AUGMENTING SIMPLIFIED HABIT REVERSAL WITH AN AWARENESS ENHANCEMENT DEVICE: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

The chronic hair pulling of a 36-year-old woman with moderate mental retardation was initially treated with a simplified habit-reversal (SHR) procedure that consisted of awareness training, competing response training, and social support. When SHR did not produce large and sustained reductions in hair pulling, an awareness enhancement device was added, and it reduced hair pulling to near-zero levels in two settings. The results are discussed, and directions for future research with this device are provided.     

Reinventing Ethnicity in Yucatan

The contributors to this issue examine variousinterconnections among gender, class, ethnicity, region,and nation through a focus upon Yucatecan women. Somecommon themes that link the papers relate to rural social and economic transformation,migration, and the redefinition of indigenous ethnicity.We are given glimpses of the emergence of new andpreviously unthinkable configurations of class andethnicity in Yucatan, a process that has taken placethroughout Latin America in recent decades. A number ofpapers describe situations of partial proletarianizationin which men migrate from rural areas to cities, while women remain in the countryside. Theauthors stress the often-overlooked contributions madeby indigenous women to household economy, and also tendto stress continuity, complementarity, and the mediating or brokerage position of women. Contradictionswithin the household and between rural and urban areasshould also be considered. The assertion that Mayawomen's role in social transformations is primarily that of guardians and defenders of tradition isproblematic. Tradition andmodernity are not fixed categories, norare they qualities of people or collectivities, but waysof talking about the relationship between the present andthe past, about social and spatial distance from centersof polity and economy. Staking a claim to being theguardians of tradition or of an ethnic essence may be a wayof defining a social position inthe present, in the context of contemporaryrelationships within the community. This collectionprovides compelling evidence of the reinvention ofethnicity in contemporary Yucatan, but our assumptionsabout ethnicity and tradition should be approached withthe same critical attitude these authors bring to thestudy of gender.     

FEMALE PARTNERS OF BISEXUAL MEN What They Don't Know Might Hurt Them

Individual interviews with 350 behaviorally bisexual men aged 18–30 revealed that 71% of their female sexual partners and 59% of their steady female sexual partners in the past 6 months had not been aware of their homosexual activity. Rates of nondisclosure were higher for African-American than White men. Compared to nondisclosers, men who disclosed to all their female partners were less self-homophobic and perceived their friends, families, and neighbors as more accepting of their homosexual behavior. Compared to men who had disclosed, the nondisclosers had more female partners and used condoms less consistently with women.     

The influence of catch trial frequency on simple reaction time

The major purpose of the present investigation was to examine the combined influence of variations in foreperiod length (1.0, 5.0 sec) and catch trial frequency (0.0, 0.1, 0.2) on simple reaction time (RT) magnitude when verbal mediation was permitted and when it was not. A significant foreperiod length, catch trial frequency, mediation type interaction was obtained supporting the notion that all three factors influence a common process (i.e. Sternberg 1969), here called ‘preparation’. More specifically, for the non-mediation group, foreperiod length and catch trial frequency had both additive (0.0 vs 0.1) and interactive (0.1 vs 0.2) effects on mean simple RT while only catch trial frequency significantly altered simple RT for the mediating group. In all instances, mean simple RT increased significantly when some catch trials were employed as opposed to when none were used, a finding which was interpreted as reflecting an induced preparation decrement upon the introduction of catch trials.     

The contribution of visual persistence to the perceived duration of brief targets

Two experiments were conducted to examine the role of sensory persistence on tasks of perceived duration employing very brief visual stimuli. Using a standard temporal judgment task, the first experiment replicated both the “size effect” and “empty-filled” illusion reported by previous investigators. However, entirely comparable results were also found with a probematching task, which theoretically assesses the degree of persistence exhibited by a stimulus. The second experiment examined the effect of target luminance on perceived duration. Consistent with a sensory persistence interpretation, judgments of duration increased with increasing luminance. The results from the two experiments were discussed in terms of varying degrees of retinal persistence produced by different stimuli. This view was contrasted with currently dominant interpretations that postulate changes in perceived duration to reflect different information-processing requirements across stimulus conditions.     

The effects of spatial frequency and target type on perceived duration

Two experiments are reported that attempt to demonstrate a critical role played by sensory persistence on a standard perceived-duration task employing brief visual stimuli. Experiment 1 examined the effect on perceived duration of varying the spatial frequency of a target. For both 40- and 70-msec flashes, increased spatial frequency resulted in reduced estimates of perceived duration. These results were contrasted with predictions derived from cognitive processing models of duration perception. In Experiment 2, three typical types of target employed in current research (an outlined circle, a “noise”-filled circle, and a completely filled circle) were shown to differ significantly in their perceived duration and in their sensitivity to increases in physical duration. The results were discussed in terms of variable degrees of retinal persistence produced by the three types of targets. The possible implications for specific discrepancies in the literature and across-study comparisons in general were enumerated.     

Locus of control and self-esteem as correlates of role orientation in traditional and nontraditional women

This research attempted to establish relationships between locus of control, self-esteem, and traditional-nontraditional behavior. It was hypothesized that (1) women tending toward internality and high self-esteem should be more likely to manifest nontraditional behaviors, as evidenced through career-oriented roles, and to rank these roles as their primary source of satisfaction; and (2) women tending toward externality and low self-esteem should be more likely to manifest traditional behavior, as evidenced through family-oriented roles, and to rank these roles as their primary source of satisfaction. The sample consisted of 91 White females in a southern metropolitan area. The data were collected using a survey design. As expected, high self-esteem internals were more likely to manifest nontraditional behavior. Contrary to expectation, low self-esteem externals were more nontraditional in role orientation.     

Aerobic conditioning and stress reduction: Participation or conditioning?

The efficiency of an aerobic conditioning program (jogging) is compared to cognitive therapy (stress inoculation) and a waiting list control in modifying self-reported chronic stress. The participants were community residents; 48 were females and 25 were males. Treatment sessions were conducted over a 10-week period with subjects meeting in small groups for 1$\text{1}\text{2}$ hours per week. The State/Trait Inventories, a Tension Thermometer and a submaximal bicycle ergometer test were administered pre, post and follow-up. Repeated measures, multivariate analysis of variance indicated that both treatments were effective in reducing stress compared to the waiting list control and that these changes were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Multivariate analysis indicated that participants with higher initial levels of aerobic fitness did not report less stress, while participants who obtained higher levels of fitness during the conditioning program fared no better in reducing stress than their counterparts who obtained lower levels of aerobic fitness. These findings are of interest because they suggest that the psychosocial components of the fitness program were active ingredients of treatment rathee than the effects of improved cardiovascular functioning.     

Interpersonal Reactions to Depression and Physical Disablllty In Dyadic Interactions1

Examined the interpersonal responses of persons engaged in dyadic interactions with confederates who enacted either depressed or socially appropriate roles and appeared either with or without a physical disability. Subject negative evaluations of confederates were indirectly obtained from a thought-listing measure. The overt behaviors of subjects were surreptitiously recorded on videotape and measures of verbal and nonverbal behavior were acquired. Subjects spoke less to the depressed targets and had significantly higher rates of negative evaluations of these persons. In addition, subjects gazed less at the depressed confederates. These effects were not moderated by target physical appearance. Findings are discussed as they relate to social models of depression and the stigmatizing effects of disability.