Feminist orientation and job-seeking behavior among dual-career couples

This study examined the relationship between feminist orientation and job-seeking behavior in dual-career couples. Initial and final job-seeking decision rules were assessed, as well as choices to simulated incidents about joint job seeking. Feminist orientation was more pronounced in influencing simulated than actual job-seeking behavior. As employment possibilities in the simulations became increasingly constrained, the relationship between feminism and non-traditional behavior attenuated first among men, then among both sexes. In terms of actual behavior, feminist orientation in men, but not in women, was significantly related to the type of job-seeking strategy initially chosen. However, there was no significant relationship between feminist orientation and final job decision for either sex, probably because of situational constraints affecting the final decision.     

The role of proprioception in the perception and control of human movement: Toward a theoretical reassessment

The theoretical role of proprioception in the perception and control of human movement is elusive because of the obvious inability to manipulate experimentally the various receptive systems. Individuals who have had the metacarpophalangeal joint and joint capsule removed and replaced with silastic inserts afford a unique opportunity to evaluate a principal source of proprioception, namely, slowly adapting joint afferents. In a set of experiments, we show that such individuals show no deficits in finger localization following joint replacement. We take this and other complementary findings as a preliminary basis for proposing a dynamic rather than kinematic account of movement production. In addition, we provide a reconceptualization of the function of proprioceptive information in the CNS. Our arguments focus on proprioceptive inputs as tuning or modulating interneuronal pools rather than providing dimension-pecific information to the brain, as is commonly assumed.     

Validity of teacher nominations of child behavior problems

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of teachers' identification of problem children. Ninety-five third-grade children served as subjects. Teachers nominated children as a conduct problem, withdrawal problem, or normal, resulting in 16, 14, and 65 children being assigned to the three groups. Behavioral observations, peer sociometric ratings, and academic achievement scores were collected. The results indicated that conduct problem children differed from normal children on behavioral, sociometric, and academic measures, whereas withdrawn children differed from normals on the latter two measures. Conduct problem and withdrawal problem children did not differ on any of the dependent measures. The results suggest that teachers can identify children who are having difficulties in class but may be less accurate in differentiating between different types of problem children.This research was supported in part by NIMH grant MH-28859-01. Data reported in this article are part of a larger project assessing the social skills of children.     

Parafoveal information is not sufficient to produce semantic or visual priming

Marcel (1978) has shown that semantic priming can occur in the lexical-decision task even if the prime is masked to the point at which its presence cannot be detected. The purpose of the present experiments was to determine if primes that begin four or five spaces to the right of fixation can also produce semantic facilitation even though they are very difficult to recognize. Experiment 1 showed that facilitation did occur when the parafoveal primes used in the subsequent experiments were presented foveally. In Experiment 2, the primes were moved to the parafovea, but the task demands directed the subject’s attention toward the fovea. When subjects were ignoring the information presented to the parafovea (an allocation pattern that should correspond to that used during normal reading), neutral primes were just as effective as either semantically related or identical primes. In Experiment 3, the task demands were altered so that subjects were actively attending to the parafoveal primes. Although subjects were trying to process the primes, there was still no evidence that benefits could be derived from parafoveal primes. A final experiment showed that subjects given extensive practice with the materials will produce large amounts of identity and semantic priming. The results support the conclusion that readers can benefit little from the preprocessing of information in the parafovea unless that information can be supplemented with contextual expectations.     

You must leave before you can cleave: A family systems approach to premarital pastoral work

We advocate the use of a family systems approach to premarital pastoral work, involving exploration of the families of origin of the intended spouses. Family systems theory argues that a marriage is like a merger of two corporations, each having its own stockholders; thus, adequate preparation for marriage involves coming to terms with the realities of one's family of origin and that of one's intended spouse. Exploratory techniques include genograms, house tours, family photo albums, and discussions of the rules and rituals in the respective families. Leaving father and mother is the central prerequisite to marriage.Dr. Mitchell is Professor of Pastoral Care and Theology, Eden Theological Seminary, 475 E. Lockwood Ave., Webster Groves, Missouri 63119. Dr. Anderson is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary, 333 Wartburg Place, Dubuque, Iowa 52001.     

