Developmental regulation before and after a developmental deadline: the sample case of "biological clock" for childbearing

This quasi-experimental research investigates developmental regulation around a critical life-span transition, the "biological clock" for childbearing. The action-phase model of developmental regulation proposes contrasting control orientations in individuals approaching versus those having passed a developmental deadline. Individuals in an urgency phase close to the deadline should be invested in goal pursuit, whereas those who have passed the deadline without attaining the goal should focus on goal disengagement and self-protection. In 2 studies, women at different ages and with or without children were compared with regard to various indicators of primary and secondary control striving for goal attainment versus goal disengagement and self-protection. Findings support the action-phase model of developmental regulation. Patterns of control striving congruent with the participants' status as pre- versus postdeadline were associated with superior psychological well-being.     

Time is on my side: optimism in intertemporal choice

The present research examines the role of optimism on time preferences for both losses and gains. It is argued that optimism has asymmetric effects on time preferences for gains versus losses: one reason why decision makers prefer immediate gains is because they are optimistic that these gains will be followed by additional gains in future. In contrast, decision makers prefer to delay losses because they are optimistic that losses are avoidable in the future. Optimism about outcomes affects time preferences for both gains and losses, such that low optimism reduces the discount rates while increased optimism is associated with higher discount rates. This prediction was supported in two different domains: monetary outcomes (Study 1), and health (Study 2). Implications of these results for both research practice and time preferences in the real world are discussed.     

Early suicide following discharge from a psychiatric hospital

Social and clinical risk factors for completed suicide occurring shortly after discharge from a psychiatric hospital were examined in this case-control study. Seventy-seven individuals who received "suicide" or "undetermined death" verdicts at inquest, and who had been previously discharged from psychiatric hospitals in Bradford, U.K., were compared with a control group. A history of deliberate self-harm was significantly associated with early suicides compared with both late suicides and controls. A diagnosis of mood disorder, specifically depression, and longer case-notes were also significantly associated with early suicides compared to controls. This study has implications for risk management of recently discharged psychiatric patients.     

Alteration of mood state after a single bout of noncompetitive and competitive exercise programs.

This study evaluated the effects of three popular physical activities on the psychological well-being of university students. 44 students in three physical activity classes enrolled in the Fitness for Life Program at Montana State University which included circuit training, weight training, and racquetball were administered the Profile of Mood States scale 5 min. before and 5 min. after one bout of physical activity. Two of the three activities appeared to be associated positively with scores on certain subscales. The results supported positive psychological well-being of students after physical activity. Implications for research are presented.     

Solving ethical problems in medical settings during psychological assessment: a decisional model.

The unique culture of medical settings impacts the style, pace, and quality of psychological consultation provided in that setting. Matters of life and death and other health emergencies, relationships with the courts, and contact with severely impaired patients are typical events. Medical psychologists (MPs) share many, but not all, of the ethical values that guide provision of services by other medical professionals under such circumstances. This generates the need to develop an interdependent but independent ethical orientation on the part of MPs in all professional activities, including psychological assessment. In this article, background information is presented on values that frequently drive medical treatment that may conflict with the MPs' ethical standards. A model appropriate for use in situations requiring complex decisional processes is reviewed, and vignettes are presented as examples of bioethical problem solving under this systematic decisional framework.     

Implicit word cues facilitate impaired naming performance: evidence from a case of anomia.

Word-finding difficulties observed in some patients with anomia have been attributed to an insufficient activation of phonology by semantics. There are, however, few direct tests of this hypothesis. This paper reports the case of FR, who presented with anomic aphasia following temporal lobe epilepsy and a cavernoma in the left superior temporal lobe. His anomic deficit was characterized by: (1) no apparent associated semantic impairment; (2) item consistency for accuracy and errors across different administrations; (3) accuracy strongly correlated with word frequency; and (4) a partial, albeit weak, knowledge of the gender of unnamed items. We conducted a naming experiment in which target pictures were implicitly primed by briefly presented masked words. Results showed that the prior presentation of the written target name improved accuracy. When compared with unprimed trials, the presence of the primes also increased phonological errors and decreased semantic errors. We argue that automatic phonological activation derived directly from the implicit written primes interacted with the remaining phonological input from the picture's semantic representation leading to increased accuracy and a change in the balance of error types.     

