The effects of perceived parental rearing style on the development of Type A pattern

The aetiological antecedents of the Type A pattern have not been studied widely. In the present study the effects of parental rearing practices on the development of Type A pattern were evaluated. Perceived parental rearing style was assessed by the EMBU and Type A pattern by the JAS. Subjects were drawn from a random sample of residents (older than 21 years) of a Dutch community. Results suggested that a significant amount of variance of Type A behaviour can be accounted for by perceived parental characteristics, especially rejection and lack of emotional warmth. It is suggested that lack of emotional warmth and negative evaluation of children by their parents may lead to an internalized maladaptive cognitive set in the children which may be a developmental antecedent for eliciting the competitiveness, achievement striving, and sense of time urgency characteristic of Type A adults.     

Reasons for employee sabotage in the workplace

Unionized workers at a factory were asked to rate a variety of reasons which would justify the use of sabotage in an organization, as well as the justifiability of four general methods of sabotage (slowdowns, destructiveness, dishonesty, and causing chaos). Results showed that as compared to those who didn't accept a wide variety of reasons for sabotage, those who accepted a variety of reasons would more readily justify all forms of sabotage except dishonesty. The data is discussed in terms of the reasons for the lack of justification that dishonesty receives, as well as future directions for the study of sabotage.     

A brief neuropsychological screening battery to detect brain damage in a psychiatric population

Seventy-five patients admitted to the psychiatric unit of a general hospital were administered a brief neuropsychological screening battery. Discharge diagnoses obtained from the medical records revealed that 20% had brainbased pathology. A discriminant function analysis resulted in a five-variable model (Symbol-Digit Modalities Test, educational level, Psychiatric-Organic subscale of the MMPI, and Shipley Vocabulary and Abstraction scores) which correctly classified 84% of the subjects, with 87% correct identification of the brain-damaged group. A jackknife cross-validation procedure resulted in comparable hit rates.     

Alcoholism: A conflict of models

Adherents to the traditional model of alcoholism explain alcoholic behavior as a consequence of alcoholism. Alcoholism is identified as an unseen, unmeasured entity inherent in alcoholics. This concept parallels the thinking of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton, who believed in an unseen, unmeasurable creator behind the physical world. These traditional approaches contrast with the emergent model of alcoholism and twentieth-century scientific thought. Emergent scientific model adherents explain alcoholic behavior without resort to unseen factors. Since the traditional and emergent scientific models begin with different assumptions, model adherents experience communication difficulties. Future developments with determine which model will dominate the field of alcohol studies and treatment.     

Male liberation

This article on Liberation approaches the subject from the perspective ofmen. Women have taken the lead in trying to throw off the bondage of patriarchy. Men have, for the most part, been reactors to the evolving changes. The author feels that there is a more creative role for men to play, but first, we must become more conscious of the ways in which our privileged position oppresses us. The author documents this dynamic as well as points to some possible directions for men to move in their personal and professional lives. The priority on developing collegiality and inclusiveness in our professional associations gives this subject an important place in our thinking and decisionmaking.This paper was read at a workshop on male liberation at the National A.A.P.C. Convention in San Antonio, April 30,1982.     

Auditory-visual interaction and the timing of inputs

Summary The objective of this study was to analyze the structural properties of the respective inputs that are conducive to immediate auditory-visual cross-modal bias. The study was designed as an updated and extended replication of one by Thomas (1941). Subjects were presented with either auditory or visual target signals in several positions around the median plane, together with a competing signal, always in the other modality, 15° to the left or to the right of that plane. The task was to indicate whether the target signal came left or right of center. Target and competing signals were delivered according to three temporal configurations: continuously on for 4 s, or periodically interrupted at either a fast or a slow tempo, and all combinations of the three configurations were used. Judgements of the location of the auditory target signal were attracted toward the visual competing signal in all conditions but two, those with a periodic target signal and a continuous competing one. Conditions with the two signals in the same configuration yielded larger biases than those combining different configurations, confirming that synchronization of discordant inputs is a major condition of cross-modal interactions. The occurrence of significant bias in nonsynchronous conditions, on the other hand, suggests that another factor might be the attraction of localization responses by competing signals with salient temporal configurations, and that interruption might be one important source of saliency. Auditory biases of visual localization were, as usual, smaller than visual biases, but nevertheless reached significance in a majority of conditions, and were also influenced by timing in much the same way as the latter.This work was supported in part by the Belgian Fonds de la Recherche Fondamentale Collective (FRFC) under convention 2.4505.80. The first author is Chercheur qualifié of the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS). The results have already been reported at the Symposium on Perception, Action and Development, Brussels, January 1984     

Difficulty and familiarity norms for 192 single-solution word fragments

Normative data are presented for the probability of successfully completing 192 single-solution word fragments. Normative data on the familiarity of college students with the solution words are also given, along with estimates of word frequency from existing norms. Regression analyses were performed in order to predict fragment completion difficulty from familiarity, frequency, and several structural characteristics of the fragments. Familiarity, whether or not first and/or last letters appeared in the fragment, and the ratio of letters to missing letters in the fragment were included in the regression equation as significant predictors of difficulty for this fragment set.     

“Aunt Grace can't have babies”

One of the most necessarily sensitive areas of pastoral care is dealing with perinatal death. This case study grows from a need for care providers to understand better the feelings of a mother in the loss of her baby. This particular exploration evolved from a taped interview with the writer's aunt (now in her seventies) and her dealings with the multiple losses she experienced over fifty years ago. Her conversation in the interview gives credibility to many coping skills that we endeavor to teach today and that she developed for herself out of a need to survive....it was as if the birds would never sing again.-Aunt Grace