Impulsive nonconformity in female chat room users.

Heavy chat room use has been associated with social isolation, introversion, impulse control problems, and risk taking. Such characteristics form part of the cluster of traits associated with schizotypy. This study used multiple regression to examine the relationship between age, sex, four dimensions of schizotypy, and frequency of reported chat room use. The only significant association with schizotypy was between frequency of chat room use and impulsive nonconformity (IN) in females. These findings may be explained by the increased risk associated with female chat room use.     

Assertion training: the effectiveness of a comprehensive cognitive--behavioral treatment package with professional nurses

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment package with a professional population of registered nurses using multiple self-report and role-play measures. Twenty-six self-referred registered nurses were randomly assigned to either a Treatment or Control group. The treatment package consisted of five weekly 2-hr sessions of group assertion training using the cognitive-behavioral model of Lange and Jakubowski. The Assertiveness Self-statement Test, the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule, the Adult Self-expression Scale, two Likert scales and role-play were used to evaluate changes over time. The results indicated: (1) the nurses in both groups at Pretreatment were clearly subassertive; (2) by Posttraining the Treatment-group members increased significantly their assertiveness as indicated on the self-report tests; (3) Treatment-group members had successfully maintained their improved assertiveness by the 2-month Follow-up; (4) the role-play ratings paralleled and supported the self-report results, but not at significant levels; (5) there was strong empirical support for the social validity of the treatment package; and (6) there was a high degree of treatment credibility for the cognitive-behavioral Assertion-training group. Overall, the results indicate clear support for the effectiveness of a broad-based cognitive-behavioral treatment package for treating subassertive behavior in a professional population of registered nurses.     

Comparison of self-concepts of students identified as gifted and regular students.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the self-concepts of 40 eighth grade students identified as gifted and 40 regular eighth grade students using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-concept Scale. A t test indicated a significant group difference on the behavior component only and no significant differences by gender. More similarities than differences were noted in self-concepts of these students identified as gifted and regular students.     

Developmental changes in apportionment of study time among items in a multitrial free recall task

First grade, third grade, and college Ss attempted to memorize a single set of items over the course of 5 trials, each trial consisting of a 45-sec study period followed by a free recall test. On all trials but the first, S was allowed to have available during his study period only half of the total set of items, but was free to select whichever items he wished to include in this half. Third grade and college Ss were significantly more prone than first grade Ss to select for study items not recalled in the immediately preceding recall test. The results suggest that the strategy of deliberately concentrating one's study activities on the less well mastered segments of materials to be learned, like other elementary memory strategies (e.g., rote rehearsal), cannot automatically be assumed to be part of a young child's repertoire of learning techniques.     

Transfer and the organization of Perceptual-Motor space

Summary Three experiments are reported involving transfer of effects of different types of visual distortion: lateral displacement, linear extent, and visual rotation. Transfer between different body parts and between different dimensions of space occur but to varying degrees. These are interpreted in terms of their implications for understanding the organization of perceptual and perceptual-motor space.This research was supported by the Center for Research in Human Learning of the University of Minnesota, and by grants 1-K3-HD 12,396, HD 03082 to the University of Minnesota. The authors are indebted to Dr. Albert Yonas for helpful discussions of the results.     

Non-Accidental Knowing

Knowledge excludes luck. According to the received view, this intuition reveals that knowing is essentially modal in character. This paper demurs. Either knowledge does not exclude luck, or the entailment reveals nothing about its conceptual character. It is argued that knowledge excludes accidentality, and that this notion is not modal but causal-explanatory. There are three central tasks. The first is to explicate the concept of accident. The second is to argue that the concepts of luck and accident are “intensionally distinct,” which is to say that no member of the intension of either holds on both. The third is to argue that an anti-accident requirement on knowledge is preferable to an anti-luck analogue on abductive grounds.     

Psychological therapy in prisons: Professionals’ perceptions

This study explored professionals’ perceptions of providing psychological therapy in prisons. Eight professionals, affiliated with counselling as well as counselling, clinical and forensic psychology, were interviewed. A social constructionist paradigm was used to understand how social and discursive practices shaped professionals’ accounts, allowing for critical engagement with taken-for-granted practices. Participants’ accounts were analysed using a social constructionist informed thematic analysis. Four themes were constructed: (a) performing therapy, (b) humanising the client, (c) frames inside frames and (d) a challenging but rewarding experience. The findings of this investigation indicated that therapy provision was interwoven with the socio-political ideals governing prison, which created a conflict between therapeutic values and penal values. This conflict has important implications for establishing and maintaining ethical and deontological practices in prison, particularly surrounding the dynamics power. The study indicated it is important for professionals to monitor and manage potential stigma and discrimination within therapy or service delivery. The results also found that working in prisons is a complex experience, which requires careful consideration for enhancing professional development for the prison therapist.     

Self‐Regulation and Power: How Self‐Regulatory Failures Can Enhance Social Power

Low self‐control is often associated with poor life outcomes. Here, we propose that self‐control failures may also provide social benefits by signaling and maintaining power. We identify several pathways by which reduced self‐control can assist in ascending social hierarchies. First, the self‐enhancing tendencies adopted by people with low self‐control may contribute to making positive first impressions and advertising power to new acquaintances. The direct and disinhibited communication styles that stem from self‐control failures may also enhance power and lubricate difficult social interactions. Disinhibited aggression can help people maintain and acquire material resources and establish dominance over rivals. Finally, the parallels between the behavior of people with low self‐control and people with power (e.g., self‐enhancement, disinhibition, approach‐orientation, aggression) suggest that people with impaired self‐control will be perceived as more powerful than people with intact self‐control. Evidence for these propositions and directions for future research are discussed.