Health-related information seeking as a function of health-related locus of control and health value

Two studies were conducted testing the hypothesis that health-related information seeking is a joint function of a person's locus of control beliefs and the value placed on health. Using a health-related measure of locus of control, internal subjects who valued health highly relative to other terminal values (cf. Rokeach, 1973) chose more pamphlets about the particular health condition, hypertension, than did internal-low health value subjects or externals regardless of their health value. Little evidence was found to support the proposition that subject differentially chose pamphlets according to author characieristics (i.e., male or female, doctors or nurses).     

A comparative study of later work experience among full-time,part-time,and unemployed male youth

This paper considers the unique contribution of prior labor market status, defined in terms of working time, on later work experience controlling for a number of demographic and work pattern variables. The labor market status variables are established on the basis of trends in a young man's early career experience. Part-time employment is found to be a viable early labor market alternative to the extent of later economic and occupational success. Early career unemployment is not a critical factor in retarding personal economic advancement, relative to educational background and first job experience, but does have negative job attitudinal consequences.     

Evoked potentials to consonant-vowel syllables

The hypothesis was tested that CV syllables (10 different consonants but the same vowel /?/) would show different evoked potential latencies and amplitudes. Differences were found which were dichotomised between plosives and other consonants. Although one difference between these two groups of consonants is the duration of that consonant, this duration difference did not adequately explain the prolonged evoked potential latencies and the reduced amplitudes for the non-plosives. However, no differences were found within the group of non-plosives, although they varied in consonant duration. It was suggested that N₁ latency and amplitude reflected processing time at an early stage of analysis of both speech and non-speech stimuli. The results show that consunants of long duration are perceived later than plosives, but well before the onset of the vowel.     

Career stage as a moderator of performance relationships with facets of job satisfaction and role perceptions

The relationship between performance indices and facets of job satisfaction, role ambiguity, and role conflict was studied among 102 full-time faculty members across three career stages. Results indicate that an individual's career stage within a profession has an important moderating effect on facets of job satisfaction and role perception relationships with role-related performance.     

Exposure and response prevention of morbid ruminations and compulsive avoidance

Two patients with morbid ruminations and compulsive avoidance behavior were independently treated by the authors with exposure and response prevention strategies. The patients were quite different with respect to age (23 vs 58), occupational status (student vs civil servant) and length of disorder (2 vs 40 years), although their disorders were quite similar. The present report describes the patients and treatment procedures and reports on dramatic behavioral changes that occurred within brief time periods.     

A direct comparison of four methods for eliminating a response

Thirty-two rats pressed one lever (lever A) on a VI 30-sec schedule of food reinforcement and were then shifted to one of four procedures for eliminating the lever A response: extinction, differential reinforcement of other behavior, reinforcement of a different response (pole pushing), and reinforcement of a similar response (pressing lever B). Effectiveness of a response-elimination procedure was measured by (1) how quickly lever A response rate fell to a low level when the procedure was in effect, (2) how much lever A responding recovered when the procedure was discontinued, and (3) how resistant lever A responding was to reinstatement when the VI reinforcement schedule was reimposed. No one method was superior by all three measures. Extinction produced the most variable behavior, while differential reinforcement of other behavior produced the least. Reinforcing alternative behavior produced the greatest recovery in the original lever A response when the response-elimination procedure was discontinued.     

The effects of pacing and masking on stutterers' and nonstutterers' speech initiation times

The present study was undertaken to determine whether pacing and masking would facilitate improved speech initiation times (SITs) both for stutterers and for nonstutterers. All subjects were tested in control, pacing, and masking conditions. The results showed that both stutterers and nonstutterers (1) improved their SITs during the pacing condition as compared with the control condition (p = 0.01), (2) had slower SITs in the masking condition as compared with the control condition (p = 0.05), and (3) had faster SITs during the pacing as compared with the masking condition (p = 0.01). The SIT between-group findings demonstrated that stutterers were slower than nonstutterers across all SIT conditions (p = 0.08). The discussion of these results centers on the facilatory nature of novel stimulation in modifying speech-system functioning.     

Nonconsummatory and consummatory behavioral CRs elicited by lithium- and amphetamine-paired flavors

Various behavioral CRs elicited by saccharin solution previously paired with either lithium or amphetamine were measured in a series of four experiments. With one conditioning trial, lithium (Experiment 1), but not amphetamine (Experiment 2), produced nonconsummatory behavioral evidence of conditioning in the form of chin-rub CRs; both drugs, however, produced strong flavor aversions. With 3 conditioning trials, lithium- and amphetamine-paired flavors elicited a pattern of agitated activity, characterized by increased general activity, rearing duration, and body temperature, when the flavor was forcibly presented through an intraoral cannula (Experiment 3). When the flavor was presented in a single-bottle test (Experiment 4), 3 conditioning trials produced a similar pattern of agitated activity characterized by increased general activity, rearing (duration and frequency), stretching (duration and frequency), and limb flicking. Although both drugs supported the pattern of increased agitation-related CRs, only the lithium-paired flavors elicited chin-rub CRs (Experiments 1, 3, and 4). The difference between the drug conditions was not the result of a greater saccharin aversion in the lithium-conditioned group than in the amphetamine-conditioned group (Experiment 4). The results are related to findings that suggest that flavor aversions are mediated by a shift in the hedonic properties of the drug-paired flavors.     

Effects of initial limb position on the accuracy, reaction time and electromyographic patterns of rapid movements

An experiment was performed to determine the effects of initial limb condition on final accuracy of rapid, elbow flexion movements in the horizontal plane. Electromyographic (EMG) recordings were also taken from an agonist (biceps) and antagonist (triceps) muscle by means of bipolar surface electrodes. In the experiment the subject's forearm was passively oscillated by means of an electric motor, and when an auditory buzzer sounded, the subject was required to react as quickly as possible and rapidly move to the previously learned target angle. Thus, movements could be initiated from either static or moving starting positions. The results indicated that general accuracy was not greatly affected by these manipulations, however, constant error and pre-motor reaction time suggested that subjects may have been utilizing initial limb condition information contrary to a mass-spring view. EMG data showed that the timing characteristics of the agonist and antagonist muscles were modulated, depending on the type of movement produced, supporting an impulse-timing model (Wallace 1981).