Peer and teacher ratings of socially neglected and rejected fourth- and fifth-grade boys

Positive and negative sociometric nomination measures were administered to 86 fourth- and fifth-grade boys. Using a combination of these measures, popular (high positive; low negative), neglected (low positive, low negative), and rejected (low positive, high negative) children were identified and peer and teacher ratings of these children were obtained. Rejected children were seen by both peers and teachers as exhibiting more undesirable behaviors than either neglected or popular children. These findings coupled with those from several longitudinal investigations demonstrating that rejected children are at risk for the development of psychopathology during adolescence and adulthood, clearly points toward the importance of developing effective interventions for these children.     

Dropping out of parent training

The purpose of the present study was to determine the dropout rate when parents are taught to modify their children's problem behavior. Eight journals were examined for parent-training studies. Forty-five studies were found but only 22 of these reported dropout data. Studies were examined for dropout rate and in order to determine if the point in therapy at which dropout occurred was specified. The overall dropout rate was 28% and most studies specified when the dropout occurred. Finally, variables that are critical to dropping out when parent training is undertaken are presented and recommendations are made for future research.     

Development of the concepts of energy conservation and entropy

Development of the concepts of energy conservation and entropy was studied in children between 5 and 15 years of age. Energy conservation, as illustrated by the operation of double and colliding pendulums, was not well understood until about 15 years of age. Understanding of entropy was dependent on the particular apparatus used. When illustrated by the gradual mixing of rolling marbles of different colors, entropy was understood by 9- to 15-year-olds. But when illustrated by the eventual equalization of water levels in two interconnected containers, entropy was not well understood until about 15 years of age. Errors on a problem used to illustrate the conservation concept could often be characterized by the misapplication of the entropy concept and vice versa.     

Women of the fifties: Their past sexual experiences and current sexual attitudes in the context of mother/daughter relationships

As part of a study on sexual communication between mothers and daughters, 141 college-educated mothers of college-age daughters completed a questionnaire on their past sexual activities (including high school and college experiences, first love experience, first experience of intercourse, first and successive pregnancies, and birth of first child). Mothers also indicated the degree to which they had experienced 14 sex-related fears during college and at present. Several questions tapped present sexual attitudes concerning themselves and their daughters. Mothers were asked how they would feel if their daughters never married, never had children, or had a homosexual relation. The majority reported that their sexual attitudes had become more liberal since college and indicated that their daughters had influenced these attitudes. The majority also indicated they were satisfied with the current sexual communication with their daughters and with the mother/daughter relationship in general.This work was supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation. Please address correspondence to Marilyn Yalom, Center for Research on Women, Serra House, Stanford, California 94305.     

Beyond LFT and Discomfort Disturbance: The Case for the Term “Non-Ego Disturbance”

In this paper, a case is made for the term non-ego disturbance to replace LFT and discomfort disturbance as the generic alternative to ego disturbance in REBT theory. The issues of valence and varying levels of non-disturbance are introduced and discussed and an initial version of a taxonomy of non-ego disturbance is presented. Finally, a plea is made for the development of a scale to measure non-ego disturbance.     

STAZ: Interactive software for undergraduate statistics

STAZ is an interactive computer program that demonstrates statistical concepts, many of which cannot be readily demonstrated using conventional methods. Use of dynamic graphics encourages active engagement with challenging statistical concepts. The program consists of 13 graphical demonstrations, most of which allow for interactive participation by students. A detailed Help file with guided explanations accompanies each demonstration. STAZ is a multiple document interface program that makes full use of Windows features, such as tiling, links, and multitasking. Designed to be used as a supplement for any undergraduate statistics course, STAZ may be used by either instructors in classroom settings or students working independently.     

Watching people talk about their emotions: Inferences in response to full-face vs. profile expressions

Young adults talked to an experimenter about their emotional reactions to video episodes intended to evoke either negative or positive affect. Facial behavior was simultaneously videotaped from three perspectives (full-face, a 90° right profile, and a 90° left profile) without their awareness. Judges viewed a subset of dynamic expressions in one of the three facial perspectives in either normal or mirror-reversed orientation. While subjects talked about a negative affect elicitor, the left hemiface and the full-face were perceived as more expressive than the right hemiface. The left hemiface, in reversed orientation, was perceived to display more emotion than the same expression in original orientation for positive or negative affect. These results are discussed in the context of the literature exploring hemifacial differences in emotional expression and mouth asymmetry during propositional speech.