Human subjects review, personal values, and the regulation of social science research.

157 university human-Ss committees (i.e., institutional review boards [IRBs]) provided reviews of 9 hypothetical proposals that were identical in their treatment of human Ss but differed in sociopolitical sensitivity and in level of ethical concerns (e.g., presence or absence of deception, debriefing). The socially sensitive proposals were designed to document discrimination or reverse discrimination according to race or sex in corporate hiring practices, whereas nonsensitive proposals were designed to document discrimination based on height or weight. All aspects of the proposals were otherwise identical. Results show that socially sensitive proposals were twice as likely to be rejected by IRBs. Reasons for nonapproval varied: For sensitive proposals containing ethical concerns (e.g., deception), the foremost reason given for nonapproval was the violation itself. For sensitive proposals that did not involve ethical concerns, the reason most often given for nonapproval was "methodological" (e.g., poor control group). Nonsensitive proposals that did not involve ethical problems were approved 95% of the time vs only 40–50% of the time for comparable sensitive ones. Content analysis of the narratives that accompanied decisions revealed that the primary reason for rejection of sensitive proposals was the potential political impact of the proposed findings (e.g., discrediting of affirmative action policies). (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An apology for research integration in the study of psychotherapy.

Criticisms of the integration of psychotherapy-outcome research performed by M. L. Smith et al (1980) are reviewed and answered. An attempt is made to account for the conflicting points of view in this disagreement in terms of certain issues that have engaged philosophers of science in the 20th century: the quality of the study, uniformity, and the incommensurability problem. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prison crowding research: The relevance for prison housing standards and a general approach regarding crowding phenomena.

Summarizes the results of a research program on the effects of crowding in prisons and jails. The relationship of crowding to rates of suicides, violent and nonviolent deaths, psychiatric commitments, inmate-on-inmate assaults, disciplinary infractions, and attempted suicides and self-mutilations as evidenced in archival records of 175,000+ inmates from 4 state prison systems were examined. Field research in prisons and jails yielded data on 2,500+ individual inmates, including illness complaints, blood pressure, perceived crowding, and housing evaluations. The impact of space and social density are discussed, focusing on the various housing arrangements available in prisons. Findings show that, in general, crowding in prisons was related to increased pathology. Theoretical considerations of the effects of crowding are discussed in terms of a social interaction demand model that incorporates uncertainty, goal interference, and cognitive load. Implications of the model and outcomes of a crowded situation are addressed. It is concluded that the primary causes of negative effects related to crowding are due to cognitive strain, anxiety or fear, and frustration intrinsic to most social interactions in crowded settings. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between social and personal identities: Segregation or integration.

Recognition that self-representation includes both social and personal identities raises questions about the cognitive organization of these elements. Two models of identity structure are compared: (a) a segregation model (D. Trafimow, H. C. Triandis, & S. G. Goto; see record 1991-24271-001), which assumes that (social) identities and (personal) attributes are two distinct categories, and (b) an integration model (K. Deaux, 1992), which proposes that identities and attributes often coexist in a limited set of cognitive structures. Clustering of self-relevant information in free recall was used to assess cognitive organization in a sample of 57 students. Identities and attributes clustered separately at greater-than-chance rates, consistent with the segregation model. More detailed analysis of recall data, in which individual patterns of association between identities and attributes were considered, provides stronger support for an integration model of self-representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Science and sentiment: Overview of research on crowding and human behavior.

Posits that, despite the increased salience of overcrowding as a social issue, it has generated little behavioral research among human Ss. Experimental evidence from the laboratory is slight and partly inconsistent; problems of definition and measurement obscure analysis in the field. A prevailing view, however, associates high population density with indexes of social and psychological malaise. This article reviews this position in light of seminal comparative and social experimentation. While it is considered difficult to draw firm conclusions from the existing meager body of data, the balance of evidence appears not to support any simple causal relationship between density and socio- or psychopathology. Prognoses of the horrors of overcrowding are judged to be imprecise and premature. Recent research has tended to distinguish between density and crowding, referring to the former in terms of sociospatial factors and to the latter in terms of individual perception. It is suggested that any theory of crowding should encompass the intrapsychic case and that research should attempt to uncover evidence, if any, of neurophysiological responses to sociospatial variations in density. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of gender characteristics of instructional materials: An integration of the research literature.

Discusses the influence of gender characteristics of instructional materials on children. Recent reviews indicate that most instructional materials are still sexist. Definitions of sexist and sex equitable that incorporate both language form and gender content are included in the present article. Generalizations synthesized from research regarding the effects of gender characteristics of instructional materials on students are presented. It is suggested that the following generalizations apply to students from preschool through college age: (1) The use of gender-specified language forms explicitly including both sexes yields gender-balanced associations, while use of male generic language frequently results in male associations. (2) Exposure to sex-equitable materials results in more flexible sex role attitudes for both males and females, with degree of attitude change being directly related to the amount of exposure. (3) Students often prefer materials with same-sex main characters but do not reject sex-equitable materials. (4) The patterns for comprehension are not as clear, but sex-equitable materials do not decrease comprehension. (63 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arms control: Human control.

