Late Adolescents' Experiences With and Attitudes Toward Videogames1

A total of 229 late adolescents (a large majority 15 to 19 years of age) completed a questionnaire that assesses a broad range of videogame-relevant experiences, preferences, and attitudes. Videogame playing was found to be a more popular, and a more highly regarded, activity among males than females. Gender differences were also found in participants' ratings of their motivations for playing videogames, their evaluations of particular characteristics of videogames, and their selection of their “most favorite” videogame. The differences between frequent and infrequent videogame players appeared to be limited to differences in the extent to which videogame playing is pursued and evaluated as a positive leisure activity, rather than reflecting broad differences in interest or personality. Some relations were found between participants' self-reported personality characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, empathy, conscientiousness, and introversion) and their attitudes toward videogames.     

Dysphoria and Children's Processing of Supportive Interactions

This study examined the processing of supportive interactions by dysphoric and nondysphoric preteens and early adolescents. Seventy-two youngsters between the ages of 10 and 13 evaluated the supportiveness and helpfulness of standardized, videotaped interactions between a distressed preadolescent and a maternal figure. The tape presentations varied in terms of the level of depicted maternal support and instructional condition (degree of self-reference). The results indicated that dysphoric youngsters evaluated both the supportiveness and helpfulness of interactions less positively than nondysphoric agemates. Group differences in support evaluations were most pronounced in the self-referenced condition. The level of depicted support did not affect processing differences. Dysphoric subjects reported lower levels of emotional support in prior relationships and a greater tendency to view supportive behavior as ingenuine than nondysphoric peers. Variation in prior support experiences accounted for group differences in the evaluation of the supportiveness of new interactions.     

Associations Between Clinic-Referred Boys and Their Fathers on Childhood Inattention-Overactivity and Aggression Dimensions

The question asked in this study of 70 clinically referred 6- to 12-year-old boys with behavior problems was whether or not childhood inattention-overactivity and aggression are transmitted specifically from biological fathers to sons. Fathers' self-reported childhood inattention-overactivity on a retrospectively valid measure was exclusively associated with parents' ratings of their sons' current attention problems on the Mothers' Operational Measure for Sub-grouping (MOMS), the Revised Child Behavior Checklist (RCBCL), and an approximated DSM-IV inattention dimension. Fathers' self-reported childhood aggression was not associated with ratings of their sons' aggression on the MOMS or DADS (a parallel instrument for fathers), nor on DSM-III oppositional or conduct disorder dimensions, but it was exclusively associated with RCBCL ratings of sons' aggressive and delinquent behavior. None of the nonspecific correlations (father inattention-overactivity with son aggression or father aggression with son inattention-overactivity) was significant.     

Referenzsemantik in der Partnermodellierung

How can we explain that an assertion on something perceived can be understood in the same manner by somebody who cannot perceive that scene? This problem bases the interest in computational linguistics in how listener modeling could possibly be harmonized with reference semantics. Mental images substituting real perception appear as a way out. The architecture of the listener model has to be adapted to the creation and use of such pictorial data structures. Furthermore, the relation between the latter and a verbal (i. e., propositional) representation must be understood. The resulting architecture of a listener model with reference semantics can be employed to solve communicational problems from three general classes in a better way, as is demonstrated by an example implementation.     

A Cross-Linguistic Examination of the Noun-Category Bias: Its Existence and Specificity in French- and Spanish-Speaking Preschool-Aged Children

Previous research has revealed that English-speaking preschoolers expect that a novel count noun (but not a novel adjective), applied to an individual object, may be extended to other members of the same basic or superordinate level category. However, because the existing literature is based almost exclusively on English-speakers, it is unclear whether this specific expectation is evident in children acquiring languages other than English. The experiments reported here constitute the first cross-linguistic, developmental test of the noun-category linkage. We examined monolingual French- and Spanish-speaking preschool-aged children's superordinate level categorization in a match-to-sample task. Target objects were introduced with (a) novel words presented as count nouns (e.g., “This is afopin”), (b) novel words presented as adjectives (e.g., “This is afopishone”), or (c) no novel words. Like English-speakers, French- and Spanish-speakers extended count nouns consistently to other category members. This is consistent with our prediction that the mapping between count nouns and object categories may be a universal phenomenon. However, children's extension of novel adjectives varied across languages. Like English-speakers, French-speakers did not extend novel adjectives to other members of the same category. In contrast, Spanish-speakers did extend novel adjectives, like count nouns, in this fashion. This is consistent with our prediction that the mappings between adjectives and their associated applications vary across languages. The results provide much-needed cross-linguistic support for the noun-category linkage and illustrate the importance of the interplay between constraints within the child and input from the language environment.     

EFFECTS OF HIGH-PROBABILITY REQUESTS ON THE SOCIAL INTERACTIONS OF YOUNG CHILDREN WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES

High-probability requests were used to increase social interactions in 3 young boys with severe disabilities who had been identified as severely socially withdrawn. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effects of high-probability request intervention on (a) social initiations, (b) social responses, (c) continued interactions, and (d) performance of high- and low-probability requests. The students were observed in a second setting to examine generalization effects across peers who did not participate in the training sequence and settings. The results demonstrated that the high-probability requests increased the students' responsiveness to low-probability requests to initiate social behavior. Increases were also found in (a) unprompted initiations and extended interactions to the training peers, (b) unprompted initiations and extended interactions to peers who were not involved in the training procedure, and (c) generalized unprompted initiations and interactions in a second nontraining setting. The students maintained increased levels of initiations and interactions after all prompts were removed from both the training and nontraining settings.     

A course in hypnosis for chaplains

Understanding the mental processes involved in suffering has always been the best basis for communication between patients and caretakers. In this paper we are concerned first with acknowledgment of the existence, generally unknown, and the effects, generally unrecognized, of the hypnotic processes that occur in many forms of suffering, and second with developing our thesis that the understanding and use of hypnotic principles can greatly enrich the chaplain's capacity to alleviate suffering. In this brief presentation we will confine our discussion to the teaching of hypnosis as a virtual necessity in modern clinical training for chaplains. Comments and considerations will precede and follow an outline of the course presently offered at Lenox Hill Hospital [but we cannot here attempt to discuss or explain the fundamentals of hypnotic process or any other aspects of the course content itself]. A basic bibliography is appended for those who wish to know more about hypnosis itself.     

Assessing mental capacity and susceptibility to undue influence

Clinicians are commonly asked to participate in the determination of an individual's mental capacity and susceptibility to undue influence. Vague statutory definitions and lack of operational criteria for both determinations have contributed to inconsistency in the quality and usefulness of expert input to these determinations. Questionnaire responses of 119 probate judges from the U.S. indicate that this input is quite influential despite the problems mentioned above. This paper presents and discusses the judges' views on selected procedural and conceptual aspects of expert evaluation and testimony.