Human responses to various conditions of water temperature

Skin-surface temperatures on thehuman hand were obtained immediately following six exposure times ranging from 5 to 60 sec. for water temperatures varying in 5° increments from 10° to 40°C. The surface of the skin was found to respond rapidly and regularly to both the temperature and time of exposure. In a second study 30 Ss exposed a hand for 5 or 30 sec. to water temperatures ranging from 10° to 45°C. and made ratings on scales of pain and comfort as well as attaching a verbal label (cold, cool, tepid, etc.) to each experience. The experience of cold became more intense over these time intervals while the experience of warmth became less, and with the threshold constant taken into account the sensations of pain and discomfort were found to follow a psychophysical power law. The usefulness of these sorts of data for interpreting the effects of noxious stimuli in basic learning studies is discussed.     

Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children: A Mix of Responsibility

The report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, was written by a committee of distinguished scientists for the National Academy of Science. The report contains a synthesis of research related to early reading, and it includes a large number of recommendations for a variety of audiences. In this paper, Bronfenbrenner's systems model is presented as a mechanism for planning actions and initiatives to carry-out the committee's recommendations, for guiding the evaluation of those actions, and for conducting research on the effects of those recommendations.     

Some Beginnings of Word Comprehension in 6-Month-Olds

Previous studies of infants' comprehension of words estimated the onset of this ability at 9 months or later. However, these estimates were based on responses to names of relatively immobile, familiar objects. Comprehension of names referring to salient, animated figures (e.g., one's parents) may begin even earlier. In a test of this possibility, 6-month-olds were shown side-by-side videos of their parents while listening to the words "mommy" and "daddy." The infants looked significantly more at the video of the named parent. A second experiment revealed that infants do not associate these words with men and women in general. Infants shown videos of unfamiliar parents did not adjust their looking patterns in response to "mommy" and "daddy."     

The development of an autonomy scale

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and relaible instrument to measure four areas of autonomy. The instrument is composed of four subscales that measure the following constructs of autonomy: (a) family loyalty autonomy, (b) value autonomy, (c) emotional autonomy, and (d) behavioral autonomy. A detailed four-step procedure was used to provide the scale with construct, content, and predictive validity. Presented here is the four-stage process used to develop the Autonomy Scale, data supporting the validity and reliability of the scale, and the final version of the instrument.This article is based on dissertation research in partial fulfillment of degree requirements at Texas Woman's University.     

Stress and family health

This study investigates the difference between perceived everyday individual stress and levels of family health. Subjects completed the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale (FACES III), the Derogatis Stress Profile, and a personal data form. Quota sampling of 121 subjects was used to obtain 25 subjects in each of three groups: balanced, mid-range, and extreme family types. Individuals identified as members of mid-range families reported less overall stress than balanced or extreme family members. Significant differences appeared between the balanced and mid-range groups. Balanced individual family members reported slightly higher levels of stress than extreme family members.     

Decision-theoretic epistemology

In this paper, I examine the possibility of accounting for the rationality of belief-formation by utilising decision-theoretic considerations. I consider the utilities to be used by such an approach, propose to employ verisimilitude as a measure of cognitive utility, and suggest a natural way of generalising any measure of verisimilitude defined on propositions to partial belief-systems, a generalisation which may enable us to incorporate Popper's insightful notion of verisimilitude within a Bayesian framework. I examine a dilemma generated by the decision-theoretic procedure and consider an adequacy condition (immodesty) designed to ameliorate one of its horns. Finally, I argue in a sceptical vein that no adequate verisimilitude measure can be used decision-theoretically.I am grateful to Philip Percival for his very useful comments and criticism on earlier drafts. This paper was written with the support of a Scheuer fellowship, for which I am most thankful.     

Family therapists and family business: A view of the future

The family business is a unique entity that has recently come to the attention of business consultants and family therapists. The unique processes of family business are amendable to the applications of family systems theory, organizational development theory, and various theories that focus on individual growth and development. In this paper we review some of the basic concepts relative to understanding family businesses and briefly outline our approach to consultation with family businesses.