Integral Bias in Naming of Phobia-related Words

Abstract

There is now considerable evidence that a person's cognitive processing is influenced by emotional factors. It is less clear, however, how this bias arises. Two hypotheses are distinguished and compared in the present study. The Inferred Bias hypothesis asserts that the cognitive effects of an emotion are not, in general, inherent consequences of that emotion, but instead arise from earlier experiences in which the particular patterns of emotional and Cognitive activity have tended to be associated. The Integral Bias hypothesis asserts, in contrast, that the cognitive effects of an emotion are in general a fundamental characteristic of that emotion. In order to compare these two hypotheses, the cognitive effects of a phobia in children were studied. An effect on the Stroop naming of spider-related words was detected in spider-phobic children as young as 6 or 7 years old. Furthermore, the magnitude of this effect did not differ significantly over the age range to 12 or 13 years old. These results can be interpreted as suggesting that in this case the cognitive effects of an emotional disturbance emerged relatively fully fledged at a young age, and as such arc consistent with the Integral Bias hypothesis of their origin.     

Effects of morphological Family Size for young readers

Dutch children, from the second and fourth grade of primary school, were each given a visual lexical decision test on 210 Dutch monomorphemic words. After removing words not recognized by a majority of the younger group, (lexical) decisions were analysed by mixed‐model regression methods to see whether morphological Family Size influenced decision times over and above several other covariates. The effect of morphological Family Size on decision time was mixed: larger families led to significantly faster decision times for the second graders but not for the fourth graders. Since facilitative effects on decision times had been found for adults, we offer a developmental account to explain the absence of an effect of Family Size on decision times for fourth graders.     

Method of Suicide in the Mentally Ill: A National Clinical Survey

Comparisons of psychiatric patients who die by suicide using different methods are scarce. We aimed to establish the methods of suicide used by those who are currently or have recently been in contact with mental health services in England and Wales (N = 6,203), and describe the social and clinical characteristics of suicides by different methods. We found that hanging, self‐poisoning, and jumping (from a height or in front of a moving vehicle) were the most common methods of suicide, accounting for 79% of all deaths. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.     

Children's event reports: Factors affecting responses to repeated questions in vignette scenarios and event recall interviews

When adults repeat questions, children often give inconsistent answers. This study aimed to test the claim that these inconsistencies occur because children infer that their first answer was unsatisfactory, and that the adult expects them to change their answer. Children aged 4, 6, and 8 years (N= 134) were asked about vignettes in which an adult repeated a question, with manipulation of the adult's overt dissatisfaction (high vs. low pressure) and knowledge about the information sought. On a separate occasion, the children were given an unrelated event recall interview containing repeated questions. All age groups showed sensitivity to adult dissatisfaction, interpreting question repetition as an implicit request for answer change more frequently in the high than in the low‐pressure vignettes. Overall, however, these ‘change‐expected’ interpretations were least frequent in the younger children, who were the most prone to shifting. Also there was no evidence that these interpretations were associated with more frequent shifting in the recall interview. The results do not provide clear support for a simple conversational inference account of shifting, especially in younger children.     

Integration of Faith and Learning at a Faith-Based Historically Black University: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Although the importance of integration of faith and learning (IFL) is well documented in the literature, little is known of how it is implemented at a Historically Black University. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how IFL is deliberately implemented at a faith-based Historically Black University. Twenty-nine faculty members participated in the study. Thematic analysis was used to identify the following themes: connectivity, modeling, intentionality and spontaneity. These themes not only describe how IFL occurs at this institution, but also the levels at which IFL is deliberately implemented.     

A Reply to Pugh's “Note on the Vorhaus Configurations of Reading Disability”

Abstract

Beach, H. D. &; Lucas, R. A. (Eds.) Individual and Group Behavior in a Coal Mine Disaster. Disaster Research Group, Study Number 13. National Academy of Sciences — National Research Council, Publication 834. Washington, D. C., 1960. $3.00. 160pp. Reviewed by Albert Eglash

Beck, S. J., Beck, Anne G., Levitt, E. E., and Molish, H. B. Rorschach's Test. I. Basic Processes. Third Ed. Revised. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1961, 237 + X pp. Reviewed by Murray Levine

Carr, A. C., Forer, B. R., Henry, W. E., Hooker, Evelyn, Hutt, Max L., and Piotrowski, Z. A. The Prediction of Overt Behavior Through the Use of Projective Techniques. American Lecture Series Monog. Springfield, III.: Chas. Thomas, Publisher, 1960, Pp. 177. $6.50. Reviewed by Stephanie Z. Dudek

Cattell, R. B. and Scheier, I. H. The Meaning and Measurement of Neuroticism and Anxiety. New York: Ronald Press, 1961, pp. 535. $12.00. Reviewed by Wilson H. Guertin

Fein, L. G., The Three-Dimensional Personality Test. International Universities Press, New York. 1960. pp. xii + 324, $6.75. Reviewed by Theodore H. Blau

Hiltmann, H. Kompendium der Psychodiagnostischen Testen. Berne: Huber, 1960, 252 pps. Reviewed by Fred J. Goldstein

Kaplan, Bert (Ed.) Studying Personality Cross-culturally. Evanston, III.: Row, Peterson and Co., 1961. ix + 687. $8.50. Reviewed by Norman D. Sundberg

Meili, Richard Lehrbuch Der Psychologischen Diagnostik (Textbook of Psychological Diagnostics), 476 pages including index. Bern und Stuttgart: Hans Huber, 1961. $9.50. Reviewed by Z. A. Piotrowski

Peck, Robert F., Havighurst, Robert J., and associates: The Psychology of Character Development. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1960. 267 pp. $6.50. Reviewed by Dale L. Johnson

Symonds, P. M. with Jensen, A. R., From Adolescent to Adult. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961. Pp. x + 413. Reviewed by Murray H. Sherman