Localization of a peripheral target during parametric adjustment of saccadic eye movements

The aim of the experiment was to find out whether saccadiceve movements have any effect on perceived visual directions. ihe method was to alter the parameters of the oculomotor system so that the eye movement made in response to a peripheral target was inappropriate to the retinal locus of its image. It was found that this procedure had no effect on the perceived location of the peripheral target; and it was concluded that a specific retinal locus is more or less rigidly associated with a corresponding visual direction, but not with a particular magnitude of ocular rotation.     

Vocational Preference Inventory High Point Codes and Educational Preferences

This study reports normative data describing the combinations of various VPI high point codes associated with educational preferences classified into one of six of Holland's occupational environments and an undecided category. Eight hundred thirty-one male and 129 female college freshmen were queried regarding their educational preferences and were administered the VPI directly prior to college enrollment. The comparisons between preferences and VPI combinations revealed that Intellectual and Realistic, Social and Enterprising, Conventional and Enterprising, and Social and Artistic, seem to go together frequently for male students. The female sample revealed that Social and Artistic VPI codes were common.     

A computer-controlled system for training and testing primates

The hardware and software for a computer-controlled training and testing system for primates are described. The computer (DDP-116 in the Computer-Controlled Psychology Laboratory at Carnegie-Mellon University) controls all stimulus presentation, reinforcement, and records data in a form ready for analysis on a larger computer.     

Shorter articles and notes noise and the shifting of attention

An experiment was carried out to test the hypothesis that performance on a task which involves a shift of attention between spatially separated sources would be lower under noise conditions than one which involved no such shift. The results indicated that the hypothesis was not proved; rather they showed that the subject's performance on the shift of attention task was better under noise than under quiet. An attempt is made to put forward possible reasons for this occurrence.     

Mathematical analysis of the durations of reinforced inter-response times during variable interval reinforcement

In a free-responding situation in which reinforcements are scheduled by a variable interval program, the durations of reinforced inter-response times are shown to be a function of the durations of all inter-response times produced by S and of the frequency of reinforcement.Based on a portion of the author's doctoral dissertation, and supported in part by an NIMH predoctoral research fellowship. Suggestions by W. K. Estes increased the intelligibility of this paper.     

Job characteristics and burnout: The moderating roles of emotional intelligence,motivation and pay among bank employees

This study investigated the prediction of burnout from job characteristics, emotional intelligence, motivation and pay among bank employees. It also examined the interactions of emotional intelligence, motivation, pay and job characteristics in the prediction of burnout. Data obtained from 230 (Males = 127, Females = 103) bank employees were analysed using Pearson's Product Moment Correlation and multiple regression analysis. Results showed that theses variables jointly and separately negatively predicted burnout components. The results further indicated that emotional intelligence, motivation and pay separately interacted with some job characteristic components to negatively predict some burnout components. The findings imply that emotional intelligence, motivation and pay could be considered by counsellors when designing interventions to reduce burnout among bank employees.     

Religion and Public Opinion Toward Same‐Sex Relations,Marriage, and Adoption: Does the Type of Practice Matter?

This study examines how religion's impact on Americans’ attitudes toward same‐sex practices varies by the type of practice being considered. We theorize that same‐sex romantic and family practices such as sexual relations, marriage, and adoption represent distinct practice types, differing in degrees of legality, cultural legitimacy, and in their internal power dynamics. Consequently, we expect that Americans view each practice type somewhat differently and their opinions on each may be influenced by religion in distinctive ways. Drawing upon national‐level data, we estimate and compare the relative net effects of a comprehensive battery of religious measures on support for gay sex, marriage, and adoption, both for the full sample and across religious traditions. Analyses demonstrate that public opinion toward gay sexual relations is more strongly related to religious practice and theological conservatism compared to attitudes regarding same‐sex marriage or adoption. Moreover, frequent religious practice and conservative theological beliefs about the Bible tend to be more strongly associated with attitudes toward same‐sex relationships for evangelicals, compared to mainline Protestants and, to a lesser extent, Catholics. Findings ultimately affirm that the type of same‐sex practice being considered (sex, marriage, or adoption) serves to moderate religions’ impact on Americans’ support for such practices.     

Family Formation and Returning to Institutional Religion in Young Adulthood

Institutional religious involvement wanes during young adulthood, but evidence suggests life‐course factors such as family formation bring people back to religion. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Waves 1, 3, and 4), we examine how often young adults who were involved in institutional religion as adolescents return—measured by religious service attendance and religious affiliation—after leaving in emerging adulthood, and how this return is patterned by family formation. The majority of young adults who leave do not return to regular religious service attendance, regardless of their family formation. But single parents, married parents, and childless married individuals are more likely, and childless cohabiting couples less likely, to return to religious communities than those who are both single and childless. Only married parents are more likely than childless singles to reaffiliate, though there is marginal evidence that childless married adults may also be more likely. Thus, the institutions of religion and family are still linked, even though overall levels of religious return are not as high as expected.     

Maternal Depression and Parent Management Training Outcomes

This study examines the impact of maternal depression on reductions in children’s behavior problems severity following implementation of the Brief Behavioral Intervention—a brief, manualized parent management training treatment. The parents of 87 children aged 2–6 years of age received parent management training at a metropolitan hospital. Parents of participants completed measures of externalizing behavior and maternal depression. The association between pre-post treatment change in externalizing behavior and maternal depression was examined using an autoregressive cross-lagged model. Results showed that self-reported maternal depressive symptoms at pre-treatment negatively influenced the overall magnitude of reduction of reported externalizing behaviors in children following treatment. Results indicate that aspects of family functioning not specifically targeted by parent management training, such as maternal depression, significantly affect treatment outcomes. Clinicians providing parent management training may benefit from assessing for maternal depression and modifying treatment as indicated.     

Phantom narratives and the uncanny in cultural life: psychic presences and their shadows

Abstract

In this paper the author explores the emotional factors that are activated at the level of the cultural unconscious, that produce experiences of the uncanny that are expressed through Phantom Narratives. Phantom Narratives as a hybridized term is the author’s way of linking personal and social activity of unconscious story formation through psychic presences (images). Phantom Narratives are expressions of the unconscious at the level of the group that shows the psyche’s way of narrating its relationship to the group, through the expressions of cultural, social, and political issues. The uncanny, at the level of the social, is seen as those disturbances of feelings that alienate us from the familiar social world of others. What is uncanny about Phantom Narratives is how group emotional dynamics are represented as psychic presences. Making use of the author’s own subjectivity (i.e. psychoanalytic literary genre) he uses an approach from analytic psychology (Jungian) called amplification, which allows for the elaboration of symbolic processes, to create a meaningful (semantic) context for exploration.