A common factor in the MMPI scales of married couples.

Using canonical analysis, a common factor in the MMPI scales of husbands and wives was found. The Sc, Pd, and Hs scales for both the husbands and the wives contributed heavily to the relationship. Other scales contributing to the correlation between the personality components of the pairs were F, Hy Pt, and Si for the husbands and Pa for the wives. The results were interpreted as indicating areas of homogeneity and heterogeneity in the personalities of married couples.     

Simulation of neural sets

A program has been written for the PDP-8/I computer which simulates the behavior of 64 model neurons which may be connected together to form a functional neural net. The simulation includes provisions for studying the possible mechanisms of learning in real systems. Operation of the net requires inputs from either a robot or a robot simulator program and output from the net serves as input to such a robot, so that the entire system investigates the Behavior of an organism and its brain in interaction with an environment.     

A continuous interference-filter monochromator

An inexpensive continuous interference-filter monochromator is described.     

Mortality salience increases language style matching and well-being

The present research examined whether people imitate the language style of others (i.e., the use of function words) as a form of liking when mortality concerns are salient. In Study 1, participants answered questions about death or public speaking and then engaged in an instant messaging conversation with a confederate. In Study 2, participant pairs verbally discussed a news article about increasing homicide rates or the rise in academic pressure. Next, everyone completed measures of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and relationship need satisfaction. The results revealed that, in comparison to the control conditions, participants exhibited greater language style matching (LSM) following reminders of death (Studies 1 & 2). Further, mediational analyses showed that higher LSM after mortality salience was associated with better psychological and social well-being (Study 2). Although the threat of death has been shown to make people more hostile and disparaging toward dissimilar others, the present work suggests that individuals, even strangers, may feel closer through language coordination following thoughts of mortality.     

ANGER AND DEPRESSION IN GIRLS AND BOYS A Study of Gender Differences

A growing body of literature supports the link between anger suppression and depression and females'greater likelihood than males of demonstrating both. Anger suppression was hypothesized to be involved in the development of gendered identity for girls, specifically by rendering girls more likely to experience depression. Employing an ethnically diverse sample of public school children, differences between fifth through ninth grade girls and boys in anger suppression and depression were investigated using self-report data. Results supported the hypothesis that girls suppress anger at higher rates than boys but not the related hypothesis that this suppression results in higher levels of depression. Age was not related to either anger suppression or depression, and no significant relationship was found between suppressed anger and depression for either sex. The impact of girls'anger suppression on their emotional and gender development is discussed.     

Testing joint attention, imitation, and play as infancy precursors to language and theory of mind

Various theoretical accounts propose that an important developmental relation exists between joint attention, play, and imitation abilities, and later theory of mind ability. However, very little direct empirical evidence supports these claims for putative “precursor” theory of mind status. A small sample (N=13) of infants, for whom measures of play, joint attention, and imitation had been collected at 20 months of age, was followed-up longitudinally at 44 months and a battery of theory of mind measures was conducted. Language and IQ were measured at both timepoints. Imitation ability at 20 months was longitudinally associated with expressive, but not receptive, language ability at 44 months. In contrast, only the joint attention behaviours of gaze switches between an adult and an active toy and looking to an adult during an ambiguous goal detection task at 20 months were longitudinally associated with theory of mind ability at 44 months. It is argued that joint attention, play, and imitation, and language and theory of mind, might form part of a shared social–communicative representational system in infancy that becomes increasingly specialised and differentiated as development progresses.