Laboratory experience versus subject pool.

Describes a program which integrates the "subject pool" needs of university investigators with the educational objectives of the introductory psychology course. As part of the course requirements students participate as Ss in a number of hours of "laboratory experience," which consists of an experiment plus an educational session related to the experiment. To increase the students' involvement and demonstrate their understanding of the research the students write laboratory reports. The present system has been operating for 3 yrs and handles about 5,000 experimental hours and reports each year. An evaluation is presented to demonstrate the success of the program from the students' points of view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The introductory psychology subject pool in Canadian universities.

Notes that university psychology department requirements for participating in S pools have been debated by psychologists over the past decade. Despite claims that the procedure is coercive, many departments continue to require participation, although others have abandoned the practice. A discussion of the ethical and practical issues associated with various approaches to recruitment of Ss is presented. A survey of 50 Canadian educational institutions offering programs in psychology was also conducted. Data indicate that participation for grades is the modal technique for obtaining undergraduate Ss and that some departments that abandoned research requirements in the past are considering reinstating required research participation. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychology student subject pool: Student responses and attitudes.

This article discusses students' attitudes towards subject pools. While students do not feel oppressed by a subject pool system, they can be influenced by how the pool is organized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A census of subject pool characteristics and policies.

A census of the 366 psychology departments that have subject pools and graduate programs yielded an 89% response rate. Of the 74% that reported having a subject pool, 93% recruit from introductory courses. An experiment within the survey indicated that respondents were generally candid. Many departments were found to be not entirely in conformance with American Psychological Association (APA) ethical guidelines or federal law: For example, subject pools that offer no clear educational benefit and have only unattractive alternatives to participation are actually nonvoluntary. Some departments evinced (a) exemplary procedures for making participation an educational experience; (b) readable subject pool announcements that had clear rules, were not coercive, and were respectful in tone and content; or (c) subject pool administration that provided accurate record keeping, appropriate channels of ethical review, and responsiveness to student concerns, questions, and complaints. These procedures, which deserve emulation by other departments, are summarized, and copies of the actual departmental documents are available from the National Auxiliary Publication Service. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The volunteer and the coerced subject.

Comments on the topic of human S problems in psychological experiments such as those by D. E. Cox and C. N. Sipprelle (see record 1972-10167-001). It is more scientifically useful to regard the coercion-volunteer issue as a legitimate research domain for experimentation rather than as an error in research methodology, conduct, and generality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The human experimental subject in context.

Safety, comfort, privacy and personal dignity are the ethical dimensions which have dominated discussions about the role of humans in experimentation. These dimensions are reviewed from a psychological perspective. However, research conducted within educational settings alters ethical problems greatly. Decisions can be made which permit experimentation to be a device promoting methodological education. Suggestions concerning the role human experimentation should play within the University context, discussion of the relevance of issues such as deception to proper educational experimentation, and scrutiny of the traditional laboratory concept of experimentation, are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The human subject in psychological research.

Examines the human S in terms of his changing role in the historical development of psychology, his image and task performance in contemporary psychology, and limitations and weaknesses of his present function. The discussion covers the bias in S selection, preconceptions and suspicions of Ss entering the laboratory, distorted performance in the experimental task, and ethical implications of psychological research. It is suggested that psychology's image of the S as a stimulus-response machine is inadequate and that many studies are based on data supplied by Ss who are neither randomly selected nor assigned, nor representative of the general population, nor naive, and who are suspicious and distrustful of psychological research and researchers. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The characteristics of subject matter in different academic areas.

Performed multidimensional scaling on scholars' judgments about the similarities of the subject-matter of different academic areas. 168 university scholars made judgments about 36 areas, and 54 small-college scholars judged similarities among 30 areas. G. A. Miller's method of sorting was used in collecting data. 3 dimensions were common to the solutions of both samples: existence of a paradigm, concern with application, and concern with life systems. It appears that these dimensions are general to the subject-matter of most academic institutions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive functioning in alcoholics: The role of subject attrition.

Studied the role of 4 S factors in research on cognitive ability in alcoholics. These factors were S attrition by failure to meet test performance criteria, duration of alcoholism, education, and age. To assess cognitive ability, 2 versions of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were used. A total of 60 alcoholic and 37 control male Ss participated. Findings are as follows: (a) Alcoholics had a higher attrition rate than controls (30 vs 3%). (b) The attrition rate was particularly high among alcoholics who were over the age of 45 and had less than 13 yrs of education. (c) Older or less educated alcoholics performed more poorly on the 1st part of the test than did younger or more educated alcoholics. (d) Among controls and alcoholics who completed the entire test, less educated Ss performed more poorly than did more educated Ss. (e) Alcoholics who completed the entire test performed more poorly than did controls. Duration of alcoholism was not related to performance. The importance of S factors, (i.e., S attrition and S selection) in the study of cognitive deficits in alcoholics is emphasized. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of passive preexposure on escape from a Morris pool.

In 3 experiments rats were preexposed to the landmarks that surround a Morris pool by being placed on a submerged platform within the pool. They were then required to escape from the pool by swimming to the platform, which was in a location that had not been used during preexposure. Preexposure facilitated subsequent escape from the pool, provided that the platform was not moved during preexposure and the relative position of the landmarks to each other remained constant throughout preexposure. In contrast, if during preexposure the platform was moved from session to session (Experiment 1), or the array of landmarks was altered unsystematically from trial to trial (Experiments 2 and 3), then subsequent learning to escape from the pool was disrupted. These findings suggest that the effects of preexposure to the landmarks in a Morris pool is determined by whether or not they are of relevance for identifying the location of the platform. When they are relevant, then subsequent learning is facilitated, but when they are irrelevant, then subsequent learning is disrupted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blocking in the Morris swimming pool.

