Characteristics of adolescents at risk for compulsive overeating on a brief screening test

As part of a large survey of addictive behavior in high school students, 43% of a sample of 278 (26% of the males, 57% of the females) scored above the cutoff point set by Overeaters Anonymous on their scale for assessing compulsive overeating. While this at-risk group did not report poorer general adjustment, health, or school achievement than did the students not at risk, they did significantly more often perceive their life quality and relationship with the person closest to them as less positive. The at-risk subsample indicated the defensive effectiveness of overeating in their significantly more frequent report of dissociative experiences while eating, and less severe ratings of insecurity, worrying, and daydreaming. One of the most salient findings was the at-risk students' more frequent report of addictive problems in their parents (overeating, alcohol and drug use, and gambling).     

Focused search of semantic cases in question answering

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that people can execute focused searches of semantic cases when answering questions about complex facts, such as “the teacher watered the peas, the corn, and the lettuce with the hose.” In Experiment 1, answer time varied mainly with the number of concepts in the relevant or focused case, supporting the hypothesis. Experiment 2 indicated that the irrelevant case undergoes some processing. Experiment 3 confirmed that search in Experiments 1 and 2 focused on semantic cases rather than on taxonomic categories. It is proposed that focused memory search has a high probability of retrieving the relevant case and a low probability of retrieving the irrelevant case. In the latter event, the irrelevant concepts receive full processing.     

An experimental analysis of the civil commitment recommendations of psychologists and psychiatrists

Legal and nonlegal factors influencing the civil commitment recommendations of psychologists and psychiatrists separately and as a whole were investigated using an experimental design. One hundred and seventy-six psychologists and psychiatrists made recommendations for or against commitment for a series of clinical vignettes wherein the five facets of commitment criterion, legal committability, clinical treatability, alternative resources and presence of psychosis were systematically varied. Results revealed that all facets contributed independently and in combination to the commitment decisions of participants as a whole. It was concluded that mental health professionals may utilize a variety of types of information, beyond the relevant legal criteria, in making actual decisions to initiate civil commitments.     

Stability/Instability of Cognitive Strategies Across Tasks Determine Whether Stress Will Affect Judgmental Processes'

Previous research indicates that individuals employ various cognitive heuristics and decision modes in making decisions and judgmental tasks that do not follow an expected value model. It further indicates that several cognitive faculties are affected by stress. The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to examine whether individual differences exist in the use of cognitive heuristics and risk-assessment decision modes; second, to examine whether stress would affect the use of these cognitive strategies. Three versions of a questionnaire measuring the representativeness and availability heuristics, and risk-seeking and risk-aversion decision modes were administered to three different groups of subjects. Consistent individual differences were only observed in the subscales measuring risk-seeking and risk-aversion modes, but not in the use of the heuristics. In a different group of subjects, exposure to noise and task overload stress increased the use of the representativeness heuristic, but did not alter the use of risk-seeking and risk-aversion decision modes. These results indicate that the existence of individual differences in cognitive strategies may determine, in part, whether stress will modify judgmental processes.     

Job experiences over time, multiple roles, and women's mental health: a longitudinal study.

Are changes over time in the quality of a woman's job associated with changes in her psychological distress? Do family roles moderate these relationships? We addressed these questions using longitudinal data from a 2-year 3-wave study of a stratified random sample of 403 employed women who varied in occupation, race, partnership, and parental status. After estimating individual rates of change for each woman on each of the predictors and the outcome, we modeled the relationships between family role occupancy and change in job-role quality on the one hand, and change in psychological distress on the other. Among single women and women without children, as job-role quality declined, levels of psychological distress increased. Among partnered women and women with children, change in job-role quality was unrelated to change in psychological distress.     

The application of relative deprivation theory to justice perception of preferential selection

This study attempted to apply the relative deprivation theory to preferential selection research. Two questions were addressed in this context: First, does preferential selection cause feelings of injustice or deprivation? and, second, can the magnitude of such feelings of injustice be predicted? A questionnaire was designed to assess fairness perceptions of all types of selection outcomes: preferential selection; together with selection involving discrimination against minorities and selections without either forms of discrimination. Results showed that preferential selection caused feelings of injustice. The level of felt injustice associated with preferential selection was identical to that due to discrimination against minorities. Further, the magnitude of felt injustice due to preferential selection could be predicted by the size of the discrepancy in “performance-relevant merits” between the selected minority candidate and the unsuccessful majority candidate. The study also compared effects of the “self-other” comparison process, used in previous relative deprivation research, and a “other-other” comparison process on justice perception. Implications of the results for the application of relative deprivation theory to preferential selection research were discussed.     

工作负载的测量和评定

长期处于应激状态而又适应不良者可导致疾病。人类经常遇到的心理、社会性应激源除了生活事件以外,长期工作负载过重也是其中之一。本文通过对24名在监护病房工作的护士的工作负载的测量介绍了在西方国家常用的工作负载的测量和评定方法。     

Influence of sport participation upon sex role orientation of caucasian males and their attitudes toward women

Differences in psychological androgyny and attitudes toward women were examined in male Caucasian intercollegiate contact and noncontact sport athletes and male Caucasian college nonathletes. Contact athletes in the sports of football and wrestling, noncontact athletes in the sports of baseball and track and field, and nonathletes completed the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (ATWS) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to assess egalitarian attitudes toward women and sex role orientation. Results of analyses of variance (ANOVAs) on the ATWS indicate that athletes as a group possessed more conservative, traditional attitudes toward women than did nonathletes, but that no differences existed between contact sport athletes and noncontact sport athletes. Results of ANOVAs and chi-square analyses on the BSRI indicated no differences between groups regarding sex role orientation based upon self-perceptions of masculinity and femininity.     

The effects of staff self-management on positive social interactions in a group home setting

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a participative management (self-management) procedure directed toward increasing the frequency of positive interactions between direct-care staff and group home residents. A component of the self-management procedure, goal setting, was also evaluated. This study took place in two group homes housing a total of 16 male and female adults with moderate to mild mental retardation. Ten direct-care staff served as subjects. It was found that self-management produced an increase in the frequency of positive interactions of staff and residents, but did not produce changes in other behaviors being measured (e.g., negative interactions, self-stimulation, etc.). Goal setting did not result in changes in positive interactions or other target behaviors. Reasons for the different results of self-management versus goal-setting are discussed and further research is suggested.