The effects of three variables on children's concepts of physical causality.

"This study investigated the effects of 3 variables on children's concepts of physical casuality. It was found that: (1) The nature of the causal thinking of withdrawn children is at a significantly less mature level than the causal thinking of normal children. (2) Questions about phenomena whose causal agents are not accessible to direct experience yielded significantly more nonnaturalistic responses than did questions about phenomena whose causal agents are more ascessible. (3) Questions worded so as to suggest the possible operation of 'animistic,' 'supernatural,' or 'dynamic' forces yielded more such nonnaturalistic types of responses than questions less suggestively worded." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test performance as an involuntary function of interpersonal relationships.

The hypothesis that tension aroused by making a new acquaintance might adversely affect test performance is here investigated. Two person teams of subjects are given the Vigotsky Blocks Tests. In the control group, the subjects knew each other before the experiment and knew the experimenter. In the experimental group, the subjects were unacquainted before the experimental session. Analysis of the results shows that the experimental groups took significantly longer to complete the test. Although this result tends to support the hypothesis, several alternate explanations are proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smoking and rebelliousness: A longitudinal study from childhood to maturity.

The hypothesis that rebelliousness contributes to the etiology of cigarette smoking was tested with data from 2 longitudinal studies. Comparisons were made between smokers and nonsmokers (as determined at age 30) in the presmoking years from kindergarten through high school on several measures of rebelliousness. In every comparison for both sexes the smokers showed greater rebelliousness; the difference was statistically significant in most instances. This difference persisted into adulthood; smokers of both sexes scored significantly lower on the Socialization scale of the CPI. In discussing factors associated with the initiation and continuance of smoking, the evidence indicating rebelliousness as related also to alcoholism and drug usage suggests that it would be heuristic to regard smoking as 1 of the addictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The deaf child's conception of physical causality.

In an attempt to assess their causal thinking relative to hearing children of normal emotional status and emotionally disturbed hearing children, the responses of 12 deaf children, aged 8-10 yr., to question dealing with physical causality were compared with those of groups of emotionally disturbed and undisturbed hearing children of similar age and intelligence. Questions asked were of 2 experience levels, depending upon the accessibility of the causal agent to direct experience. Each child was asked 8 questions at each level. It was found that: (a) Significant differences among groups appeared with items whose causal agents were not accessible to direct experience, (b) The "prelogical" responses of the deaf tend to be of a phenomenistic nature. Those of the emotionally disturbed and normals are more inclined toward the animistic and dynamic categories. (c) By the age of 12 yr. no measurable group differences appeared. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental effects of ego-defense preference on interpersonal relations.

The hypothesis that a connection exists between the personality personality defenses of interacting individuals and their attitudes toward and perceptions of their interaction is explored by assessing the defense mechanisms of a group of Ss to psychosexual stimuli, the Blacky Pictures, and evaluating their interaction when pairs of Ss are engaged in a task which arouses a specific psychosexual disturbance. The results indicate that the interaction of two people who project the same psychosexual impulse is more negative than pairs of people who use other defenses. Dissimilar defenses do not seem to adversely affect the interaction; however, when both partners have high conflict, more negative interaction tends to result than when only one is disturbed. The relative hierarchies of defense mechanisms and psychosexual dimensions, with regard to their effect on interpersonal relations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of interpersonal relationships upon verbal conditioning.

"Two conditioning experiments were conducted in which E used 'mmm-hmm' to reinforce sentences which S began with pronouns 'I' or 'We.' Experiment I relied upon instructions to create a condition of either High- or Low-Attraction between S and E. Experiment II utilized… [a] scale to establish Compatible and Incompatible groups in terms of interpersonal needs… . Ss who were incompatible, or not attracted to E, suppressed the effects of reinforcement until removed from E's presence. The implications of these findings for generalizing from verbal conditioning situations to the patient-therapist relationship in clinical settings was discussed." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of perceived mental illness on interpersonal relations.

