescent mother at risk from the biological, social, educational, and economic factors associated with childbearing at a young age, she and her developing infant also risk the complications associated with maternal smoking. This paper describes a psychosocial intervention designed to reduce smoking in a group of pregnant adolescents. Five modules are presented. Each is designed to: (1) heighten awareness of the issue, (2) provide motivational messages, (3) enhance the adolescent's social skills, and (4) teach specific smoking-cessation skills.