The acquisition of mental verbs: A systematic investigation of the first reference to mental state

It is generally recognized that the ability to contemplate and communicate about the knowledge, beliefs, and goals of oneself and others is a benchmark of human cognition. Yet, little is known about the beginnings of this ability, in large measure because methods for accurately assessing very young children's ability have been unavailable. Here we present the results of using a method of convergent analyses of naturally occurring speech to assess the young child's ability to contemplate and communicate about mental state. The first study describes the frequency and function of verbs of mental reference such as think and know in the speech of one child from 2;4 to 4;0. The second examines shorter samples of speech collected from 30 two-year-olds over a 6 month period. Results from both studies suggest that the earliest uses of mental verbs are for conversational functions rather than for mental reference. First attempts at mental reference begin to appear in some children's speech in the second half of the third year. Since most of the children studied exhibited the linguistic knowledge necessary to make reference to mental states, we conclude that the absence of such reference earlier suggests that still younger children lack awareness of such states, or at the very least, an understanding of their appropriateness as topics of conversation.     

External Validity of Matching on Physical Attractiveness for Same and Opposite Sex Couples1

The external validity of the hypothesis that couples come to be matched on physical attractiveness was examined for same and opposite sex pairs of college students in a wide range of natural settings and types of relationships. Correlations between ratings of couples by observers revealed evidence of matching for male friends and for opposite sex friends, dating, and committed couples. No evidence was found for female friends. The implications of these findings for fear of social rejection and exchange explanations of the matching hypothesis and for the normal development of interpersonal relationships are discussed.     

The validity of the Crites model of career maturity

To test the validity of the Crites model of career maturity, career maturity and noncareer maturity measures were administered to 312 ninth graders and to 200 technical college students. Scores on all measures were intercorrelated and factor analyzed. The results show that, as predicted, most of the Career Choice Competencies have more in common with each other than they have with Career Choice Attitudes; Career Choice Competencies are fairly highly positively related to each other; Career Choice Attitudes and Career Choice Competencies have more in common with each other in grade 9 than they do in the post-secondary grades; and there is a relationship between career maturity and sex and race of ninth graders and technical college students. The results do not support the hypothesized multidimensional structure of the Crites model or the hypothesis that variables in the Crites model have more in common with each other than they have with noncareer maturity variables. Discussion includes several possible explanations for failure to support the Crites model, and suggestions for further research.     

Effects of restricting first graders' TV-viewing on leisure time use,IQ change,and cognitive style

Middle-class 6-year-olds matched for sex, age, pretest WPPSI IQ, and TV-viewing time were blindly assigned to a restricted TV-viewing group or an unrestricted group. Restricted parents halved subjects' previous TV-viewing rates and interacted 20 min./day with subjects for a 6-week period. Unrestricted TV parents provided similar interactions but did not limit viewing. Results tentatively suggest that TV restriction enhanced Performance IQ, reading time, and reflective Matching Familiar Figures scores.     

The therapeutic nature of confessions

Since Janet and Freud, confessions have been a vital part of the psychoanalytic armamentarium. While confessions were originally cast primarily in oedipal terms, this paper examines confessions in the light of recent developments in self psychology and object relations. The central thesis presented is that confessions contribute both to the development of self-identity and to the strengthening of object relations. Clinical and literary examples are used to illustrate how individuals who choose to confess are redeemed and transformed; those who opt for conscious concealment or unconscious self-deception are destroyed. Confessions made during therapy provide valuable information on historical antecedents as well as on the vicissitudes of the self.     

Teacher attitudes toward educational and psychological services for conduct problem children

Ninety-nine teachers participated in a survey designed to assess teacher attitudes toward and experience with a variety of strategies for dealing with conduct problem children in regular classes. Results indicated that (a) a majority of teachers favored placing conduct problem children in regular rather than special classes; (b) current sources of assistance (school psychologists, clinical psychologists, principals, parents, and other teachers) were uniformly perceived as only slightly effective in helping teachers handle problem children; and (c) of 14 alternative educational and psychological assistance delivery strategies, teachers most frequently preferred smaller classes, teacher aides, increased counseling staff, and resource classrooms.This study was funded as part of Grant No. OEG-0-71-2872 from the U.S. Office of Education. The opinions expressed in this paper are in no way intended to reflect those of the granting agency. The suggestions of Marlene Schneider, Eleanor Wilcox, Ruth Shepard, and Susan O'Leary were extremely helpful in the initial formulation of the questionnaire used in this study. The authors are further indebted to Kenneth Kaufman, Marvin R. Goldfried, Leonard Krasner, Lillian Stevens, W. E. Hedley, and R. Mullaney for allowing us to use their continuing education courses as the sources of our sample of teachers, and to the many teachers who completed the questionnaire.     

