The role of left perisylvian cortical regions in spelling

In order to examine the role of left perisylvian cortex in spelling, 13 individuals with lesions in this area were administered a comprehensive spelling battery. Their spelling of regular words, irregular words, and nonwords was compared with that of individuals with extrasylvian damage involving left inferior temporo-occipital cortex and normal controls. Perisylvian patients demonstrated a lexicality effect, with nonwords spelled worse than real words. This pattern contrasts with the deficit in irregular word spelling, or regularity effect, observed in extrasylvian patients. These findings confirm that damage to left perisylvian cortex results in impaired phonological processing required for sublexical spelling. Further, degraded phonological input to orthographic selection typically results in additional deficits in real word spelling.     

Gods, Rituals, and the Moral Order

The functionalist "law" that religion sustains the moral order must be amended. As is demonstrated in this study, religion has this effect only as it is based on belief in powerful, active, conscious, morally-concerned gods. Contrary to Durkheim's claims, participation in religious rituals per se has little independent impact on morality and none when done on behalf of gods conceived as unconscious essences, or as conscious gods of small scope and lacking moral concerns. Thus, the link between gods and morality is limited mainly to societies having more complex cultures, but even in some highly developed societies a religious basis for morality is missing. Quantitative results are based on 427 societies included in the Atlas of World Cultures, and on surveys of the United States and 33 other nations.     

THE MEANING OF MS.

When Ms. was first introduced as an alternative to Miss or Mrs. it was perceived as a radical feminist innovation. Today, its use is unremarkable, even normative. This study examines two aspects of the meaning of Ms.: changes in its connotative meaning over time, and its current comparability to other titles. Female (n = 83) and male (n = 54) college students rated courtesy titles (Ms., Miss, Mrs., Mr.) on a set of bipolar adjective pairs composing a semantic differential scale in an exact replication of a 1978 study. Of the four titles, the largest change in meaning over time was for Ms., and the direction of the change was positive. These results document the social assimilation of a new gender-related concept.     

Self-control in children: A multimethod examination of treatment outcome measures

This investigation consisted of a multimethod evaluation of treatment outcome measures that have been developed to assess self-control in children. Subjects were 132 children from the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Each child's homeroom teacher and one other classroom teacher independently completed the Self-Control Rating Scale (SCRS), the Teacher's Self-Control Rating Scale (TSCRS), and the 10-item Conners Teacher Rating Scale (TRS). Parents of 41 children completed the Teacher's Self-Control Rating Scale and the Conners Teacher Rating Scale. Children completed the Children's Perceived Self-Control Scale (CPSC) and were administered the Matching Familiar Figure Test (MFF). Results showed high internal consistency reliability for the TSCRS, SCRS, TRS, and MFF latency scores, CPSCS and MFF error scores demonstrated low reliability13-01=.07).Correlations between rating scales and MFF error scores also were low. The findings suggest that considerable construct confusion does exist between measures designed to assess self-control and impulsivity in children.1The authors wish to express their appreciation to Edward Guziewski, principal, and the teachers of Oregon Elementary School for their assistance and cooperation in this study. In addition, the authors thank an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. This article was written while the first author was principal research investigator with the Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Unit of the Waisman Center on Mental Retardation and Human Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is funded in large part by Grant HD 03352 from the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, April 1984.     

Why religious movements succeed or fail: A revised general model

In this essay I refine and greatly expand the scope of my 1987 theory of why religious groups succeed or fail. The initial version was limited to new religions (cult movements). This version applies to all movements, including sects. The theory now consists of 10 propositions which attempt to specify the necessary and sufficient conditions for success or failure.     

Cognitive triad: Relationship to depressive symptoms,parents' cognitive triad,and perceived parental messages

Evaluating the relationship between children's depressogenic thinking, children's depressive symptoms, parents' depressogenic thinking, and perceived parental messages about the self, world, and future was the primary objective of this investigation. Children (n =133) from grades 4 to 7 completed measures of depression and anxiety, including a semistructured clinical interview, a measure of their cognitive triad, and a measure of perceived parental messages about the self, world, and future. Mothers (n =112) and fathers (n =95) completed a measure of their own cognitive triad. Results of a series of regression analyses revealed that (1) children's views of self, world, and future (cognitive triad) are related to severity of depression; (2) mothers' but not fathers' cognitive triads are related to their children's cognitive triads; (3) perceived parental messages to the children about the self, world, and future are predictive of the children's cognitive triads and ratings of depression; and (4) the relationship between perceived parental messages and depression is completely mediated by children's cognitive triads. Analyses of covariance indicated that the obtained mediational relationship between children's views of self, world, and future, perceived parental messages, and children's depressive symptoms was specific to depressive versus anxious symptomatology. Impfications for existing theory and research are discussed.