Formalized historiography,the structure of scientific and literary texts: Part I. some issues posed by computational methodology

The examination of theorizing and techniques for scientific language analysis applied to ‘history’ clearly generalizes to imply a domain of applicability potentially coextensive for behavioral scientists with the scope of cultural behavior. It is argued that the computer and related science and technology are moving toward a relationship vis-à-vis symbolic acts analogous to microscopy for the ‘sub-visual’ in scale and telescopes for astronomic phenomena. Content analysis is one of the points of departure, as also contemporary syntactic analysis, from which present ideas and algorithms have moved on. How ‘far’ — both at present and in prospect — is the subject of these articles.     

ALTRUISM: TOWARD A PSYCHOBIOSPIRITUAL CONCEPTUALIZATION

Altruism, defined here as a regard for or devotion to the interest of others with whom we are interrelated, is pitted against two other dispositions in human beings: nepotism and egoism. We propose that to become fully human is to become more altruistic. We describe how altruism is mediated by our physiology, is expressed in our psychological development, is evolving in our social institutions, and becomes the moral communities that enforce our sense of right and wrong. A change in any one of these influences changes our disposition—changes who we are and what we do—potentially making altruism more possible in the world.     

Senior citizens group: The supervisory process (A case of parallel processes in multiple systems)

As cost-effective treatment becomes mandatory, preventive psychiatry support groups in community settings offer one solution. The authors describe their experience establishing a group at a Senior Citizens Center. They focus on the supervision of the PGY III psychiatry resident who led the group and how the supervisory process reflected the conflicts in multiple systems: the group, the Senior Citizens Center, the hospital, and supervision. Guidelines are offered for establishing such groups.     

An Exploration of Right-Hemisphere Contributions to the Pragmatic Impairments of Autism

This study examined the potential contribution of the right hemisphere to the communicative impairments of autism. Pragmatic language measures sensitive to right-hemisphere damage were administered to nonretarded adults with autism and to controls matched on age and intellectual ability. The experimental battery included measures of humor, inference, and indirect request comprehension. Autistic subjects performed significantly less well than controls on all measures, replicating results of an earlier investigation by Rumsey and Hanahan (Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology,12,81, 1990). The performance of the autistic group on the three tasks was also similar to that of right-hemisphere stroke patients reported previously (Molloy, Brownell, & Gardner, in Y. Joanette and H. M. Brownell (Eds.),Discourse ability and brain damage: Theoretical and empirical perspectives,New York: Springer-Verlag, 1990, pp. 113–130). Generalizability of these results and implications for the neuropathology of autism are discussed.     

Local crime as a natural hazard: Implications for understanding the relationship between disorder and fear of crime

Summary We have suggested the following: Local crimes and natural hazards share several objective similarities and similarities in how they are perceived. Although local crimes and natural hazards are clearly different in numerous respects, these points of analogy suggest that in several ways responses to local disorder may be similar to responses to hazards. If this is the case, processes used to explain how persons respond to disasters may help explain a recurrent puzzle in the responses to disorder literature: the loose linkages between local disorder levels and fear levels.Future research needs include developing a fuller understanding of how other contextual factors mediate or moderate the processes discussed here, how these processes are related to and may mediate behavioral responses to crime, and how these behaviors in turn influence perceptions. We have suggested here that anticrime behaviors may result in some disadaptation to the threat, thereby elevating fear, and have provided evidence to that effect. In addition it is important to ascertain how the points of analogy between crime as a natural hazard and crime as an environmental stressor may be melded to develop more insight than afforded by either perspective considered singly. The heuristic developed here suggests some additional considerations for policy makers involved in anticrime or fear reduction programs.Irv Altman, Paul Bell, Joan McCord, Aaron Podolefsky, and Carol Werner provided helpful and encouraging comments on earlier drafts.     

Ear asymmetry in a dichotic detection task

Pairs of consonant-vowel (CV) syllables were presented dichotically to Ss who were instructed to monitor for the presence of a target CV which could occur in either ear. Ss responded by depressing a response button ; reaction time (RT) was also recorded. Right ear targets were detected 6.2% more frequently, on the average, than left ear targets and had an average RT 50 msec quicker than their left ear counterparts. These results demonstrate the existence of a right ear superiority in dichotic listening when a nonverbal motor response measure is used, supporting the contention that the ear asymmetry phenomenon is truly perceptual in nature and not merely due to the lateralization of verbal output. Two alternative explanations of the RT difference between left and right ear targets are offered. One attributes this difference to the time necessary for intercortical transfer of right hemisphere information, while the second holds that it is due to the longer times needed by the right hemisphere to process information projected to it.     

Young children's processing of asymmetrical and symmetrical patterns

Dot patterns varying in type of symmetry (double symmetry, vertical symmetry, horizontal symmetry, and asymmetry) were presented tachistoscopically for 200 msec, followed by a patterned mask, to kindergarten, second-grade, and fourthgrade children. All subjects reported symmetrical patterns more accurately than asymmetrical patterns. Double symmetry patterns were reproduced more accurately than vertical symmetry patterns, and vertical symmetry patterns were reproduced more accurately than horizontal symmetry patterns. These results stand in marked contrast to previous research by demonstrating that the ability to process symmetrical relationships evolves early in perceptual development. There was a suggestion that subjects of all ages perceived information about the type of symmetry presented in the display, but there were agerelated differences in subjects' abilities to use this knowledge in constructing their responses. Additionally, analyses revealed no age-related biases toward imposing symmetrical responses on asymmetrical patterns.     

Laterality effects in judgment of the identity and position of letters: A signal detection analysis

In two experiments subjects received 100 ms tachistoscopic presentations, either to left or right of fixation, of a rectangular matrix of 12 cells. On each trial three cells were filled, each with a different symbol drawn from a set of 12 letters and digits. In one (the “letter” experiment) subjects had to decide whether a particular letter (nominated at the end of the trial) had been one of the three presented. In a second (the “position” experiment) they had to decide whether a cell in the matrix (again nominated at the end of the trial) had been one of those that contained a symbol. Judgments were made on a four-point rating scale, and measures of sensitivity and response bias were calculated. In the letter experiment sensitivity was greater for presentations to right of fixation, and in the position experiment for those to left.     

Behavioral components of social competence in females

This study examined behavioral components used by peers to judge heterosocial competence in females. Thirty-five female undergraduates participated in two interactions with a naive male partner. Judges provided global ratings for female subjects on attractiveness, skill, anxiety, guidance, listening, and smoothness of response. Behavioral counts of smiles, gestures, self-manipulations, talk time, and gaze were also obtained from the videotapes of the interactions. Although many specific behaviors correlated with judgments of social competency, talk time and gaze best predicted social competency in women. Implications of the results and future research directions are discussed.This study was conducted as part of the first author's master's thesis while a student at Purdue University.