Intimacy and structure: Sex differences in imagery of same-sex relationships

Thirty-three female and 42 male undergraduates wrote stories in response to verbal Thematic Apperception Test cues of characters of the subject's sex in structured and unstructured situations. Significantly more men than women wrote stories with negative and defused imagery to the unstructured situation cue. In addition, men wrote stories with significantly more negative and defused imagery to the unstructured cue than to the structured cue. Women showed no significant difference in the frequency of negative and defused imagery to unstructured and structured cues. A detailed content analysis, however, indicated that for women structure decreases intimate contact and inhibits satisfying relationships of support and reciprocity. Results suggest that males, perceiving same-sex relationships as dangerous, feel threatened by intimacy, and thus need to impose structure onto interpersonal situations in order to defuse the intimacy: by using rules, roles, and the addition of others, boundaries may be established between people. Women, comfortable with same-sex intimacy, perceive structured situations as hindering the development of satisfying relationships.     

Attenuating the visual suffix effect with color

In previous studies using a short-duration visual presentation (200-340 msec), presentation of a different colored suffix did not attenuate the visual suffix effect. In Experiment 1, color attenuated the suffix effect for a longer duration visual presentation (approximately 3-4 sec) during which the subject engaged in articulatory suppression to prevent auditory recoding. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed that color does not attenuate the suffix effect for the short-duration presentations. In Experiment 4, recall of a long-duration presentation was not improved when the last digit was a different color, suggesting that the different color of the suffix improves recall by allowing the suffix to be excluded from visual short-term memory. The attenuation by color is consistent with the hypothesis that preattentive grouping governs the entry of information into visual short-term memory.     

Pattern preferences at birth and their interaction with habituation-induced novelty preferences

Three experiments are described which relate to models of infant visual preferences, and to the ways in which preferences can be modified or created by habituation. In all experiments newborn babies were used as subjects. In Experiments equated 1 and 2 infants were presented with pairs of stimuli that were equated for contour density but which differed in spatial frequency components. The preferences obtained give support to Banks and Salapatek's (1981, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 31, 1-45) model of infant preferences which predicts that the maximally preferred stimulus will be that which contains high amplitude spatial frequency components falling within the age group's peak contrast sensitivity. In Experiment 3 an infant-controlled habituation procedure was used. The results obtained suggest that strong natural preferences based on the infants' peak contrast sensitivity cannot be changed by habituating infants either to the preferred or to the nonpreferred member of a stimulus pair. However, where no prior preference exists between two stimuli that are perceptually highly discriminable, very strong novelty preferences are found after habituating newborns to either stimulus. The results suggest that the contrast sensitivity model can be a powerful predictor of preferential looking in newborns, and in addition are further evidence that preferences based on experience can be found from birth.     

The timing of shifts of head postures during conservation

The timing of shifts of head postures in relation to speech during conservation was investigated by continuously monitoring, with a polarised light goniometer, the head movement of four subjects engaged in conservation.Postural shifts (PSs), defined as wide, linear movements, were found to occur primarily towards the initiation of speech, be it between speaking turns, or between syntactic boundaries inside speaking turns. This suggested that PSs are involved in regulating turn taking and marking syntactic boundaries inside speaking turns.Also, PSs usually started prior to and continued till after speech onset. This suggested a possible involvement in speech production, probably in helping to regulate the complex motor processes of beginning to speak.It is suggested that interactive, linguistic and speech productive functions may combine together to create a movement pattern by mutually constraining head movement.     

Controlling puff volume without disrupting smoking topography

In studies of the behavioral and physiological effects of cigarette smoking, it is of critical importance to keep the dose of nicotine as constant as possible. This is difficult with smoking, because when the nicotine delivery of a cigarette is increased or reduced, smokers tend to compensate by modifying their smoke intake. In a laboratory study, it is relatively easy to control the number of cigarettes and the number of puffs taken, but it is more difficult to control the volume of each puff. Various procedures have been developed to control puff volume, but they have a disadvantage of disrupting the normal topography of smoking. We have developed an apparatus for delivering fixed volumes of smoke that has given consistent tar and nicotine values needed in studies of the behavioral and physiological effects of cigarette smoking. This method has the distinct advantage of allowing the subject to inhale the smoke in a normal fashion, with a draw resistance comparable to that of a cigarette. The device is inexpensive and easy to make.     

An application of the fear avoidance model to three chronic pain problems.

The Fear Avoidance Model of Exaggerated Pain Perception was developed in an attempt to explain how, and why, some individuals develop a more substantial psychological overlay to their low back pain problem than do others. The present paper describes a study in which three chronic pain groups, consisting of Post-Herpetic neuralgia patients, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy patients and chronic low back pain patients were compared with three pain-free comparison groups using the Fear Avoidance Model of Exaggerated Pain Perception. The results show statistically significant differences between the chronic groups and the recovered comparison groups. These results demonstrate the usefulness of the Fear Avoidance Model as an explanation of psychological overlay in chronic pain conditions regardless of pathology.     

Antecedent exercise and its effects on self-stimulation

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of physical exercise on the self-stimulatory and on-task behaviors of an 8-year-old with developmental disabilities. For 10 min prior to a structured play session, the subject engaged in roller skating. This antecedent activity resulted in a decrease in the subject's self-stimulatory behavior and a corresponding increase in his on-task performance. Applications to educational programs and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

A Survey of Representative Groups on SACRE

This research project arose out of professional concern to clarify the procedures adopted by local education authorities in setting up their SACREs. It explores how a 'faith-group' gains representation on the committee. It considers how a religion gains acceptability for inclusion in classroom religious education. The evidence reveals a great disparity in procedures and practice by SACREs. This paper concentrates on representations an SACRE.     

Practical skills and personality development

Declarers of above average, average, and below average Practical Skills on the ACT Student Profile Report were compared on the basis of OPI personality scale scores by means of multivariate analysis of covariance. Results indicated significant differences by level of Practical Skill and no significant interaction between sex and practical skill category. Distributional differences of above average, average, and below average practical skills by various vocational choices were investigated by X². The personality differences found were interpreted as developmental, according to Erikson's theory.