Interpersonal sensitivity and motive strength.

Empathy, or interpersonal sensitivity, as measured by the method of Bronfenbrenner et al. (1958), involving ratings of self and others on adjectives describing behavior in a small group situation, was hypothesized to vary with degree of motivation. Criterion for motivation were scores on n Achievement, n Affiliation, and n Power, as found in TAT data, (McClelland et al., 1953). It was assumed that moderately motivated Ss would be more empathic (make more accurate judgments about others) than Ss high or low in motivation as measured. The results supported the hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal sensitivity under motive arousing conditions.

A theoretical model of the relationship between motivation and interpersonal sensitivity, based on the Yerkes-Dodson law, was proposed. The primary hypothesis, derived from the model, was that in a judging situation designed to arouse Ss' achievement motivation, the relationship of n Achievement and sensitivity to others in the achievement area will be linear and negative, in contrast to the curvilinear relationship obtained in studies where the achievement motive is not aroused. Ss discriminated between the self-percepts of pairs of fellow participants in a small group discussion and pairs of participants in a group discussion they observed from behind a 1-way window. The correlation between n Achievement and achievement sensitivity was -.61 (p     

Language and TAT content in bilinguals.

Adult French bilinguals told TAT stories on 2 different occasions for the same pictures, in French at one session, in English at the other. Predictions derived from studies of child-rearing practices and values in the 2 countries were made regarding expected content differences in the 2 languages. Of 9 predicted content differences, 3 were statistically significant. Achievement themes were more common in English in the women Ss. Verbal aggression against age peers, and autonomy or withdrawal from others were more common themes in the French stories. In these respects, content shifted with language, for the same individual at 2 different sessions. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement motivation and learning.

The hypothesis was offered that Ss with high n Achievement would learn more in directed and incidental learning situations than those with low n Achievement. Using extreme groups on a n Achievement continuum, the 12 highest and 14 lowest high school freshmen, it was found that the expected superiority of high n Achievement Ss in a directed learning situation did not obtain, although they did demonstrate more efficient incidental learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hope of success and fear of failure as aspects of need for achievement.

3 classes of Swarthmore freshmen were given a level-of-aspiration questionnaire designed to give an independent measure of the hope of success (HS) and fear of failure (FF) continuum. The relations between this measure and total n Achievement and various n Achievement subscores were investigated. The findings were: "(a) Students at the extremes of the continuum have lower n Achievement scores than students in the middle of the continuum. (b) In terms of positive subscores (goal imagery) on the n Achievement measure, the extremes have higher scores than subjects in the middle of the HS-FF continuum. (c) In terms of negative subscores (deprivation imagery) the middle group tends to score more highly in the extremes." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationships among imaginative, direct verbal, and physiological measures of anxiety in an achievement situation.

The relationships among 3 dispositional measures and 2 physiological indices of anxiety were investigated. The dispositional measures were low n Achievement, the Mandler-Sarason Test Anxiety Questionnaire, and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. Skin conductance and respiratory volume were the physiological indices. 25 male college students served as Ss. The correlation between n Achievement and Test Anxiety was -.43; between Test Anxiety and Manifest Anxiety, .53; and between Achievement and Manifest Anxiety, -.25. Need Achievement and Test Anxiety were both related to changes in skin conductance, but the Manifest Anxiety Scale did not relate to conductance change. 15 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of experimental arousal of the affiliation motive on thematic apperception.

"The purpose of this study was to develop a method of scoring thematic apperception stories to measure strength of motivation for social acceptance, or n Affiliation. Imaginative stories were written in response to pictures by two groups of male Ss under experimental conditions designed to differ in the degree to which motivation to be accepted and liked by others would be aroused." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental arousal of achievement motivation in adolescent girls.

2 groups of female high school students (40 achievers and 40 underachievers, matched for IQ) were exposed to 2 experimental conditions (Neutral and Achievement Oriented) and 2 types of pictures (those depicting males and those depicting females). The overall effect of the experimental achievement arsousal conditions for all girls was nonsignificant. However, a highly significant 2nd-order interaction effect was obtained: the achievement motivation scores of achievers increased significantly in response to Achievement Oriented conditions when they produced stories to pictures of females but did not increase in response to pictures of males; by contrast, the achievement motivation scores of underachievers increased significantly in response to Achievement Oriented conditions when they produced stories to pictures of males but did not increase in response to pictures of females. (43 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instructional technology and the measurement of learing outcomes: Some questions.

