Moderation and Mediation of HIV-Prevention Interventions: Relationship Status,Intentions, and Condom Use Among College Students1

This study examined the effects of 2 HIV prevention interventions on condom use and mediators of condom use. College students were randomly assigned to a control condition or an intervention (communication skills or technical skills). Those who received either intervention had greater condom use self-efficacy, more positive condom use attitudes, and stronger intentions to use condoms than did controls. Furthermore, 3-month follow-up data revealed that students in either intervention who were not in a steady dating relationship reported more consistent condom use than did those in the control condition, whereas students who were in either intervention and in a relationship reported somewhat less consistent condom use than did those in the control condition. Analyses suggested that effects of the interventions on condom use were mediated by increased intentions to use condoms.     

Bad Rap for Rap: Bias in Reactions to Music Lyrics1

This research examines the recent public outcry against violent rap songs such as Ice T's “Cop Killer.” It was hypothesized that rap lyrics receive more negative criticism than other types of lyrics, perhaps because of their association with Black culture. Two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of musical genre and race of singer on reactions to violent song lyrics. The results support the hypothesis. When a violent lyrical passage is represented as a rap song, or associated with a Black singer, subjects find the lyrics objectionable, worry about the consequences of such lyrics, and support some form of government regulation. If the same lyrical passage is presented as country or folk music, or is associated with a White artist, reactions to the lyrics are significantly less critical on all dimensions. The findings are briefly discussed in terms of various models of racism and stereotyping.     

Influence of Destabilization on the Temporal Characteristics of lquot;Volitionalrquot; Stepping

Previous work suggests that there may be fundamental differences between compensatory stepping responses evoked by postural perturbation and visually cued "volitional" stepping (e.g., gait initiation). In contrast to visual cueing, postural destabilization evokes an array of sensory inputs that are intrinsically linked to the mobilization of rapid compensatory responses. The hypothesis examined in this study was that this fundamental difference would lead to distinct changes in the temporal characteristics of the stepping response. Six healthy young adults were instructed to step quickly in response to either visual cueing or anterioposterior platform motion. Both forward and backward stepping responses were characterized, using measures of vertical ground reaction force. A stereotypical temporal patterning of the stepping response occurred in both stimulus conditions and both directions of stepping, and anticipatory postural adjustments were evident in all trials. However, postural destabilization led to a more rapid initiation and execution of the temporal pattern, in comparison with visually cued responses. The most pronounced effect was seen in the duration of the response, which was reduced by a factor of two, with approximately proportional foreshortening of both the preparatory and swing phases. The results suggest that sensory information conveying a state of instability has a distinct influence on the characteristics of a subsequent stepping reaction. The persistence of the anticipatory postural adjustments suggests that the failure to see this element of the response in previous studies may reflect fundamental differences between volitional and unplanned compensatory stepping.     

Human Signal-detection Performance: Effects Of Signal Presentation Probabilities And Reinforcer Distributions

University students participated in one of four standard two-choice signal-detection experiments in which signal presentation probability was varied and the reinforcement distribution was held constant and equal. In Experiments 1, 3 and 4, subjects' performance showed a systematic response bias for reporting the stimulus presented least often. Experiments 1 and 4 showed that this effect was reliable with extended training and monetary, rather than point, reinforcement. In Experiment 2, all correct responses were signaled in some way, and this produced the opposite relationship between signal presentation probability and response bias. Experiments 1 and 3 found that explicitly deducting money (intended as punishment) for equal numbers of incorrect responses on each alternative, or varying the obtained overall rate of reinforcement, produced no clear change in response bias. The bias, shown by humans, for reporting the stimulus presented least often remains a challenge for theories of stimulus detection.     

Clergy sexual misconduct: The affair everyone remembers

Reported instances of clergy sexual misconduct have risen significantly in recent years. Allegations of sexual misconduct have long lasting effects on the career of the clergy, the persons involved, and the congregations. A distinction is made between those clergy who engage in this behavior due to a personality disorder, and those who engage in sexual misconduct as a response to spousal or congregational conflict. In working with the women who have been sexually involved with the clergy, there needs to be a recognition of both the damage done to the woman and the woman's perception that some benefits may have resulted from this relationship. Congregations who have been through this experience will be reluctant to deal with it Unless there is ongoing consultation, there is an increased risk that the congregation will project their unresolved issues on the subsequent clergyperson thereby severely jeopardizing his or her chances of succeeding in the position. Arlene B. Brewster is a psychologist in private practice and is on the adjunct faculty of the Northeastern Ohio College of Medicine. Additional information may be requested by writing her at Associates in Counseling, #205 5500 Market St., Boardman, Ohio 44512.     

Cognitive development: Pastoral implications

How people think influences how they feel, and this combination of thinking and feeling drives behavior. While ministers often have a good understanding of the emotional dimension of the people who seek their counsel, xthe importance of cognitive development has often been understated in their education and training. With this in mind, this article discusses seven developmental stages of cognitive development and how each stage affects daily behavior. This discussion is followed by four pastoral implications.     

Religious aspects of bereavement

The purpose of this study was to learn more about the role of religious beliefs and practices in bereavement. Subjects were 312 adults each bereaved approximately one year. They were interviewed at the rate of about 50 per year over a 6 year period. Conclusions include: a) The opportunity to say goodbye to the deceased was significantly related to positive coping and outlook; (b) 47% of our subjects reported contact with the deceased following the death but such contact was not related to coping or outlook; c) grieving people are much more likely to turn to women than men for help; d) 77% said their religious beliefs were of considerable help in their grief.     

Changeover behavior and preference in concurrent schedules

Pigeons were trained on a multiple schedule of reinforcement in which separate concurrent schedules occurred in each of two components. Key pecking was reinforced with milo. During one component, a variable-interval 40-s schedule was concurrent with a variable-interval 20-s schedule; during the other component, a variable-interval 40-s schedule was concurrent with a variable-interval 80-s schedule. During probe tests, the stimuli correlated with the two variable-interval 40-s schedules were presented simultaneously to assess preference, measured by the relative response rates to the two stimuli. In Experiment 1, the concurrently available variable-interval 20-s schedule operated normally; that is, reinforcer availability was not signaled. Following this baseline training, relative response rate during the probes favored the variable-interval 40-s alternative that had been paired with the lower valued schedule (i.e., with the variable-interval 80-s schedule). In Experiment 2, a signal for reinforcer availability was added to the high-value alternative (i.e., to the variable-interval 20-s schedule), thus reducing the rate of key pecking maintained by that schedule but leaving the reinforcement rate unchanged. Following that baseline training, relative response rates during probes favored the variable-interval 40-s alternative that had been paired with the higher valued schedule. The reversal in the pattern of preference implies that the pattern of changeover behavior established during training, and not reinforcement rate, determined the preference patterns obtained on the probe tests.     

Semilattice-based dualities

The paper discusses regularisation of dualities. A given duality between (concrete) categories, e.g. a variety of algebras and a category of representation spaces, is lifted to a duality between the respective categories of semilattice representations in the category of algebras and the category of spaces. In particular, this gives duality for the regularisation of an irregular variety that has a duality. If the type of the variety includes constants, then the regularisation depends critically on the location or absence of constants within the defining identities. The role of schizophrenic objects is discussed, and a number of applications are given. Among these applications are different forms of regularisation of Priestley, Stone and Pontryagin dualities.