This study was carried out to measure the influence of general attitudes toward mental illness on 2 aspects of interpersonal interaction: an S's performance on a motor task requiring cooperative effort and the perception of another after having interacted with him on the task. Ss were undergraduates who were induced to believe their coworker was either "normal" or had been mentally ill. The results indicate that perceiving the coworker as mentally ill is associated with better task performance, possibly because of the greater threat posed by a successful peer in comparison to that posed by a person believed to be maladjusted and inadequate. It was also found that when a coworker is viewed as mentally ill, Ss prefer to work alone rather than with him and blame him for inadequacies in the joint performance even though objective measures do not justify these responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Broadening student experience in mental hygiene and abnormal psychology.

"At Whittier college an attempt is made to relate closely the student's experience in the mental hygiene and abnormal psychology courses." "In mental hygiene, emphasis is placed upon the practical problems of community mental health, and an attempt is made to stimulate the student's interest… ." "In the abnormal psychology course… trips are arranged to an institution for the mentally defective, a hospital for the care of the physically handicapped, a school for delinquents, and a state mental hospital. Other procedures and possibilities for provoking student interest and enriching class experience are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in the perception of interpersonal relationships in successfully treated adolescent delinquent boys.

Successful psychotherapy with adolescent delinquent boys revealed significant improvement in the perception of interpersonal relationships on thematic stories to pictures selected to measure 3 areas of personality functioning (self-image, control of aggression, and attitude toward authority). People in the stories were seen as having more highly differentiated roles and relationships. These changes were highly correlated with improved academic performance (revealed on achievement tests) and improvement in overt behavior (reduction in antisocial behavior and better employment history). The results are consistent with many views regarding the nature of personality change in psychotherapy and strongly indicate that improvement in the perception of interpersonal relationships is associated with higher levels of overall performance and integration. Exactly how these changes are brought about during psychotherapy still remains to be explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social perception and the motivational structure of interpersonal relations.

An extension of a previous research (see 28: 673). The introduction of another variable, viz., the knowledge of the result of cooperative or competitive ventures, affected the perception of the partner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Yielding, authoritarianism, and authoritarian ideology regarding groups.

This investigation was prompted by Asch's (1952) discussion of the personal and social significance of yielding to group pressure. For the person, yielding requires the inhibition of overt and perhaps implicit responses to objective situational requirements. For the group, malignant processes may arise and develop, unchecked by those members in whom goals of personal security predominate over group goals. In the present study, the view was taken that both meanings of yielding are assigned positive value in two separate ideologies concerning the group-individual relation. One of these is termed "conformity" and the other is "rugged individualism." In the study, group pressure was simulated by announcing bogus group judgments to small groups of Ss whose apparent task was to match one of three lines of variable length with a standard line. Questionnaires were used to measure variables, which were: the ideology of conformity (IC), the ideology of rugged individualism (RI), ethnocentrism (E), and authoritarianism (F). The questionnaires were administered to 91 college students, both day school and evening. It was found that the correlation with the F scale was .48 (P     

The contribution of parental discipline, parental monitoring, and school risk to early-onset conduct problems in African American boys and girls.

The association of parental discipline and monitoring with the early conduct problems of 123 boys and girls was assessed in a highly disadvantaged, African American sample. Prospective analyses indicated that, after earlier conduct problems were controlled for, coercive parent discipline and poor parental monitoring at age 4? were independent, reliable predictors of age 6 conduct problems for both boys and girls. The association of parental monitoring with later child conduct problems was mediated, in part, by parents' choice of higher risk schools for their children's kindergarten education. The association of family income with child conduct problems was mediated by parental discipline and monitoring. These models are consistent with previous research on older, European American, more advantaged, male samples, which supports the generality of the association of family processes with child conduct problems across child gender, age, and ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test-anxiety and blame-assignment in grade school children.

"… an attempt was made to measure the relationship between test-anxiety in elementary school children and the propensity for self-blame assignment in regard to the experience of failure in a test situation… . The general hypothesis… was that in a failure situation, high test-anxious S's assign blame for a failure to themselves to a greater extent than do non-test-anxious S's… . The overall results… tend to support the hypothesis, but with qualifications that… change the perspective… of test-anxiety and blame assignment." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)