Associative factors in free recall

An experiment on the free recall of 18-word lists is reported in which variations were made in associative frequency, word frequency and the number, and therefore size, of the presented groups. Recall efficiency was positively related to increasing associative frequency and larger presented group size. Measures of clustering were obtained along with subjects' own reports on the associative labels helpful to them in organizing their recall. A two-level storage model is proposed to account for the results.     

Unequal reinforcer magnitudes and relative preference for cooperation in the dyad

College-student subjects, who were paired with a confederate, chose to respond either independently or cooperatively for money reinforcers. The subject's relative preference for cooperation was assessed by a procedure (analogous to the psychophysical method of limits) in which response choice was monitored as reinforcer magnitude for one response mode was systematically varied while the other remained constant. Relative preference for cooperation was assessed when the confederate's payoff for cooperation was greater than the subject's (Experiment I) and when the confederate's payoff for independent responding was less than the subject's (Experiment II). For some subjects, changes in the confederate's reinforcer magnitudes resulted in shifts in relative preference for cooperation, which reduced the earnings differences, even though these preference shifts reduced the subject's absolute earnings. For those subjects for whom within-dyad differences in reinforcer magnitude produced no effect, a changeover button was introduced that allowed the subject to eliminate the payoff difference without reducing her own earnings; some subjects used this changeover button to eliminate earnings differences. Thus, the behavior of subjects varied, in part, as a function of reinforcer magnitudes provided for the confederate.     

Two studies of the movement responses in young children: new and highly discrepant norms

The Holtzman Ink Blot Test was administered to 5- to 6-year-old children and analyzed for movement response. The range and frequency of movement response in both an original and replication study are significantly greater than would have been anticipated for this age group based upon available normative data. NO significant differences were found in the frequency of Human Movement and Animal Movement responses. No sex difference among subjects was found in the range and frequency of movement responses produced. These new findings call into question previously reported data as well as some of the theoretical presumptions underlying the production of movement responses by young children.     

“Principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others…”: The heritability of empathic concern for others1

The present research was conducted to explore genetic influences on empathic concern for others. First, an index of empathic concern was created by combining relevant items from Gough's Adjective Check List (ACL). This index was validated by correlating scores of 88 undergraduates on the index with their scores on a self-report measure of empathy, which has been related to prosocial behavior. Correlations were sufficiently high to accept the validity of the index. Next, previously collected ACL responses of 114 monozygotic (MZ) and 116 dizygotic (DZ) twins were reanalyzed in order to create an empathic concern score for each twin. The twins were middle-aged males initially raised together but living apart at the time they completed the ACL. Comparison of intraclass correlations for MZ and DZ twins revealed, as predicted by the genetic hypothesis, significant (p < .005) heritability in empathic concern scores. This finding suggests that there may, indeed, be a genetic influence on individual differences in empathic concern for others. Some limitations of the present data are also considered. How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him.     

Fine points aside: data are data

Movement responses by 5 1/2- to 6 1/2-year-old children on the Holtzman Inkblot Test were reported on by Lockwood et al. in volume 45 of this Journal. Criticism of the findings discussed in that article by J. Swartz, Reinehr, and C. Swartz was published in the December, 1981, volume of the Journal. The present article rebuts their criticism and emphasizes the significance of the original findings which reflect new and highly discrepant normative M response data from that previously available.     

Holland's theory and non-college-degreed working black and white women

The main concern of this study was to investigate differences between black and white American women employed in traditional female occupations who took the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and the Self-Directed Search (SDS). The VPI and the SDS were administered to 110 black and white non-college-degreed workers in three occupations (laboratory technicians, sales clerks, and clerk-typists) corresponding to three of Holland's environmental categories (Investigative, Enterprising, and Conventional). In general, the findings for the three VPI and SDS scales and for these six occupational groups are mixed. On the SDS scales, findings indicate that black and white women in the same occupation seem to be far more similar than different. On the scales of the VPI, however, white and black women in the same occupation seem to be more different than similar.     

A simplified duality for implicative lattices and l-groups

A topological duality is presented for a wide class of lattice-ordered structures including lattice-ordered groups. In this new approach, which simplifies considerably previous results of the author, the dual space is obtained by endowing the Priestley space of the underlying lattice with two binary functions, linked by set-theoretical complement and acting as symmetrical partners. In the particular case of l-groups, one of these functions is the usual product of sets and the axiomatization of the dual space is given by very simple first-order sentences, saying essentially that both functions are associative and that the space is a residuated semigroup with respect to each of them.The author is supported at the Mathematical Institute of Oxford by a grant of the Argentinian Consejo de Investigations Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET). The author wishes to acknowledge the CONICET and the kind hospitality of the Mathematical Institute.     

Increased regional cerebral glucose metabolism and semantic memory performance in Alzheimer's disease: A pilot double blind transdermal nicotine positron emission tomography study

Nicotinic receptor dysfunction and impaired semantic memory occur early in Alzheimer's disease patients (AD). Previous research implied that nicotine's ability to enhance alertness, arousal, and cognition in a number of nonclinical populations was a function of its ability to stimulate CNS nicotinic cholinergic receptors. In this study it was hypothesized that transdermal administration of nicotine would increase both regional cerebral glucose metabolism (rCMRglc) and semantic memory (as assessed by verbal fluency). Two mild AD and two elderly controls underwent positron emission tomography scanning during a double blind nicotinic agonist verbal fluency challenge procedure. rCMRglc increases occurred in both AD patients, but not controls. In the two AD patients, verbal fluency scores increased by an average of 17%. One elderly control's verbal fluency increased, and the other decreased. These findings suggest that nicotine's effect on metabolism and verbal fluency is due to its ability to stimulate the cholinergic system.     

The Black-Sheep Effect: How Positive and Negative Advertisements Affect Voters' Perceptions of the Sponsor of the Advertisement1

Participants read a positive or negative (mock) political advertisement that was sponsored by either an in-group (subject and sponsor were members of the same political party) or an out-group (subject and sponsor were members of different political parties) member. The results found support for a black-sheep effect. An in-group sponsor of a positive advertisement was evaluated more positively than any out-group member, regardless of advertisement type, or an in-group member who sponsored a negative advertisement. However, an in-group sponsor of a negative advertisement was evaluated more negatively than either an in-group sponsor of a positive advertisement. or an out-group sponsor. regardless of advertisement type. The results are discussed in terms of social identity theory.     

Book Reviews

S idoli , M ara and B ovensiepen , G ustav (eds). Incest Fantasies and Self-Destructive Acts: Jungian and Post-Jungian Psychotherapy in Adolescence
S tevens , A nthony . Private Myths, Dreams and Dreaming
K ast , V erena . Imagination as Space of Freedom: Dialogue Between the Ego and the Unconscious
S egal R obert A. (ed.). The Allure of Gnosticism: The Gnostic Experience in Jungian Psychology and Contemporary Culture
E dinger , E dward F. The Eternal Drama: The Inner Meaning of Greek Mythology
H illman , J ames . Healing fiction
K napp , B ettina L. Manna and Mystery: A Jungian approach to Hebrew Myth and Legend
B lÉandonu , G Érard . Wilfred Bion: His Life and Works, 1897–1979
B roadribb , D onald . The Mystical Chorus: Jung and the Religious Dimension
S ymington , N. Emotion and Spirit: Questioning the Claims of Psychoanalysis and Religion
N egri , R. The Newborn in the Intensive Care Unit: A Neuropsychoanalytic Prevention Model
E arly , E mmett . The Raven's Return: The Influence of Psychological Trauma on Individuals and Culture