Selective information processing and schematic content related to eating behavior

An adaptation of the Stroop color-naming task was used to investigate selective information processing related to eating behavior in 90 undergraduate women. This study differed from previous studies by (a) treating eating behavior as a continuous variable and (b) looking at five separate categories of words including color, neutral, food, body shape, and other emotionally salient words. We did not find a strong pattern of relation between the Stroop task and eating and body image measures. Results suggest that in a nonclinical population, direct methods of accessing cognitions related to eating may be more fruitful than indirect measures.     

Gender and Video Game Performance

We investigated potential gender differences in video game (pong) performance in university students. In Experiment 1 men (N = 16) performed significantly better than women (N = 16). Experiment 2 was similar to the first, but used 14 men and 14 women who were matched carefully on previous video game experience. In spite of the matching, results replicated those of the first experiment. In Experiment 3 we evaluated the effect of an audience (male, female, none) on pong performance in 42 men and 42 women. We also assessed trait competition anxiety (Sport Competition Anxiety Test scores), sex role identification (Bem Sex Role Inventory scores), and video game experience. Both genders showed significantly poorer performance when they played pong in the presence of a female audience. Overall, males outperformed females as in the first two experiments. Examination of individuals with low, medium, and high levels of sport competition anxiety and videogame experience reveals persistent gender differences in performance, seemingly independent of levels of anxiety and experience. In all three experiments, both men and women showed significant improvement in performance over trials.     

Family systems in premarital counseling

Rooted in Bowenian family systems theory, a format for pastoral premarital counseling is described. Examples are cited which show how couples can be helped to look at the formation of their own marital unit by studying each partner's family of origin system.     

Recovery of structure and function following transection of the primary olfactory nerves in pigeons.

Preliminary experimentation on ring doves to ascertain whether they might regulate any aspects of their reproductive behavior in terms of olfactory cues was vitiated by the discovery that their sectioned olfactory nerves had apparently regenerated. Concurrent work on frogs has shown that the olfactory receptors degenerate after axotomy and are replaced by new ones. This phenomenon was studied in pigeons. All transected nerves were found to be healed. Electrical recording from the regenerated nerves revealed apparently normal receptor function and, indirectly, autonomic reflex responsiveness. Previously untrained pigeons learned an olfactory discrimination after reconstitution of the peripheral olfactory system using a conditioned suppression procedure. The olfactory nerves of trained pigeons were sectioned and the behavioral response recovered within 16-82 days. The gross sizes of primary olfactory nerves and olfactory bulbs were frequently much less than those of controls, but on the ultrastructural level there was no recognizable morphological deficiency in the receptor cellular organelles or terminal synaptic contacts in bulbar glomeruli. Recent results by other workers indicate that pigeons utilize olfactory cues in homing performance.     

When stereotypes hurt: Three studies of penalties for sex-role reversals

Three studies that demonstrate penalties for sex-role reversals are reported. In each study, subjects evaluated men and women who behaved either in line with sex-role stereotypes or counter to them. The results show that popularity ratings and perceived psychological adjustment of both passive-dependent men and aggressive-assertive women were adversely affected. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to recent theories about women's achievement motivation.     

Increasing mentally retarded adolescents' verbalizations about current events

The effects of antecedent and consequent events on the verbal behavior of three institutionalized mentally retarded adolescents were examined. Verbal statements, related to current national and international events, were recorded after exposures to television news programs. The study examined the accuracy of verbalizations as a function of: (1) exposures to television news presentations in massed (i.e., viewing the entire news program before an opportunity to describe it) versus distributed from (i.e., viewing each news item separately with each followed by an opportunity to describe it), and (2) contingent tokens and social praise for correct verbal responses (i.e., statements corresponding to news items presented). Both the temporal distribution of news presentations and the reinforcement procedures improved the accuracy of verbal statements emitted by the subjects.     

Procrustes matching by congruence coefficients

Matching by Procrustes methods involves the transformation of one matrix to match with another. A special least squares criterion, the congruence coefficient, has advantages as a criterion for some factor analytic interpretations. A Procrustes method maximizing the congruence coefficient is given. This solution is identical to Mosier's [1939] approximate solution, but is an exact solution for maximum congruence.