The Genetic and Environmental Relationship Between General and Specific Cognitive Abilities in Twins Age 80 and Older

In the first twin study of the old-old, individuals 80 years old and older, we examined the relationship between general and specific cognitive abilities from a genetic perspective. That is, we examined the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influence major group factors of cognitive abilities, independent of general cognitive ability. As part of the OctoTwin project in Sweden, general and specific cognitive abilities were assessed in 52 monozygotic and 65 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs 80 years old and older using a battery of seven tests that assess verbal, spatial, speed-of-processing, and memory performance. Results suggest that genetic effects associated with general cognitive ability ( g ) account for the correlation between g and verbal, spatial, and speed-of-processing abilities. No genetic influences were found for these specific cognitive abilities separate from g . In contrast, memory ability appears to be more distinct genetically from g than are other cognitive abilities. Comparison with younger samples suggests that cognitive abilities relating to speed of processing may be genetically dedifferentiated in the old-old.     

Deterring the Onset of Smoking in Children: Knowledge of Immediate Physiological Effects and Coping with Peer Pressure,Media Pressure,and Parent Modeling1

Entering seventh grade, most children believe that smoking endangers their long-term health. Nevertheless, three sources of social pressure were found to often have an overriding influence to begin smoking: peers, models of smoking parents, and media. Interventions were developed to train children to cope with these pressures. Also stressed were immediate rather than long-term physiological effects of smoking. A dependent measure was utilized that generates increased validity of self-reports of smoking. A 10-week investigation was completed with 750 male and female students entering the seventh grade. Rates of onset of smoking in treatment groups were significantly lower than in a pretest-single posttest control group.     

Feminine role concepts of young women

A summary of three studies of feminine role concepts is reported. Different samples were used in each study. The findings indicate: (1). Housewives had a discrepancy between their own and their ideal feminine role while graduate students and club women expressed no significant differences. All three groups expressed differences between their own feminine role and their concept of man's ideal feminine role. (2). High school girls and their mothers showed no significant differences between their own and their ideal feminine role concepts. (3). The high school girls with more traditional feminine role self-concepts were significantly less verbal in the classroom.     

Instrumental Behaviors Following Test Administration and Interpretation: Exploration Validity of the Strong Interest Inventory

A two-phase longitudinal study was conducted to explore the exploration validity (i.e., the power of interest inventories to facilitate career exploration activities such as talking to professionals and seeking vocational information) of the 1985 Strong Interest Inventory (SII) for college students. Participants in the study included an experimental group (N =75), which participated in the SII testing and a group interpretation, and a contrast group(N=67). Students in the experimental group reported significantly more instrumental career exploration behaviors at a 1-year follow-up than did the contrast group.     

Mediating mechanisms in a school-based drug prevention program: first-year effects of the Midwestern Prevention Project

Describes (a) the effects of a social-influences-based drug prevention program (the Midwestern Prevention Project) on the mediating variables it was designed to change and (b) the process by which the effects on mediating variables changed use of drugs (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana). Students in 42 middle schools and junior high schools in Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, were measured in the fall of 1984 (N = 5,065) and again 1 year later (N = 5,008) after 24 of the schools had been through the program. Compared to students in control schools, students in program schools became less likely to express belief in the positive consequences of drug use, less likely to indicate that they would use such drugs in the future, more likely to report that their friends were less tolerant of drug use, and more likely to believe that they were better able to communicate with their friends about drug or school problems. Change in perceptions of friends' tolerance of drug use was the most substantial mediator of program effects on drug use. There was evidence that intentions to use and beliefs about the positive consequences of use may also mediate program effects on drug use.     

Auditory frequency discrimination in adult developmental dyslexics

Developmental dyslexics reportedly discriminate auditory frequency poorly. A recent study found no such deficit. Unlike its predecessors, however, it employed multiple exposures per trial to the standard stimulus. To investigate whether this affects frequency discrimination in dyslexics, a traditional two-interval same-different paradigm (2I_1A_X) and a variant with six A-stimuli per trial (2I_6A_X) were used here. Frequency varied around 500 Hz; interstimulus interval (ISI) ranged between 0 and 1,000 msec. Under 2I_1A_X, dyslexics always had larger just noticeable differences (JNDs) than did controls. Dyslexic and control JNDs were equal at shorter ISIs under 2I_6A_X, but dyslexics became worse than controls at longer ISIs. Signal detection analysis suggests that both sensory variance and trace variance are larger in dyslexics than in controls.     

A Danish version of the Sensation Seeking Scale and its relation to a broad spectrum of behavioral and psychological characteristics

The primary purpose of the present study was to evaluate the internal consistency and construct validity of the Danish translation of Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS). The secondary aim was to extend the range of psychological variables and behaviors that have been related to sensation seeking. The sample consisted of 691 subjects (363 males and 328 females) with a mean age of 31.7 years. The internal consistency of the scales was evaluated by coefficient alpha and intercorrelations among the five scales derived from the SSS were computed. Information on other variables was collected through standardized tests as well as questionnaires and interviews developed especially for this study. The results showed that the Danish SSS is a psychometrically sound instrument and revealed the relationship between sensation seeking and a broad spectrum of psychological traits and behaviors: socioeconomic status, academic achievement, intelligence, personality, smoking, alcohol and drug use, sexuality, driving and public transportation violations, and leisure time activities. Thus, this study confirmed and expanded the findings of many previous studies, while the results supported the validity of the Danish SSS and corroborated the usefulness of the concept of sensation seeking.     

Networks of Meaning: Intergroup Relations, Cultural Worldviews, and Knowledge Activation Principles

In this article, we bring advances in the fields of social cognition, personality, and culture to bear on the topic of intergroup relations. Specifically, principles of knowledge activation ( Higgins, 1996 ), and of the architecture of knowledge networks ( Cervone, 2005; Mischel & Shoda, 1995 ) are applied to understanding how cultural groups develop divergent worldviews. We discuss these principles within a recently proposed model of culture and person dynamics, the Cultural Cognitive-Affective Processing System ( Mendoza-Denton & Mischel, 2007 ). It is argued that the underlying psychological principles that govern knowledge acquisition and activation may be universal, but that the manifestations of these processes are culture specific. More precisely, culture impacts the availability, applicability, and accessibility of knowledge, as well as the organizational relationships among constructs. Together, these processes give rise to complex networks of meaning that, despite diverging across cultures, can nevertheless be communicated and understood by non-natives of that culture.