Being popular can be healthy or unhealthy: stress, social network diversity, and incidence of upper respiratory infection.

Diverse social contacts are generally associated with better health. However, diverse contacts can increase exposure to infectious agents. This should increase risk for disease, particularly among those whose host resistance is otherwise compromised (e.g., stressed individuals). In this prospective study, healthy college students who completed questionnaires assessing social network diversity and stressful life events were subsequently interviewed weekly for 12 weeks to track incidence of upper respiratory infections (URIs). URI episodes were defined by a symptom criterion and by clinically verified self-reported illness. Stress and diversity of social contacts interacted; diversity was associated with more illnesses among those with more stressful life events and slightly fewer illnesses among those with fewer stressful life events. Associations remained after controlling for neuroticism.     

A test of foreign language acquisition: paired‐association learning

This experiment investigated college student difficulties with foreign language acquisition. We developed a word‐sound, paired‐associates learning test that discriminated 92% of the control participants and 95% of the experimental participants. The results are interpreted in terms of an associative model of foreign language learning disability. We discuss how to integrate the test into a larger diagnostic battery for predicting the facility with which a person will be able to learn a foreign language. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Critical processes in serial short-term memory: A developmental study

Two experiments are described which were designed to test the possible involvement of two operations in developmental auditory serial short-term memory (SSTM), namely rehearsal proficiency and item identification. The experiments provided mainly negative support for the notion that these operations are critical in developmental SSTM. As an alternative, the possibility that developmental differences in SSTM might have their origins in the processing of speech sound patterns was discussed.     

A Comparison of the Effects of Prejob Training and Job Experience on Nonprofessional Telephone Crisis Counselors

ABSTRACT: This study, carried out in a telephone crisis intervention program in which nonprofessional volunteer counselors received 55 hours of prejob training, isolates the effects of prejob training and on-the-job experience. Participants in the study were evaluated on several parameters including knowledge, counseling skills, acceptance of others, and dogmatism. Three groups of volunteers were measured: group 1—measured immediately before and after prejob training, group 2—measured just after prejob training, and group 3—measured after five months of telephone counseling experience. Results indicate that counselor skills and knowledge significantly increased with prejob training, but did not show further improvement as a result of five months of experience. Attitudes such as acceptance of others and dogmatism did not change either as a result of training or experience. Dogmatism was found to be inversely related to both counselor skill and knowledge.