"If our control of the arms race is to be improved governmental policies must be modified; public and governmental attitudes must be altered drastically. The attitude of the populace of one country toward that of another can change dramatically in a few years: for example, our attitude toward the Chinese and Japanese since the Second World War… . It is time… to stop acting on the basis of unsupported assumptions about human nature, and to begin developing rules of conduct on a sound and scientifically valid basis. It is time we stopped reacting negatively to Soviet challenges, and began to assume a positive course toward world objectives that we can accept and support." We must concentrate on "practical goals and objectives that lend themselves to nonlethal contest and peaceful resolution." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relevance and irrelevance of psychological research: The example of prison crowding.

Psychologists have argued that their studies of prison crowding are useful to policymakers, whereas policymakers have dismissed many of those same studies. In part, this perceived irrelevance is a product of the emphasis in psychology on the individual rather than on larger units of analysis. However, it also stems from biases, methodological and political, that psychologists are likely to bring to research in corrections. In this article, we explore how the different perspectives of researchers and practitioners affect the conduct of research and its impact on policy. In addition, we present data that raise questions about the impact of prison crowding on illness, suicide, and death rates. We conclude with suggestions for making psychological research on prison crowding more policy relevant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leadership research and theory: A functional integration.

This historical overview of leadership theory and research with an eye for commonalities provides an opportunity for integration. Early unproductive research focused on personality traits and behaviors. A recognition of the more complex nature of the phenomenon resulted in the development of contingency theories that examined leader characteristics and behavior in the context of situational parameters. The 1970s brought an awareness that perceptions of leaders by followers and others, and perceptions of followers by leaders, were influenced by cognitive biases arising from prior expectations and information-processing schema. Ironically, attention was belatedly drawn to the study of female leaders, who were often the victim of cognitive biases and negative assumptions. Recent research has reflected on the role of cultural differences in leadership processes and has been drawn again into the search for outstanding leaders with universally effective characteristics. The article concludes with an integration of current knowledge in leadership effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing the personal lives of psychotherapists and research psychologists.

Being a psychotherapist is a complex challenge. Research has suggested that therapists are changed by their work, but it has not been clear whether these changes are the same for research psychologists and practitioners. 276 representatives of these 2 groups were surveyed. Although therapists reported more anxiety, depression, and emotional exhaustion than did researchers, they were also more satisfied with their lives and more likely than researchers to feel that their work had influenced them in positive ways. Therapists' work as practitioners may be emotionally stressful but it may also enrich their lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group therapy and the somatoform patient: An integration.

Recent reports and literature reviews suggest that psychotherapeutic interventions with somatoform patients have efficacy. From their clinical experience with somatoform patients, the authors identify helplessness as the central psychotherapeutic issue for these patients. They propose that effective group therapy interventions have their impact through the addressing and working through of this affect. They discuss paradigmatic stages in the group therapeutic process of addressing helplessness in somatoform patients. Technical issues regarding membership selection and leadership style with this intervention are proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Presence of others and arousal: An integration.

A meta-analytic integration of research evidence revealed that there was, in general, a marginally significant, small tendency for the presence of others to decrease self-reports of arousal and a significant, small tendency for the presence of others to increase electrodermal responses. However, these effects were moderated by the type of situation and the type of others present. Arousal is increased on both measures in neutral situations for both coactor others and audience others; arousal is increased on both measures in aversive situations for audience others. In aversive situations, coactors rendered an increase in arousal on electrodermal responses but a decrease in arousal on self-report responses. Discussion considers theoretical accounts for these effects of the presence of others on arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived locus of control and personal adjustment.

Administered rotter's internal-external control of reinforcement (i-e) scale and the personal orientation inventory (poi), a measure of self-actualization, to 55 male and 55 female undergraduates. For females, the major poi subscale, internal support, was significantly (p     

Crowding and personal control: Social density and the development of learned helplessness.

