NON-HYPNOTIC EXPERIENCES RELATED TO HYPNOTIZABILITY IN MALE AND FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENTS

Ås, A. Non-hypnotic experiences related to hypnotizability in male and female college students. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 112–131.—Some recent research on the relation between subjective experiences and hypnotic susceptibility is reviewed. In a male sample of 50 subjects significant correlations between scores on the Experience Inventory and hypnotizability were found. A cross-validation of composite experience scores on this sample and a female sample studied earlier gave positive results. Based on several sources of data a preliminary analysis is made of the similarities and differences between male and female students regarding experiences related to hypnotizability.     

Assessment of applied research and development: Diversification for science policy

In this paper a method is outlined for measuring the diversity of the results of applied R&D with the use of IPC (International Patent Classification). The method has been tested in the contexts of the academic physical, engineering, and chemical institutes. The trend of applied research at a given institute increases both at the level of classes and subclasses, and at the IPC level. Inventions developed within specializations at each institute have a greater efficiency than other forms of inventive activity. The objective was to seek the optimal extent of diversification of applied R&D, which would simultaneously ensure the preservation of the scientific specialization of an institute, the high level of scientific research associated with developing innovations, and the high overall efficiency of each institute.     

Science and the welfare state program: The growth of state activism in finland

Finland has followed the Scandinavian model of the welfare state in which the level of state activism is high, the economic pressures on the scientific activities are strong, and the left-wing parties and the Center Party have formulated the main ideas. In the 1970s welfare ideology was adopted in science policy by emphasizing the promotion of socially relevant scientific activities and the expansion of the university system as a means of effecting equal opportunity. Currently, the trend is toward a mixed welfare economy. Programs have been prepared in spite of the radical cut in government expenditure, and without a consideration of the long-term consequences.     

Stereo-motion cooperation and the use ofmotion disparity in the visual perception of 3-D structure

When an observer views a moving scene binocularly, both motion parallax and binocular disparity provide depth information. In Experiments lA-1C, we measured sensitivity to surface curvature when these depth cues were available either individually or simultaneously. When the depth cues yielded comparable sensitivity to surface curvature, we found that curvature detection was easier with the cues present simultaneously, rather than individually. For 2 of the 6 subjects, this effect was stronger when the component of frontal translation of the surface was vertical, rather than horizontal. No such anisotropy was found for the 4 other subjects. If a moving object is observed binocularly, the patterns of optic flow are different on the left and right retinae. We have suggested elsewhere (Cornilleau-Pérès & Droulez, in press) that this motion disparity might be used as avisual cue for the perception of a 3-D structure. Our model consisted in deriving binocular disparity from the left and right distributions of vertical velocities, rather than from luminous intensities, as has been done in classical studies on stereoscopic vision. The model led to some predictions concerning the detection of surface curvature from motion disparity in the presence or absence of intensity-based disparity (classically termedbinocular disparity). In a second set of experiments, we attempted to test these predictions, and we failed to validate our theoretical scheme from a physiological point of view.     

Internalizing and externalizing characteristics of sexually and/or physically abused children

This study evaluates the behavioral consequences of childhood abuse (sexual, physical, or both), with particular focus on prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Three abuse type groups and nonabused controls were contrasted on behavioral rating scales and on structured psychiatric interview data. The participants (109 abused children and 16 normal control children) were recruited from Arkansas Children’s Hospital and local agencies for abused children. As expected, proportionately more females than males were sexually abused. Overall, males were rated as more disturbed than females. Type of abuse did not consistently influence behavioral ratings. Externalizing scores were significantly higher than internalizing scores in all abused groups. PTSD was diagnosed in 50% of the abused children, with a higher rate for boys who had been sexually abused as opposed to physically abused only (58% versus 13%). The most frequent comorbid condition with PTSD was Separation Anxiety. Sexually abused boys were hospitalized for psychiatric treatment at a higher rate than were other abused children.     

Personality and Job Performance in Financial Services Managers

This article presents research in which the Five Factor Model of personality was tested as a predictor of job performance. 125 financial services managers who had enrolled in a potential evaluation programme were given the NEO-FFI, a questionnaire designed for measuring the Big Five. Job performance was assessed using nine rating scales and they were grouped into two components: job problem-solving ability and job motivation. Also, one single scale for measuring global job performance was used. The results show that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness correlated with the two components and with the global measure of job performance. Extraversion, Openness and Agreeableness are correlated with one facet or with the global rating of job performance. Taken together, the results suggest that the Five Factor Model is a valid predictor of job performance. The implications of the results for practice and future research are discussed.     

BEHAVIORAL CUSPS: A DEVELOPMENTAL AND PRAGMATIC CONCEPT FOR BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Most concepts of development explain certain behavior changes as products or markers of the invariable succession of emerging periods, stages, refinements, or achievements that define and order much of an individual's life. A different but comparable concept can be derived from the most basic mechanisms of behavior analysis, which are its environmental contingencies, and from its most basic strategy, which is to study behavior as its subject matter. From a behavior-analytic perspective, the most fundamental developmental questions are (a) whether these contingencies vary in any systematic way across the life span, and thus make behavior change in a correspondingly systematic way; and (b) whether some of these contingencies and their changes have more far-reaching consequences than others, in terms of the importance to the organism and others, of the behavior classes they change. Certain behavior changes open the door to especially broad or especially important further behavior change, leading to the concept of the behavioral cusp. A behavioral cusp, then, is any behavior change that brings the organism's behavior into contact with new contingencies that have even more far-reaching consequences. Of all the environmental contingencies that change or maintain behavior, those that accomplish cusps are developmental. Behavior change remains the fundamental phenomenon of development for a behavior-analytic view; a cusp is a special instance of behavior change, a change crucial to what can come next.     

Analysis of long-term stress reactions in emergency room patients: An initial study

The psychological stress reactions of 44 family medicine patients who were treated in the emergency room were examined approximately a year after the event. Patients were assessed on several psychological measures, including one for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and on their perception of how stressful the event was initially and now. Results show continuing stress reactions related to the emergency room event. Three patients endorsed symptoms indicating full PTSD and 13 appeared to have at least partial PTSD. Age appeared to be a factor in the presence of stress symptoms and in degree of perceived communication with the physician.