Differential gender effects of exposure to rap music on African American adolescents' acceptance of teen dating violence

The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of exposure to nonviolent rap music on African American adolescents' perceptions of teen dating violence. African American male and female subjects were exposed to nonviolent rap videos (which contained images of women in sexually subordinate roles) or they saw no videos. They read a vignette that involved teen dating violence perpetrated by a male. The results indicated that there was a significant interaction between gender and video exposure. More specifically, acceptance of the use of violence did not vary as a function of exposure for male subjects. Conversely, female subjects who were exposed to the videos showed greater acceptance of the violence than females who were not exposed. Possible basis and implications for these findings are discussed.To whom reprint requests should be addressed at Department of Psychology, The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403-3297.     

Effect of local context of responding on human judgment of causality

Two experiments examined the effect of various relationships between a response (pressing the space bar of a computer) and an outcome (a triangle flashing on a screen) on judgments of the causal effectiveness of the response. In Experiment 1, when responses were required to be temporarily isolated from each other prior to an outcome, ratings of the causal effectiveness of the responses were higher than in a condition in which the probability of an outcome following a response was the same but in which no temporal isolation was required. In Experiment 2, when a number of responses were required to be emitted temporally close to the outcome, ratings of the causal effectiveness of the responses were lower than in a condition in which the probability of an outcome following a response was the same but in which no temporal proximity was required. These results suggest that, in addition to the overall probability that an outcome will follow a response, the local context of responding at the time an outcome is presented is critical in influencing ratings of causal effectiveness.     

Knowers talking about the known: Ecological realism as a philosophy of science

This Paper is Dedicated to Marjorie Grene, in Honor of her 80th Birthday     

What makes targets redundant?

Two letter-classification experiments that investigated target-redundancy effects on reaction time (RT) were conducted. Both experiments were replicated with choice reaction time (CRT) and go/no-go (GNG) procedures. In each experiment, there were two single-target conditions, one with a noise letter and one without. In one experiment, the letter classes were two letters that could be of either case. In the second experiment, each class consisted of two different capital letters. In both experiments, there were two redundant-targets conditions, one with identical targets and one with the different members of a class. In both of the GNG experiments, redundancy gains were obtained comparing the different-targets condition with the no-noise, single-target condition. Redundant stimuli are ones that lead to the same response. Visually different stimuli may be processed in parallel and jointly activate a response. GNG procedures are more sensitive than CRT in the investigation of redundancy effects.     

Effect of enriched (complex) environment on nerve conduction velocity: New data and review of implications for the speed of information processing

Extensive research with genetically heterogeneous rats and other mammals haa shown many effects of environmental enrichment (EE; comparing complex, stimulating environment with simple environment) on brain and behavior. Increased nerve conduction velocity (NCV) in brain nerve pathways is one of these effects. Research with a genetically heterogeneous mouse strain (HS) also strongly suggests that increased stimulation or usage increases peripheral NCV (PNCV) and this study on 54 HS mice confirms this. Human data also indicate that increased activity increases PNCV. Therefore, both brain NCV and PNCV appear to increase after EE. Since extensive human data indicate that the speed of information processing (SIP) is positively correlated with intelligence level, and brain NCV should be a component of SIP, these results suggest a role, at the physiological level, for EE (or deprivation) in affecting measured intelligence.     

Using discrepancies to predict the perceived quality of work life

Two job satisfaction surveys tested the hypothesis that discrepancy models provide stronger predictions of satisfaction than do more parsimonious models relying solely on a single component of discrepancy scores. Questionnaire data from samples of 180 working college students and 125 human service workers focused on specific facets of the job, such as: pay, promotion opportunity, and hours of work. Wanted amount of specific job facets was the standard of comparison considered in both surveys. The questionnaires provided measures of facet satisfaction, facet amount, wanted amount, the perceived discrepancy between facet amount and wanted amount as well as the calculated discrepancy between facet amount and wanted amount. Results from 60 tests of differences between correlations provided mixed support. Discrepancy scores were consistently stronger predictors of satisfaction than were wanted amount scores; 24 of 30 tests provided significant support and only 2 of 30 tests provided significant differences in the direction opposite to the hypothesis. Discrepancy scores were not, however, consistently stronger predictors of satisfaction than were facet amount scores; only 8 of 30 tests provided significant support and 8 of 30 test provided significant differences in the direction opposite to the hypothesis. Discussion focused on the importance of addressing these findings in efforts to improve discrepancy theories of satisfaction.M. Joseph Sirgy (the editor of this special issue) and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.Bob Rice passed away recently. He will be sorely missed.     

Rules of clinical understanding in classical psychoanalysis and in self psychology: a comparison

This paper compares the rules that govern clinical understanding in classical psychoanalysis and in self psychology. The rules of understanding in the two systems are fundamentally different. Self psychology interprets causes and relies on interpretive rules similar to those used in allegory. Classical psychoanalysis investigates reasons and seeks to uncover the patient's own interpretive system. Self psychology refinds its own theory in the relation between elements disguised in the manifest content of patients' productions. Classical psychoanalysis seeks to open up manifest content. Where self psychology reiterates theory in its interpretations, classical interpretations move away from theoretical generalizations toward specific fantasy-memory constellations. Theory, in self psychology, organizes directly the content of interpretations; theory in classical psychoanalysis organizes a technique of exploration and furnishes general sequences according to which data can be understood. This paper also suggests that the differences in the rules of clinical understanding have potential consequences for psychoanalysis which manifest themselves in psychoanalytic training and in the capacity for self-analysis.     

Neurotoxicity of Kainate to the Hippocampus is not Accrued by Aging, Stress and Exogenous Corticosterone in Wistar Kyoto and Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

It has been reported that a high corticosterone milieu can exacerbate various experimental insults to the nervous system, in particular to the hippocampus. However, in many of these studies the above milieu was attained by injecting corticosterone in doses (e.g. 10 mg/rat) producing supraphysiological concentrations. In the present study we have investigated whether high plasma corticosterone levels, such as those associated with aging or stress, potentiate a hippocampal excitotoxic insult. Male Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR) at the age of 6, 12, 18 and 24 months (only WKY for the oldest age) were used. As in other strains, aging in these rats was marked by an increase in basal plasma corticosterone levels. Rats were infused in the dorsal hippocampus with kainic acid (0.035 μg/hippocampus) and the neuronal injury was evaluated within the areas CA3 and CA4. Results indicated that neither aging nor the hypertensive condition affected kainic acid neurotoxicity. In order to study the effect of stress, rats were stressed twice a day, with alternate types of stressors to avoid possible habituation, 3 days prior to and 3 days following the kainic acid infusion. Using this experimental paradigm the hippocampal damage in stressed rats was of the same degree as in non-stressed controls. In a complementary set of experiments, 6 month old WKY and SHR rats were injected with corticosterone (10 mg/rat s.c.). Four hours after administration plasma corticosterone levels in the range of 60-70 μg/100 ml were found. Moreover, a time-course study showed a plasma corticosterone peak in the range of 240 μg/100 ml. Daily corticosterone administration for 3 days before and 3 days after kainic acid infusion potentiated the hippocampal damage in 6 months old SHR but not in the WKY. These results demonstrate that elevation of corticosterone levels within physiological range does not exacerbate hippocampal kainate neurotoxicity and that pharmacological doses of glucocorticoid hormone, which produces plasma levels well above those observable in any physiopathological condition, might, with some strain dependency, potentiate a hippocampal neurotoxic insult.