Four experiments demonstrate that spatial blocking is governed by the same principles that govern blocking in Pavlovian conditioning. In the 2nd stage of each experiment, rats escaped from a Morris swimming pool by swimming to a submerged platform with a beacon attached to it. Test trials were then conducted in the absence of the platform and the beacon to assess the extent to which subjects had learned about the position of the platform with reference to the room cues. For the 1st stage of their training, rats either swam to the platform and beacon in the presence of curtains that prevented the room cues from being seen (Experiments 1 & 2), or they swam to the platform and beacon that were moved from trial to trial (Experiments 3 & 4). In each experiment, learning about the room cues in the 2nd stage of the experiment was blocked by the presence of the beacon. This blocking effect was disrupted by changing the appearance of the beacon for the 2nd stage of training or by restricting the amount of exposure to the beacon during the 1st phase of training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A closer examination of subject roles.

Investigated S. J. Weber and T. D. Cook's (see record 1969-04069-001) notion of "subject roles" by assigning 45 undergraduates to 1 of 6 role-playing groups. Ss performed a word selection/memory task designed to discriminate among the roles. Ss with different role-play motivations differed significantly in their attention to various facets of the instructions and in their behavioral responses on the experimental task. Discriminant analysis indicated that the 6 groups could be distinguished within a 2-dimensional space. However, uninstructed control Ss were located near the center of this discriminant space, revealing few of the characteristics determined to be typical for good, faithful, apprehensive, or negativistic Ss. It is concluded that while the subject-role constructs discussed by Weber and Cook are largely valid, such roles may not be a severe threat in laboratory research. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The potential pool of non-heart-beating kidney donors

Entry of Shigella flexneri into epithelial cells and lysis of the phagosome involve the secreted IpaA-D proteins. A complex containing IpaC and IpaB is able to promote uptake of inert particles by epithelial cells. This suggested that Ipa proteins, either individually or as a complex, might interact with the cell membrane. We have purified IpaC and demonstrated its interaction with lipid vesicles. This interaction is modulated by the pH, which might be relevant to the dual role of Ipa proteins, in induction of membrane ruffles upon entry and lysis of the endosome membrane thereafter.     

The test-anxious subject in the role of a teacher: The use of punishment.

In an attempt to understand the relationship between test anxiety and perception of performance feedback, 27 high (HA) and 27 low (LA) test-anxious female undergraduates were told they were to teach a pupil a difficult learning task by choosing 1 of 10 shock levels for incorrect responses. Ss were informed during the learning sequence that their pupil was performing either average (A), above average (AA), or below average (BA). Results showed that the LA Ss increased the shock level most toward the BA pupil, a moderate amount toward the A pupil, and least toward the AA pupil. The HA Ss gave the smallest increase in shock of any group to the BA pupil and the next greatest to the AA pupil. They exceeded all groups in shock increase and absolute shock level to the A pupil. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facial gestures and subject expression of feelings.

Examined the effects of 4 levels of nonverbal facial gestures on client verbal behavior in a quasi-interview setting. Nonverbal behaviors included no expression, head nod, smile, and head nod/smile combination. Each level of treatment was presented by a male and female E. Treatments were videorecorded for standardized presentation to 72 female undergraduates. Ss produced progressively and significantly greater amounts of feeling and self-reference feeling statements for head nod, smile, and head nod/smile combination when stimuli were presented by the female E. The opposite effect was realized when stimuli were presented by the male E. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coercion in participation as a research subject.

Reports an unsuccessful replication of a previous study by J. C. Ascough and C. N. Sipprelle (see pa, vol. 43:2682) of operant verbal cardiac conditioning. It was hypothesized that the ss of the original study were volunteers while the replication ss were coerced into participation as part of the requirements of a course. Replication was significant (p =     

The effect of densensitization on the sleep and dreams of a phobic subject.

Studied the sleep and dreams of a 22-yr-old male undergraduate who had complained of fear of noise and closed spaces and had consequently undergone 9 1-hr desensitization sessions within a 2-wk period. On 11 nights, prior to, during, and after sensitization training, the S slept in an air-conditioned, sound-proof experimental room while his physiological responses were monitored. The 1st 2 nights were adaptation nights, the 3rd night was a dream collection night, and the remaining 8 nights consisted of 2 blocks of nonconsecutive nights which were used to record uninterrupted sleep or to collect dreams. Upon being awakened on dream nights, the S reported dream content and rated each dream on a modified version of the Nowlis Mood Adjective Checklist (NMAC). Data show that time to get to sleep (associated with anxiety), REM density (associated with bizarreness and emotionality), and 2 inner-focused negative affect dimensions of the NMAC exhibited a 'U'-shaped function over the course of the study. Findings indicate that removal of affective discharge from what were usually disturbing stimuli reduced the effects of such stimuli on sleep and dreams. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of subject roles, demand characteristics, and suspicion on conformity.

Investigated whether 54 female undergraduates would adopt "apprehensive," "good," "negativistic," or "faithful" S roles when participating in a conformity experiment. A modified Crutchfield social communication apparatus was used, and the experiment was arranged so that only 1 of these 4 roles could be supported by results. Questionnaire data analysis shows a significant Awareness of Demand Characteristics * Suspicion interaction effect (p