Associative competition in operant conditioning: blocking the response-reinforcer association

Naive rats were trained to leverpress with a 30-sec delay-of-reinforcement contingency from the start of training. In Experiment 1, the delay interval for different groups of subjects included a signal in the first 5 sec, a signal in the last 5 sec, or no signal at any time. Rats with the signal at the start of the delay interval learned most rapidly. Rats with the signal at the end of the delay failed to learn. In Experiment 2, a choice procedure was used, in which each of two levers was associated with its own 30-sec delay of reinforcement. The delay for one lever included a 5-sec signal at the end of the delay. The delay for the second lever had no signal in its 30-sec delay. Preference was in favor of the lever without the signal in the delay interval. The results demonstrate that the acquisition of new response can be blocked in a manner analogous to the blocking of Pavlovian conditioning.     

Age-Related Personality Differences in Inpatients with Personality Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study

There are few empirical studies of age-associated differences in personality characteristics of individuals diagnosed with Personality Disorder (PD), and none that comparatively examine multiple personality characteristics, with a variety of psychological measures, across a wide age range in adults diagnosed with PD and coexisting substance abuse. Personality test data of 392 psychiatric inpatients diagnosed with PD were analyzed by age group. Patients were assessed with the California Psychological Inventory, Psychological Inventory of Personality and Symptoms, Diagnostic Inventory of Personality and Symptoms, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-1, and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-1. There were no age differences in the number of patients diagnosed with PD, but older adults were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with more than one PD. Older patients with PD were significantly less impulsive, paranoid, high-energy, antisocial, and irresponsible than younger patients with PD. It appears that, with aging, there is a general mellowing of personality for those diagnosed with PD, which may be related to the proposed geriatric variants of PD.     

Structure and provision of services in Black churches in New Haven, Connecticut

Historically, Black (or African American) churches have played a central role as a center of religious and political life and also as a provider of human services and a healing community. This article examined the extent to which African American churches in 1 Northeastern urban environment are involved in the delivery of health and human service programs to their communities. It also explored how comfortable Black clergy are in referring their parishioners to the formal mental health system and identified the actual level of referrals. In addition, the analyses considered the individual and organizational characteristics that predict variations in the levels of support services and the likelihood of referral. Analyses revealed that African American churches deliver a broad range of services to the community. More than two thirds of the clergy feel comfortable in making a referral to a mental health agency or professional, and more than half have actually made a referral. Both service delivery and referral levels varied by several clergy and congregational characteristics. The implications of these findings for research and health policy are considered.     

Book reviews

The Culture of Religious Pluralism Richard E. Wentz, 1998 Boulder, Colorado & Oxford, UK: Westview Press 130 pp., £50.00 (hb), £10.50 (hb) ISBN 0–8133–2644–3 (hb), ISBN 0–8133–2644–3 (pb)

Religious Diversity and Human Rights Irene Bloom, J. Paul Martin & Wayne L. Proudfoot, eds., 1997 New York: Columbia University Press 355 pp., US$57.00, £40.00 (hb), US$21.00, £15.00 (pb) ISBN 0–231–10416–2 (hb), ISBN 0–231–10417–0 (pb)

New Religions as Global Cultures: Making the Human Sacred Irving Hexham & Karla Poewe, 1997 Boulder, CO: Westview Press xiv + 194 pp., £45.50 (hb), £13.00 (pb) ISBN: 0–8133–2507–2 (hb), ISBN 0–8133–2508–0 (pb)

Contemporary American Religion: An Ethnographic Reader Penny Edgell Becker & Nancy L. Eiesland, eds., 1997 Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira ress 272 pp., £19.99 ISBN 0–7619–9196–4

Sacred Tensions: Modernity and Religious Transformation in Malaysia Raymond L. M. Lee & Susan E. Ackerman, 1998 Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press ix + 172 pp., US$29.95 (hb) ISBN 1–57003–167–3

Does Christianity Cause War? David Martin, 1997 Oxford: Clarendon Press x + 226 pp., £30.00 (hb) ISBN 0–19–829267–8

Faith and Doubt: Religion and Secularisation in Literature from Wordsworth to Larkin R. L. Brett, 1997 Macon, GA: Mercer University Press 261 pp., £25.00, US$40.00 ISBN: 0 86554 544 8

The Search for Common Ground: What Unites and Divides American Catholics James D. Davidson, Andrea S. Williams, Richard A. Lamanna, Jan Stenftenagel, Kathleen Maas Wiegert, William J. Whalen, Patricia Wittberg, S.C., 1997 Huntington Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Press 287 pp., US$24.95 (plus shipping)

The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief and Experience Benjamin Beit‐Hallahmi & Michael Argyle, 1997 London: Routledge xii + 318 pp., £40.00 (hb), £14.99 (pb) ISBN 0–415–12330–5 (hb), ISBN 0 415 12331 3 (pb)

God's Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission R. Marie Griffith, 1997 Berkeley, CA: University of California Press xi + 275 pp., US$24.95 (hb) ISBN 0–520–20764–5

Restoring the Kingdom: The Radical Christianity of the House Church Movement Andrew Walker, 1998 Guildford: Eagle 416 pp., £9.99 (pb) ISBN 0–86347–160–9

