What is morphological awareness? Tapping lexical compounding awareness in Chinese third graders.

One hundred twenty-one third-grade Chinese children were assessed with a new morphological awareness task involving open-ended lexical compounding, in addition to completing other measures. With children's age, nonverbal intelligence, phonological awareness, and previously established measures of morphological awareness statistically controlled, this compounding production task significantly explained unique variance in both Chinese character reading and vocabulary knowledge. Within this new task, subordinate and coordinative structures were significantly easier to compound than were subject–predicate and verb–object structures. Moreover, novel compounds that made use of verb morphemes were more difficult to manipulate than were those that did not contain verbs. This newly developed task of compounding production may be optimal for tapping older children's morphological awareness in the form of lexical compounding, in both Chinese and possibly other languages. In addition, these results demonstrate that linguistic manipulations within tasks of morphological awareness can influence their difficulty levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reproductive health awareness (RHA) model: a qualitative perspective

The Reproductive Health Awareness model developed by Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Health is responsive to the elements of quality of care articulated by Judith Bruce in 1989. The model encourages self-choice regarding family planning options, informed choice and flexibility to change family planning options with changing circumstances, and inclusion of men and the family. Providers utilizing the model must know the stages of behavior change and how to program care based on the client's knowledge and readiness, and how to communicate with clients such that they are facilitating care rather than prescribing it.     

Standard delay eyeblink classical conditioning is independent of awareness.

P. F. Lovibond and D. R. Shanks (see record 2002-00340-001) suggested that all forms of classical conditioning depend on awareness of the stimulus contingencies. This article considers the available data for eyeblink classical conditioning, including data from 2 studies (R. E. Clark, J. R. Manns, & L. R. Squire, 2001; J. R. Manns, R. E. Clark, & L. R. Squire, 2001) that were completed too recently to have been considered in their review. In addition, in response to questions raised by P. F. Lovibond and D. R. Shanks, 2 new analyses of data are presented from studies published previously. The available data from humans and experimental animals provide strong evidence that delay eyeblink classical conditioning (but not trace eyeblink classical conditioning) can be acquired and retained independently of the forebrain and independently of awareness. This conclusion applies to standard conditioning paradigms; for example, to single-cue delay conditioning when a tone is used as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and to differential delay conditioning when the positive and negative conditioned stimuli (CS+ and CS-) are a tone and white noise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The place of facts in a world of values: Subject and object in a postmodern world.

The value-fact or subject-object split (S-0) recently defended by H. H. Kendler (1999) as necessary for a scientific psychology to establish facts, was rejected by Gestalt psychology as reducing the person to object status. The Gestalt solution correlating principles of perceptual organization with corresponding features of the object world (S/0) has however answered poorly to the vast cultural differences found in values. Communal/dialectical psychology in agreement with a postmodern worldview, treats facts as intrinsically value-laden social constructions mediated by a society's particular social relations (S?0). Examples of fact ambiguity are illustrated, and S?0 is recommended as ontologically preferable for psychology as social science and for turn-of-the-millenium psycho-ecology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classical conditioning of autonomic fear responses is independent of contingency awareness.

