Alcohol Consumption, Outcome Expectancies, and Victimization Status Among Female College Students

The present study examined differences in the extent of alcohol consumption and endorsement of alcohol-related outcome expectancies between victims of alcohol- or drug-related sexual assault, victims of non-alcohol- or non-drug-related sexual assault, and nonvictim controls. The alcohol consumption patterns alcohol outcome expectancies and victimization status of 176 female college students were assessed. Results indicated that relative to nonvictims and victims of non-alcohol- or non-drug-related sexual assault, victims of alcohol- or drug-related sexual assault reported more frequent and greater alcohol consumption and a greater extent of endorsement of alcohol outcome expectancies. Furthermore. extent of alcohol consumption was associated with different alcohol expectancy outcomes for each group. Implications for the prevention of sexual assault and directions for future research are discussed.     

Changes in the Composition of the Homeless Population: 1992–2002

This study examines changes in the characteristics of the homeless population before and after a period of extended economic expansion (1992–2002). Data from other sources suggest that, during this 10-year period, the size of the overall population of homeless persons may have declined slightly, though not significantly, both in the city studied and nationally. In-depth surveys of representative samples of homeless adults (N = 249 in 1992–94; N = 220 in 2000–2002) revealed significant differences in the composition of the homeless population across the time period, consistent with queuing theory. Persons experiencing homelessness after the expansion appeared to be a more “chronic,” less readily employable population than those interviewed at the start of the expansion: Those interviewed after were older, spent more time living on the streets, had more health symptoms, were more likely to have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and had more restricted social networks and social support. Policy, research, and service provision implications of the findings are discussed.     

Hardly thinking about others: On cognitive busyness and target similarity in social comparison effects

Two studies were undertaken to investigate the impact of other-self similarity on the outcome of social comparison effects when people are cognitively busy versus non-busy. Results demonstrate that when perceivers are able to devote sufficient cognitive resources to the comparison process, extremely similar others lead to assimilative self-evaluations, whereas moderately similar others lead to contrastive self-evaluations and dissimilar others lead to null effects. When perceivers are cognitively busy, however, both extremely and moderately similar others yield assimilation effects, whereas dissimilar others yield contrast effects.     

A Brief Proof of the Full Completeness of Shin’s Venn Diagram Proof System

In an article in the Journal of Philosophical Logic in 1996, “Towards a Model Theory of Venn Diagrams,” (Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 463–482), Hammer and Danner proved the full completeness of Shin’s formal system for reasoning with Venn Diagrams. Their proof is eight pages long. This note gives a brief five line proof of this same result, using connections between diagrammatic and sentential representations.     

Exposure Through Written Emotional Disclosure: Two Case Examples

Written disclosure is a procedure in which individuals repeatedly write about the most traumatic experience of their lives with as much emotion as possible. Research has demonstrated that, relative to a control writing condition, written disclosure is associated with improvements in physical and psychological functioning. As a result of these findings, there has been suggestion that written disclosure may be used as a primary intervention for psychological distress. In this paper, two case studies are presented in which written disclosure was used as an intervention for trauma-related psychopathology. The written disclosure procedure resulted in significant symptom improvements for one individual but not for the other. Differences between the two cases are highlighted and the strengths and weaknesses of the written disclosure procedure as a stand-alone intervention are considered.     

STEADY-STATE ASSESSMENT OF IMPULSIVE CHOICE IN LEWIS AND FISCHER 344 RATS: BETWEEN-CONDITION DELAY MANIPULATIONS

Previous research has shown that Lewis rats make more impulsive choices than Fischer 344 rats. Such strain-related differences in choice are important as they may provide an avenue for exploring genetic and neurochemical contributions to impulsive choice. The present systematic replication was designed to determine if these findings could be reproduced using a procedure less susceptible to within- or between-session carry-over effects that may have affected previous findings. Specifically, delays to the larger–later food reinforcer were manipulated between conditions following steady-state assessments of choice, and the order of delays across conditions was mixed. The results confirmed previous findings that Lewis rats made significantly more impulsive choices than Fischer 344 rats. Fischer 344 rats' preference for the larger–later reinforcer, on the other hand, was less extreme than reported in prior research, which may be due to carry-over effects inherent to the commonly used technique of systematically increasing delays within session. Previously reported across-strain motor differences were reproduced as Lewis rats had shorter latencies than Fischer 344 rats, although these latencies were not correlated with impulsive choice. Parallels between reduced dopamine function in Lewis rats and clinical reports of impulse-control disorders following treatment of Parkinson patients with selective D2/D3 dopamine agonists are discussed.