Comparative validity of traditional versus S-R format inventories of interpersonal behavior

The comparative validity of two “S-R format” inventories of interpersonal behavior, Kinnane et al.'s (1969) Schedule of Interpersonal Response and a newly developed Rational S-R Inventory, and two “traditional” inventories, the Personality Research Form and the Interpersonal Check List, was examined with respect to 14 self-report and peer rating criteria selected to broadly tap the interpersonal domain. Sixty-four male and female high school seniors served as Ss.In spite of the situational specificity inherent in the S-R inventories, the traditional inventories substantially outperformed the S-R inventories and, in contrast to previous findings, also outperformed simple self-ratings. The results are discussed not only in terms of the relative advantages of various inventory construction strategies but also in reference to the problem of criterion measurement and theoretical and methodological issues in the assessment of situational parameters.     

Threatened retaliation from the victim as an inhibitor of physical aggression

Sixty male undergraduates participated in an experiment designed to investigate the effects of apparent probability of retaliation from the victim and level of prior anger arousal upon adult aggressive behavior. It was hypothesized that threatened retaliation would be highly effective in inhibiting subsequent aggression under conditions where subjects had not previously been angered by the victim, but would generally fail to inhibit such behavior under conditions where they had previously suffered strong provocation at the hands of this person. Support was obtained for both of these predictions. Findings were discussed in terms of their implications for the prevention and control of human violence in naturalistic social situations.     

Acute pain in a clinical setting: Effects of cognitive-behavioural skills training

The present study evaluated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural skills training, patterned after stress-inoculation training, as a preventive intervention for the attenuation of acute clinical pain during a noxious X-ray procedure—the knee arthrogram. Thirty-six adult male outpatients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Skills Training. Attention-Placebo, and No-Treatment Control. An experimental pain test was administered before and after the interventions, as a generalization measure. Arthrogram pain was assessed by three dependent measures: patient's ratings, radiologist's ratings and videotape ratings completed by two‘blind’ raters. The results failed to support the efficacy of skills training for the attenuation of acute clinical pain, or its generalization to the experimental pain test. Although Skills Training subjects reported using significantly more coping strategies during the arthrogram. many subjects in the two control groups also reported using their own spontaneous strategies. Equivocal data were obtained on the role of ‘self-efficacy’ expectancies in mediating pain behaviour and experience. Experimental pain threshold but not pain tolerance was significantly related to acute clinical pain experienced during the arthrogram.     

Management Selection in Australia: A Comparison with British and French Findings

The present study provided data on the cross-national use of management selection methods by collecting information from the Australian context. The data is compared with the British and French findings obtained by Shackleton and Newell (1991). A total of 254 companies (53.4%) responded to the survey. The overall pattern of results indicated that Australian management selection methods were closer to the British than to the French findings. Compared to previous Australian studies, the present data indicated that the main selection tools being used are unchanged. Some evidence was found that selection methods may differ within organizations comprising the private sector and between the private and public sector. The business sector made significantly greater use of cognitive testing and assessment centres compared to manufacturing, retail and government sectors. The government sector reported a significant difference in using two or three interviewers. It is proposed that, although surveys of this type have been useful as general reviews of the area, future research would benefit by collecting: (1) data on the specific measures used, (2) distinguishing between internal and external recruitment, (3) distinguishing between private and public sector recruitment, and (4) ensuring respondents have the same conceptual understanding of the selection methods covered by the survey.     

中国心理举会七十年发展史略

本文扼要总结了中国心理学会70年发展历史,它论述了中国心理学会过去及现在的情况及活动,同时指出应加强注意的问题。     

Resistance to satiation of consummatory and instrumental performance

In three experiments rats received training in a straight alley under high hunger and then were tested satiated. Both eating and running continued to occur under satiation, but the two responses were not completely correlated, and continued running did not depend upon continued eating. Further, groups differed in their eating behavior, although all experienced the same satiation procedure, suggesting that eating under satiation is not just a reflection of incomplete satiation. Resistance to satiation of the running response was greater following partial reward than following consistant reward and tended to be greater following small reward training than large reward training, regardless of schedule of reward. Eating during satiation was greater following partial than following consistent reward and was greater if the same reward magnitude was given in satiation as in acquisition than if a different reward magnitude was given. It was suggested that resistance to satiation is an associative phenomenon. Eating and running occur during satiation because the stimuli present during satiation continue to elicit them. The differences between results using rewarded satiation and results using high drive extinction as measures of persistence were attributed to satiation being nonfrustrating.     

Response conflict theory,error rates and hybrid processing: A reply to McLeod

McLeod (1977) has proposed a parallel processing model of the psychological refractory period quite similar to an earlier model most recently adumbrated by Kantowitz (1974a). This article corrects some erroneous statements made by McLeod about the testability of the response conflict model and emphasizes the importance of error data in distinguishing among conceptually similar models of the PRP effect.     

Transfer in discrimination learning: Do children mediate more than adults?

A series of four-dimensional, discrimination-learning problems were presented to second-, sixth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students (ages 7, 11, 13, and 17 years, respectively). One pretraining problem, using different dimensions, preceded the four experimental problems; these employed identical dimensions and stimulus values. Solutions were selected without dimensional replacement.Blank-trial probes enabled detection of initial predictions. Results clearly indicated that (1) older subjects made dramatically fewer intradimensional predictions (utilizing the solution dimension from the preceding problem) than did younger subjects, (2) all age groups demonstrated systematic changes over problems; these reflected the specific solution sequence experienced, and (3) there were consistent developmental differences in the speed with which subjects noted and utilized regularities across problems.The pattern of data is not congruent with the expectations of mediation theory. However, it is in accord with the transfer hypothesis, which is a recent extension of hypothesis theory. The transfer hypothesis provides a theoretical framework which suggests when we should observe “mediational” behavior (i.e., intradimensional transfer) and when to expect the inverse.