The role of contingency awareness in classical conditioning experiments using human subjects is currently under debate. This study took a novel approach to manipulating contingency awareness in a differential Pavlovian conditioning paradigm. Complex sine wave gratings were used as visual conditional stimuli (CS). By manipulating the fundamental spatial frequency of the displays, we were able to construct pairs of stimuli that varied in discriminability. One group of subjects was given an “easy” discrimination, and another was exposed to a “difficult” CS+ and CS–. A 3rd group was exposed to a stimulus that was paired with the unconditional stimulus (UCS) 50% of the time and served as a control. Skin conductance response (SCR) and continuous UCS expectancy data were measured concurrently throughout the experiment. Differential UCS expectancy was found only in the easy discrimination group. Differential SCRs were found in the easy discrimination group as well as in the difficult discrimination group, but not in the 50% contingency control. The difficult discrimination group did not exhibit differential UCS expectancy but did show clear differential SCR. These observations support a dual process interpretation of classical conditioning whereby conditioning on an implicit level can occur without explicit knowledge about the contingencies. The role of contingency awareness in classical conditioning experiments using human subjects is currently under debate. This study took a novel approach to manipulating contingency awareness in a differential Pavlovian conditioning paradigm. Complex sine wave gratings were used as visual conditional stimuli (CS). By manipulating the fundamental spatial frequency of the displays, we were able to construct pairs of stimuli that varied in discriminability. One group of subjects was given an “easy” discrimination, and another was exposed to a “difficult” CS+ and CS–. A 3rd group was exposed to a stimulus that was paired with the unconditional stimulus (UCS) 50% of the time and served as a control. Skin conductance response (SCR) and continuous UCS expectancy data were measured concurrently throughout the experiment. Differential UCS expectancy was found only in the easy discrimination group. Differential SCRs were found in the easy discrimination group as well as in the difficult discrimination group, but not in the 50% contingency control. The difficult discrimination group did not exhibit differential UCS expectancy but did show clear differential SCR. These observations support a dual process interpretation of classical conditioning whereby conditioning on an implicit level can occur without explicit knowledge about the contingencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When change in the self is mistaken for change in the world.

The authors examined whether and when changes in the self lead to mistaken assessments that the world has changed. Survey data revealed that: personal changes in respondents (e.g., parenthood, financial change) were positively correlated with their assessments of various social changes (e.g., crime rates, freedom). Experimental data provided converging evidence. Experimentally induced change in knowledge influenced participants' perceptions of change in an author's writing style from one decade to the next (Study 3). Bringing self-change to participants' attention attenuated their judgments of change in the world when they had sufficient cognitive resources to consider how such self-changes might affect their perceptions (Studies 4-6). Discussion highlights how such misattributions of change contribute to the pervasive belief in societal decline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lead content of rice collected from various areas in the world

Rice samples consumed by local populations were collected between 1990 and 1995 in 17 areas in the world, mostly from Asia (10 areas), but also from 7 areas outside of Asia. In total, 1528 samples were obtained (about one half from Japan) and were analyzed for lead (Pb) by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. When the Pb contents in rice samples were classified into 10 areas in Asia, the highest and the lowest geometric means (GMs) were for Indonesia (38 ng/g) and Australia (2 ng/g), respectively. Among 7 regions outside Asia, the GM was highest for Spain (58 ng/g) and the lowest for the USA. (3 ng/g). Moreover, inter-regional differences were significant, when more than 100 samples from one area were divided into 3-9 regions and GMs for regions were compared. There was a marked difference in Pb contents in rice by areas and regions in the world. Nevertheless, comparison by area of the present results with those reported in literature show that there has been no substantial reduction in Pb in rice in the past decade either in Japan or elsewhere in the world.     

How high is up? Calibrating social comparison in the real world.

Research generated by social comparison theory has been criticized for its deficiencies in conceptual clarity and mundane realism. In the present study, Ss were 544 competitive bridge players engaging in a form of the "you-hold" game, a social comparison activity common to this subculture. Because this game is played seriously, with real and meaningful comparators, mundane realism should be heightened. Clarification of some key concepts, notably "comparison upward," was anticipated because the setting permitted valid assessments of the abilities of the various players. The method involved use of nominational responses to scenarios in which comparison motive was varied with outcome valence and locus of control. Ability scores of nominations were regressed against those of the choosers', a similar strategy was employed using various sociometric nominations both to validate the method and provide a baseline for comparison. Results suggest that information seeking induced the greatest degree of upward comparison. Ego enhancement was lower and ego defense lowest, though even here comparison was found to be reliably upward. Items describing "fixes" where ability was not implicated were found to give results similar to those for ego enhancement. Events with negative outcomes were unexpectedly found to generate greater comparison upward than ones with positive outcomes. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Educating for a peaceful world.