Psychological reactance and the attractiveness of unobtainable objects: Sex differences in children's responses to an elimination of freedom

This study examined possible sex and age differences in children's perceptions of the attractiveness of unobtainable and obtained objects. Using an experimental paradigm developed by Hammock and J. Brehm (1966), half of the male and female first-grade and sixth-grade subjects were led to expect to choose between two objects; the other half were told they would be given one of two objects, but were not led to expect to choose between these objects. After subjects ranked an array of 10 objects, all subjects were given their third-ranked object and denied their fourth-ranked object. No subject was given any opportunity to indicate a preference or make a choice between these two alternatives. As predicted, subjects' subsequent rankings of the objects differed according to sex. Male subjects behaved in accordance with theoretical predictions based on J. Brehm's theory of psychological reactance and, thus, replicated the results obtained by Hammock and Brehm. The behavior of female subjects did not conform to the reactance theory model. No age differences were predicted and none were obtained. The implications of these results for predicting whether an unobtainable object will become more or less attractive, and for the nature and extent of sex differences in children's responses to the loss of behavioral freedoms, are discussed.     

Justifications of Aggressive Behavior in Contact and Semicontact Sports

The present study examines the extent to which athletes in selected contact and semicontact sports report agreement or disagreement with the use of intentional acts of aggression during competition. Eighty-five male athletes responded to the Bredemeier Athietic Aggression Inventory-Short Form and the Mintah Huddleston Aggression Justification Inventory. Overall results revealed no significant differences between subjects' use of hostile and instrumental aggression in sport and between the hostile and instrumental justifications provided for such behavior. Results indicated that contact-sport participants disagree more with the use of instrumental aggression than semicontact-sport participants.     

Structural power and experienced job satisfactions: The empowerment paradox for women

This study related the structural power of women's occupational roles to their job values, perceptions, satisfactions, and dissatisfactions regarding power and affiliation. For 110 mostly Caucasian college-educated women in their mid-30s returning mailed questionnaires, analyses compared women in relational power, directive power, and low power jobs. Women in supervisory roles were compared with nonsupervisors. Perceived Autonomy/Challenge and Affiliation correlated with Interpersonal Power satisfaction; these and Perceived Status Mobility correlated with Interpersonal Power dissatisfaction. More women in relational power jobs reported Affiliative values and Interpersonal Power satisfactions, and fewer reported Status Mobility values and perceptions or Autonomy/Challenge satisfactions. Supervisors valued and perceived Status Mobility and Autonomy/Challenge more than did nonsupervisors, and reported more Autonomy/Challenge satisfaction. More nonsupervisors reported Interpersonal Power and Affiliative satisfactions. Thus, as women gain more structural power, they report less satisfaction from Interpersonal Power despite greater satisfaction with Autonomy/Challenge.I thank Sandra S. Tangri for initiating and continuing this longitudinal study; Sandra S. Tangri, Jo Ruggiero, and Jan Hitchcock for their collaborative work on the 1981 data collection; and Karen Chandler and Kathy MacDonald for coding of open-ended data. I appreciate Harriett Aronson's comments on previous drafts, and those of two anonymous reviewers.This research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grant No. 5-F1-MH-30#493-03; by Radcliffe Research Support Grants from The Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College to Jo Ruggiero and to Sharon Rae Jenkins; a faculty research grant from the University of California, Santa Cruz to Sharon Rae Jenkins; and by a grant from the Mobil Foundation to Radcliffe College awarded to Sharon Rae Jenkins. Portions of these analyses were supported by NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship MH-15122-07 from the Department of Sociology and Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. The 1967 and 1970 data sets are archived at The Henry A. Murray Research Center, Radcliffe College, Ten Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, are used with the Center's permission, and are available for secondary analysis by qualified researchers.