Social skills of and social environments produced by different Holland types: A social perspective on person€nvironment fit models.

Acritical aspect of the environment in person–environment models is the nature and density of the social interactions of the members who populate the environment. Because social types solve problems through social mechanisms, it was hypothesized that they would have greatest skills in social coping and that the further the Euclidean distance (in Holland's hexagon) from social, the lower the skill level would be in these social skills. It was also hypothesized that there would be no differences among Holland types in skill level for problem-focused social skills. On the basis of an assessment of vocational interests and self-reported social skills of 134 undergraduates, these hypotheses were corroborated. Chemistry laboratory groups were qualitatively studied to describe the social interaction environment of persons with relative deficits in the social-coping skills. These chemists interacted often, enjoyed and benefited from the interactions, but constrained their social interactions to minimize the dependence on social-coping social skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lashley and the problem of serial order.

In a classic statement delivered in 1948, K. S. Lashley proposed that serial order is mediated by central integrative processes and not by linkages between successive elements of perceived or enacted sequences. Lashley's observations and ideas concerning serial order, their antecedents in his own work, and the context in which they were delivered are reviewed. Their scientific significance for a number of topics in psychology are also considered. Lashley's views appear to have directly influenced progress in the area of motor control. Concerning cognitive science, however, the serial order paper did not energize or revive such an approach but supported it after it was under way. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Probability-based LRFD for engineered wood construction

The newly developed load and resistance factor design (LRFD) specification for engineered wood construction in the United States uses probabilistic methods as the technical basis for selecting design strength requirements, load combinations and load factors. Special characteristics of wood and wood products as structural materials are considered. The strength of wood structural products depends on the rate of application and duration of the loads. LRFD criteria for the ultimate limit states account for this dependence by means of a time effect factor. The apparent increase in strength of wood structural systems comprised of several nominally identical and repetitively used members is taken into account with a system factor. Serviceability limit states of deflection and vibration are addressed with some general code guidelines and a nonmandatory commentary.     

Gender differences in depressive symptoms in adolescence: Comparison of national samples of clinically referred and nonreferred youths.

Gender differences in depressed mood, a syndrome of mixed anxiety-depression. and an analogue of major depressive disorder were compared in parents' and adolescents' reports in 2 large, demographically matched national samples of clinically referred and nonreferred adolescents. Referral status accounted for the greatest share of the variance in these problems. Gender differences were moderate in size and consistent in referred youths, with referred girls scoring higher than referred boys on all measures, whereas gender differences in nonreferred adolescents were either nonsignificant or small in magnitude. Gender differences were also larger in magnitude in adolescents' self-reports than in parents' reports. The interaction of age and gender was nonsignificant in all analyses. Implications for understanding the extent of gender differences in adolescents' depressive symptoms are highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trends in aerospace forgings in the 1990s

In the 1990s, forgings require computer-aided design and manufacturing, process modeling, cleaner forging materials, better control of forging and related processes, and closer cooperation between supplier and customer. Forgers will have to employ more sophisticated forging and sensing and control equipment to better meet the demands of close tolerances and increasingly difficult-to-forge materials. Customers will continue to place higher emphasis on quality that remains consistently high. This article examines trends in aerospace forgings that will affect forgers, equipment and materials suppliers in the 1990s. Most of these trends are virtually certain to occur; indeed, some have already begun. What is less certain is the degree to which these trends will occur, and the rapidity of their occurrence.     

Children's understanding of social anxiety.

202 2nd, 4th, and 7th graders evaluated story characters who were either highly or less motivated to impress an audience and had either high or low expectations of being able to accomplish their self-presentational goals. As predicted according to a self-presentation model of social anxiety, both factors were related to judgments of the character's social anxiety, especially for the older Ss. For all age groups, actors who expected to do poorly rather than well were regarded as more anxious, as more likely to exhibit nervous responses and to have communication difficulties, and as less likely to be successful in accomplishing their goal; they were also evaluated less favorably. The actor's motivation had different effects on younger and older Ss; 2nd graders attributed less anxiety to highly motivated actors, whereas older Ss attributed greater anxiety to them. For all age groups, high motivation was expected to have a channeling effect on behaviors that would increase interpersonal effectiveness. A finding that was consistent with the literature on social-cognitive development was that older Ss displayed greater differentiation in their cause–effect inferences and that they better appreciated the complex implications of social anxiety. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Object-oriented knowledge frameworks

This paper introduces a strategy for the construction of object-oriented knowledge frameworks. Global control programs, which are traditionally used for manipulating structured representations, have been replaced by domain-specific resources. This new approach offers increased efficiency and simplified development of knowledge-based expert systems for problem domains that deal with a variety of complex structured information.A theoretical foundation is laid for the representation of knowledge, starting with the adoption of a simple schema for structuring stereotypical information. Data and method abstraction is achieved by installing knowledge frames into part of an object-oriented class system that supports procedural attachment and object communication. This allows frame specialization using domain-specific resources and subsequent construction of modular systems with these specialist frames. Editors are introduced for the alteration of data primitives used in declarative representation. Algorithms, which operate on these data primitives, are given for frame instantiation, data access, and user-directed inference.Examples from structural engineering are used throughout the paper to illustrate the practical application of object-oriented knowledge frameworks.     

Informing clients about the limits to confidentiality, risks, and their rights: Is self-disclosure inhibited?

Investigated the effects of providing varying amounts of detail regarding the limits to confidentiality in a psychotherapy analog. 24 mildly depressed undergraduates (as determined on the Beck Depression Inventory) were offered an interview to explore their depression and were told it would be much like single-session therapy. Before the interview, Ss were randomly assigned to read and sign 1 of 3 consent forms. Little evidence emerged of significant inhibition of disclosure when detailed information was provided; straightforward encouragement for disclosure eliminated the small inhibitory effect. A 2nd study, with 40 Ss, demonstrated the concurrent validity and sensitivity to change of the major dependent variable. The results of the 2 studies are encouraging not only to psychologists concerned about the moral rights of their clients but also to psychologists who have avoided informing clients about the limits to confidentiality, risks of therapy, and clients' rights because they feared it would necessarily discourage disclosure. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

State of the art in sequential analysis: Comment on Lichtenberg and Heck.

Comments on the discussion of J. W. Lichtenberg and E. J. Heck (see record 1986-30903-001) on methods to analyze sequential data in the context of counseling process research. The present author outlines the state-of-the-art developments in sequential analysis, including unidirectional and bidirectional tests, tests of dominance, between-group and overtime tests, and tests for systems with more than 2 participants. In addition, a number of caveats for conducting a sequential analysis are presented. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)