"Measures which assess student achievement in terms of a criterion standard provide information as to the degree of competence attained by a particular student which is independent of reference to the performance of others." Achievement measures may also convey information about the capability of a student compared with the capability of other students. Achievement tests are used (a) to provide information about the characteristics of an individual's present behavior and (b) to provide information about the conditions or instructional treatments which produce that behavior. Test development has been dominated by the particular requirements of predictive, correlation aptitude test theory." Achievement and criterion measurement has attempted frequently to cast itself in this framework; some additional considerations are required. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Kindergarten competencies as predictors of third-grade classroom behavior and achievement.

To investigate the relationships between preschool competencies and later academic functioning, multiple regression analyses were conducted using kindergarten intellectual, academic, and social variables (Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Wide Range Achievement Test, teacher ratings of academic readiness, and the Sells Teacher Rating Scale of Peer Relations) to predict 3rd-grade classroom behavior and achievement. A random sample (n?=?50) of 184 3rd-grade children evaluated during the 1973–1974 kindergarten year and a 2nd sample (n?=?49) with additional Time 1 social and background variables were included. Ss were observed in classrooms and administered achievement tests during the 1976–1977 school year. Results indicate that kindergarten social and academic competencies typically entered as optimal predictors of later achievement-related behaviors and achievement. A social competence measure of initiative was a particularly successful predictor of achievement. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parameters of self-reinforcement and depression.

Assessed the levels of 3 components of self-reinforcement (self-expectation, self-evaluation, and self-reward) in 2 groups of 40 hospitalized psychiatric patients (clinically depressed and clinically nondepressed). Tasks included a word association measure, the WAIS Digit Symbol subtest, and a task involving decisions that would benefit the ward. The depressed group showed significantly lower levels on all 3 variables, which were significantly interrelated. Ss in the depressed group were significantly more reinforcing to others on all 3 variables than to themselves, as compared with the nondepressed group. Despite lower levels of self-reinforcement, there were no differences between the 2 groups' objective performances. The overall results suggest qualifications to a self-reinforcement theory of depression. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task dimensions as moderators of the effects of instrumental leadership: A two-sample replicated test of path–goal leadership theory.

The path–goal theory of leadership has been criticized as being incapable of generating meaningful predictions and as having little empirical support; the present study addressed both criticisms. Three nonobvious predictions were generated from the theory concerning the moderating effects of 3 task dimensions on the relationship between instrumental leader behavior and subordinate satisfaction with supervision. It was hypothesized that task variety would be a positive moderator of the leadership/satisfaction relationship, whereas task feedback and opportunity to deal with others would be negative moderators. Data were collected by standard survey questionnaire measures in 2 field samples: 205 manufacturing employees (mean age 38.9 yrs) and 110 bank employees (mean age 32.7 yrs). Two of the hypotheses were supported in both samples (those concerned with variety and dealing with others), and one was supported in the manufacturer only (the feedback hypothesis). (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Atherosclerotic vascular complications in diabetic transplant candidates

Serious vascular complications limit the success of renal transplantation in diabetic patients. Nearly half of diabetic transplant recipients die within 3 years after transplantation from a vascular complication. However, it has been difficult to determine before transplantation which patients are likely to do poorly. Because atherosclerosis is a systemic disease, we hypothesized that diabetic transplant candidates with pretransplant coronary artery disease would be at high risk for vascular complications even if asymptomatic at the time of pretransplant evaluation. Our hypothesis was that insulin-dependent (IDDM) transplant candidates with coronary artery disease identified with pretransplant coronary angiography would have an increased number of vascular events (amputation, cerebral vascular accident [CVA], or myocardial infarction [MI]) within 3 years of follow-up. We prospectively studied 198 consecutive diabetic transplant candidates grouped on the basis of coronary artery disease. Group 1 patients had no stenosis that was 50% or greater, group 2 patients had one or more stenoses between 50% and 74%, and group 3 patients had one or more stenoses of 75% or greater. During median follow-up of 41 months, 64 patients experienced 98 amputations, 28 MIs, and seven CVAs. At 36 months of follow-up, 55% of group 3 patients, 30% of group 2 patients, and 11% of group 1 patients had experienced a vascular event (P < 0.001). Cox regression confirmed the association of coronary artery disease with subsequent vascular events. Patients with coronary artery disease had a sevenfold increased risk of amputation and a fourfold increased risk of myocardial infarction. Six of seven CVAs occurred in patients with coronary artery disease. We conclude that coronary artery disease identified at pretransplant evaluation is associated with an increased risk of noncoronary vascular complications within 3 years after evaluation.     

