The family relations of female juvenile delinquents

This study evaluated the assumption that the family relations of female delinquents are more dysfunctional than those of male delinquents. In a 2 × 2 (gender by delinquency status) design, 32 intact families were matched on demographic variables, and the male and female delinquents were matched on arrest data. Mothers, fathers, and adolescents were administered a selfreport personality inventory and were observed during a family interaction task. Consistent with the extant literature, families of delinquents had low rates of facultative information exchange and delinquent adolescents were more dominant toward their mothers than were well-adjusted adolescents. It was also observed that fathers of delinquents were more dominant toward their wives than were fathers of well-adjusted adolescents. In regard to the primary purpose of the study, it was observed that mother-adolescent dyads and parents in families of female delinquents had higher rates of conflict than their counterparts in families of male delinquents. In addition, the fathers of female delinquents were more neurotic than the fathers of male delinquents. These findings provide some support for the view that the families of female deliquents are especially dysfunctional.This research was supported by funding to the Department of Psychology at Memphis State University granted through the Centers of Excellence Program of the State of Tennessee. We gwratefully appreciate the cooperation of Judge Kenneth Turner of Memphis Juvenile Court, and of George Relyea, who has provided statistical consultation over the years.     

Cross-cultural componential analysis on affect attribution of emotion terms

One concern of studies of emotions is that of the underlying denotative components of the meanings of emotional terms, whether people are actually cognizant of them or not. In this study, we evaluated the characteristics of 10 emotional denotative components and their hierarchical ordering in attribution to 22 emotion concepts across 23 different human societies. Empirically, a quantitative model, developed by Tzeng and Osgood (1976), was used to link the relationship between affect measures of the emotion concepts and their characteristics on denotative components. It was found that the 10 denotative components functioned extremely well in predicting the affect for individual cultures and also for the 23 cultures as a whole. Cross-cultural comparisons revealed some significant differences among the components in predicting indigenous affect attributions for different cultures. Finally, the nature and dynamics of such intercultural differences were discussed in reference to the issue of independence between affect and cognition.This research was planned and carried out as a part of a cross-cultural research project of out laboratory. It was completed during Dr. Rumjahn Hoosain's visiting professorship at Purdue University School of Science at Indianapolis for his sabbatical leave from the University of Hong Kong. The authors wish to express their gratitude to our foreign colleagues who participated in the data collection for this study.     

The Composite-Stimulus Analysis and the Quantal Nature of Stimulus Control: Response and Incentive Factors

The Psychological Record -     

Principal components analyses of behavior problems in Jamaican clinic-referred children: Teacher reports for ages 6–17

Factor analyses of child behavior problems have often yielded two broadband syndromes, Overcontrolled (e.g., worrying, fearfulness, withdrawal) and Undercontrolled (e.g., restlessness, fighting, disobedience). We explored whether these two broad-band syndromes might be identified for youngsters in Jamaica. We obtained teacher reports for 320 clinic-referred Jamaican youngsters on a 24-item problem checklist designed by Jamaican clinicians for the assessment of child behavior problems and subjected these to principal components analyses. Regardless of whether the sample was split according to age or sex, the analyses revealed factors similar to the Over- and Undercontrolled syndromes most often found in other cultures. The analyses also revealed school absence factors in each age and sex group; school avoidance was correlated with crying in children (aged 6–11) but with conduct problems in adolescents (aged 12–17). The findings suggest important similarities and possible differences between the factor structures of child behavior problems in Jamaica and the United States.This study was supported through grants from the University Research Council of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, which we gratefully acknowledge. We thank Frank Knight, Patricia Smykle, Mary Desouza, Larry Galpert, Kathay Overly, and Bernadette Walter for this assistance with data gathering and data reduction.     

Parents' attributions for achieving compliance from attention-deficit-disordered children

Ninety-one parents provided reasons for the compliance and noncompliance of either their attention-deficit-disordered, hyperactive (ADDH) or non-ADDH child in six different situations. These attributions were rated on Weiner's (1979) dimensions of locus, stability, and controllability. While parents used the same categories to explain the reasons for their children's complaince behavior, they used different dimensional ratings for these explanations. Mothers rated attributions for noncompliance as more external than did fathers. Mothers of ADDH children viewed the causes of their children's behavior to be more unstable than did mothers of control children. Also, ADDH parents had lower expectations of achieving future compliance from their child than did non- ADDH parents. Results were discussed in terms of parental experiences, the need to consider an idiosyncratic approach to attributional meaning, and treatment implications.     

Velocity gradients and relative depth perception

The effectiveness of velocity gradients in providing relative depth information was assessed using random dot patterns translating horizontally. The gradients simulated two planes meeting at a horizontal line at the center, and subjects judged whether the center was the nearest or farthest part of the display. Accuracy increased with maximum dot speed, exceeding 90% in conditions combining the highest speed (10.4^o/sec) and longer of two display durations (10 sec) with unrestricted fixation. Separate experiments examined a rotational component perceived in the motion of the planes and the latency in reporting a rigid organization of the displays. Possible reasons for the chance accuracy found by Farber and McConkie (1979) and alternative explanations of the effect of maximum dot speed on accuracy are discussed. A model is presented that accounts for the effects of dot speed and display duration on the accuracy of relative depth judgments.     

Is recognition accuracy really impaired when the target is repeated in the display?

Bjork and Murray (1977) have presented a feature-specific interactive channels model that predicts perceptual interference between letters presented simultaneously in visual displays. Maximum interference is predicted when a target letter is presented with an identical letter. In their experiment, Bjork and Murray found support for their model, but their results could have occurred artifactually from response biases of their subjects. Santee and Egeth (1980) used a different paradigm that eliminated the possibility of this particular response bias and reported that their data supported the feature-specific model. However, the present paper shows that analysis of their data by Santee and Egeth was incomplete and the comparisons inappropriate. In two experiments that used the Santee and Egeth paradigm, we failed to find support for the feature-specific model when more detailed analyses of the data were undertaken. In a third experiment, one that used the Bjork and Murray paradigm, but with control of response bias, no significant or suggestive evidence was found that feature similarity between noise and target letters affected recognition of the latter.     

Differential thermometer for studying cerebral asymmetry

A device for measuring differences in temperature between the two sides of the head is described. The unit can be used for studying individual differences in cerebral asymmetry.