Exploring the Mind of Testosterone: A Beeper Study

Twelve low and 15 high testosterone subjects, representing the extremes in testosterone from a pool of 125 men and 128 women, kept diary records of their day-to-day thoughts and activities. Electronic pagers prompted subjects approximately 20 times over a four-day period to write down their locations, activity, thoughts, and feelings. Human coders and computer text analysis programs indicated a restless energy in the diaries of high testosterone subjects. High testosterone subjects experienced more arousal and tension than those low in testosterone. They spent more time thinking, especially about concrete problems in the immediate present. They wanted to get things done and felt frustrated when they could not. They mentioned friends more than family or lovers. Five terms characterized high testosterone subjects: restless, thinking, about action, right now, likely with friends.     

Lexical Acquisition in Probable Alzheimer''s Disease

Patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (pAD) were exposed to a new verb in a naturalistic fashion. We probed their knowledge of the word's semantic and grammatical characteristics for several minutes following this exposure, and compared this with their performance on parallel measures assessing known words. Significant differences were seen between pAD patients and controls in the acquisition of the new verb's semantic meaning and its argument structure, but pAD patients did not differ from controls in the acquisition of the new word's grammatical form class. Individual patient analyses demonstrated parallel deficits restricted to the semantic meaning and argument structure of the new word and known words in several pAD patients, suggesting that a selective language impairment contributed to their word learning deficit. This pattern is consistent with an intimate relationship between semantic meaning and argument structure in semantic memory. Other pAD patients had difficulty learning about all aspects of the new word, despite good performance with known words, suggesting that compromised memory may have limited their lexical acquisition.     

The relationship of three measures of childhood depression to academic underachievement

Clinical features of depression (short attention span, lethargy, poor memory and shortened task persistence) appear to be incompatible with effective learning. This has led several investigators to suggest that depression is a significant cause of academic underachievement. The most adequate test of this hypothesis (Tesiny, Lefkowitz, & Gordon, 1980), however, found only small correlations between depression and academic achievement when neither IQ nor socioeconomic status were controlled. In the present study, three measures of childhood depression (Peer Nomination Inventory for Depression, Children's Depression Inventory, and an ad hoc teacher rating) were correlated with scores from the Peabody Individual Achievement Test and the Stanford Achievement Test. IQ was statistically controlled to provide a direct measure of underachievement and analyses were conducted separately for males, females, and the combined sample in a sample that was homogeneous for socioeconomic status. Although intercorrelations among the variables indicated that the sample was appropriate to test the hypothesis, only a few significant correlations were found. These findings suggest that if depression causes academic underachievement, it is a weak or uncommon effect.     

Attitudes Toward Industrial Pollution, Strategies for Protecting the Environment, and Environmental-Economic Trade-offs

Attitudes toward industrial pollution, environmental-economic trade-offs, and endorsement of various strategies and activities to protect the environment were examined in a community sample. Environmental attitudes were measured using seven distinct factors organized around four cognitive themes: commercialist-expansionist-emphasizing industrial concerns even at the expense of environmental considerations; reformist-emphasizing the need and possibility of environmental quality; radical-emphasizing pessimism over the possibility of environmental quality, given the present economic and policital system; and finally, denial that the community has been harmed by pollution. Examination of the relationship between pollution attitudes and endorsement of the various proenvironmental activities yielded a pattern consistent with a cognitive, syllogistic model of the organization of attitudes. Those emphasizing a commercialist position neither favored nor regarded the various environmental activities as effective. Those who emphasized reform endorsed the various activities as both favorable and effective. Denial was associated with opposition to the various activities. Finally, those taking a radical position favored the various strategies but were not convinced of their efficacy.     

Preliminary exploration of worry: some characteristics and processes

The present paper reports two questionnaire studies and an experimental investigation of worrying. Worry correlated more highly than general tension reports with a variety of affect scales and was characterized by: (a) feelings of anxiety, tension and apprehension; (b) moderate awareness of somatic cues including muscle tension and upset stomach; and (c) concerns over future rather than past or present situations. Self-labeled worriers were most distinguished from non-worriers by their reported uncontrollability of cognitive intrusions once worrying was initiated. In the experimental study, worriers and non-worriers were assessed for their ability to focus their attention on a monotonous (breathing) stimulus before and after 0, 15 or 30 min of worrying. Worriers reported significantly higher anxiety. depression and hostility, a lower frequency of focused attention and a greater frequency of negative thought intrusions than did non-worriers prior to the worry period. For both worriers and non-worriers. 15 min of worry resulted in an apparent incubation of negative cognitive intrusions on the subsequent attention-focusing task.     

Nader Versus ETS: Who Should We Believe?

Nairn, A., & Associates. The Reign of ETS. Today's Education, 1980, 69, 58G–64G. Kaplan, R.M. Nader's Raid on the Testing Industry: Is it in the Best Interest of the Consumer? American Psychologist, 1982, 37, 15–23.