The Faith of the Managers: When Management Becomes Religion Stephen Pattison, 1997 London & Washington: Cassell 188 pp., £14.99 (pb) ISBN: 0–304–70144–0

Jerusalem: What Makes for Peace! A Palestinian Christian Contribution to Peacemaking Naim Ateek, Cedar Duaybis & Marla Schrader, eds., 1997 London: Melisende xxix + 241 pp., £12.50 (pb) ISBN 1–901764–00–1

Western Scholarship and the History of Palestine Michael Prior, CM, ed., 1998 London: Melisende xvi +111 pp., £8.50 (pb) ISBN 1–901764–02–8

Rites of Passage in Contemporary Africa: Interaction between Christian and African Traditional Religions James L. Cox, ed. Series: Religion in Contemporary Africa Cardiff: Cardiff Academic Press, 1998 259 pp., £15.95 (pb) ISBN 1–899025–06–5

Between Cultures: Continuity and Change in the Lives of Young Asians Muhammad Anwar, 1998 London: Routledge 212 pp., £47.50 (hb), £14.99 (pb) ISBN 0–415–04647–5 (hb), ISBN 0–415–04648–3 (pb)

Historical Dictionary of Hinduism Bruce M. Sullivan, 1997 Lanham, Maryland & London: The Scarecrow Press xvii + 345 pp., US$49.00 ISBN 0–8108–3327–1

Religious Education: An Interpretive Approach Robert Jackson, 1997 London: Hodder & Stoughton 156 pp., £12.99 ISBN 0–340–68870‐X

The Division of Consciousness: The Secret Afterlife of the Human Psyche Peter Novak, 1997 Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company 258 pp., US$14.95 ISBN 1–57174–053–8

Religion Without Beliefs: Essays in Pantheist Theology, Comparative Religion and Ethics Frederic Lamond, 1997 London: Janus Publishing 184 pp., £7.95 (pb) ISBN 1–85756–341–7

Hiding Mark C. Taylor, 1997 Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 354 pp., US$29.95 ISBN 0–226–79159–9     

Restrained drinking and cognitive control among adolescents

The present study investigated restrained drinking and self-control in relation to alcohol consumption and problem drinking in a sample of adolescents. One hundred ninety-eight high school students (97 males and 101 females; mean age = 16.45 years) completed questionnaires that assessed levels of alcohol consumption, problem drinking, restrained drinking, and cognitive self-control. The findings were similar for males and females: higher levels of restrained drinking, as measured by cognitive emotional preoccupation (CEP), predicted higher levels of alcohol consumption and problem drinking. Moreover, it was high CEP in combination with a low score on a general measure of cognitive self-control that differentiated problem drinking from high levels of drinking. The results are consistent with previous research on young adults. The findings are discussed in relation to Baumeister and Heatherton's (1996) model of self-regulation failure.     

Comprehension by learning-disabled and nondisabled adolescents of personal/social problems presented in text.

Four groups of 14-year-olds, differing in reading level, learning disability status, and socioeconomic status, read and retold short problem narratives and answered questions. The pattern of reporting components of the problem schema (goal/obstacles/choices) differed for problems presented with or without a statement of the character's priority for action, suggesting that including priorities adds another level of information to the problem text and changes its macrostructure. Even the poorest readers showed this sensitivity to text structure. Three of the four measures of problem representation (idea units recalled, problem-schema components reported, and error rate) reflected overall reading ability. However, the degree to which extraneous information was incorporated into problem representations did not. Learning-disabled students made more importations, and more implausible importations, than did non-disabled students. Moreover, this pattern was associated with poor problem solving. Only proficient readers showed awareness of the source of the information (text or extratext) on which their predictions were based.     

Primary prevention of acculturative stress among refugees. Application of psychological theory and practice

Primary prevention in refugee mental health requires information from clinical, health, and cross-cultural psychology. Primary prevention's roots are in public health, which is distinguished by a communitywide perspective for addressing mental health concerns. This article summarizes research suggesting that refugees are an at-risk population, making them especially suitable for public health interventions. Research on stress and acculturation is highlighted, given its importance to prevention in refugee mental health. The opportunities for primary prevention programs and policies at 3 levels (i.e., local community, national, and international) are illustrated with case examples from both the United States and Canada. Prevention at the international level is highlighted by a World Health Organization Mental Health Mission to camps on the Thai-Cambodian border.     

PEER-MEDIATED PROCEDURES TO INDUCE SWALLOWING AND FOOD ACCEPTANCE IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Two studies demonstrated a functional relationship between a peer modeling procedure and the treatment of feeding disorders with 2 young children. In the first experiment, the use of a peer model treatment package was shown to induce swallowing in a child with dysphagia who had never swallowed food or liquid. In the second experiment, a child who consistently declined food was induced to increase food acceptance as a function of the same peer modeling package. In the latter experiment, a peer-mediated procedure, consisting of rotated opportunities to consume food with a peer, was found to increase consumption more than did modeling alone. The first experiment used a multiple baseline design across solids and liquids, and the second used a multiple treatment design. The results of both experiments are discussed as new and nonaversive treatments for feeding disorders of young children who are imitative.