Contingent Reinforcement Effects on Movement Responses of Prison Inmates to the Holtzman Inkblot Technique

Prison inmates were administered the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) under conditions of either verbal or nonverbal reinforcement of movement responses. Overall, there were no differences among the verbal, nonverbal, and control groups. Inmates charged with violent crimes were found to give the fewest movement responses. With crime category controlled, more movement responses were given under nonverbal conditions. There were no sex differences for movement responses but testing time increased significantly when administered by the female examiner.     

Reliability of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List

The Multiple Affect Adjective Check List was administered to students and psychiatric outpatients. The tests were scored on the three regular scales (anxiety, depression, and hostility), and a fourth score was formed by adding the three scales. All scales were reliable across form and over short intervals. Over larger time intervals the scales indicated greater “state” changes in the student group than in the psychiatric outpatients. Interscale correlations were high, suggesting that the test may be viewed as a single scale measuring general negative affect arousal.     

Brief Sensation Seeking Scale for Chinese – Cultural adaptation and psychometric assessment

International behavioral research requires instruments that are not culturally-biased to assess sensation seeking. In this study we described a culturally adapted version of the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale for Chinese (BSSS-C) and its psychometric characteristics. The adapted scale was assessed using an adult sample (n = 238) with diverse educational and residential backgrounds. The BSSS-C (Cronbach alpha = 0.90) was correlated with the original Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (r = 0.85, p < 0.01) and fitted the four-factor model well (CFI = 0.98, SRMR = 0.03). The scale scores significantly predicted intention to and actual engagement in a number of health risk behaviors, including alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and sexual risk behaviors. In conclusion, the BSSS-C has adequate reliability and validity, supporting its utility in China and potential in other developing countries.     

A social learning analysis of couples during the second postnatal month

Abstract

This study examined the marital satisfaction and behaviors of 32 couples at one and two months following the births of their first children. Self-report measures of daily satisfaction and daily spouse-observed behaviors were analyzed for patterns approximating those associated with distressed marital interaction identified through earlier social learning studies. Over the time period from 30 to 60 days postnatally, increases were found in spouses' tendency to reciprocate one another's behavior. Except for helpful behaviors involved with care of the infant, spouses at two months postnatally were more likely to reciprocate both irritating and rewarding behaviors than at one month. Nonsignificant decreases in marital satisfaction were accompanied by a mixed pattern of change for spouse-observed behaviors. Predicted changes over time in the proportions of pleasing and displeasing behaviors were evident in only half the comparisons. Increases over time were found for the predictability from spouse-reported daily behaviors to marital satisfaction, but an expected increase in the importance of negative behaviors to the multiple correlation with satisfaction was not obtained. Cross-lagged panel correlation analysis indicated that, for wives, increases in satisfaction at 30 days preceded a parallel increase in their reports of rewarding behaviors and a decrease in aversive behaviors from their husbands at 60 days postnatally. Implications of these findings for identification of couple risk factors for later clinical problems and for early family intervention are discussed.     

The Theory Of Social–Cultural Genetic Gene (S- c Dna)

It took a long time for humanity to know about biogenetics. And yet its role as a determinant in the living system was not proven until the twentieth century when DNA was discovered. Similarly, it took a long time for humanity to know about culture and civilization. And yet until now there is neither definite standards for differentiating them nor a definition that is commonly acceptable. By taking an evolutionary pluralism as ontology framework and the transdisciplinary research method of the systems science, we have in the new social system model discovered the central rules that govern the social–cultural heredity: Culture–Production–Civilization. The relationship between culture and civilization is exactly that of genotype and phenotype. Culture is the S-cDNA within the social system while civilization is the social phenotype. Culture is a determinant that ultimately determines the existence, stagnation, change, and evolution of the social system.     

