The effects of instructions, level of fear, duration of exposure and repeated measures on the Behavioral Avoidance Test

This research studied the effects of level of fear, instructions, duration of each step and the effect of retest on the performance of subjects on a Behavioral Avoidance Test of a harmless snake. Results showed a significant effect of the level of fear. instructions, and effect of retest on the performance of these subjects. An interaction between level of fear and instructions was also found for a proportion of subjects manipulating the snake. This interaction indicated that moderately afraid subjects were relatively more influenced by the instructions than very afraid subjects.     

Self‐regulatory strength amplification through selective information processing

We propose and demonstrate that although depletion of self-regulatory strength is common, it is not inevitable. Four experiments show that under certain conditions, consumers can amplify their self-regulatory strength and, as a result, increase their ability to control their behavior. Experiments 1–3 examine the depleting effects of information processing by exposing dieters and nondieters to either cost or pleasure information about chocolate. The results of experiments 1–3 show that when dieters have the ability to monitor the costs of consumption, they are motivated to mobilize additional strength and increase their ability to self-regulate. In experiment 4 we show the practical implications of our work and show that dieters are better able to control their eating because they choose to focus more on the cost (versus pleasure) of consumption.     

Impulsive and callous traits are more strongly associated with delinquent behavior in higher risk neighborhoods among boys and girls

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the effect of impulsive and callous personality traits on delinquent behavior varied across neighborhood context in a population-based, statewide sample of 85,000 Iowa schoolchildren ages 10-19. Two previous studies examining the association between impulsivity and delinquency across disadvantaged and affluent neighborhoods have yielded contrasting findings. Results of the present study suggested a robust moderating effect of neighborhood context on personality risk for delinquency. The relation between impulsivity and delinquency was greater in neighborhoods low in collective efficacy compared to neighborhoods high in collective efficacy. A similar interaction was found for callous personality traits, indicating the consistency of the moderating effect of neighborhood context on personality risk for delinquency. Gender differences were also examined, and results were replicated in a holdout sample.     

Information‐Theoretic Measures Predict the Human Judgment of Rhythm Complexity

To formalize the human judgment of rhythm complexity, we used five measures from information theory and algorithmic complexity to measure the complexity of 48 artificially generated rhythmic sequences. We compared these measurements to human prediction accuracy and easiness judgments obtained from a listening experiment, in which 32 participants guessed the last beat of each sequence. We also investigated the modulating effects of musical expertise and general pattern identification ability. Entropy rate and Kolmogorov complexity were correlated with prediction accuracy, and highly correlated with easiness judgments. A logistic regression showed main effects of musical training, entropy rate, and Kolmogorov complexity, and an interaction between musical training and both entropy rate and Kolmogorov complexity. These results indicate that information‐theoretic concepts capture some salient features of the human judgment of rhythm complexity, and they confirm the influence of musical expertise on complexity judgments.     

Psychological Influences of Individuals with Cancer in Remission

We conducted a qualitative research study, interviewing 25 cancer survivors regarding their personal constructs of coping and adjustment of having cancer in remission. Two themes emerged from the data. One was that participants spoke of desires to engage each day with a carpe diem attitude. They shared numerous accounts of how life’s brevity became an experienced reality for them, and they wished to capitalize on what life offered daily. Second, the cancer survivors related deliberate alterations of their daily habits. Health became a more paramount concern for these individuals; and eating habits, sun exposure, exercise, and other similar measures were infused into new daily routines. We relate the findings to the broader psychological literature regarding coping, handling anxiety, and integrating physical and psychological health.     

‘Like a ship amidst a raging sea’: Archbishop Laurentius Petri's Vision of the Church

Abstract

This article presents the ecclesiology of Laurentius Petri, former student in Wittenberg and Archbishop of Uppsala (1531–73). As a major actor in the Swedish Reformation, Laurentius Petri saw the Church as a ship amidst a raging sea. His presentation of the traditional signs of the Church is marked by the emphasis laid on penitence, amendment and church discipline. ‘Let all things be done decently and in order’ (1 Cor. 14.40) was Laurentius Petri's programme long before his major writing, The Swedish Church Ordinance (1571). He developed the Swedish tradition which sees some ceremonies and statutes as necessary, and not merely useful, for the Church. The separation of the ministries of bishop and priest is one among these necessary statutes. Both the Church's regimen and that of the secular authority originate in God. There is a thorough exposition of the obligations of the secular authority in The Christian Sermon on Secular Authority (1561).     

Can Video Self-Modeling Improve Affected Limb Reach and Grasp Ability in Stroke Patients?

The authors examined whether feedforward video self-modeling (FF VSM) would improve control over the affected limb, movement self-confidence, movement self-consciousness, and well-being in 18 stroke survivors. Participants completed a cup transport task and 2 questionnaires related to psychological processes pre- and postintervention. Pretest video footage of the unaffected limb performing the task was edited to create a best-of or mirror-reversed training DVD, creating the illusion that patients were performing proficiently with the affected limb. The training yielded significant improvements for the forward movement of the affected limb compared to the unaffected limb. Significant improvements were also seen in movement self-confidence, movement self-consciousness, and well-being. FF VSM appears to be a viable way to improve motor ability in populations with movement disorders.     

A multipurpose software package for editing two-dimensional animated images

In this paper, we describe a software package, LEDA, for editing two-dimensional images and films. It is written in Turbo-C and was first conceived to work with a high-resolution graphics card (Adage PG90/10, 2,048 × 1,023 × 8 bits) on an IBM PC/AT or compatible computer. The program is intended for managing images and films used in the fields of visual psychophysics, electrophysiology, and so forth.     

Dissociations in aphasia: A case report

This paper is a case study of an aphasic patient who displays two interesting characteristics, namely, (1) a dissociation between his oral and written disorders (i.e., oral Wernicke vs. written Broca); (2) an agraphia-alexia syndrome in which the picturability of the entities referred to by words plays an important role. Some of the characteristics shown by this patient have been well described concerning reading but never concerning writing. This second aspect is particularly emphasized.     

Behavioral correlates of self-control at 33 months

Self-control behavior of 48 33-month-old children was examined during two delay-of-gratification tasks. Children were categorized as high, medium, and low in self-control on the basis of their cumulative delay time. Instances of attention shifts, body movements, as well as social and object-referencing were coded throughout the two delay periods. Results showed significant group differences in behavioral tactics. Children in the low group looked at and touched the forbidden object more often; members of the medium group used more social referencing, and those in the high group were more likely to reference nonforbidden objects. Findings also suggested that high controllers were more likely to use self-distraction tactics involving shifts in attention from one object to another during the delay period. Separate analyses for each task indicated that the observed delay tactics were stable from one context to the other. These findings substantiate results from other research on self-control with 3-year-old children and also document different behavioral styles of self-regulation during delay of gratification.