A follow-up of a media-based,worksite smoking cessation program

Described an examination of data collected 2 years following the onset of a media-based, worksite smoking cessation intervention. Thirty-eight companies in Chicago were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions. In the inital 3-week phase, all participants in both conditions received self-help manuals and were instructed to watch a 20-day televised series designed to accompany the manual. In addition, participants in the group (G) condition received six sessions emphasizing quitting techniques and social support. In the second phase, which continued for 12 months, employees in G participated in monthly peer-led support groups and received incentives, while participants in the nongroup (NG) condition received no further treatment. Twenty-four months after pretest, 30% of employees in G were abstinent compared to only 19.5% in NG. This study is one of the few experimentally controlled worksite smoking cessation interventions to demonstrate significant program differences 2 years following the initial intervention. Our thanks to Lori Klett and Libby Yeager-Turner for their help in data collection. Work on the project was supported in part by National Institute on Drug Abuse grant DA-04406-01 and a grant from the Chicago Lung Association to the second author.     

Place recognition and way finding by children and adults

Children and adults were escorted on their first walk across our university campus and were periodically led off the original route during the return trip. During the return, we stopped prior to intersections on and off the original route to obtain estimates of place recognition accuracy and confidence. The subjects were then asked to point to the path that led back to the start and were corrected if wrong. Accuracy of place recognition was intermediate in a way-finding task requiring reversal of an incidentally learned novel route. However, accuracy increased as subjects were farther from the original route, indicating that the presence of novel landmarks boosted the discrimination of old and new places. Eight-year-old children were less accurate than 12-year-old children and 25-year-old adults, who did not differ in accuracy. There was a similar age difference in the ability to point to the direction to return when subjects correctly recognized that they were off route. The results are used to develop a model of way finding by place recognition.     

The Personal/Group Discrimination Discrepancy: Women Talk About Their Experiences1

Participants in research on discrimination consistently rate discrimination directed at their group higher than at themselves personally as a member of that group. In order to examine this personal/group discrimination discrepancy, women were asked to spontaneously verbalize their thoughts as they made ratings for personal and group discrimination on 11-point scales. In Study 1, university women who raised a greater number of life domains for group discrimination than for personal discrimination showed a larger personal/group discrimination discrepancy because of lower ratings for personal discrimination. An analysis of participants' protocols revealed that many attended to different domains when rating personal and group discrimination, and that these participants showed a larger personal/group discrimination discrepancy because of lower ratings for personal discrimination. Participants' ratings for group discrimination did not differ as a function of the number or content of the domains. The findings were replicated in Study 2 with working women, and are identified as two contributing factors to the personal/group discrimination discrepancy. The societal implications of the results are discussed in terms of the tendency for disadvantaged group members to downplay their personal experience with discrimination because it does not fit the stereotype of what is being experienced by the group.     

Creationism in Twentieth-Century America

Creationism in Twentieth Century America: A Ten-Volume Anthology of Documents, 1903–1961 Gen ed. Ronald L. Numbers     

Factors influencing therapist selection among gays,lesbians and bisexuals

For this study 609 gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals were surveyed with respect to openness about sexual orientation and preference for a therapist with a particular sexual orientation. Other factors considered important in selecting a therapist such as licensure, referral source, gender, cost and specialty were also examined. Data for this study was collected using two different methods. In the first method, data was collected from respondents subscribing to internet listervers serving gay, lesbian and bisexual subscribers. In the second, more traditional method, surveys were distributed by mail or hand delivered to various organizations serving gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities in two southwestern states. Findings suggest that significantly more lesbians than gay men and bisexuals in the e-mail sample prefer a therapist of the same sexual orientation. No significant relationships were found between degree of openness and importance of the therapist's sexual orientation. Other factors related to therapist preference were explored, and results are discussed.     

A signal detection theory analysis of gap detection in the rat

An innocuous sensory event (a prestimulus) briefly preceding a startle-eliciting stimulus (SES) reduces the amplitude of the elicited reflex. This study used signal detection theory (SDT) techniques to quantify the effects of gaps (pauses in otherwise continuous noise) on the rat’s acoustic startle reflex. Sixteen rats were given four identical test sessions consisting of the randomized presentation of 150 trials of the SES alone and 150 trials of a gap-and-SES combination. Gap duration (1, 2, 4, and 8 msec) varied between sessions. Data analyses based on amplitude, difference scores, percentage scores, and SDT techniques identified similar patterns. The three longest gaps, but not the shortest, were reliably detected, and differences among these three were identified with percentage and SDT analyses. Analyses of amplitude changes over test sessions yielded different patterns for each measure. The results demonstrate that an SDT analysis is a sensitive index of prestimulus effects.     

Defense Mechanisms and Object Relations as Factors in Marital Satisfaction

Two hundred and seven married men and 202 married women completed the Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI; Ihilevich & Gleser, 1986) and the Marital Satisfaction Inventory (MSI; Snyder, 1981). The DMI was scored to yield defensive as well as object relations indices. Results show that Turning Against the Object exacerbates conflict while Principalization minimizes it. Marital satisfaction is seen as correlated with mastery of object relations. Results are discussed in the context of DMI psychometrics.     

Illusional Beliefs in the Context of Risky Sexual Behaviors1

The function and maintenance of illusions were explored. Three groups were selected by comparing perceived risk for contracting an STD or becoming pregnant with reported sexual behaviors: realistic low risk (n - 33), realistic high risk (n= 23), and Illusional low risk (n= 16). Illusional subjects tended to avoid exposure to risk information, deny its relevance, and experience no increase in negative affect when confronted with contraceptive information. In contrast, high-risk subjects expressed interest in viewing contraceptive information, acknowledged its relevance and, among women, experienced an increase in negative affect after viewing the information. Avoidance and denial were ego-protective, primarily for illusional subjects. Implications for research on the self-regulatory effects of illusional beliefs are discussed.