PERSONALITY AND DRUGS IN VISUAL FIGURAL AFTEREFFECTS

The effects of dexedrine and phenobarbitone on visual figural aftereffect (VFAE) were examined in 32 postgraduate students selected after a preliminary testing with the Maudsley Personality Inventory. Calcium tablets were used as placebos. The subjects were repeatedly tested under each of the treatment conditions. The results supported the following conclusions: (1) extraverted subjects relative to introverted ones had larger VFAE; (2) the size of VFAE increased under the influence of phenobarbitone in all personality groups except N+E+ and N-E-; (3) interactions between the drug treatments and personality variables in effects on VFAE did not occur.     

Causal Analyses in Interpersonal Relations: On Importance of the Control Condition

Most studies of interpersonal relations employ the high and low levels of an independent variable and attribute the high–low difference to the high level only. However, such a difference can be due to the positivity effect of the high level, the negativity effect of the low level, or both. To specify the loci of the high–low difference, a control condition is necessary. In my research into interpersonal attraction and impression formation, I ascertained the magnitude of the positivity and negativity effects relative to the response to a control condition of no-individuating information. The negativity effects of dissimilar attitudes and negative traits were greater than the positivity effects of similar attitudes and positive traits. One source of this positive–negative asymmetry was the person positivity bias in the participants. A greater weighting of negative than positive level could be another factor. Research is needed to separate the contributions of these two variables to the positive–negative asymmetry demonstrated.     

Parental Attributions of the Causes of Their Children's Behavior

We investigated causal attributions parents made regarding their children's best and worst behavior while the children were taking methylphenidate (MPH) for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Twenty-six parents were surveyed each week for six weeks using the Parent Attribution Scale-Revised. This scale measures parents' attributions of the causes for their children's behavior when taking MPH to treat symptoms of ADHD. When attributing causes for best behavior, the parents rated their children's effort most often followed by their own effort and the positive medication effects. When attributing causes for worst behavior, the parents rated their children's lack of effort most often followed by inadequate medication effects and their own lack of effort. Our study suggests that parents rate effort most often when making attributions for their children's best and worst behavior. When making attributions for best behavior only, parents saw no difference between their own efforts and the effects of medication. When making attributions for worst behavior only, parents were more likely to blame their children's lack of effort and the ineffectiveness of medication more often than their own lack of effort.     

Acquisition and generalization of manual signs by hearing-impaired adults with mental retardation

Behavioral procedures have been used to teach manual communication skills to individuals with mental retardation, although few studies have examined the assessment of generalization of such skills beyond the teaching environment. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of directed rehearsal for teaching and facilitating the generalization of manual signs by six hearing-impaired adults with mental retardation. The effects of directed rehearsal, alone and combined with positive reinforcement for correct responses, were compared to a no-training control condition in an alternating treatments design. Although directed rehearsal was superior to the no-training control condition in teaching manual signs, the procedure was more effective when combined with positive reinforcement. The combined procedure was used to facilitate the generalization of learned signs across a number of variables. The results showed that there were high levels of generalization by all participants across novel phrases, settings, and trainers but variable levels of generalization to another response mode by some subjects. Further, increased levels in overall vocal communication were found for most participants.     

Achievement motivation and entrepreneurial success: A follow-up study

A seven-year follow-up study of agricultural entrepreneurs of high and low achievement motivation was conducted. The findings indicate that agriculture entrepreneurs with high n-Ach continue to increase their productivity more than their counterparts. In addition, the data lend support to the thesis that n-Ach is stable over time.     

Competitive versus cooperative attitudes in crossed categorization effects: testing the category dominance and equivalence models

Participants' (N = 256) competitive or cooperative attitudes toward national groups were activated by their reading 1 of 2 selected newspaper articles. Participants then judged the competence and attractiveness of a stranger who was categorized, separately for race and nationality, as belonging to an out-group or in-group. As predicted, the activated competitive attitude produced responses prescribed by the model of category dominance by nationality. In the condition of cooperative attitudes, however, competence responses were consistent with the model of equivalence (i.e., no effect of category) and attraction responses were consistent with the model of category dominance by race. The authors discuss reasons for the discrepant models in the condition of cooperative attitudes and the implications of these findings.