Attitudes toward the lower- and middle-class psychiatric patient as a function of authoritarianism among mental health students.

There is evidence that many clinicians' activities with lower-class patients may be influenced more by attitudes reflecting a middle-class orientation than by objective criteria. Authoritarianism seems especially germane to the problems of social class bias. For the evaluative dimension of the semantic differential, it was predicted that lower-class case histories would be judged more negatively by those Ss who were more authoritarian as measured by the California F Scale. This prediction was confirmed for a group of 24 psychiatric residents and bordered on significance for a group of 16 social work students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Warranty periods for production lots based on fatigue-test data

A two-parameter Weibull model for failure time is assumed. An easily implemented method is developed for calculating, from information obtained from a possibly censored life test, an approximate warranty period before which the $\text{k}$th failure occurs in a production lot of given size with some small specified probability. The precision of the approximation is investigated and a numerical example applied to failure data is given.The procedure developed can also be used for obtaining lower prediction limits for ultimate strengths of composite structures in production lots of specified size and for certain models other than the Weibull.     

A time-space tradeoff for sorting on non-oblivious machines

A model of computation is introduced which permits the analysis of both the time and space requirements of non-oblivious programs. Using this model, it is demonstrated that any algorithm for sorting n inputs which is based on comparisons of individual inputs requires time-space product proportional to n².     

Modeling effects on the questioning strategies of the elderly.

Conducted an experiment with 42 70-90 yr old Ss which showed that modeling procedures rapidly increased the use of constraint-seeking questions in a guessing task and reduced the number of questions required to reach a correct answer. The changes took place easily, indicating that an intact and efficient questioning strategy is readily available as part of the problem-solving equipment of the elderly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in empathy and related capacities.

Reviews the literature on sex differences in empathy (defined as vicarious affective responding to the emotional state of another) and related capacities (affective role taking and decoding of nonverbal cues). The literature is discussed according to method used to assess empathy and affective role taking. Where appropriate, meta-analyses were also computed. In general, sex differences in empathy were found to be a function of the methods used to assess empathy. There was a large sex difference favoring women when the measure of empathy was self-report scales; moderate differences (favoring females) were found for reflexive crying and self-report measures in laboratory situations; and no sex differences were evident when the measure of empathy was either physiological or unobtrusive observations of nonverbal reactions to another's emotional state. Moreover, few sex differences were found for children's affective role taking and decoding abilities. (156 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Aquatic Chemical Ecology

Call for Papers

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Aquatic Chemical Ecology