Delay of gratification: Some longitudinal personality correlates.

Two brief laboratory tasks measuring delay of gratification in different ways were administered to 116 4-yr-old children. Personality data were available on these children separately at ages 3, 4, 7, and 11 yrs in the form of California Child Q-Set ratings by independent sets of teachers and examiners. The 2 delay-of-gratification measures were used to generate a more broadly based index of delay of gratification, and this index was correlated with the personality ratings available at the 4 ages. Boys who delayed gratification tended to be described as deliberative, attentive, reasonable, reserved, cooperative, and able to modulate motivational and emotional impulse. Boys who did not delay gratification, by contrast, were irritable, restless, aggressive, and generally not self-controlled. Girls who delayed gratification were consistently described as intelligent, resourceful, and competent. Girls who did not delay tended to go to pieces under stress; to be victimized by other children; and to be easily offended, sulky, and whiny. Findings are interpreted in terms of the constructs of ego control and ego resiliency and the differential socialization of the sexes. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Three issues in predicting more of the people: A reply to Mischel and Peake.

Reviews 3 issues central to a critique by W. Mischel and P. K. Peake (see record 1983-05642-001) of several previous attempts to deal with the implications of the situational variability of behavior for the study of personality. The 3 issues are the assessment of situations, the basis of lay impressions of personality, and the role of aggregation in the prediction of behavior. It is concluded that Mischel and Peake have failed to address key elements of the earlier research and of each of these issues and that the best resolution of the controversy might be simply to acknowledge the distinct uses and limitations of both dispositional and situational variables. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On assessing social psychological theories through the study of individual differences: Template matching and forced compliance.

55 undergraduates were induced to advocate counterattitudinal political positions either relatively close to their own (acceptance) or further from their own (rejection). Significant attitude change toward the advocated position was observed in both conditions. Individual-difference prediction templates were derived from dissonance, self-perception, and self-presentation theories. A template was derived from an informal theory of psychological momentum that assumes Ss sometimes give altered attitude reports because of a tendency to unconsciously continue the advocacy in which they have just been engaged. The self-presentation template was the best predictor of attitude change within the latitude of acceptance; the momentum template was the best predictor within the latitude of rejection, and also overall. Various technical and substantive aspects of the template-matching technique are discussed. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of water temperature on immobility in the forced swimming test in rats

In the Porsolt swimming test intact rats acquire and retain the immobile response indistinguishably at 25 and 30 degrees C; at both temperatures retention is abolished by administration of the glucocorticoid antagonist RU38486 and the kappa-selective opiate receptor antagonist MR2266 when given together, but not when either is given alone. At 20 degrees C, however, the animals do not acquire the response, and have levels of retention significantly lower than at the higher temperature. This deficit is not restored by administration of glucocorticoids, kappa-opioid receptor-selective agonists, thyroid hormone or glucose.     

Profiting from controversy: Lessons from the person-situation debate.

For the past 2 decades the person–situation debate has dominated personality psychology and had repercussions in clinical, social, and organizational psychology. This controversy puts on trial the central assumption that internal dispositions have an important influence on behavior. According to emerging views of scientific progress, controversy serves the function of narrowing the field of competing hypotheses. We examine 7 hypotheses that arose during the course of the person–situation debate, ranging from most to least pessimistic about the existence of consensual, discriminative personality traits. The evidence fails to support the hypotheses that personality traits are (a) in the eye of the beholder, (b) semantic illusions, (c) artifacts of base-rate accuracy, (d) artifacts of shared stereotypes, (e) due to discussion between observers (who ignore behavior in favor of verbal self-presentation or reputation), or (f) by-products of situational consistencies. Evidence also fails to support the hypothesis (g) that although traits are related to behavior, the relationship is too small to be important. Research generated by these hypotheses has allowed us to better specify the circumstances under which personality assessments will be valid. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal trends of pollution Pb and other metals in east-central Baffin Island inferred from lake sediment geochemistry

Concentrations and stable isotope ratios of lead (Pb) from lake sediments were used to quantify temporal patterns of anthropogenic Pb pollution in the Clyde River region of Baffin Island, Arctic Canada. Surface sediments from eight lakes on eastern Baffin Island and one from northern-most Greenland, spanning a gradient of 20° latitude, showed great variability with respect to Pb concentration and stable isotopic Pb ratios, with little apparent latitudinal trend. To constrain the temporal evolution of regional Pb pollution, a well-dated core from one of the sites, Lake CF8 on east-central Baffin Island, was analyzed geochemically at high stratigraphic resolution. A pronounced decrease in the ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio occurs in sediments deposited between 1923 and the mid-1970s, likely reflecting alkyl-Pb additives derived from the combustion of fossil fuels at a global scale. A two-component mixing model indicates that 17-26% of the Pb in the labile fraction of sediments deposited in Lake CF8 between 2001 and 2005 is from anthropogenic input. A Pb-Pb co-isotopic plot (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb vs.²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios) of the Lake CF8 time series data indicates multiple possible sources of industrial Pb pollution. Despite widespread reductions in industrial Pb emissions since the 1970s, there is no evidence for attendant reductions of pollution Pb at Lake CF8. Enhanced scavenging from increased primary production as well as changing precipitation rates as climate warms may represent important factors that modulate Pb deposition to Lake CF8, and Arctic lakes elsewhere.     

Information quantity and quality affect the realistic accuracy of personality judgment.

Triads of unacquainted college students interacted in 1 of 5 experimental conditions that manipulated information quantity (amount of information) and information quality (relevance of information to personality), and they then made judgments of each others' personalities. To determine accuracy, the authors compared the ratings of each judge to a broad-based accuracy criterion composed of personality ratings from 3 types of knowledgeable informants (the self, real-life acquaintances, and clinician-interviewers). Results supported the hypothesis that information quantity and quality would be positively related to objective knowledge about the targets and realistic accuracy. Interjudge consensus and self-other agreement followed a similar pattern. These findings are consistent with expectations based on models of the process of accurate judgment (D. C. Funder, 1995, 1999) and consensus (D. A. Kenny, 1994). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Localization of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 in rat tissues: in situ studies

In the rat, the enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (11betaHSD2) converts the glucocorticoid corticosterone into receptor-inactive 11-dehydrocorticosterone, thereby allowing preferential access of aldosterone to mineralocorticoid receptors (MR). The present study examines the distribution of this enzyme by in situ hybridization, using a homologous complementary RNA probe for 11betaHSD2. 11betaHSD2 messenger RNA was detected in classic epithelial aldosterone target tissues (kidney, salivary glands, and colon), the female reproductive system (ovary, oviduct, uterus, and placenta), and the adrenals; levels in heart, testis, and liver were below the limits of detection. We interpret the finding of 11betaHSD2 expression in both classical MR-containing aldosterone target tissues and a variety of other tissue as evidence that in the rat, the enzyme may play physiological roles in addition to that of excluding glucocorticoids from epithelial MR.     

Agreement among judges of personality: Interpersonal relations, similarity, and acquaintanceship.

Personality judgments of 184 targets were provided by the self, college acquaintances, hometown acquaintances, parents, and strangers. Study 1 found that knowing the target in the same context enhanced but was not necessary for interjudge agreement and that acquaintances who had never met agreed with each other as well as those who had met. Study 2 found that personality judgments by acquaintances manifested much better interjudge and self–other agreement than did judgments by strangers. Acquaintances were not more similar to their targets than were strangers, and their accuracy derived more from their distinctive judgment of the target than from assumed similarity. These results rule out overlap, communication, and assumed similarity as necessary bases of interjudge agreement and thereby support the simpler hypothesis that interjudge agreement stems from mutual accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)