A twin study of personality and temperament during middle childhood

In a study of 105 same-sex twin pairs, ages 7 to 10 years, maternal ratings on 23 bipolar scales yielded six factors designated as compliant morality, applied cognitive, sociability, emotionality, tough-mindedness, and activity-distractibility. Analyses by twin pairs (68 identical, 37 fraternal) indicated that correlations for identical pairs were significantly higher than fraternal pairs on all but one factor: tough-mindedness. Profile analyses for the six factors indicated that the profiles of scores across the factors were more concordant for the identical twin pairs. Correlations obtained from the individual scales produced differences between the identical and fraternal twin pairs as well. Overall, the data suggested that several components and the total organization of those components of personality and temperament are genetically influenced.     

Effects of sentential stress and word class upon comprehension in Broca's aphasics

The roles which word class (open/closed) and sentential stress play in the sentence comprehension processes of both agrammatic (Broca's) aphasics and normal listeners were examined with a word monitoring task. Overall, normal listeners responded more quickly to stressed than to unstressed items, but showed no effect of word class. Aphasics also responded more quickly to stressed than to unstressed materials, but, unlike the normals, responded faster to open than to closed class words regardless of their stress. The results are interpreted as support for the theory that Broca's aphasics lack the functional underlying open/closed class word distinction used in word recognition by normal listeners.     

Classes,collections, and distinctive features: Alternative strategies for solving inclusion problems

This study analyzed the strategies that children ages 5 through 8 years used on two modified versions of Inhelder and Piaget's (The early growth of logic in the child. New York: Norton, 1964) class inclusion task. In two experiments, children were tested on Wilkinson's (Cognitive Psychology, 1976, 8, 64–85) “percept” inclusion task in which distinctive features marked both supraordinate and subclasses. It was hypothesized that children who fail standard Piagetian inclusion tasks succeed on the “percept” task by counting and comparing mutually exclusive features rather than using features as markers for classes and subclasses. The hypothesis was supported by children's performances on “percept” tasks in which solutions based on feature counting conflicted with solutions based on consideration of class inclusion relations. In two other experiments, children answered part-whole and part-part comparison questions in which both terms were described as classes and/or subclasses, or in which one of the two terms was described as a collection (e.g., a bunch of grapes). These experiments contrasted Markman and Seibert's (Cognitive Psychology, 1976, 8, 561–577) “organization” hypothesis that the greater psychological integrity of collections facilitates reasoning on part-whole comparison problems with the hypothesis that the faciltative effect results from the “large number” connotation of collective nouns. Results on collection problems in which parts were described as collections supported the “large number” hypothesis. Results were discussed in terms of their implications for Piaget's theory.     

氯丙嗪对猕猴脑电图的影响

本文研究了正常猕猴脑电图特征,将16只动物按其年龄分为哺乳期、未成年期和成年期3组。并对其中12只动物进一步观察氯丙嗪对脑电图的影响,其主要结果如下: 猕猴脑电图自发电位频率随年龄的增长而增加;振幅随年龄的增长而降低。对光刺激所呈现的“节律同化”现象,在未成年期最明显,成年期次之。 氯丙嗪能引起猕猴不同程度的脑电图变化,主要表现为全皮层高振幅慢波。氯丙嗪能改善对光脉冲刺激所呈现的“节律同化”现象。     

Task-specific strategies of mental “rotation” of facial representations

The effects of task demands on the visual comparison of facial patterns and of comparable nonfacial patterns were explored in two studies. The studies yielded two primary findings. First, faces, despite their holistic properties, are not rotated faster than comparable non-face-like patterns, although subjects’ judgments of them were uniformly more rapid than judgments for nonfaces. Second, the nature of the same-different judgment task required of subjects had a large effect on the pattern of results obtained: When stimuli were compared to their mirror images, results indicative of mental “rotation” were obtained. When stimuli were compared on the basis of similarity of individual features, the pattern of results was very different. This one manipulation produced effects that exceeded those of all of the other manipulations, including that of rotation.     

Stress,coping, and life change in the single-parent family

Self-perceived competence in three roles (parent, social participant, self-supporter) was examined in relation to life satisfaction in a sample of 47 divorced, employed, single parent, middle-income women. Parenting was found to be the role of greatest perceived competence, and self-supporter the role of lowest perceived competence. Competence as a self-supporter was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. Life satisfaction did not differ significantly between groups defined by length of time as single parents. For women separated less than 3 years, the social participant was the role of least perceived competence and the best predictor of life satisfaction. For those separated more than 3 years, the three roles were nearly equal in perceived competence, but competence as self-supporter was the best predictor of life satisfaction.     

Adolescent Smoking Behavior and the Recognition of Cigarette Advertisements1

In a study designed to assess the relationship between smoking status and correct identification of cigarette brands, junior high school students from two schools viewed cigarette and automobile advertisements with brand and model identification deleted. Results showed that adolescents with higher ad recognition scores were more likely to smoke cigarettes. In addition, a relationship was found between age and correct identification of cigarette advertisements, with older students identifying more ads correctly than younger students. No significant effects emerged for identification of automobile advertisements except for sex, with boys identifying more advertisements than girls. Additional findings indicated that even “experimental” smokers, who smoked as little as once per year, recognized significantly more cigarette advertisements than nonsmokers. These and other results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention and policy issues. It is argued that society's allowance of printed cigarette advertising overlooks adolescents' heightened vulnerability to the kinds of appeals used in cigarette advertisements. Present policy also overlooks adolescents' relative unresponsiveness to the health risk information required in cigarette advertisements.     

The Role of Psychological Reactance in Drinking Following Alcohol Prevention Messages1

Two experiments tested whether a dogmatic alcohol prevention message may, by arousing psychological reactance (the motivation to reassert a threatened freedom) result in more subsequent alcohol consumption, compared to a neutral message. In Study 1, 535 college students received either a high-threat (dogmatic) or low-threat (neutral) message recommending either abstinence or controlled drinking. Results indicated that high-threat messages were rated more negatively and resulted in more drinking intentions compared to low threat. The negative effect of high threat on message ratings was most pronounced for habitually heavy drinkers and an abstinence-espousing message. In Study 2, under the guise of a “memory study,” 74 college students received either a high- or low-threat message recommending abstinence from alcohol. Then, under the guise of a “perception study,” all subjects participated in a taste-rating task in which their beer consumption was unobtrusively measured. Results indicated that the effect of high threat was most negative for male heavy drinkers, who drank significantly more beer compared to low-threat controls. These results suggest that the persuasive ability of alcohol prevention efforts depend to a considerable extent on the reactance-arousing properties of the materials and that dogmatic alcohol prevention materials may have counterproductive effects for some college students.