Aversion techniques in behavior therapy: Some theoretical and metatheoretical considerations.

Notes that certain cues may be singularly appropriate as functional conditional stimuli for certain response systems, raising into question the trend in the aversion conditioning literature away from chemically produced aversion and toward fear produced by painful electric shock. Although this shift from the chemical to the electrical is being made on sound functional grounds, the physiological research on appropriateness of cues suggests that, contrary to prevalent assumptions in behavior therapy, one must consider most carefully the topographical nature of stimuli and responses. At the metatheoretical level, the argument that behavior modification as a field be concerned with areas of psychology outside of learning and conditioning is presented. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some characteristics of the achievement motive in women.

The hypothesis that female Ss would respond to arousal cues with heightened achievement motivation scores and high moitvation performance relationships when the cues were related to a goal that was achievement-relevant to the Ss but not otherwise was advanced to explain hitherto inconsistent experimental results obtained in this area with female Ss. Additional hypotheses stated that both these effects would be greater when female figures were used in the projective measure of motivation except in the case of girls who valued both the goals—intellectual and woman's role—when they were presented with intellectual arousal cues. In this case the effects should be greater when male figures are used. The hypotheses were confirmed except that motivation scores were always higher under intellectual arousal when male figures were used and under woman's role arousal when female figures were used. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The moderating effects of attachment style on students' experience of a transition to university group facilitation program.

This study investigated how attachment style predicted first-year students' responses to a transition to university group facilitation program. Participants (N = 148) at three universities were randomly assigned to a control or facilitation group. Each group consisted of on average six first-year students and two facilitators who met weekly for nine weeks at the beginning of the first semester to discuss issues relevant to the transition to university. Attachment styles (preoccupied, secure, dismissing, and fearful), feelings toward group experiences, and adjustment were assessed by questionnaire at the end of the program in November and again in March. Results indicated that, as hypothesised, dismissing style scores were generally negatively correlated with student attendance and feelings toward the group. Secure style ratings tended to be positively correlated with reports of group feelings. Adjustment measures collected in March indicated a potential buffering effect of the facilitation program for the preoccupied students in that the preoccupied students in the control group indicated more depression and loneliness, plus poorer adjustment to university, than the preoccupied students in the intervention groups. However, all other styles, including the dismissing style, did not show differences between intervention and control groups on subsequent adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) as living fossils of hominoid personality and subjective well-being.

Personality dimensions capturing individual differences in behavior, cognition, and affect have been described in several species, including humans, chimpanzees, and orangutans. However, comparisons between species are limited by the use of different questionnaires. We asked raters to assess free-ranging rhesus macaques at two time points on personality and subjective well-being questionnaires used earlier to rate chimpanzees and orangutans. Principal-components analysis yielded domains we labeled Confidence, Friendliness, Dominance, Anxiety, Openness, and Activity. The presence of Openness in rhesus macaques suggests it is an ancestral characteristic. The absence of Conscientiousness suggests it is a derived characteristic in African apes. Higher Confidence and Friendliness, and lower Anxiety were prospectively related to subjective well-being, indicating that the connection between personality and subjective well-being in humans, chimpanzees, and orangutans is ancestral in catarrhine primates. As demonstrated here, each additional species studied adds another fold to the rich, historical story of primate personality evolution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego-identity status, personality, and social-influence style.

80 female undergraduates were identified as having diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, of identity achievement statuses on the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status. Ss then completed the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style and engaged in a social influence experiment with a same- or opposite-sex peer confederate. Results show that foreclosure Ss were least able to integrate ideas and to think analytically, whereas moratorium and achievement Ss were better able to process large amounts of information and to be alone with their thoughts and feelings. Diffusion and foreclosure Ss were also more likely than moratorium and achievement Ss to make errors in judgment due to reduced attentional focus. In the social influence task, identity-achievement Ss were more likely to use verbally aggressive behavior, whereas foreclosure Ss manifested a greater degree of image-control behavior. Lower ego-identity statuses were associated with more frequent use of resources and deception. The sex of the confederate also differentially affected the behaviors of Ss with different ego-identity statuses. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego identity status, conformity behavior, and personality in late adolescence.