Assessed the utility of a control-based analysis of crowding by examining the relationship between prolonged exposure to architecturally mediated social density and motivational deficits characteristic of learned helplessness. It was predicted that initial recognition of uncontrollable social outcomes would arouse negative interpersonal affect and generate attempts to restore control. Residents of long- and short-corridor-design dormitories, required to live in large and moderate size groups, were surveyed and considered in an experimental session following 1, 3, or 7 wks of residence. Frequent contact with unfamiliar neighbors and visitors in the relatively uncontrolled hallway of the long corridor was seen as generating crowding and difficulty in regulating interpersonal contact. As expectations for control diminished, helpless responding was expected to increase. To test these hypotheses, 60 dormitory residents completed surveys, and 60 participated in an experiment in which they played a Prisoner's Dilemma game that was modified so as to assess helplessness. Data confirm the predictions, indicating that the effects of loss of regulatory control in high-density residential settings were sequential and were mediated by expectations for control. Residents of the long-corridor dormitory, compared with short-corridor residents, were more competitive, reactive, and involved with reestablishing control after 1 and 3 wks of residence. By the end of 7 wks, however, they had become more withdrawn, were less involved, and exhibited symptoms of helplessness. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Costs of cancer research: financial and personal

INTRODUCTION: The HLA-A2 allele has recently been considered as a risk factor in AD by advancing the age at onset of the disease, especially in subjects who were homozygous for the apoE epsilon4 allele. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We examined the distribution of apoE genotypes and A2 allele as a function of age at onset in 109 patients with sporadic and familial AD. RESULTS: In the early onset (< or =60 years) and late onset (>75 years) AD groups, there was, respectively, a 2.2 year and a 2.7 year earlier onset in the A2 positive cases. Age effect was not apparent in the middle onset (61-75 years) AD group. The effect of A2 allele on the age at onset was not different between familial and sporadic AD cases. The presence or absence of the A2 allele did not modify mean age at onset in the groups homozygous and heterozygous for epsilon4, and in cases with no epsilon4 alleles. CONCLUSION: Though the sample size was small, there is a trend in favor of an A2 effect on age at onset. Additionally, there is no evidence of interaction between A2 and apoE epsilon4 alleles on age at onset of AD.     

Adaptive control of event integration.

Identifying 2 target stimuli in a rapid stream of visual symbols is much easier if the 2nd target appears immediately after the 1st target (i.e., at Lag 1) than if distractor stimuli intervene. As this phenomenon comes with a strong tendency to confuse the order of the targets, it seems to be due to the integration of both targets into the same attentional episode or object file. The authors investigated the degree to which people can control the temporal extension of their (episodic) integration windows by manipulating the expectations participants had with regard to the time available for target processing. As predicted, expecting more time to process increased the number of order confusions at Lag 1. This was true for between-subjects and within-subjects (trial-to-trial) manipulations, suggesting that integration windows can be adapted actively and rather quickly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The future of psychotherapy integration: Closing the gap between research and practice.

Over the past several decades, the field of psychotherapy has become more receptive to the idea of integration. For the most part, efforts have been made to find commonalities and complementarities across different theoretical orientations. When the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) was formed in 1983, its stated goals were for the integration of different approaches to therapy, but also for the integration of research and practice. This article comments on the long-standing gap between practice and research, and offers ways in which this gap may be closed. Moreover, in light of increasing demands for accountability, it is maintained that empirical pragmatism needs to be the integrative theme of the 21st century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical and psychological factors associated with perceptions of crowding: An analysis of subcultural differences.

Determined whether psychological and physical factors that had been previously associated with perceptions of environmental crowding differed with the cultural characteristics of urban residents. 697 working and nonworking White, Black, and Chicano residents of Riverside-San Bernardino, California, were surveyed to ascertain perceived crowding in the residence, neighborhood, and city. Multiple regression analysis showed that psychological factors indicative of the impact of physical conditions on the individual provided the best explanation for the perception of crowding for White Ss. Black and Chicano groups, however, tended to view crowding at each of the analysis levels in terms of the total urban "gestalt," associating physical measures beyond their implicated impact. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The shape of personal space: An experimental investigation.

Personal space is routinely defined as an area surrounding individuals, but it is usually investigated by procedures providing only one-dimensional distance measurements. This has led recent discussions of the shape, size, and flexibility of personal space to be highly theoretical and conspicuously lacking in supporting data. The present study with 24 university students demonstrated that the 2-dimensional shape of personal space was noncircular for Ss—being slightly larger in the front than in the rear for both males and females. The smaller rear zones cannot be explained by the necessary use of peripheral vision for rear approaches. The demonstration that a reversible reduction in frontal distance occurs when Ss turn their heads to one side provides the first experimental evidence of fluctuations in the shape of personal space. The observed fluctuations in shape are modest in magnitude and occur relatively rapidly. (French abstract) (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal integration: An N of 1 study.

The term 'integration' deliberately embraces a dual meaning: the integration of the major systems of psychotherapy and the integration of the clinician. In this article, I address the origins of my integrative orientation and explicate several ways in which I embody that orientation in my personal life and professional career. My ordinal position and family of origin predisposed me to integration from the "get go." My integrative leanings were crystallized by formal training, which modeled the transtheoretical spirit and were subsequently strengthened by early research and friendships in the integration movement. I sketch how my ongoing research and practice continue in the integrative tradition, though not always invoking that term, and advance several directions for rejuvenating the movement. Pluralism, pragmatism, and customizing to the individual circumstance characterize not only my theoretical orientation but also my personal life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)