Modeling medical diagnosis: Logical and computer approaches

Conclusion In the present article I have surveyed several approaches to modeling the clinical diagnostic process. I have argued that at this point of the field's development, logics which simulate the reasoning patterns and knowledge base of expert clinicians represent research programs that are most likely to succeed. No logic of diagnosis has yet attained the status of being definitive; in spite of striking progress much more research and testing is required. On the basis of various existing logics, I have attempted to articulate a number of desiderata which an ideal diagnostic logic should satisfy. In spite of these criticisms, I would maintain that programs such as MYCIN and INTERNIST have already matured to the point where they are useful both in consultations and in teaching diagnostic reasoning.Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. The author wishes to acknowledge gratefully the assistance of Drs. Jack D. Myers, Harry E. Pople, Jr., Joshua Nagin, and Randy Miller with the research that resulted in this essay and thanks to L. J. Cohen, J. F. Fries, R. N. Giere, and C. Whitbeck for comments on an earlier draft. Supported in part by training grant MB 00199-01 from the Bureau of Health Manpower (DHEW) and by the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.Presented at a symposium on Philosophy and Medicine held at the American Philosophical Association's Eastern Division Meeting in Washington, D.C., December 27–29, 1978. This essay partially overlaps with an article on Problems in computer diagnosis to appear inThe Ethics of Diagnosis, H. T. Engelhardt, Jr. and S. Spicker (eds.) Dordrecht: D. Reidel, forthcoming.     

Information Processing in Joined and Severed Trials

The present study was conducted to determine the process by which jurors reach verdicts in trials in which multiple charges are joined in one indictment. The experiment was designed to test the impact of joinder of affenses, similarity of offenses, and evidentiary strength of jurors' ability to process trial evidence. The results gathered from 220 male and female subjects indicated, as previous research has shown, that joined trials lead to more guilty verdicts than severed trials; that the first charge in a joined trial accounts for this "joinder effect," receiving significantly more guilty verdicts than its severed counterpart. When joined trials are composed of similar categories of crimes, guilt verdicts increase and jurors tend to confuse evidence-as shown by a high rate of antidefendant intrusions from case two to case one. More antidefendant cognitions were also found when the cases were similar. Furthermore, case similarity interacted with the evidentiary strength of the charges in joined trials.     

Contemporary Worldviews: Personal and Policy Implications12

In the past several decades, changes in industrial societies have presented a host of issues, worldwide in scope, around which individual attitudes may form: technological growth, population expansion, environmental quality, global resources, differing societal goals, etc. This study (N= 325) was conducted to identify and assess the major attitude/belief constellations surrounding these issues and to examine their psychological basis and implications for risk perception and societal decision-making procedures. Results supported the hypotheses that assessed contemporary worldviews are related in predictable ways to (a) the pexceived risk associated with selected technologies, (b) preferences for the manner in which societal decisions should be made, and (c) a coherent set of psychological variables. Discussion focuses on policy implications of differing contemporary worldviews and on future directions and applications of this line of research.     

DINING OUT WITH CHILDREN: EFFECTIVENESS OF A PARENT ADVICE PACKAGE ON PRE-MEAL INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR

The effectiveness of an advice package designed to restructure the restaurant environment and encourage parent praise was examined. Experiment 1 assessed the usefulness of the package when used with experimenter assistance. Videotapes were used to record the target child's behavior. Pre-meal inappropriate behavior decreased an average of 51% across target children. Mealtime inappropriate behavior and parent praise and disapproval were also measured. Experiment 2 was designed to determine whether families could implement the package without experimenter assistance and whether effects obtained would generalize to a different restaurant. Data were taken in vivo. Nine families were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Group assignment determined the order in which families went to two restaurants, the number of dinners each family participated in, and the point at which parents received the advice package. The order in which the families went to the two restaurants as well as the number of baseline meals was counterbalanced. Results of Experiment 2 showed that, when using the advice package, parents in all sequences were able to decrease pre-meal inappropriate behavior of their children, and that these effects generalized to a second restaurant.