Friendships and Adaptation Across the Life Span

Friends foster self-esteem and a sense of well-being, socialize one another, and support one another in coping with developmental transitions and life stress. Friends engage in different activities with one another across the life span, but friendship is conceived similarly by children and adults. Friends and friendships, however, are not all alike. The developmental significance of having friends depends on the characteristics of the friends, especially whether the friends are antisocial or socially withdrawn. Outcomes also depend on whether friendships are supportive and intimate or fractious and unstable. Among both children and adults, friendships have clear-cut developmental benefits at times but are mixed blessings at other times.     

Managing the demonic: Some aspects of the neo‐Pentecostal deliverance ministry

Few people would doubt that alternative therapies have become increasingly popular over the last two decades in Western societies. The expulsion of evil spirits, otherwise known as ‘deliverance’, in order to overcome physical, psychological and emotional problems might appear to be on the fringe of the most ‘fringe’ alternatives. Nevertheless, in Christian charismatic circles the practice is of central importance over and above the apparent aim of spiritual healing. This article explains what deliverance involves with reference to observations and interviews conducted during field work study at deliverance meetings and training sessions. I conclude by exploring a number of sociological themes which might allow an insight into its wider frinctions. In doing so I will contend that deliverance provides a purpose for the charismatic community in upholding boundary maintenance, as well as integrating and sustaining the individual within the collective.     

一日龄小鸡的记忆保持及其与脑内加压素（AVP）含量的相关研究

以一日龄小鸡为实验对象,进行一次性厌恶回避反应训练,并应用加压素的放射免疫测定法,分析比较记忆保持测验中,成绩优、劣及对照组动物与其脑内加压素含量的相关。实验结果表明,记忆保持良好的动物,脑内加压素含量明显低于对照组和记忆不良组,而记忆不良组与对照组之间则无明显差异。提示在正常生理状态下,加压素参与记忆过程的调制,并可能在这一过程中有一定的耗竭或合成减少,如适时得以补充,则对记忆的巩固和再现起易化作用。     

通过样例和问题求解学习物理──加强对条件的认知

这项研究支持了我们先前的研究结果,即知识可以表征为一组产生式规则,产生式规则的学习可以通过考察样例和通过问题求解的方式进行。这项研究特别探讨了加强对于产生式的条件认知加工活动的效果。结果表明了我们这一构思的有效性。此外,还讨论了这一学习模式的学习过程。     

Relationship between birth order and leadership style for nursery school children

36 nursery school children were given a revised form of Fiedler's (1967) least preferred co-worker scale designated as the least preferred playmate scale. The purpose was to investigate the relationship between least preferred playmate scores and the birth order of young children. A 2 X 2 contingency table was constructed between birth order (first and later born) and leadership style (high and low). The resulting chi squares were insignificant for the total population and for males. However, for females the results were significant with a higher percentage of firstborns being task-oriented (low score) and a higher percentage of later borns being relation-oriented (high score).     

Completion of binary statements by children at three academic levels

This study was designed to examine the strategy employed by school-aged subjects when completing binary statements. Thirty-two incomplete binary statements representing four statement conditions (true affirmative, true negative, false affirmative, and false negative) were administered to 120 children randomly selected from three academic levels. A response-index change model is postulated as representing the strategy employed by these school-aged subjects when completing binary statements. According to this model, the factor that causes response time to differ across the four statement conditions is the number of times the child is required to change the set of his response index. The child begins the task of completing a binary statement by reading and encoding the incomplete statement. He then selects the numeral that corresponds to the adjective “odd” or “even” contained in the predicate of the incomplete statement. The child’s response index is now set to respond with this numeral. What the child does at this point will depend upon the type of statement condition with which he is working. If the child is completing a TA statement, no response-index change is required. He simply gives as his answer the numeral to which his response index is set. If the child is completing an FA statement or a TN statement, one response-index change is required. If the child is completing an FN statement, two response-index changes are required.     

COMPARING THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE:

Abstract— Recent research suggests that dynamic spatial reasoning tasks show more robust gender differences than static spatial reasoning tasks. These differences have implications for selection procedures based on aptitude test scores. Two experiments were therefore designed to examine the locus of such gender differences. In Experiment 1, 82 males and 82 females performed two separate tasks: judging the relative velocity of moving objects and judging their relative distances from target destinations. Significant gender differences occurred only for relative velocity judgments and were partially related to prior experience. A second experiment therefore tested the effects of practice and feedback on performance judging relative velocity. Male and female performance differences were again found, and performance improved equally as a result of feedback. Consistent with contemporary views of aptitude and assessment, the data suggest that equitable assessment of dynamic spatial abilities requires a determination of experiential history and learning rates as well as absolute performance levels.     

Expressiveness does predict well-being

Previous studies of sex role and well-being have yielded mixed results on the relationship between expressive traits and well-being. This may be due to methodological inconsistencies, problems inherent in early sex role inventories, and narrow definitions of well-being. This study assessed the relationship between the instrumental and expressive traits on the Short Bem Sex Role Inventory (SBSRI) and a composite picture of well-being, including depression, positive affect, affect balance, life satisfaction, and affect intensity, in a sample of primarily white middle-class college students. The two scales of the SBSRI predicted most aspects of well-being equally well, yielding two independent main effects. The expressive scale was the only significant predictor of affect intensity. Expressiveness scores were positively correlated with affect intensity overall, and with positive affect intensity in particular. It is suggested that the SBSRI is tapping two factors of a general positive self-schema, rather than sex role per se.Funds for this study were provided by the University of Pennsylvania Psychology Department. Many thanks to Martin Seligman and Janet Spence for their helpful comments on several drafts. Thanks also to Jay Hull and George Wolford for their help with statistical queries.     

An emergency situation simulator for examining time-pressured decision making

Between deliberate planning efforts and reactionary decision making lies a realm of time-pressured decision making. A number of real-world occupations deal with this realm on a regular basis, including air traffic controllers and emergency service dispatchers. To study this type of decision making, an emergency situation simulator has been developed, which recreates the stressful environment of the emergency service dispatcher by generating realistic hypothetical emergency situations.