INTERRUPTING IRONIC PROCESSES

Abstract— Research on ironic mental control processes makes the under appreciated point that attempts to solve problems sometimes make them worse. Social scientists now know much about what ironic processes look like less about why they occur and too little about how to change them. Features of the exacerbation process itself suggest parsimonious approaches to treatment based on interrupting the "solutions" that keep ironic mental processes going (e.g. compliance-based paradoxical intervention). Extending Wegner's explication of ironic interpersonal (mental) processes we propose that ironic interpersonal (social) processes also maintain many human problems in this area will benefit from attending more to how problems persist between people as well as within them.     

TIME COURSE OF ACTIVATING BRAIN AREAS IN GENERATING VERBAL ASSOCIATIONS

Abstract— Generating a use far a visual word in comparison with reading the word aloud activates frontal attention areas first (170 MS), a left lateral frontal area next (250 ms), and then a left temporoparietal (Wernicke's) area (650 ms). A brief period of practice reduces these activations. If subjects are asked to respond to a word from the same practiced list by giving a novel use, the original activations reappear and are joined by activity similar in location and time to Wernicke's activation but in the right hemisphere. These findings demonstrate the time course of activations of neuroanatomical areas in word processing and indicate a role for the right hemisphere when semantic processing is more difficult, such as in generating a less frequent association in the presence of a highly practiced one.     

The Belief in Equality Inventory and Leadership Behavior: A Construct Validation

The belief-in-equality construct is defined as the belief that general ability and potential are widely distributed throughout the human population, rather than being limited to an elite minority. Data from a 21-item belief-in-equality inventory and from two construct-validation tasks were gathered using a liberal-arts undergraduate sample of 201 students. Of the two validation tasks, one indicated strong construct validity ( p < .015), however, the second one produced correctly patterned but insignificant results. The results showed that leaders with a high belief in equality put more funds into training their subordinates and had a tendency to delegate more authority to them than leaders with a weak belief in equality.     

Nurses' Anxieties about Biohazards as a Function of Context and Knowledge1

Final-year nursing students (N= 96) described their anxieties about biohazards, not only in relation to the occupational context of a hospital ward, but also in relation to their general life context. These contexts were reported to vary in the extent to which they permitted control over exposure to the two particular biohazards chosen for study: human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV). The data showed that nurses' anxiety about contracting HIV infection varied significantly across the two contexts, while anxiety about contracting HBV infection did not. In the general life context, anxiety about HIV was greater than anxiety about HBV for all subjects. This difference was significantly greater for those with incorrect knowledge about objective HIV seroconversion rates than for those with correct knowledge.     

Evaluating the Impact of a National AIDS Prevention Radio Campaign in St. Vincent and the Grenadines1

Based on extensive formative research in the three Eastern Caribbean countries of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada (Fishbein, Middlestadt, & Trafimow, 1993; Fishbein, Trafimow, et al., 1993), a three-nation, mass media, condom use campaign was developed. In order to assess the impact of the campaign, a follow-up survey was conducted in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This paper examines the effectiveness of the campaign by comparing responses on this survey by respondents who were or were not exposed to the campaign. A statistically significant impact of exposure to the campaign was obtained, indicating that a well-designed, empirically based, mass media campaign can be an effective tool in the battle to prevent the spread of AIDS.     

Defiant spirituality: Care traditions in the black churches

Conclusion I have tried to demonstrate that black church defiant spirituality is a complex, multi-dimensional phenomenon. In essence it represents the quest of exiled African peoples to experience ontological harmony with God and all of creation. In the context of a racist society, it has adapted itself to the exigencies of survival and gradual liberation. Specifically, it has sought to reconstruct reality by religiously affirming God's sovereignty over the just and unjust. Also, it has negated black invisibility, subverted political anemia, and now struggles to resist and conquer an encroaching spiritual despair in post-industrial society.I have identified three basic treasures which the black church may offer to other cultures, namely, that care and discipline are the responsibility of every Christian, that authentic Christian worship nurtures commitments to individual and social transformation and it offers a full sensory experience. I close with words from one of America's greatest twentieth century poets, Langston Hughes (1974)—entitled Mother to Son: Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor—Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachra' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light. So boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now —For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair. (p. 187)     

Internal approach to external sets and universes

A problem which enthusiasts ofIST, Nelson's internal set theory, usually face is how to treat external sets in the internal universe which does not contain them directly. To solve this problem, we considerBST,bounded set theory, a modification ofIST which is, briefly, a theory for the family of thoseIST sets which are members of standard sets.We show thatBST is strong enough to incorporate external sets in the internal universe in a way sufficient to develop the most advanced applications of nonstandard methods. In particular, we define inBST an enlargement of theBST universe which satisfies the axioms ofHST, an external theory close to a theory introduced by Hrbaek. HST includes Replacement and Saturation for all formulas but contradicts the Power Set and Choice axioms (either of them is incompatible with Replacement plus Saturation), therefore to get an external universe which satisfies all ofZFC minus Regularity one has to pay by a restriction of Saturation. We prove thatHST admits a system of subuniverses which modelZFC (minus Regularity but with Power Set and Choice) and Saturation in a form restricted by a fixed but arbitrary standard cardinal.Thus the proposed system of set theoretic foundations for nonstandard mathematics, based on the simple and natural axioms of the internal theoryBST, provides the treatment of external sets sufficient to carry out elaborate external constructions.Partially supported by AMS grants in 1993 and 1994 and DFG grant in 1994.Presented byRobert Goldblatt     

Assessing the Moral Development and Self-Esteem of Hawaiian Youth

This article reports on a study designed to assess the moral development and self-esteem of a group of youngsters who have received scant attention from researchers in the past. After presenting the results of their investigation, the authors discuss the implications of their findings for counselor education, practice, and future multicultural research.