Failure of acute and chronic administration of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol to affect the repeated acquisition of serial position responses in pigeons

Pigeons were trained to acquire a new four-response position sequence each day by pecking three response keys in a predetermined order. The key color varied after each correct response prior to food delivery. Acute administration of Γ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ⁹-THC) up to a dose that completely eliminated responding, had no effect on total acquisition errors, or on within session patterns of error elimination. Chronic administration of Δ⁹-THC (3–10 mg/kg/day), either before or after the session for 4–7 weeks, also did not affect these error measures, although rates of responding were markedly suppressed and at times no responding occurred Discontinuation of Δ⁹-THC administration for periods of 4–6 weeks also was without effect on errors. These experiments suggest that neither acute nor chronic Δ⁹-THC produce specific effects on the repeated acquisition of serial position responses in pigeons.     

Hillel's maxim: Framework for psychological health

Mental health practitioners continually struggle to find a simple framework for describing the characteristics of the psychologically healthy individual. Hillel's often quoted saying provides relevant insight into the healthy personality and a convenient framework against which to examine psychological health.     

PROBLEM SOLVING TO PREVENT WORK INJURIES IN SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT

A problem-solving strategy was used to teach three groups of 3 individuals in supported employment how to prevent work-related injuries. The problem-solving strategy was taught in two training phases. The first training phase involved the use of cue cards, and the second involved the withdrawal of the cue cards. Interviews and staged generalization assessments in the participants' natural work environments were conducted before, during, and up to 12 weeks after training. In these assessments, situations were presented that were either similar or dissimilar to situations presented in training. Results of both the interviews and staged assessments indicated that the participants' newly acquired problem-solving skills generalized to similar and dissimilar situations.     

Misremembering a familiar object: Mnemonic illusion,not drawing bias

It was reported by Jones (1990) that the design of British coins is systematically misremembered. Although the Queen's head in fact faces right, most people draw it facing left. It is possible, however, that the origin of this phenomenon does not reside in memory but instead in a leftward drawing bias. Two experiments of the three reported here tested this hypothesis. In Experiment 1, British participants attempted to recall the direction of the Queen's head but responded verbally instead of pictorially. The results were similar to those of Jones and thus contradict the hypothesis that misremembering of the Queen's head is caused by a leftward drawing bias. In Experiment 2, Canadian participants attempted to draw a Canadian coin. Leftward misremembering was not observed in this case. Thus the hypothesized importance of a leftward drawing bias was again not supported. Instead, the results provided support for the schema explanation of the Queen's Head memory illusion proposed by Jones. The results of Experiment 3, which compared memory for British coins and stamps, further bolstered this conclusion.     

Conditioned taste aversions support drug discrimination learning at low dosages of morphine.

The present experiment shows that a conditioned taste aversion procedure can support discrimination learning at dosages of morphine comparable to those required to produce motivational effects. Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with 4.0 mg/kg morphine sulfate prior to a saccharin-lithium chloride pairing, and physiological saline prior to a saccharin-saline pairing. The rats avoided the saccharin solution following the administration of morphine and consumed significantly more saccharin following saline administration after four discrimination cycles. After this initial discrimination the subjects were trained with progressively lower doses of morphine. Discrimination learning was apparent at doses of 2.0, 1.5, 1.0, 0.75 and 0.5 mg/kg. Animals initially trained with 1.0 mg/kg morphine also learned the discrimination but required 10 training cycles. After this initial discrimination the subjects were trained with progressively lower dosages of morphine and showed a discrimination at a dosage of 0.5 mg/kg.     

Effects of a Communication Skills Training Programme on the Cognitions of Careers Guidance Students

Traditionally, communication skills training has focused principally on overt behaviours that are clearly identifiable. In recent years there has been an increasing awareness that cognitive processes can have considerable influence on behaviour. An attempt was made to establish whether changes in cognitions occurred as a result of a behaviourally-based communication skills training programme in which there had been no explicit attempt to bring about such cognitive changes. More specifically, the study examined whether such a programme resulted in changes in aspects of the personal construct space of students on a Diploma in Careers Guidance course. The results offered some support for the hypothesis that the programme produced changes in the students' personal construct space.     

The desire to lose one's identity

The desire to merge identities with an intimate partner was found to be negatively related to psychoticism but related to other social desires, such as the desire for physical closeness and identifying with the achievements of others.     

The relationship between personal authority in the family system and discovery of meaning in life

This study investigated the relationship between intergenerational family relationships and Frankl's concept of meaning in life. Intergenerational family relationships were measured by the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire (PAFS-QE) by Bray, Williamson, and Malone. The meaning in life variables were measured by the Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R) by Reker. This quantitative study, using the BMDP Statistical Package (Dixon, 1990), correlated the scores on various subscales from both instruments, resulting in seven statistically significant relationships. The findings, although modest, suggest the existence of a relationship between these two theoretical areas.This article is based in part on the first author's doctoral dissertation at Texas Woman's University.A copy of the PAFS-Q may be obtained from: James H. Bray, PhD, 5510 Greenbriar, Houston, TX 77005. A copy of the LAP-R may be obtained from: Gary Reker, PhD, Trent University, Psychology Department, Peterborough, Ontario Canada K9J 7B8.     

The real and the ideal; gender differences in heterosexual behaviour among Norwegian adolescents

This article focuses on gender differences in early heterosexual behaviour among Norwegian adolescents. The material comprised a random sample of 3000 Norwegian adolescents aged 17–19 years. The response rate was 63%. Data were collected by means of anonymous self-administered questionnaires. Sixty-nine per cent of the girls and 59% of the boys had had sexual intercourse. The majority of the adolescents, and a larger percentage of girls than of boys, had their first intercourse within a relationship of mutual commitment. The boys' first coital partners were 0.2 years younger than the boys themselves and the girls' partners were 2.8 years older than were the girls. Boys had had more coital partners than girls but girls had had intercourse more often than boys. Coital frequency was affected more by how long the adolescents had known the partner than by gender as such. In conclusion, boys and girls aged between 17 and 19 years form part of couples at two different stages of development. For this reason, boys and girls accumulate different sexual experiences in the early stage of their sexual careers.