The achievement motive, goal setting, and probability preferences.

"This study deals with the effect of individual differences in strength of achievement motive on… goal setting… [and] preferences for imaginary bets equated for expected monetary value but differing in probability of winning… . Measures of n Achievement were obtained by content analysis of responses to the French Test of Insight. Persons with high n Achievement scores were assumed to have relatively stronger motives to approach success and those with low n Achievement scores relatively stronger motives to avoid failure… . The results are consistent with the theory concerning motivational determinants of risk taking behavior and constitute evidence of the… effects of individual differences in… achievement motive… in games of chance as well as… skill." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Curiosity, achievement, and avoidant motivation as determinants of epistemic behavior.

Measures of n Achievement (n Ach), Test Anxiety (Anx), level of Academic performance (AL), and "Involvement" (Inv) in task content, differentiated students tested for Rote retention and Comprehension of written material under 2 conditions of knowledge seeking: (a) achievement oriented, and (b) curiosity oriented. Predictions from Atkinson's Motive-Expectancy-Incentive (M-E-I) model regarding the superiority of High n Ach, Low Anx over Low n Ach, High Anx Ss, and of High over Low AL Ss, were upheld for Comprehension, but not for Rote, in the Achievement condition. As predicted from a combination of the M-E-I model and Berlyne's theory of epistemic curiosity, superiority of the High AL, High Inv over the Low AL, Low Inv Ss held for both Comprehension and Rote in the Curiosity condition. Hypothesized differences across conditions were partially confirmed. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of children's use of a story schema to retrieve information.

In Exp I, 80 2nd and 6th graders and 40 college students heard normal or scrambled stories and either recalled them exactly as heard or recalled them by making them into "good" stories. Scrambled stories generally depressed recall; 2nd graders performed poorly, but there was a clear improvement with age/grade in the ability to reorganize a scrambled story. In Exp II, an explanation for 2nd graders' poor performance was proposed and tested with 24 additional 2nd graders. It was thought that 2nd graders might know the form of an ideal story, but fail to spontaneously and consciously use their knowledge of its constituent parts to guide retrieval. A brief training procedure was introduced to teach a new group of 2nd graders how to sequence story propositions. The expectation was that training would prime them to use the internal story structure as a retrieval strategy when faced with a set of scrambled stories to recall (in good order). The expectation was confirmed. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of cardiac findings at necropsy in octogenarians, nonagenarians, and centenarians

The Toxoplasma gondii rhoptry protein Rop2 was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein containing 44 kDa of the 55-kDa mature Rop2, supplied with six histidyl residues at the N-terminal end (Rop2196-561). Humoral response during Toxoplasma infection of humans was analyzed by immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgA, and IgM enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with Rop2196-561 as the antigen substrate. The analyzed sera were divided according to T. gondii-specific serological tests (IgG, IgA, or IgM indirect immunofluorescence and IgA or IgM immunosorbent agglutination assay) as group A (IgG+ IgA- IgM-; n = 35), group B (IgG+ IgA+ IgM+; n = 21), group C (IgG+ IgA+ IgM-; n = 5), and group D (IgG+ IgA- IgM+; n = 16). Twenty-six T. gondii-seronegative sera from individuals with other infections were also included (group E). Anti-Rop2 IgG antibodies were detected in 82.8% of group A sera and in 97.6% of the sera with acute-phase marker immunoglobulins (groups B, C, and D). The percentage of IgA antibody reactivity against Rop2196-561 was 17.1% in group A, 50% in group D, and 80.8% in groups B and C. The percentage of IgM antibody reactivity was 0% in groups A and C and 62% in groups B and D. Sera from group E failed to show IgA, IgM, or IgG antibody reactivity. Since T. gondii Rop2 elicits a strong humoral response from an early stage of infection, it is suggested that recombinant Rop2196-561 would be suitable for use in diagnostic systems, in combination with other T. gondii antigens, to detect specific IgG, IgA, and IgM antibodies.     

