Equivalence class formation in language-able and language-disabled children

Stimulus equivalence seems to have relevance to the study of semantics and of language more generally. If so, there may be a relation between language use and the demonstration of stimulus equivalence. This was examined in three groups of children ranging in chronological age and matched on a conventional measure of mental age: normally developing preschoolers, retarded children who used speech or signs spontaneously and appropriately, and retarded children who did not. All children were taught a series of four related discriminations and were then tested to determine if classes of equivalent stimuli had formed. All of the language-able children (retarded and normal) formed equivalence classes, whereas none of the language-disabled children did so. Although the exact nature of the relation between stimulus equivalence and language remains to be clarified, these results support the view that stimulus equivalence is a phenomenon with relevance to language.     

Cues, consequences and therapeutic talk: effects of social context and coping statements on pain

The present study examined the effects of two types of coping statements on tolerance of experimentally-induced pain when the Ss either thought the experimenter knew or did not know their statements. When Ss thought no one knew their statements, no therapeutic effects were shown. When Ss knew the experimenter knew the statements, the Ss tolerated the pain longer and showed specific effects depending on the specific type of coping statement used. The implications of this study for distinguishing informational, self-instructional and social-motivation effects in therapy are discussed.     

OBSERVATIONS ON CONTACT STIMULATION PROVIDED YOUNG CHILDREN IN SELECTED AREAS OF GREECE,USA, AND USSR

This study was a cross-cultural investigation of contact stimulation, a variable known to be important to the developmental status of young children. An observational checklist was employed to examine objectively physical contacts provided young children by their caretakers in three modern western societies. Forty-nine caretaker-child pairs were studied for a total of 635 minutes in free-play situations in selected areas of Greece, the United States and Russia. Contacts designated as caretaking (designed to satisfy needs of children), pacifying (designed to please children), retrieval (designed to remove children physically from undesirable situations or places), and punishment were observed and measured. Results showed that American caretakers provided their charges with significantly fewer contacts than did caretakers in either of the other two societies studied. No differences were found either in physical retrieval or punishment contacts among the three groups. Implications for childrearing in all three societies were discussed.     

Instructional control of sex-related motor behavior in extremely masculine or feminine adults

The main purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which apparently sex-typed subjects manipulated behaviors on the Sex Role Motor Behavior Checklist in response to instructions to convey specific sex-role impressions. Extremely masculine and feminine males and females (10–12 per group) were assessed for their ability to change sex-related motor behavior upon request. Subjects were able to produce significant increases in masculine and feminine motor behavior, particularly in the areas of walking and sitting. Many individual behaviors, however, showed small or inconsistent changes. Apparently, many of the motor differences naturally displayed by males and females are either not consciously part of sex-typed adults' concept of given sex roles or are relatively inflexible in this population. Secondary purposes of the study were to identify specific sex-related motor behavior (a) to alter when changes in sex role seem desirable and (b) to utilize as dependent measures in measuring changes in sex role. Walking and sitting were shown to be especially important areas.The authors would like to thank David Millsaps, Reid Smith, Donna Gosnell, Ruth Rankin, and Stephanie Stohr for their assistance.     

Sexual Aggression and Control In Dating Relationships

This paper examines the effect of interpersonal control on sexual aggression while dating. A sample of white, heterosexual, college dating relationships is examined. Data are collected on men and women who inflict and sustain sexual aggression. The results indicate that, net of other effects, interpersonal control is a significant predictor of both men and women inflicting and women sustaining sexual aggression. It is argued that future research should look more to interaction patterns among couples rather than viewing sexual aggression as the result of men demonstrating their masculinity.     

The Impact of Gender on Productivity and Satisfaction Among Medical School Psychologists

The impact of gender on productivity and satisfaction was examined among a random sample of 293 psychologists employed as faculty members in medical schools. Forty-one percent of the respondents were female. Males were older than females, had worked in a medical school longer, had higher academic ranks, held more administrative positions, were more likely to be tenured, and earned higher salaries. When years of employment as a psychologist were statistically controlled, there were no gender differences in productivity, as measured by publications, presentations, and grant awards; however, gender differences in salary remained. Females were less satisfied than males with regard to salary, promotion opportunities, and overall respect. Results are discussed within the context of the changing gender composition within psychology and the changing demands within the health care system.     

Psychiatric and Psychological Morbidity as a Function of Adaptive Disability in Preschool Children with Aggressive and Hyperactive-Impulsive-Inattentive Behavior

Children with high levels of aggressive-hyperactive-impulsive-inattentive behavior (AHII; n = 154) were subdivided into those with (n = 38) and without (n = 116) adaptive disability (+AD/–AD) defined as a discrepancy between expected versus actual adaptive functioning. They were compared to each other and a control group of 47 normal children. Both AHII groups were more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder than control children; more symptoms of general psychopathology; greater social skills deficits; more parental problems; and lower levels of academic achievement skills. Compared to AHII – AD children, AHII + AD children had (1) more conduct disorder; (2) greater inattention and aggression symptoms; (3) more social problems, less academic competence, and poorer self-control at school; (4) more severe and pervasive behavior problems across multiple home and school settings; and (5) parents with poorer child management practices. Thus, adaptive disability has utility as a marker for more severe and pervasive impairments in AHII children.     

MORALIZATION AND BECOMING A VEGETARIAN:

Abstract —We describe a rather common process that we call moralization, in which objects or activities that were previously morally neutral acquire a moral component. Moralization converts preferences into values, and in doing so influences cross-generational transmission (because values are passed more effectively in families than are preferences), increases the likelihood of internalization, invokes greater emotional response, and mobilizes the support of governmental and other cultural institutions. In recent decades, we claim, cigarette smoking in America has become moralized. We support our claims about some of the consequences of moralization with an analysis of differences between health and moral vegetarians. Compared with health vegetarians, moral vegetarians find meat more disgusting, offer more reasons in support of their meat avoidance, and avoid a wider range of animal foods. However, contrary to our prediction, liking for meat is about the same in moral and health vegetarians.     

Repetition of previously novel melodies sometimes increases both remember and know responses in recognition memory

Recognition memory for previously novel melodies was tested in three experiments in which subjects usedremember andknow responses to report experiences of recollection, or of familiarity in the absence of recollection, for each melody they recognized. Some of the melodies were taken from Polish folk songs and presented vocally, but without the words. Others were taken from obscure pieces of classical music, presented as single-line melodies. Prior to the test, the melodies were repeated for varying numbers of study trials. Repetition of the Polish melodies increased both remember and know responses, while repetition of classical melodies increased remember but not know responses. When subjects were instructed to report guesses, guess responses were inversely related to remember and know responses and there were more guesses to lures than to targets. These findings establish that remembering and knowing are fully independent functionally and, by the same token, they provide further evidence against the idea that response exclusivity causes increases in remembering to force decreases in knowing. The findings also suggest that simultaneous increases in remembering and knowing occurred because the Polish melodies came from a genre for which the subjects had relatively little previous experience.