Tested the predictive relation among identity, status, personality, and conformity behavior in an attempt to replicate findings by N. Toder and J. Marcia (see record 1973-31281-001). In Study 1, with 40 male and 40 female undergraduates, no relation was observed between identity status (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and identity achievement) and conformity on the measure developed by S. E. Asch (1956). Study 2, with 138 Ss, confirmed the validity of the measure of identity employed, the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status. In Study 3, 87 Ss completed 4 measures of conformity behavior—peer assessments, an experimental task, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and sections from the California Personality Inventory. Diffusion Ss were most influenced by peer pressures toward conformity, whereas identity-achievement Ss were most likely to report engaging in conformity behavior for achievement gains. Although Toder and Marcia's results on the Asch conformity task were not replicated, Study 3 supported the predicted relation between identity and conformity. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A case of syntactical learning and judgment: How conscious and how abstract?

Examined 2 possible bases for grammatical judgments following syntactical learning: unconscious representations of a formal grammar, as in A. S. Reber's (see record 1976-21811-001) hypothesis of implicit learning, and conscious rules within information grammars. 50 undergraduates inspected strings generated by a finite-state grammar, viewed either one at a time or all at a time, with implicit or explicit learning instructions. 15 undergraduates served as controls. In a transfer test, Ss and controls judged the grammaticality of grammatical and nongrammatical strings and reported the bases for their judgments. Concurrent with previous results, Ss correctly classified a significant number of novel strings, indicating the operation of grammatical abstraction. However, reported rules predicted those grammatical judgments without significant residual. Ss acquired correlated grammars—personal sets of conscious rules, each of limited scope and many of imperfect validity. The rules embodied abstractions, consciously represented novelty that could account for abstraction embodied in judgments. It is argued that a better explanation of these results credits grammatical judgments to conscious rules within informal grammars rather than to unconscious representations of a formal grammar. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional responses to affective displays in others: The distinction between empathy and sympathy.

Attempted to establish independent operational definitions of the 2 affective responses (empathy and sympathy) and examined the determinants of each. The Adjective Checklist was used to assess personality attributes in 94 undergraduates. Ss responded to 1 of 2 videotapes of a young woman in emotional distress. One centered on the theme of personal rejection and the other on the theme of parental conflict. Measures of empathy and sympathy were significantly related in the former but independent in the latter. Sympathy, but not empathy, depended on an interaction between the personality of the observer and the nature of the other's conflict and was related across conditions to 2 cognitive variables: how disposed Ss were to imagine themselves in the place of the other and how justified they thought the other's response to be. Empathy, in contrast, seemed more a function of stable personal attributes. Results support the argument that empathy and sympathy are indeed distinct processes. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social skill as moderator of the conscientiousness-performance relationship: Convergent results across four studies.

The authors conducted 4 studies to test the hypothesis that the relationship between Conscientiousness and job performance reflecting interpersonal effectiveness is more strongly positive among workers who are higher rather than lower in social skill. Results of hierarchical moderated regression analyses supported the hypothesis in all 4 studies. Among workers high in social skill. Conscientiousness was positively related to performance. Among workers low in social skill, the relationship between Conscientiousness and performance was essentially irrelevant in Study 2 but was negative in the other 3 studies. Potential implications of these results are discussed as are directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural Stability of Austenitic CrMn(Mo)N Steels for High‐Strength,Corrosion‐Resistant Retaining Rings

The improved temperature resistance of insulating materials enables the service temperature of retaining rings on electric generator shafts to be raised from 90 to 130°C. Therefore the structural stability of two high nitrogen austenitic steels in respect to cold expansion and ageing was investigated by XRD, STEM and internal friction. Cold working caused the formation of about 5 to 10 % ε‐martensite, which was promoted by the low stacking fault energy of about 30 mJ/m². Ageing between 90 and 170°C was accompanied by the precipitation of Fe₃N which dissolved during subsequent aging at 400°C because of the stronger bond of nitrogen to dislocations. Their pinning prevented long‐term structural changes of a ring which was shrink fitted at 400°C and more than 60.000 h in service.