Psychological Adjustment and Knowledge About Hereditary Hemochromatosis in a Clinic-Based Sample: A Prospective Study

This study assessed psychological adjustment and quality of life relative to population-based norms and knowledge about hereditary hemochromatosis in a sample of 101 patients who attended a hemochromatosis clinic. Participants were assessed prior to their clinic visit, and two weeks and 12 months after attendance, using self-administered questionnaires. Mean Mental Health Component Scores from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) (45.3, 95% CI 43.2, 47.4) were as compromised as those found amongst stroke victims (45.9, 95% CI 42.8, 49.0) who had participated in a national health survey. Recall of the genetic testing result was less than optimal, in that only 69.3% of those with genetic testing results knew whether they carried one or two mutations. This study demonstrates that patients would benefit from routine assessment of psychological distress and referral to mental health professionals of those whose levels of distress suggest a need for clinical intervention. Results also show that patients may benefit from strategies aimed at improving recall of genetic testing results.     

Using the short mood and feelings questionnaire to detect depression in detained adolescents

The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) is examined for its utility in screening youth in juvenile justice settings for depression. In a cross-sectional study conducted at King County Juvenile Detention Center, a representative sample of 228 detained adolescents complete structured assessments, including the MFQ and the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument. Fifty youth also complete the Voice-Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Internal reliability coefficient for the MFQ short form (SMFQ) is = .87. Factor analysis produces a unifactorial scale with item loadings of .43 to .78. At SMFQ cutoff > or = 10, sensitivity and specificity are optimized at 1.00/0.79. Prevalence of major depressive disorder is estimated at 32.1% (95% Confidence Interval = 25.3% to 39.2%). The SMFQ shows potential for depression screening of detained adolescents.     

An inkblot for attitudes: affect misattribution as implicit measurement

Misattributions people make about their own affective reactions can be used to measure attitudes implicitly. Combining the logic of projective tests with advances in priming research, the affect misattribution procedure (AMP) was sensitive to normatively favorable and unfavorable evaluations (Experiments 1-4), and the misattribution effect was strong at both fast and slow presentation rates (Experiments 3 and 4). Providing further evidence of validity, the AMP was strongly related to individual differences in self-reported political attitudes and voting intentions (Experiment 5). In the socially sensitive domain of racial attitudes, the AMP showed in-group bias for Black and White participants. AMP performance correlated with explicit racial attitudes, a relationship that was moderated by motivations to control prejudice (Experiment 6). Across studies, the task was unaffected by direct warnings to avoid bias. Advantages of the AMP include large effect sizes, high reliability, ease of use, and resistance to correction attempts.     

Personality and job performance: test of the mediating effects of motivation among sales representatives

Research shows consistent relations between personality and job performance. In this study the authors develop and test a model of job performance that examines the mediating effects of cognitive-motivational work orientations on the relationships between personality traits and performance in a sales job (N = 164). Covariance structural analyses revealed proximal motivational variables to be influential mechanisms through which distal personality traits affect job performance. Specifically, striving for status and accomplishment mediate the effects of Extraversion and Conscientiousness on ratings of sales performance. Although Agreeableness was related to striving for communion, neither Agreeableness nor communion striving was related to success in this sales job. The importance of the proposed motivational orientations model is discussed.     

Relative reinforcing effects of different oral ethanol doses in rhesus monkeys

The relative reinforcing effects of different doses of orally delivered ethanol were evaluated. Mouth-contact responding by rhesus monkeys was measured under concurrent fixed-ratio fixed-ratio schedules of liquid delivery (0.67 ml/delivery) from each of two spouts during daily 3-hr sessions. Experiment 1 examined persistence of responding with ethanol (2%, 8%, and 32% wt/vol) and water available. When fixed-ratio values from 8 to 128 were tested, the number of ethanol deliveries obtained per session decreased as the response requirement increased. The decrease in deliveries was less at higher than at lower ethanol concentrations, however. Experiment 2 examined choice between two ethanol concentrations under concurrent fixed-ratio 16 schedules (4% vs. 8%, 4% vs. 16%, 8% vs. 16%, 2% vs. 8%, 2% vs. 32%, 8% vs. 32%). Higher concentrations (16%, 32%) generally maintained more responding than concurrently available concentrations of 8% or less. An exception was the observation of a preference for 8% over 32% ethanol. When the fixed-ratio value was increased, however, the relative preference for these two doses was reversed so that 32% ethanol maintained more responding than 8% ethanol. Thus, the direction of the preference depended on the size of the response requirement. These results indicate that the reinforcing effects of ethanol increase with dose.     

Relational frame theory: A new paradigm for the analysis of social behavior

Recent developments in the analysis of derived relational responding, under the rubric of relational frame theory, have brought several complex language and cognitive phenomena within the empirical reach of the experimental analysis of behavior. The current paper provides an outline of relational frame theory as a new approach to the analysis of language, cognition, and complex behavior more generally. Relational frame theory, it is argued, also provides a suitable paradigm for the analysis of a wide variety of social behavior that is mediated by language. Recent empirical evidence and theoretical interpretations are provided in support of the relational frame approach to social behavior.     

Inhibiting effect of D1, but not D2 antagonist administered to the striatum on retention of passive avoidance in the chick

The avian lobus parolfactorius, equivalent to the medial striatum (caudate-putamen) of mammals, has been shown to be of crucial importance in passive avoidance training in day-old domestic chicks, where the aversive stimulus is the bitter tasting substance methylanthranilate. Here we report that the specific D1 antagonist SCH23390, injected into the lobus parolfactorius of day-old chicks (Gallus domesticus) prior to training, impaired performance on testing 30min post-training at low doses (0.5 and 25nmol). Sulpiride, a D2 antagonist, had no significant effect on performance in comparable doses. The early D1 activation may signify an essential mechanism leading to storage itself or to the canalisation of the relevant association to a permanent store.     

On the notion of effectiveness

This paper focuses on two notions of effectiveness which are not treated in detail elsewhere. Unlike the standard computability notion, which is a property of functions themselves, both notions of effectiveness are properties of interpreted linguistic presentations of functions. It is shown that effectiveness is epistemically at least as basic as computability in the sense that decisions about computability normally involve judgments concerning effectiveness. There are many occurrences of the present notions in the writings of logicians; moreover, consideration of these notions can contribute to the clarification and, perhaps, solution of various philosophical problems, confusions and disputes.     

A Dual Process Model of Attitudes towards Immigration: Person × Residential Area Effects in a National Sample

This research took a person × situation approach to predicting prejudice by looking at how social worldviews interact with real‐world environmental factors to predict how people respond to immigrants within their local area. Taking a Dual Process Motivational approach, we hypothesized that a higher proportion of immigrants in the local community would be associated with negative attitudes toward immigration for respondents high in dangerous world beliefs. Conversely, we hypothesized that living in a highly affluent (as opposed to socioeconomically deprived) community would be associated with negative attitudes toward immigration for respondents high in competitive world beliefs. Both hypotheses were supported using regional information derived from national census data combined with representative survey data from a large telephone sample conducted in New Zealand (N = 6,489). These findings support the proposition that individual differences interact with specific features of the environment to predict people's levels of prejudice in distinct ways.