An investigation of synesthesia.

This study was designed to investigate relations between synesthesia (the occurrence of imagery in one sense modality in response to sensations in another) and intellectual and personality functioning. Female (n?=?204) and male (n?=?170) subjects completed a visual-auditory synesthesia battery, paper-and-pencil synesthesia tests, the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), and a brief intelligence test. The findings indicate generalized and continuously distributed individual differences in the tendency to represent sounds as colors in accordance with empirically derived norms. However, this ability is not related to individual differences in the reported vividness of the associated imagery or to intelligence. A moderate relation was found between vividness measures, particularly vividness of visual images associated with sound, and a tendency to enjoy and become involved in imaginative experiences as measured by the Absorption scale of the MPQ. Contrary to existing beliefs, vividness of synesthetic imagery was not found to be associated with personality dysfunction or with intelligence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental perspective on personality in emerging adulthood: Childhood antecedents and concurrent adaptation.

Personality and competence were examined in a community sample of 205 children ages 8-12 yrs old who were followed up 10 yrs later in emerging adulthood (ages 17-23 yrs old). Adult Positive Emotionality (PEM), Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON) were presaged by childhood personality. PEM was associated with current success in social and romantic relationships. Low CON was associated with childhood and current antisocial conduct. NEM was broadly linked to childhood and current maladaptation, consistent with the possibility that failure in major developmental tasks increases NEM. Findings highlight the pervasive linkage of NEM to maladaptation and suggest that adult personality may develop from processes embedded in childhood adaptation as well as childhood personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of EPDM with Alkylphenol Polysulfide for Use in Tire Sidewalls, 2 – Mechanistic and Morphological Characterizations

It has been shown that the mechanical properties of NR/BR/EPDM blends can be improved by using APPS as a modifier. In this paper, it is demonstrated that modification of EPDM with APPS takes place and saturation occurs when the APPS amount reaches 5 wt.‐%. It is shown that the rubber/carbon black affinity improves by using APPS‐grafted EPDM in the blend. TEM and STEM images clearly show that the NR/BR/APPS‐EPDM blend contains a significantly higher content of homogeneous rubber phase than the unmodified NR/BR/EPDM blend. The much better distribution of the carbon black in the APPS‐EPDM phase is considered the main reason for the improvement in properties of the blend.

     

Direction of measurement: A source of misinterpretation.

Interpretation of psychological measures is sometimes based on relationships between test characteristics (factor loadings, proportion of items keyed True, etc.). The direction of measurement adopted for a scale often determines how test characteristics are recorded. Failure to regulate direction of measurement, called here direction error, produces misleading results by affecting the distribution and intercorrelations of test characteristics. Examples are drawn from criterion analysis, the study of acquiescence, social desirability, and communality. A method for regulating direction of measurement is discussed. Its rationale is based on a distinction between directional and differential measurement. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Common methodological problems in MMPI research.

Indicates that research with the MMPI continues at a high rate and suggests that too many articles submitted and even accepted for publication are methodologically weak. This article discusses some common methodological problems involving the use of the MMPI that were encountered in the course of reviewing articles submitted for publication. These problems involve the use of the MMPI as an all-purpose measure sensitive to "normal range" personality attributes, scale proliferation, limited-validity short forms, errors in assessing profile change, and erroneous interpretations of group data. Some suggestions for improving research designs are made. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality similarity in twins reared apart and together.

We administered the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) to 217 monozygotic and 114 dizygotic reared-together adult twin pairs and 44 monozygotic reared-apart adult twin pairs. A four-parameter biometric model (incorporating genetic, additive versus nonadditive, shared family-environment, and unshared environment components) and five reduced models were fitted through maximum-likelihood techniques to data obtained with the 11 primary MPQ scales and its 3 higher order scales. Solely environmental models did not fit any of the scales. Although the other reduced models, including the simple additive model, did fit many of the scales, only the full model provided a satisfactory fit for all scales. Heritabilities estimated by the full model ranged from .39 to .58. Consistent with previous reports, but contrary to widely held beliefs, the overall contribution of a common family-environment component was small and negligible for all but 2 of the 14 personality measures. Evidence of significant nonadditive genetic effects, possibly emergenic (epistatic) in nature, was obtained for 3 of the measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary aggressive motivation in three inbred strains of mice.

30 male mice from 3 inbred strains (BALB/cJ, RF/J, and SJL/J), isolated since 35 days of age, were run at 135 days in a T maze, and acquired a position response when the opportunity to attack a nonaggressive S was used as a reinforcer. Results are interpreted as evidence for primary intraspecific aggressive motivation. Strain differences were significant. Significant warm-up effects were also obtained, including persistent increases in number of correct T-maze choices from 1st to later trials given each day. An identically composed group of 30 food-deprived Ss were run in the maze for food reward. Eating was uniformly a highly effective reinforcer. However, in the 2 best-performing strains the effectiveness of aggression reinforcement following warm-up approached that of reinforcement by eating. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Openness to absorbing and self-altering experiences ("absorption"), a trait related to hypnotic susceptibility.

Administered a questionnaire containing items of varied content believed to be related to hypnotizability to 481 female undergraduates. 2 subsamples of 142 and 171 Ss, respectively, also completed Block's Ego Resiliency and Ego Control questionnaire scales and the Group Scales of Hypnotic Susceptibility. Analysis of the combined questionnaire data yielded 3 replicated higher order factors: the familiar dimensions of Stability and Introversion and a 3rd factor, Absorption. Absorption is interpreted as a disposition for having episodes of "total" attention that fully engage one's representational (i.e., perceptual, enactive, imaginative, and ideational) resources. This kind of attentional functioning is believed to result in a heightened sense of the reality of the attentional object, imperviousness to distracting events, and an altered sense of reality in general, including an empathically altered sense of self. Only Absorption was consistently correlated with hypnotizability. Absorption appears to be of interest for the study of hypnosis and personality. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)