What kind of mood influences what kind of memory: The role of arousal and information structure

Mood-congruent memory was investigated as a function of the structure of the information to be remembered (categorical vs. isolated) and the participant’s arousal (stimulating drug vs. placebo). Free recall of photographs showing either pleasant or unpleasant scenes was assessed for subjects under positive or neutral mood states, induced by the imagination of emotional experiences under relaxation. Although the arousal manipulation did not affect the recall performance, the findings highlight the importance of the information structure: a mood-congruency effect was obtained for the isolated pictures; however, the effect did not appear for categorical material, suggesting that structural constraints on the recall process can override the influence of mood on memory. Interestingly, the subject’s evaluations of the pictures also shifted toward their mood states. A general recall advantage of positive mood was observed.     

Evidence that fixation digits can contribute to visual field asymmetries in lateralized tachistoscopic tasks

Fixation point digits have been widely used in tachistoscopic laterality studies as a simple and convenient means of ensuring unihemispheric projection of stimulus materials to the hemispheres. Previous findings demonstrate that fixation digits do not influence asymmetries in recognition accuracy studies with adult Ss. Present results, comparing four conditions differing in their use of fixation digits, show that in the naming latency paradigm the requirement to remember and report fixation control digits significantly augments RVF superiority. Implications for other latency tasks are discussed.     

Relationships between adolescent drug use and parental drug behaviors

The present study examined some previously reported relationships between drug use by adolescents and perceived attitudes and behaviors of their parents. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to the student body of an inner-city secondary school for difficult students. Relationships between parental use of drugs and adolescent use of the same drugs were moderate and roughly equivalent across drugs. However, parental use of marijuana was strongly related to the adolescent's use of other, harder drugs such as opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, and barbiturates. This finding is explained within the framework of Kandel's postulated stages of drug initiation. It points to a need for further study of parental influences, which may be increasingly problematic as more individuals who have grown up in our marijuana-accepting society become parents of adolescents.     

Attitude and personality characteristics of older stutterers

Attitude and personality characteristics of 29 stutterers (19 male, 10 female) aged 52–82 yr were assessed using five questionnaires. Results indicate that, while the older stutterers score approximately the same as young adult stutterers on scales assessing approach and performance behaviors, the large majority of older stutterers perceive their stuttering as less handicapping than when they were young adults. Self-perceived personality characteristics of the older stutterers were similar to a group of older nonstutterers. While a few of the subjects had experienced some degree of success as a result of treatment later in life, the majority of the subjects did not currently desire treatment.     

A psychometric study of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales

The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES), a measure of family functioning, contains three scales: cohesion, adaptability, and social desirability. These were slightly modified (FACES- R) on the basis of pilot data and were administered to 42 clinic families (families seeking or receiving psychological services) and 206 nonclinic families. Support for the scales was found in high coefficient alpha reliabilities and similarity of the sample means and standard deviations to those of the standardization sample. However, there was little agreement among family members' scale scores. Therapists' ratings of cohesion and adaptability did not correlate with scale scores among clinic families. There was no difference between clinic and nonclinic samples on the cohesion or adaptability scales, although the social desirability scale did discriminate between groups. Factor analysis suggested that cohesion, adaptability, and social desirability cannot be clearly differentiated using this measure.This work was supported by the American Association of University Women and by Grant R01HD13820 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.     

Causal attribution and dispositional inference: Evidence of inconsistent judgments

Two experiments examined whether individuals who ascribe the disparity in the performances of two actors to situational constraints adequately adjust their dispositional inferences to reflect their own perceptions of causality. Using the quiz-game format of L. D. Ross, T. M. Amabile, and J. L. Steinmetz (1977, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 485–494), the effects of the subjects' awareness of the role-determined, self-presentation advantage of the questioner on their dispositional inferences concerning the quiz-game participants are noted. It is hypothesized that subjects who indicated full awareness of the determining force of the situation would nevertheless draw more favorable dispositional inferences about the questioner than about the contestant. The prediction is confirmed. Although the situationally aware subjects rate the questioner and contestant more similarly than do the other subjects, they still rate the questioner higher in knowledge, memory, and education. The results of Experiment 2 indicate that increasing the salience of the subjects' assessment of the situational advantage of the questioner does not eliminate the disparity. It is proposed that the fudamental attribution error represents more a failure to adjust trait inferences for causal attributions than a misperception of causality. Implications concerning the relationship between knowledge of causality and social judgment and the utility of the distinction between “perceived causality” and “higher order causal inferences” are discussed.     

Comparing the Effects of Monetary Incentives and Foot-in-the-Door Strategies in Promoting Residential Electricity Conservation

The relative effectiveness of incentive and minimal justification techniques in promoting electrical energy conservation among 90 homeowners was investigated. Subjects in the Questionnaire condition were asked to complete a short energy conservation survey. Those in the Commitment condition were asked to curtail their consumption of electricity by 15%. In the Questionnaire + Commitment condition, subjects received both requests. These three groups were compared to an Incentive condition, where individuals were offered a highly attractive monetary incentive for conserving electricity, a Questionnaire + Commitment + Incentive condition, and a Control condition. The groups did not differ in electricity consumption during baseline, initial request, or follow-up periods. However, during the conservation period, homeowners in the Commitment and the combined treatment groups conserved more electricity and contained more conservers than either of the remaining groups. These outcomes were discussed in terms of the comparative effectiveness of minimal justification and incentive strategies for inducing behavioral change.     

Devouring and Asphyxia: Paradigm Crisis,the Depletion of the Hero and Complex Thought1

This article deals with the profound paradigm crisis that affects modernity and threatens the destiny of humanity. This crisis results from the lack of perspective offered by the paradigm of modernity with its emphasis on unilateral rationality, scientific objectivity, and exploitation of natural resources by a hyper development of an inflated Hero archetype. The emergence of a new paradigm of complexity, C. G. Jung’s complex psychology, and Ameridian perspectivism, may offer new paths to approach these serious problems lived by modern man. A clinical vignette illustrates how complex psychology may also help with individual patients suffering from psychosomatic complaints.