Personality patterns of white,black, and Mexican-American patrolmen as measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire

The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire was administered to 461 Los Angeles patrolmen to abtain a normative police profile. Multivariate analysis revealed that the average patrolman appeared brighter, more reserved, dominant, and tough-minded (p less than .001) than the average male. Comparisons were made for 29 black, 33 Mexican-American, and 399 white officers. Mexican-American officers emerged as more conservative and relaxed than whites, while black officers appeared more experimental, analytical, and group-oriented. A comparison with an idependent police sample revealed common traits of self-assurance and conservatism. Results were compared with a social workers' profile and discussed in relation to police officers' actual job activities and community needs.     

Effects of Job Redesign: A Field Experiment1

A telephone company project to redesign the job of directory assistance operator was: studied in order to determine the effects on workers of “job enrichment” programs. The change increased the amount of variety and the decisionmaking autonomy in the operator's job. However, no change in work motivation, job involvement, or growth need satisfaction occurred as a result of the changes; instead, the changes had a significant negative impact on interpersonal relationships. After the changes, the older employees reported less satisfaction with the quality of their interpersonal relationships, and those supervisors whose jobs were affected by the changes reported less job security and reduced interpersonal satisfaction. Implications of these findings for the theory of job redesign proposed by Hackman and Lawler (1971) are discussed.     

Peripheral and central components in variants of the Mueller-Lyer illusion

Illusion decrement with prolonged inspection was used as a technique to assess the relative amount of central component in seven variants of the Mueller-Lyer illusion. Results indicate that all of the variant forms share a common, central component, while the peripheral components, such as lateral inhibition, vary as a function of the presence of converging lines in the illusion configurations.     

An empirical taxonomy of visual illusions

A classification system for visual-geometric illusions, based upon the interrelationships between behavioral responses to various distortions was created. Forty-five illusion configurations were presented to 221 observers. Factor analysis revealed that there are five classes of illusions. A secondorder analysis revealed that visual distortions are ultimately reducible to two global types of distortions: illlusions of extent and illusions of shape or direction.     

Role of conditioned reinforcers in the initiation,maintenance and extinction of drug-seeking behavior

The development of a secondary reinforcer as a result of associating a neutral stimulus (buzzer) with intravenous (IV) doses of morphine was studied in rats. Secondary reinforcement developed in the absence of physical dependence and followed the association of the stimulus with either response-contingent or non-contingent injections of morphine. Strength of the conditioned reinforcer, measured in terms of responding on a lever for the stimulus plus infusion of saline solution, was proportional to the unit dosage of morphine employed in pairings of buzzer and drug. When extinction of the lever-press response for IV morphine was conducted (by substituting saline for morphine solution) in the absence of the conditioned reinforcing stimulus, it was seen later that the stimulus could still elicit lever responses, until it too had been present for a sufficient interval of non-reinforced responding. Similarly, extinction of the response for morphine by blocking its action with naloxone in the absence of the stimulus did not eliminate the conditioned reinforcement. Another study showed that a passive, subcutaneous (SC) dose of morphine served to maintain lever-pressing on a contingency of buzzer plus sahne infusion. Furthermore, the stimuli resulting from the presence of morphine (after a SC injection) were able to reinstate the lever-responding with only the buzzer-saline contingency when such responses had previously been extinguished. Moreover, it was shown thatd-amphetamine could restore responding under the same conditions, and that morphine could also do so for rats in which the primary reinforcer had beend-amphetamine. It is suggested that animal data such as these show that procedures designed for the elimination of human drug-taking behavior must take into account secondary reinforcers as well as the primary reinforcer(s).     

Prior experience as a moderator of disaster impact on anxiety symptoms in older adults

As participants in a panel study, 234 older adults were interviewed before, as well as after, serious flooding occurred in southeastern Kentucky. Floods are not uncommon in this area, but these were more widespread than most, and resulted in both previously exposed and newly exposed subsamples of disaster victims. Flood impact was measured at both personal and community levels. With preflood symptoms controlled, there were modest flood effects on both trait anxiety and weather-specific distress in older adults without prior flood experience, but no flood effects in older adults who had been in floods before. Thus, the study provides support for the "inoculation hypothesis" and other conceptualizations that emphasize the advantage of being familiar or experienced with a stressor that is at hand. An implication is that "experienced" victims could be a valuable resource in prevention efforts.     

Application of model-selection criteria to some problems in multivariate analysis

A review of model-selection criteria is presented, with a view toward showing their similarities. It is suggested that some problems treated by sequences of hypothesis tests may be more expeditiously treated by the application of model-selection criteria. Consideration is given to application of model-selection criteria to some problems of multivariate analysis, especially the clustering of variables, factor analysis and, more generally, describing a complex of variables.     

The Composite-Stimulus Analysis and the Quantal Nature of Stimulus Control: Response and Incentive Factors

The Psychological Record -