Adenylate cyclase of gastric mucosa in patients with chronic renal failure

It has been shown previously that antisecretory response of famotidine is altered in patients with renal failure. To evaluate the underlying mechanism(s) of this clinical observation we obtained biopsy specimens of fundic mucosa from 3 groups of patients with variable renal function (group 1 normal renal function (n = 16); group 2 chronic renal failure (n = 16), CLCR > or = 5 < 90 ml/min; group 3 hemodialysis therapy (n = 16)) (matched for age, sex, and Helicobacter pylori (Hp) status. In the homogenized samples adenylate cyclase (AC) activity was assessed and the influence of uremia on this second messenger system involved in gastric acid secretion was tested. AC activity was measured as the formation of cAMP, which was determined by RIA. The mean basal AC activity was 150 in group 1, 190 in group 2, and 120 pmol cAMP/mg protein/20 min in group 3. There was a dose-dependent stimulation by histamine (1 microM-1 mM). Emax of cAMP formation ranged between 230 and 403 pmol cAMP/mg protein/20 min and EC50 between 5.9 and 20.1 microM histamine, dependent on Hp status. Histamine-stimulated AC activation was reduced to about 50% by 0.1 mM famotidine. The sensitivity of AC to histamine seems to decrease in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Similarly, the colonization with Hp may result in decreased maximal response of the AC system towards histamine.     

Thematic Apperception Test: Some evidence bearing on the "hero assumption."

2 experiments are presented which test the assumption that there is customarily a single figure in TAT stories which is particularly revealing of the Ss own attributes. In a group of 30 female Ss it was demonstrated that hero figures were more often identified as similar to self or else denied as similar. Following a frustration experience aggressive acts carried out by heroes against others and against the self and also aggressive acts carried out by others against the hero all increased. These findings were regarded as evidence for the hero assumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification of anovulation and transient luteal function using a urinary pregnanediol-3-glucuronide ratio algorithm

The sensitivity and specificity of a urinary pregnanediol-3-glucuronide (PdG) ratio algorithm to identify anovulatory cycles was studied prospectively in two independent populations of women. Urinary hormone data from the first group was used to develop the algorithm, and data from the second group was used for its validation. PdG ratios were calculated by a cycles method in which daily PdG concentrations indexed by creatinine (CR) from cycle day 11 onward were divided by a baseline PdG (average PdG/Cr concentration for cycle days 6-10). In the interval method, daily PdG/CR concentrations from day 1 onward were divided by baseline PdG (lowest 5-day average of PdG/CR values throughout the collection period). Evaluation of the first study population (n = 6) resulted in cycles with PdG ratios > or = 3 for > or = 3 consecutive days being classified as ovulatory; otherwise they were anovulatory. The sensitivity and specificity of the PdG ratio algorithm to identify anovulatory cycles in the second population were 75% and 89.5%, respectively, for all cycles (n = 88); 50% and 88.3% for first cycles (n = 40) using the cycles method; 75% and 92.2%, respectively, for all cycles (n = 89); and 50% and 94.1% for first cycles (n = 40) using the interval method. The "gold standard" for anovulation was weekly serum samples < or = 2 ng/ml progesterone. The sensitivity values for all cycles and for the first cycle using both methods were underestimated because of apparent misclassification of cycles using serum progesterone due to infrequent blood collection. Blood collection more than once a week would have greatly improved the sensitivity and modestly improved the specificity of the algorithm. The PdG ratio algorithm provides an efficient approach for screening urine samples collected in epidemiologic studies of reproductive health in women.