On the Relationship between Aggressive Imagery and Thought Disturbance in Rorschach Responses

Two studies were conducted to test the general hypothesis that the expression of aggression in fantasy to one stimulus reduces the probability of occurrence of aggression fantasy to a following stimulus. In both studies the results were contrary to the hypothesis, i.e., probability of an aggression fantasy response did not change to later stimuli. Further, intensity of aggression response increased as a function of the ordinal position of the fantasy eliciting stimulus and the fantasy of aggression pull of a given stimulus was significantly influenced by the sequence of preceding stimuli. Discrepancies between these results and those of other studies are discussed in terms of aroused versus base levels of aggression drive.     

Comedy as Correction: Humor as Perspective by Incongruity on Will & Grace and Queer as Folk

This essay examines the television programs Will & Grace and Queer as Folk through the lens of a comic frame to argue for each show’s potential to change our social culture. Because television culture is oriented to heterosexual and Christian perfection (i.e. heterosexuality and Christianity as normative identities), gays, lesbians and Jews are rendered Other and thereby tragically framed. By reading Queer as Folk and Will & Grace together and employing the Burkean notion of perspective by incongruity, this article argues that neither show’s characters exist within the tragic binary of victim/villain. Rather, the use of humor offers the necessary perspective by incongruity to comically correct the tragic frame of heterosexual and Christian perfection.     

Generalization of posture training to computer workstations in an applied setting

Improving employees' posture may decrease the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. The current paper is a systematic replication and extension of Sigurdsson and Austin (2008), who found that an intervention consisting of information, real-time feedback, and self-monitoring improved participant posture at mock workstations. In the current study, participants worked in an applied setting, and posture data were collected at participants' own workstations and a mock workstation. Intervention in the mock setting was associated with consistent improvement in safe posture at the mock workstation, but generalization to the actual workstation was limited.     

Two sides of wonder: Philosophical keys to the motivation of science learning

Science education is most efficacious and enduring when undertaken within a philosophical framework akin to that of science, itself. This entails recognition that, above all, science is a mode of rational inquiry pursued by those who are curious about the natural world and motivated to seek rational answers to personally meaningful questions. The key to successful science instruction lies in fostering a student's self-motivation and productively channeling his innate curiosity. To do this a science educator must (a) convey to students an accurate and sympathetic impression of the importance of science to their cultural development; (b) help students develop an ability to evaluate information critically and arrive at logical conclusions; (c) provide students opportunities to engage in creative, personally meaningful scientific research.I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. S. B. Brachwitz for many helpful conversations on science education. My appreciation also goes to Trinity College for a Faculty Research Grant during the time this work was begun.     

Altering the proportion of components in a mixed fixed-ratio schedule

Pigeons were trained under a schedule consisting of a number of fixed-ratio 100 components followed by a single fixed-ratio 10 component. The proportion of fixed-ratio 100 to fixed-ratio 10 components was varied according to several ascending and descending series within the range of 99:1 to 1:1. When this proportion was reduced to about 20:1 and below, the pause following each fixed-ratio 100 gradually decreased in length. Primes, a burst of responses at the start of the fixed-ratio 100 component, increased in frequency, and then decreased when the proportion became extremely low. Also, when the relative frequency of fixed-ratio 10 components was very high, primes were seldom observed in the first fixed-ratio 100 component following a fixed-ratio 10 component, but were distributed evenly throughout the remaining fixed-ratio 100 components.