Forgetting of pictures over a long retention interval in young and older adults

Young and older adults were presented with pictures for study. Their recognition of the information was tested at five retention intervals: immediately, and 48 hr, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks later. The main finding of interest was that picture recognition did not show an age-related decline until the 1-week retention interval.     

Factor influencing suicide intent in gay and bisexual suicide ideators: differing models for men with and without human immunodeficiency virus.

Of 778 gay and bisexual men (none with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [AIDS]), 27% (n = 212) reported suicidal ideation over the previous 6 months. Covariance structure models were used to explore predictors of suicide intent among (n = 112) suicide ideators with (n = 100) and without (n = 112) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Current AIDS-related stressors (deaths and illnesses and perceived AIDS risk) and past levels of adaptive functioning (social isolation and depression) were significantly more powerful predictors of suicide intent among HIV-positive than among HIV-negative ideators. Biological AIDS risk predicted neither suicide intent, current distress, nor perceived AIDS risk. Pathways to suicide intent appear to be psychologically, rather than biologically, mediated. Among HIV-positive ideators, AIDS-related death and illness events predicted suicide intent but not current distress symptoms. Some suicidal ideation in response to AIDS-related events may be an effort to cope rather than a manifestation of psychological distress.     

Quitters would not prosper: Examining the relationship between online assessment performance and assessment attrition behavior

Hiring managers are often hesitant to implement online assessments over concerns that higher‐quality candidates are more likely to quit lengthy assessment batteries than lower‐quality candidates. In this paper, we present the results of two studies that collectively challenge this assumption. In Study 1, data from 327,517 job‐seekers spanning eight hiring contexts showed that assessment performance was negatively associated with subsequent assessment attrition behavior. In Study 2, we replicated this pattern of effects in two additional samples comprising 1,844,604 applicants for hourly associate positions, and 18,937 applicants for nursing positions. Collectively, these findings suggest that some degree of attrition may ultimately benefit, rather than harm, organizations using prehire assessments.     

Gratitude and Good Government

I attempt to show that it is notphilosophically incompetent to ground politicalobligation in feelings of gratitude. But theargument needs to be stated carefully.Gratitude must be distinguished fromreciprocity. It applies only to good governmentwhich provides benefits to citizens for whichthey ought to feel grateful. It applies only tocitizens who accept that their feelings ofgratitude are properly demonstrated by anacceptance on their part of the duties ofcitizenship. It does not apply to citizenswhose benefits are purchased at the expense ofthe unjust treatment of fellow citizens.     

Children and Spirituality in the Context of a Traditional Festival: Halloween

This paper examines some of the contemporary cultural practices associated with the traditional festival of Halloween as it is celebrated by children in Britain and the United States. Using ethnographic evidence from a variety of sources, the authors seek to explore the range of activities which constitute the modern Halloween, particularly as it is mediated to children through the forms of consumer culture. The paper analyses the changing social, historical and religious patterns which have displaced the celebration of Halloween onto children, and offers an account of them which points to the persistence of a coherent spirituality—what the authors term a ‘spirituality of boundaries‘—to be found in the symbolism of the festival and its interaction with the lives and representation of children.     

Skin conductance responses to real and imagined snakes among avoidant and non-avoidant college students

Experiment I compared the extent to which, at the physiological level, behaviorally avoidant and non-avoidant Ss respond differently to in vivo exposure to a snake. Experiment II tested an hypothesis about possible confounding in the procedures of Experiment I. Experiment III was a replication of Experiment II except that an imagined snake was substituted for the real snake. The three experiments were designed to permit simultaneous comparisons involving the skin conductance reactions of avoidant and non-avoidant volunteer Ss to a snake and to a neutral stimulus. In Experiments II and III differential responsivity in the expected direction was found. These differences were discussed in connection with the methodology of snake-avoidance therapy analogues.     

Between-measure consistency in social-skills assessment

The purpose of the present study was to assess the between-measure consistency of general and specific social-skills assessment strategies. Nineteen mentally retarded adults were assessed using both common and newly devised measures of social skills: (1) specific (molecular) behavior ratings from role-play assessments, (2) general (molar) ratings based on the role plays, staff (3) molar and (4) molecular predictions of client social skills use in the described role-play situations, (5) peer sociometric ratings, and molecular in vivoobservations conducted in (6) cafeteria and (7) party settings. For all molecular measures, the subjects were assessed on eye contact, response relevance, response latency, voice volume, and appropriate affect, which allowed for direct comparisons to be made between each of these assessment modalities. In addition, the role-play assessment was conducted under two distinct conditions to determine whether role-play performance varied between standard and reinforced administrations; however, multivariate analyses (MANOVA) revealed no differences between the two assessments. Correlations between the molar and the molecular measures suggested a substantial overlap between the measures, with staff ratings having the highest consistency with the other measures. Furthermore, MANOVAs calculated between role-play ratings and those of staff revealed little difference between the two. The limitations on and practical significance of these findings are discussed.     

Recent cohorts lead rejection of sex typing

In samples of the Detroit metropolitan population, four items indicating rejection of sex typing of children's household chores were negatively related to birth year of respondent in 1953, but positively related in 1971 and 1976: Older women were more likely to reject sex typing in 1953, but less likely to do so than younger women in 1971 and 1976. The regression was stronger for three items in 1976 than in 1971, while there was no change for the fourth. But associations between pairs of items in 1971 and 1976 were negatively related or unrelated to birth year. The explanation of these changes as an immediate and direct result of the women's movement is, therefore, discounted. The pattern of changes is congruent with assumptions in a model suggested by Carlsson and Karlsson (1979), which predicts oscillations in aggregate behavior with a period about a generation in length.This research was supported by NSF Grant SOC77-27365. Charles Brody Assisted with computations. Beverly Duncan made valuable suggestions. Howard Schuman generously provided early access to the 1976 data, collected for use in his own research.     

Dysarthric symptomatology of Friedreich's ataxia

Subjective judgments of 16 speech dimensions were used to rate the speech of 22 Friedreich's ataxics. The study attempted to determine what groupings of speech dimensions describe the ataxic speech and if the subjects could be grouped by their speech symptoms. The results indicated that two speech factors were present, a general dysarthric factor and a phonatory stenosis factor. Subject groupings revealed three groups, the first characterized by a general dysarthria without vocal stenosis, the second characterized by phonatory stenosis and mild general dysarthric symptoms, and the third characterized by mild symptoms on both speech factors. Evidence was presented to show that more than one pattern of dysarthria could occur in one family.     

Heterosexual anxiety: Stable multichannel assessment for therapy outcome research

Thirty-six shy males participated in two interpersonal performance tests with attractive female confederates. Between the two interpersonal performances, each was exposed either to one of three elaborate placebo treatments or to no treatment. During and after each performance, heterosexual anxiety was measured with instruments recommended for research purposes by Borkovec et al. (1974). Results showed that the recommended shyness measures were immune to unwanted changes either from repeated assessments or from any of the three multisession placebo procedures. Hence the experiment partially replicated and substantially extended previous research, suggesting the feasibility of using the Borkovec et al. shyness-assessment package in behavioral fear-therapy research.