Effects of topic valence and pictorial distractor valence on verbalizing and evaluating topic-evoked visual imagery

We reasoned that if speakers must decide how long to reflect and how much to say about a topic, they use such guidelines as topic valence and valent situational distractors that compete for attention. We hypothesized that latency and extent of verbalization would be greater if topic valence were relatively negative, in that negative topics are “weightier” and hence deserve longer reflection and verbalization. Similarly, a negative distractor would cast a weightier aura over the task, with parallel effects. While subjects were imagining the visual scene evoked by a certain pleasant or unpleasant topic, a pleasant or unpleasant picture appeared toward the left or right, on a screen. After the picture faded subjects described the topic-evoked image. Topic valence had no effect on speech latency, whereas picture valence had the predicted effect. Negative topics increased latency of visual attention to pictures, though, as expected, subjects then looked sooner at negative pictures. Both topic valence and picture valence had the predicted effects on extent of verbalization. As predicted, too, unpleasant pictures elicited relatively negative evaluations of topic-evoked images.     

WHY ARROW'S IMPOSSIBILITY THEOREM IS INVALID

In 1951, Kenneth Arrow published his now celebrated book Social Choice and Individual Values. Although not the first book to be written on social choice, Arrow's work ushered in a voluminous literature mostly produced by economists but by philosophers and political scientists as well. Arrow's chief result was a proof of the impossibility of a social welfare function (hereafter "SWF"). He showed that there could be no decision procedure for aggregating individual preference orderings into a grand, overall social preference ordering. The result has been hailed by some as a sort of Godel Theorem of economics. It has seemed to many to have, if not the complexity of the Godel Theorem, at least the same astonishing counter-intuitiveness. On the other hand, some social choice theorists, while conceding the validity of the Arrow Theorem, have challenged its soundness by quarreling with one or more of its presuppositions.     

Computer-aided instruction in a physiological psychology course

A simulation/tutorial sequence was introduced into an undergraduate physiological psychology class (N=32) to provide a laboratory experience. The college computer center managed the IBM-PC-compatible networked facility. The sequence included neuroanatomy, stereotaxic surgery, histology, electrical self-stimulation, and use of the polygraph. All the software was off the shelf except for the stereotaxic surgery/histology/self-stimulation package, which was written by the authors using ToolBook running under Windows.     

The end-of-session message in systemic family therapy: a descriptive study

A retrospective case note review was conducted with the aim of describing the end-of-session messages conveyed during Milan-style systemic family therapy. Fifty consecutive families treated in an adult family clinic were included. A classification of messages was developed; for each type of message the mean number per therapy session was calculated and the rates compared both within and between four systemic categories of family. 'Supportive/engaging' messages were given more frequently than 'hypothesis-related' messages in each systemic category and this difference was most marked in families with grief as the central issue. More 'acknowledgement' messages were used in the 'grief' group than in the 'separation/individuation' group. 'Hypothesis-related' messages were used more often in the 'separation/individuation' group than in the 'grief' group. We discuss possible reasons for the observed patterns and compare different ways in which the message can be conceived and implemented.     

Orientation and job stability: The impact of supervisory and employee role-playing groups on turnover of potentially unemployable blacks

One hundred and seventy potentially hard-core black employees and their supervisors were divided into a 2 × 2 field design. Role-playing group-problem-solving orientation was provided for part of the supervisor sample and part of the employees. To test the impact of orientation, turnover data were compared across the four cells. For the entire group, treated as a whole, there were no significant effects. Dividing the sample in terms of job placement, significant results were found which suggested that orientation can be detrimental in work groups characterized by tight-knit social structures, and insignificant in impact in depersonalized, pressureful job environments. It was concluded that the nature of the job and the job environment certainly were among the significant factors determining the effectiveness of an intervention, although many other factors, including the nature of the total support system, also probably are important.