Age and cohort effects on personality factor scores across sexes and racial/ethnic groups

Substantial differences exist across ethnic groups and sexes in generational changes in status among groups residing in Hawaii. Despite these generational differences across groups, age differences in personality are remarkably consistent across sexes and racial/ethnic groups, and the few Sex x Age, Ethnicity x Age or Sex x Ethnicity x Age interactions account for little variance in scores. It is concluded that age/generational differences in personality factor scores in these populations result from age and not, to any major degree, from cohort effects.     

A low-stress restraint procedure for EEG acquisition in awake rats

A restraint procedure was developed to reduce movement-related artifacts during the acquisition of EEG data from unanesthetized, unparalyzed rats. It combines the low-stress properties of a cloth restraint bag with the improved immobility of a rigid restraint device. The spontaneous behavior of the rat facilitates both the induction of and the subsequent release from restraint.     

The Mediational Role of Perceived Competence in Psychological Adjustment to Rheumatoid Arthritis1

Chronic illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been linked to poor psychological adjustment, although individual differences in this relationship have been observed. This study examines the role of perceived competence as a mediator between RA and adjustment. Persons with RA (N= 208) were surveyed three times at 6-month intervals concerning several potential antecedents of adjustment (pain, psychosocial impairment, social support, and control beliefs), self-perceived level of competence, and level of adjustment (life satisfaction and depressive symptomatology). Within each observational period strong evidence was obtained for perceived competence as a mediator of adjustment. Longitudinally (across the year) the data were consistent with a mediational model, but strong evidence establishing mediation was not obtained. Implications of these findings, and the importance of examining the role of perceived competence in adaptation to chronic illness, are discussed.     

Tactile attention and the perception of moving tactile stimuli

Three experiments investigated the ability of subjects to identify the direction of movement of a pattern across the skin. In Experiments 1 and 2, subjects were required to identify the direction of movement of a pattern presented to one fingerpad while another moving pattern was being presented to an adjacent fingerpad. Subjects were instructed to attend only to the target location. The results showed that accuracy was consistently higher and reaction times were consistently faster when the two patterns moved in the same direction than when they moved in opposite directions. Both effects were largest when the two patterns were presented simultaneously. In Experiment 3, the nontarget location was the contralateral hand. In this case, performance was not affected by the presentation of the nontarget. Combined, the results suggest that movement information is processed across adjacent fingers even when subjects are explicitly instructed to attend only to one finger. Subjects do appear to be able to restrict attention to a single hand.     

Recency effects in direct and indirect memory tasks

In three experiments, subjects learned two lists under incidental conditions and were then given either a part-word or a word (extralist associate) cue. Each cue was related to one word in each list. Half the subjects were given production instructions (an indirect memory test), and half were given cued recall instructions (a direct memory test). When the interval between List 2 and the test was shortened, recency effects were found for part-word cues for both cued recall and production instructions. Little or no recency effects were found with word cues. These results are incompatible with a simple distinction between the types of memory trace or information that are tapped by direct as opposed to indirect memory tasks. Possible causes for the recency effect and for the difference between word and part-word cues are discussed.     

Learning from feedback: exactingness and incentives.

In a series of five experiments, exactingness, or the extent to which deviations from optimal decisions are punished, is studied within the context of learning a repetitive decision-making task together with the effects of incentives. Results include the findings that (a) performance is an inverted-U shaped function of exactingness, (b) performance is better under incentives when environments are lenient but not when they are exacting, (c) the interaction between exactingness and incentives does not obtain when an incentives function fails to discriminate sharply between good and bad performance, and (d) when the negative effects of exactingness on performance are eliminated, performance increases with exactingness.     

The Assertive Interaction Coding System

Conceptual and theoretical issues concerning the assessment of assertive behavior are discussed. A summary of a variety of instruments utilized in experimental and clinical settings is offered that reflects these issues. This review is followed by the presentation of a new assessment device developed by the authors—the Assertive Interaction Coding System. Research evidence as to its reliability and validity in experimental and clinical settings is presented. Implications for its use in clinical and research protocols are addressed.     

The adequacy of a role play of a previous event as affected by high and low social anxiety and rehearsal

This study was designed as a preliminary step in evaluating the adequacy of a role play of a previous event. Sixty undergraduate males, high or low in social anxiety, interacted with a female assistant. Two groups of subjects then rehearsed this conversation overtly or covertly, while a third group became involved in a distraction task. Finally, all subjects role played the initial interaction with a second female assistant. Individual Pearson product-moment correlations between the initial and the role-play sessions yielded moderate, but significant correlations for most of the rated behaviors. Canonical correlations for the verbal and for the nonverbal ratings showed the two sessions, as a whole, highly related. Two (high-versus low-social anxiety group) × three (overt, covert, or no rehearsal) analyses of variance were performed on four measures. Significant results were found only for the anxiety group effect and rehearsal group effect on one rating, anxiety behaviors. The implications of the modest individual correlations suggest that estimation of specific levels of behavior is not appropriate from a role play of a previous event. However, the use of such a role play to make global distinctions of relative competence may be appropriate. The results of this study are consonant with earlier studies on role-play assessment.This article is based on a master's thesis completed by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science degree at Ohio University.