Disgust sensitivity and attitudes toward organ donation among African-American college students.

241 African-American college students (94 men and 147 women, mean age = 20.3 +/- 3.4 yr.) completed the 1994 Disgust Scale of Haidt, McCauley, and Rozin and a modified form of Parisi-Rizzo's 1987 Attitudes Toward Organ Donation Scale (negative subscale only) as well as a behavioral measure of intention to donate organs after death. Analyses indicated that the higher the disgust sensitivity, the more negative the attitude toward organ donation and the less likely the student was to indicate intent to donate organs. It was further shown that negative attitudes toward organ donation mediated the relationship between disgust sensitivity and the behavioral intention measure. Results highlight the complexity of the issues surrounding organ donation within an African-American population and provide additional empirical evidence for the development of a theoretical model to explain the organ donation phenomenon.     

The acquisition of movement skills: practice enhances the dynamic stability of bimanual coordination.

During bimanual movements, two relatively stable "inherent" patterns of coordination (in-phase and anti-phase) are displayed (e.g., Kelso, Am. J. Physiol. 246 (1984) R1000). Recent research has shown that new patterns of coordination can be learned. For example, following practice a 90 degrees out-of-phase pattern can emerge as an additional, relatively stable, state (e.g., Zanone & Kelso, J. Exp. Psychol.: Human Performance and Perception 18 (1992) 403). On this basis, it has been concluded that practice leads to the evolution and stabilisation of the newly learned pattern and that this process of learning changes the entire attractor layout of the dynamic system. A general feature of such research has been to observe the changes of the targeted pattern's stability characteristics during training at a single movement frequency. The present study was designed to examine how practice affects the maintenance of a coordinated pattern as the movement frequency is scaled. Eleven volunteers were asked to perform a bimanual forearm pronation-supination task. Time to transition onset was used as an index of the subjects' ability to maintain two symmetrically opposite coordinated patterns (target task - 90 degrees out-of-phase - transfer task - 270 degrees out-of-phase). Their ability to maintain the target task and the transfer task were examined again after five practice sessions each consisting of 15 trials of only the 90 degrees out-of-phase pattern. Concurrent performance feedback (a Lissajous figure) was available to the participants during each practice trial. A comparison of the time to transition onset showed that the target task was more stable after practice (p=0.025). These changes were still observed one week (p=0.05) and two months (p=0.075) after the practice period. Changes in the stability of the transfer task were not observed until two months after practice (p=0.025). Notably, following practice, transitions from the 90 degrees pattern were generally to the anti-phase (180 degrees ) pattern, whereas, transitions from the 270 degrees pattern were to the 90 degrees pattern. These results suggest that practice does improve the stability of a 90 degrees pattern, and that such improvements are transferable to the performance of the unpractised 270 degrees pattern. In addition, the anti-phase pattern remained more stable than the practised 90 degrees pattern throughout.     

Turnover and organizational performance: a comparative analysis of the effects of voluntary, involuntary, and reduction-in-force turnover.

Data were collected from 31 regional subunits of a national financial services company to examine differential effects of 3 types of turnover (voluntary, involuntary, and reduction-in-force) on measures of organizational subunit performance. Although each form of turnover exhibited adverse effects on subunit performance when examined separately, partial correlation results revealed greater and more pervasive adverse effects for reduction-in-force turnover (i.e., downsizing) in comparison with the effects of voluntary and involuntary turnover. The results confirm the negative effects of downsizing, suggesting the need to move beyond the traditional voluntary-involuntary classification scheme used in turnover research.