Facial expressions can inhibit the activation of gender stereotypes

ABSTRACT

Using faces as the priming stimuli, the present study explored the influence of facial expressions on the activation of gender stereotypes using a lexical decision paradigm. Experiment 1 explored the activation of gender stereotypes when the facial primes contained only gender information. The results showed that gender stereotypes were activated. In Experiment 2, the facial primes contained both gender category and expression information. The results indicated that gender stereotypes were not activated. Experiment 3 required the participants to make emotion, gender, or impression decisions concerning the facial primes before the lexical decision task. The results showed that gender stereotypes were not activated in emotion and impression decisions conditions, whereas stereotypes were activated in gender decisions condition. These finding suggest that facial expressions can inhibit automatic activation of gender stereotypes, unless the perceivers perform gender categorization processing to prime faces intentionally.     

Using Taoist Principle of the Unity of Opposites to Explain Conflict and Peace

This article explains the principle of the unity of opposites in Taoist psychology and its implications for understanding social cognition and the meaning of Taoist awareness in human domains. In addition, it describes the distinctions between personal awareness and Taoist awareness. It is maintained that psychological conflict stems from applying the personal awareness to evaluating, explaining, and adjusting our mental and interpersonal relationships, whereas peace stems from following the Taoist principle.     

Walter burley and the obligationes attributed to william of sherwood

The history of the mediaeval obligationes-literature has only recently begun to be studied. Two important treatises in this literature, one by Walter Burley and the other attributed to William of Sherwood, have been edited by Romuald Green in a forthcoming book. But there is considerable doubt concerning the authenticity of the text attributed to Sherwood. The correct attribution and dating of this treatise is crucial for our understanding of the history of this literature. In this paper, we argue that the treatise is not as early as William of Sherwood, that on the contrary it dates no earlier than the very end of the thirteenth century, and that, although there is some contrary evidence, the treatise may be an early work by Walter Burley himself.     

An evaluation of the accuracy of self-reports for predicting menstrual onset

Abstract

The self-reported predicted and actual day of menstrual onset were compared for 107 female volunteers. The differences between predicted and actual day of menstrual onset were compared by categorizing women into the ovulatory, premenstrual, and menstrual phases separately based on their predicted and actual days of menstrual onset. A main effect for phase suggested that menstrual women were less accurate in predicting menstrual onset. Thus, the degree of inaccuracy differed by phase and varied as a function of whether predicted or actual menstrual onset date was used to assign women to phases. These data provide a more precise indication of the degree of unreliability of self-reports and suggest a phase-accuracy connection which may be influenced by a number of factors, particularly recall of last menstrual onset.     

The prediction of safe sex behaviour: The role of intentions,attitudes, norms and control beliefs

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the utility of the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Azjen, 1975) in relation to people's propensity to engage in a range of different safe sex strategies, including engaging in an exclusive sexual relationship, avoiding casual sex, and asking sexual partners about their previous sexual and IV drug use history. It was proposed that the intention to engage in a particular safe sex practice would be influenced by the person's attitude towards engaging in the practice, as well as his or her perception of the extent to which others thought they should do so (subjective norm), while behavioural intentions were proposed to predict actual behaviour. The study was also designed to examine whether, after control of the effects of the components of the theory of reasoned action, the person's generalised control beliefs would explain any additional variance in either behavioural intentions or actual behaviour. One hundred and two sexually active heterosexual students participated in the study. At the first wave of data collection, subjects completed measures of intentions, attitudes, and norms appropriate to each of the different behaviours. Measures of actual behaviour were obtained at follow-tip (three months after first period of data collection). The results of the study indicated that attitudes and norms predicted intentions for avoiding casual sex and asking sexual partners about their previous sexual and IV drug use history, while intentions predicted actual behaviour for all three safe sex strategies. Although there were no significant main effects of control beliefs on intentions or behaviour, subjects with internal control beliefs were more likely than their counterparts with external control beliefs to behave in accordance with their intentions to engage in an exclusive sexual relationship and ask sexual partners about their previous sexual and IV drug use history. Additional analyses revealed that the levels and determinants of intentions and actual behaviour were, in general, similar for males and females.