Outlines a program of what schools can do to encourage the values, attitudes, and knowledge that foster constructive rather than destructive relations, which prepare children to live in a peaceful world. The article describes 4 key components of such programs: cooperative learning, conflict resolution training, the constructive use of controversy in teaching subject matters, and the creation of dispute resolution centers in schools. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trauma in a presymbolic world.

This article explores the lifelong impact of an early trauma in shattering the sense of sensorimotor integrity. A clinical case is described in which severe trauma occurred in the presymbolic phase of childhood. In trying to grasp this case, a primal absolutism, taking form in early infancy through attuned holding and handling of the child's body and containment and modulation of painful affect states is hypothesized, characterized as a sense of sensorimotor integrity--a presymbolic sense of one's physical being as inviolable. The case demonstrates the lifelong impact of the early shattering of sensorimotor integrity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The family and world affairs.

The question concerning the extent to which the family syndrome has structural parallels with an international syndrome requires attention at the level of the research seminar, not merely at the level of the "teach-in." While the projection of the psychology of the individual personality onto world affairs has not led to many working suggestions, the psychology of small groups may have more to offer. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The changing world of organization change.

Characterizes the changing world of organization change (OC) in the following ways: from growth to decline to consolidation, from moderate to high speed, from complexity to even greater complexity, and from naive clients to sophisticated ones who can use the term culture change before the consultant does. Aspects of change regarding human behavior in organizations are stable (i.e., grounded in theory and research). Two conclusions about organization consulting today are identified: There is a set of standard tools that effectively addresses small to medium-size problems in organizations. Consultants are on the threshold of a paradigm for the effective management of large-scale OC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Event content in a daily survey is differentially associated with concurrent mood.

Daily life events of 79 married men (average age 43.2 yrs) were grouped according to their life content area and according to the desirability of the event as rated by the S. Associations among event groupings and concurrently measured daily mood were examined. As in studies of major life events, some event classifications were more strongly associated with mood than were others. Specifically, desirable family-leisure events and undesirable work events were strongly related to mood. It is suggested that particular life areas deserve special attention in understanding environmental stress. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The place of feelings and emotion in a world of facts.

In a carefully orchestrated and nuanced consideration of four 19th-century German Romantic writers and three 20th century novelists, Mahlendorf offers the reader a rich psychobiographical feast replete with new insights into the intimate relationships of writers and their novella characters. The book is a textual and psychoanalytic study of the writers and their novellas, and is of particular interest to the present writer because of its chapters on the creative process. Mahlendorf takes a stance that can best be characterized as that of a participant-observer in that she is able to enter fully into both the novella author's life as well as that of its characters. For her, the novella becomes a kind of projection screen, akin to that of a Rorschach Test, on which, through careful analysis and intertextual rendering, the novella's creator lays himself or herself bare. In her expert hands, the author of the novella offers fictional characters central to the story's plot that emerge on her projection screen as essential aspects of the writer's personality. Focused for us, Mahlendorf's images take on almost a life of their own with a full range of psychoanalytic and literary allusions. The author examines the work from a historical, epistemic, and methodological point of view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construing the world.

Comments on K. J. Gergen's (see record 1986-00014-001) article regarding the social constructionist movement in modern psychology by arguing that, while individual perceptions of the world may be endlessly contestable, fallible experience remains the foundation of claims to knowledge and, thus, an empirical criterion for truth is essential. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The real world of special education.

Comments on D. K. Detterman and L. A. Thompson's article (see record 1997-30052-007) concerning special education. The authors feel that the argument that "the goals of special education should be stated in terms of achievement and IQ" is an untenable generalization, and suggest that the assumption that current special education instructional practices are ineffective is inaccurate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The separate world of animal research.

Comments on the articles of S. Plous (see records 84-20622 and 84-09797) on attitudes toward the use of animals in psychological research and education by noting that what makes this issue so controversial and perplexing concerns whether psychologists support animal research that involves pain or death. It is also questioned whether psychologists view the use of animals in psychological research as beneficial, noting that Plous found that 92.2% of psychologists who were mental health workers indicated they they rarely, never, or only occasionally used findings from psychological research on animals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)