Sexual responding of “nonrapists” to aggressive sexual themes: Normative data

The present study presents data relevant to the sexual responding to aggressive cues of a large sample of nonrapist males recruited from the community. Two hundred three subjects received physiological assessment of sexual arousal to heterosexual and rape stimuli. Results indicated that under instructions not to interfere with sexual responding, approximately 80% of the nonrapists would be correctly classified, which was significantly different from chance. However, under instructions to suppress arousal, classification was no better than chance. The rape index was not related to age, socioeconomic status, sexual experience, or amount of arousal shown in the laboratory. However, there was a small but significant relationship to IQ. Overall, the data suggest that for instructions not to interfere with responding, the error rate seen in this larger-scale sample was equivalent to that in previous studies using smaller normative samples and that classification in general is not biased by the subject characteristics measured in this study.Portions of this project were supported by USPHS Grant MH-34030-02 from the Center for the Studies of Crime and Delinquency and by Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Research Contract ID-0783 to the Department of Psychiatry.     

Measurement error in direct observations: a comparison of common recording methods

Videotapes of three brief duration, three medium duration and three long duration types of stereotyped behaviour (of eight severely retarded children) were analysed to provide a criterion record of the true percentage duration of the behaviour. The criterion record was compared with the records produced by four time-sampling methods: a whole-interval method, two partial-interval methods and a momentary time-sampling method. As predicted, the whole-interval method grossly underestimated and the partial-interval methods grossly overestimated the true percentage duration of the behaviour, except when the duration of individual responses was much longer than the observation interval. Momentary time-sampling was not an errorless method but was consistently superior to the other methods.The implications of these findings for the detection of treatment effects by direct observations are discussed.     

Electrode placement,EMG feedback,and relaxation for tension headaches

Fifteen tension headache subjects were allocated to one of three groups: direct EMG feedback (from a site corresponding to the source of pain), indirect EMG feedback (from a site not corresponding to the source of the pain) and relaxation instructions. There were two base-line, six treatment and one post-treatment sessions. No significant differences were found between base-line and post-treatment EMG levels, for any of the groups; however, some significant reductions in levels were obtained within sessions. EMG levels recorded during headache attacks did not differ significantly from levels recorded during base-line. Frequency and intensity of headaches were significantly reduced, particularly in the relaxation group. At follow-up this improvement was maintained for subjects with forehead pain, but differences between the groups had disappeared.     

The effects of a response cost treatment tactic on hyperactive children

In a pilot study, a multielement design was used to assess the effectiveness of a response cost procedure on a 7-year-old child's hyperactive behavior and academic performance across days. The procedure was effective in reducing off-task behavior and in increasing academic assignment completion. In Experiment 2, three strategies were compared to a no-treatment baseline in treating an 8-year-old hyperactive child: drug (Ritalin) alone, response cost alone, and drug plus response cost. The cost program alone and the cost program combined with medication were effective in reducing off-task behavior and in increasing academic performance. In both studies, the procedure was viewed by the teachers as practical and effective for use in a classroom setting. The subjects liked the cost system and believed that they completed more academic work when it was operative.     

The pursuit of the minor premise a commentary on normality

In this paper are explored the ethical implications of the answers to three questions: Whether or not a diseased state is discrete; the criteria by which that question is answered; and how the diseased state is to be identified. Examples are given showing that some states appear to be clearly discrete, and others equally clearly not discrete. The nature of the pertinent evidence will be affected accordingly. It is shown that a slavish and inappropriate concern with categories leads to anomalous ethics. Finally, it is suggested that many of these problems may be avoided by centering the ethics of medicine on optimizing the welfare of the patient rather than by thinking in terms of categorical disease.     

Evaluating competence of women and men: Effects of marital and parental status and occupational sex-typing

A sample of 160 female and male college students read a completed job application and a letter written by the applicant. The job was in either a feminine or a masculine field. The applicant was described as either female or male, single or married, and having one or no children. Subjects answered seven evaluative questions about the competence of the applicant and the merits of the letter. Women, especially single ones, who applied for a sex-typical job generally were evaluated most favorably. Men, especially single ones, and women who applied for sex-atypical jobs were evaluated least favorably.     

Effects of background anger,provocation, and methylphenidate on emotional arousal and aggressive responding in attention-deficit hyperactivity disordered boys with and without concurrent aggressiveness

We investigated the effects of background anger, provocation, and methylphenidate on emotional, physiological, and behavioral responding in children with attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with and without concurrent aggression. Our study revealed that ADHD boys showed more emotional and physiological distress when exposed to an interaction in which an administrator chastised each boy's favorite counselor, compared to a friendly interaction between the two adults. The background anger manipulation did not affect the aggressive behavior of the boys against an opponent in an aggressive game. High-aggressive (HA) ADHD boys were more likely to respond to provocation with aggression than low-aggressive (LA) ADHD boys, but only LA boys showed increased physiological reactivity with increasing provocation. Methylphenidate resulted in increased heart rates under all conditions and did not interact with any of the other findings.This project was conducted while the first author had the support of National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grant AA 06267.The authors wish to thank the staff members of the 1987 Summer Day Treatment Program who assisted in conducting this project. The authors also express their appreciation to Karen Guthrie for coordinating the medication assessment and to Hart Blanton for computer programming.