A COMPARISON OF THE CULTURAL VALUES OF SCOT AND U.S. CHILDREN

Afin de mettre en évidence les différences qui peuvent exister dans le système de valeurs des Américains et des Ecossais, on a administré à 1 189 enfants écossais et 1 268 enfants américains, de 10 à 18 ans, une question à réponses libres et un questionnaire de type Likert qui comporte 27 items relatifs aux valeurs suivantes : compréhension - utilité - espace vital - liberté - égalité - absence de besoins physiques - communauté - statut social. Les réponses à ce questionnaire permettent d'ordonner les valeurs selon un ordre décroissant : compréhension - utilité - égalité - communauté - absence de besoins physiques - espace vital - statut social - liberté; L'âge, le sexe, la culture n'entraînent pas de différences. Avec le questionnaire à réponses libres, il apparaît que les Ecossais mentionnent plus fréquemment les valeurs suivantes : bonheur - carrière - santé - besoins biologiques tandis que les enfants américains valorisent davantage L'éducation, la famille et la réalisation de soi-même. On peut en conclure que le système de valeurs est très semblable d'un pays à L'autre et reflète le caractère capitaliste de L'organisation sociale. La valeur relativement faible attribuée à la liberté et à la communauté d'une part, la valeur relativement élevée de L'utilité d'autre part, seraient indicatives de L'aliénation moderne de L'homme.     

The effect of visual angle on global and local reaction times depends on the set of visual angles presented

It has been shown that there is a transition from a global to a local advantage in reaction time as visual angle increases (Kinchla & Wolfe, 1979), and it has been assumed that this transition reflects lower level (e.g., retinal) processes. In three experiments, we examined whether higher level (e.g., attentional) processes play a role in this transition. In each experiment, subjects received a different stimulus set in each of two blocks of trials. In Experiment 1, stimuli subtending 1.5 degrees, 3 degrees, 4.5 degrees, or 6 degrees of visual angle vertically (small-stimuli set) were randomly presented in one block, while the other block consisted of random presentations of 3 degrees, 6 degrees, 9 degrees, or 12 degrees stimuli (large-stimuli set). The subjects' task was to identify targets that appeared randomly at either the local or the global level. It was found that the transition from a global to a local reaction-time advantage took place at a larger visual angle for the large-stimuli set than for the small-stimuli set. The same effects of stimulus set were found in Experiment 2, in which the small-stimuli set included 1.5 degrees, 3 degrees, or 6 degrees stimuli while the large-stimuli set included 3 degrees, 6 degrees, or 9 degrees stimuli. In Experiment 3, eye position was monitored to rule out the possibility that subjects adopted different fixation strategies depending on which stimulus set was being presented. The findings suggest that attention plays a major role in determining the relative speed of processing of local-and global-level information.     

Policy issues in a non-heart-beating donor protocol

The Pittsburgh protocol is ethically and legally acceptable as written, but more research is needed to determine if it can be implemented in ways that will observe the procedures that make it ethically acceptable. If so, its desirability as public policy will depend on the number of organs it is likely to generate and its effects on public attitudes toward organ donation generally. In the final analysis, the controversial aspects of this protocol concern symbolic issues about respect for the dead and near dead, rather than substantive concerns that real patient interests will be harmed.     

Decreasing junk food consumption: A comparison of self-perception theory and reinforcement theory

A behavior reduction procedure based on self-perception theory was developed, and its efficacy was compared to that of a common behavior modification intervention based on traditional reinforcement theory. Following a baseline phase, university students were monetarily reinforced for increasing (in the self-perception condition) or decreasing (in the behavior modification condition) their consumption of junk food. Subsequently, the magnitude of reinforcement was reduced and, finally, the reinforcement contingency was withdrawn. The intervention based on reinforcement theory produced the predicted decrease in junk food consumption while the intervention was in effect, and the postreinforcement intake of subjects in that condition remained below baseline. However, despite an increase in junk food consumption during the intervention phase in the self-perception condition, the hypothesized overjustification effect was not produced. While the results did not support self-perception theory, the data were consistent with an alternative account of the overjustification effect proposed by Williams (1980).This research was partially supported by National Science Foundation Grant SPI8026324 to John F. Kremer and Robert G. Bringle.     

Emotion Dysregulation and Emotional Impulsivity among Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Results of a Preliminary Study

Recent reviews argue that emotion dysregulation is an important feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and involves a failure to inhibit negative emotions that leads to negative affectively-driven impulsive behavior (i.e., emotional impulsivity). The goal of the current study was to assess (a) whether emotion dysregulation and emotional impulsivity was higher in a group of adults diagnosed with ADHD and (b) if the relationship between core ADHD symptoms (i.e., inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity) and emotional impulsivity is mediated by emotion dysregulation symptoms. A group of adults with (n?=?18) and without (n?=?23) ADHD completed measures of core ADHD symptoms, emotion dysregulation, and emotional impulsivity. A series of one-way analyses of covariance indicated significant between-group differences in emotion dysregulation and emotional impulsivity when current depression and oppositional defiant disorder ratings were covaried. In addition, the relationship between ADHD symptoms and emotional impulsivity was mediated by emotion dysregulation symptoms. These findings suggest that emotion dysregulation and emotional impulsivity are higher in adults diagnosed with ADHD and that emotion dysregulation symptoms have predictive value beyond core ADHD symptoms.     

The experience of agency in sequence production with altered auditory feedback

When speaking or producing music, people rely in part on auditory feedback - the sounds associated with the performed action. Three experiments investigated the degree to which alterations of auditory feedback (AAF) during music performances influence the experience of agency (i.e., the sense that your actions led to auditory events) and the possible link between agency and the disruptive effect of AAF on production. Participants performed short novel melodies from memory on a keyboard. Auditory feedback during performances was manipulated with respect to its pitch contents and/or its synchrony with actions. Participants rated their experience of agency after each trial. In all experiments, AAF reduced judgments of agency across conditions. Performance was most disrupted (measured by error rates and slowing) when AAF led to an ambiguous experience of agency, suggesting that there may be some causal relationship between agency and disruption. However, analyses revealed that these two effects were probably independent. A control experiment verified that performers can make veridical judgments of agency.     

The well-being outcomes of career guidance

ABSTRACT

The potential for career guidance to impact on well-being has received insufficient attention in the UK. There are both conceptual and empirical reasons to expect that the impacts may be positive, but a lack of evidence directly testing this proposition. Career guidance has commonalities with therapeutic counselling suggesting analogous effects, and it promotes positive engagement in work and learning, which may be associated with health benefits. There are implications for services in reconciling health and employment objectives. However, the promotion of well-being need not imply quasi-clinical ways of working. A call is made for more research and debate in the career guidance community as to the extent and implications of the potentially important relationship between career guidance and well-being.     

The functional independence of trait self-knowledge: Commentary on Sakaki (2007)

In a recent paper, Sakaki (2007) proposed that Klein and Loftus's conclusion that semantic and episodic trait self-knowledge are functionally independent (e.g., Klein, Babey, & Sherman, 1997; Klein & Loftus, 1993a; Klein, Loftus, Trafton, & Fuhrman, 1992b) was based on questionable assumptions and not supported by the available evidence. In this paper we show that Sakaki (2007) has misinterpreted our position on the independence of self-knowledge, omitted mention of large portions of the relevant research at odds with her contention, and conducted her studies with procedures we explicitly warned against due to interpretive ambiguities associated with their use.