The structure of coordination in first language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese: evidence for a universal

This study exemplifies a type of cross-linguistic research which is based on the theory that certain parameters of natural language variation are central to the human competence for language. Sensitivity to these parameters allows the child to develop various specific language structures which follow from setting the parameters. Results of this study provide evidence that children are universally sensitive to one such parameter, namely, Principal Branching Direction.Data are based on results of a standardized elicited imitation test of 68 Chinese children in Taiwan between 2;0 and 4;5 with mean age of 3;3. The test is on a set of coordinate sentences. The results show that children acquiring Mandarin Chinese (a left-branching language) systematically prefer VO sentences with a backward reduction pattern ([V + V]O) over those with a forward reduction pattern (V[O + O]).Children's responses to SV coordinate sentences differ systematically from their VO responses. They very frequently reduce redundant subjects in a forward direction (in SV sentences) and do not prefer backward reduction ([S + S])V) over forward reduction (S[V + V]) in these SV sentences.This paper suggests an explanation of this apparent paradox in terms of an interaction in early language acquisition between children's sensitivity to a predominant Chinese topic-comment structure (in SV) and their sensitivity to the abstract, specifically grammatical concept of “Principal Branching Direction”.     

Psychotherapy: Definitions, Mechanisms of Action, and Relationship to Etiological Models

In this paper, we define psychotherapy as a modality of treatment in which the therapist and patient(s) work together to ameliorate psychopathologic conditions and functional impairment through focus on the therapeutic relationship; the patient's attitudes, thoughts, affect, and behavior; and social context and development. The possible mechanisms of action and active ingredients of psychotherapy in children and adolescents are discussed, with an emphasis on the above-noted domains. The adult psychotherapy literature strongly supports the central roles of the therapeutic relationship and therapeutic empathy; this has been much less intensively explored in the child and adolescent psychotherapy literature. Similarly, there have been few studies examining the mediation of treatment effects by impact on specific domains. Ideally, treatment studies should gather data that can be informative about the impact of putative mediating and moderating psychosocial and biological variables on outcome and course. The results of such studies can aid further refinements in both theories of etiology and improvement in treatments for children and adolescents.     

Basic concepts in existential psychotherapy with couples and families

Existential psychotherapy with couples and families is a treatment approach that pays close attention to both problems and the meanings and meaning potentials to be found in daily marital and family life. The author reviews both the elements and treatment dynamics to be found in existential treatment with couples and families and overviews the practice of creative interaction between the existential psychotherapist and the marital and/or family members requesting help.     

On aspiring to present a developmental theory of occupational aspirations: A reader's guide to Gottfredson

L. S. Gottfredson's preceding comment (Journal of Vocational Behavior 1983, 23, 203–212)is characterized by undocumented and arbitrary assertions. Moreover, we still maintain and cite further evidence that the features of the stages she describes represent an implausible account of development. We conclude that there is nothing in either L. S. Gottfredson's original (Journal of Counseling Psychology 1981, 28, 545–579) article or her preceding paper that leads us to alter our belief that the views we present in our own article (Journal of Vocational Behavior 1983, 23, 179–212) will be useful for the future development of vocational theory and intervention.     

The declining job satisfaction of white-collar women in sex-segregated and mixed-sex occupations

The declining job satisfaction of women white-collar workers reported by J. Veroff, E. Douvan, and R. A. Kulka (1981, The Inner American: A self-portrait from 1957 to 1976, New York, Basic Books) is explored through secondary analyses of their data from two national cross-sectional surveys conducted in 1957 and 1976. Analyses were done using data from 258 women in 1957 and 372 women in 1976 in white-collar jobs. Multivariate contingency table analyses were used first to explore the separate effects of type of white-collar employment, whether or not the job was sex segregated, age, birth cohort, and education on job satisfaction declines. The decline in job satisfaction was found to be greater for women in sex-segregated occupations that in mixed-sex ones. In addition, while all white-collar women express increased dissatisfaction with ego-involving aspects of work, those in sex-segregated fields showed the greatest increases in job dissatisfactions in affiliative and achievement spheres. Neither type of white-collar employment nor birth cohort related to differential job satisfaction declines though age and education changes did. The final multivariate analysis demonstrated that the changing age and educational characteristics of job holders in sex-segregated fields accounted for the greater job satisfaction declines for these women, and that sex segregation did not appear to affect job satisfaction beyond changes related to these demographic factors.     

The effectiveness of reward and punishment contingencies on response inhibition

The relative effectiveness of reward and punishment on the development of response inhibition was evaluated developmentally. Forty kindergarten and forty second-graders received response inhibition training with half of each group rewarded for inhibiting and half punished for not inhibiting. Reward involved the presentation of positive reinforcers, whereas punishment involved their removal. Punishment produced more inhibition at both age levels than did reward. Transfer of inhibition training was evaluated in two tasks. Transfer effects were observed only on one of the two tasks. Reinforcement contingencies and age did not differentially influence the magnitude of transfer.     

Convergence between attention variables and factors of psychometric intelligence in older adults

The purpose of the present study was to examine the hypothesis that individual differences on measures of attention would converge with select factors of psychometric intelligence, especially fluid intelligence and short-term acquisition and retrieval. A sample of 83 elderly adults $\text{(}\text{X}\text{= 71}\text{years}\text{)}$ was administered a battery of 17 psychometric ability tests. Tests were selected to mark four psychometric ability factors (Cattell and Horn's dimensions of fluid and crystallized intelligence, short-term acquisition and retrieval, and perceptual speed). Also, seven tasks representing four aspects of attention—decoding processes, selective attention, attention switching, and concentration—were administered. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the relationships among the four psychometric ability factors and 11 variables obtained from the attention tasks. Results were only partially consistent with the hypothesized pattern of convergence. Two attention measures had significant loadings on a fluid-type intelligence factor, and one had a marginally significant loading on a short-term memory factor. In general, the greatest convergence occured between attention variables and the ability factor of Perceptual Speed. Results were discussed with respect to previous research on psychometric abilities and cognitive processes, the theory of fluid-crystallized intelligence, and their implications for understanding intellectual aging.     

Individual differences in intelligence: A reappraisal of the confluence model

The confluence model posits that an individual's intellectual development is a function of the intellectual environment he or she is exposed to in the home. Families with many children spaced close together are presumed to have intellectual environments inferior to those of families with few children spaced far apart. To date, the major support for the confluence model has come from analyses of the family size-birth order means of large aggregate data sets. Analyses of the individual scores of some of those same aggregate data sets, however, do not substantiate the confluence model. Explained variance for the aggregate (90%+) reduce to less than 3% in the individual analyses. A recommendation is made to shift the focus of the confluence model from family configuration variables to family interaction varibles utilizing longitudinal data from individuals.     

A typology of mid-life career changers

This study examines the motivations for and the outcomes of mid-life career change among a sample of 73 men who had left professional and managerial careers between the ages of 34 and 54. Measures of personal desire for change and external pressure to leave were dichotomized to produce a typology of career changers: Drift-outs, Opt-outs, Force-outs, and Bow-outs. The four types of changers were found to differ on a number of variables, including: amount of education completed, additional schooling undertaken to change careers, time taken to make the change, radicalness of change, and the importance of personal values in deciding to leave their former careers. Overall, respondents were found to be highly satisfied with their career redirection.