Asymmmetry of forehead temperature and cardiac activity.

Measures of heart rate and forehead temperature on 238, 21-month-old children exposed to mild laboratory stressors revealed 2 provocative results. More children were cooler on the left side of the forehead than on the right side of the forehead, and those with a cooler left side of the forehead had lower heart rates. These data suggest that some aspects of cerebral asymmetry and cardiovascular reactivity may be mediated by a common set of processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem-solving thinking of psychiatric patients.

Tested the hypotheses that psychiatric patients are less able than normal controls to address themselves to hypothetical real-life problematic situations and less able to provide solutions to such problems. Using a means-ends story-completion technique, differences were found between the performances of 53 short-term psychiatric inpatients and 61 hospital employee controls that supported both hypotheses. Results of this study are discussed in terms of other problem-solving approaches to the understanding of psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nature and functions of belief systems: Humanism and transcendental religion.

Briefly describes some origins, characteristics, and functions of scientific–humanistic and transcendental belief systems, including their effects on the attitudes, values and behavior of their adherents. It is suggested that the paradox that transcendental experiences of the unity of the universe become translated into conflicting dogmas may be due to the possible difficulty of translating a nonverbal, predominantly right-hemisphere experience into words and concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental prevention of underachievement among intelligent impulsive college students.

64 impulsive freshmen with Scholastic Aptitude Test scores of 1000 or more were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: (a) paid counseling Ss were paid each time they attended a weekly counseling session; (b) paid math Ss were paid for passing a weekly math quiz; (c) paid control Ss were paid weekly with no contingent effort required; and (d) unpaid control there were no experimental interventions. 64 nonimpulsive freshmen served as controls in each of the 4 conditions. Results were that paying Ss to attend counseling sessions significantly improved their final grades. Paying Ss to study mathematics was only effective among the brighter impulsive students. It is concluded that both treatment conditions forced impulsive Ss to pay attention to their school progress on a continuing basis. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some practical aspects of covariance estimation

Vectorcardiogram (VCG) data often are analyzed using the Karhunen-Loéve expansion of the sample covariance matrix, S, as a method for discriminating between the VCG's of healthy pat unhealthy patients. The estimator, S, however, can be seriously effected by both atypical observations and the number of VCG's in the database relative to their dimension. In this paper it is shown that alternative robust estimators of the covariance matrix are appealing in analyzing VCG data when outliers are present in the sample. Also, it is demonstrated that sample sizes in such experiments should be greatly expanded in order to validate the asymptotic properties of S.     

Comparative deterrency of two terpenoids to two genera of attine ants

Caryophyllene and caryophyllene epoxide are two terpenoids found in neotropical plants and known to be deterrent to leafcutter ants. To estimate the variation in deterrent activity of these compounds toward the generaAtta andAcromyrmex, behavioral bioassays were conducted over a range of concentrations. The responses of four captive colonies ofAtta cephalotes and two captive colonies ofAcromyrmex octospinosus, all from a single locality in Costa Rica, were studied. Although specific patterns of deterrency differed in the two genera, in both cases caryophyllene epoxide concentrations of 0.70 mg/g or greater, and caryophyllene concentrations of 7.0 mg/g or greater, significantly deterred the harvest of potential substrates. Individual colonies within each genus did not differ significantly in their responses to caryophyllene epoxide. The mean response of the two genera to caryophyllene epoxide differed significantly, but responses to caryophyllene did not.Acromyrmex octospinosus was more sensitive to low concentrations and less sensitive to high concentrations of caryophyllene epoxide than wasAtta cephalotes.     

The use of psychological and neuroendocrinological measurements in the study of stress.

Argues that stress is best measured by many measurements taken concurrently. The use of self-report, biochemical, behavioral, psychophysiological, and neuroendocrine measures is considered in detail. A multilevel research strategy, involving simultaneous assessment of psychological, behavioral, and physiological measurements is recommended in light of the "whole body" nature of the stress response. (99 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of dominance and sex on leader selection in dyadic work groups.

E. I. Megargee (1969) found that high-dominant females, as assessed by the California Personality Inventory Dominance scale, did not assert leadership over low-dominant males. In the present study, 378 undergraduates were paired into dyads with 1 high- and 1 low-dominant S. In the no-feedback condition, Ss received no feedback concerning task competence. In the feedback condition, the Ss who did not usually emerge as leader in Megargee's study were given feedback that they had performed better than did their partner on a pretest. Megargee's results were replicated in the no-feedback condition except in the high-dominant female/low-dominant male group, where significantly more females became leader than in Megargee's study. Feedback of better performance increased the S's likelihood of being leader. Feedback of poorer performance reduced the S's initial desire to be leader, but feedback of better performance did not affect the initial preferences. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of change in treated psychoneurotic patients: A five-year follow-up investigation of the systematic preparation of patients for psychotherapy.

Evaluated the improvement and current mental status of 19 neurotic outpatients 5 yr. after participating in a psychotherapy study on the effects of role induction. It was found that differences between the experimental groups obtained immediately following treatment disappeared, and that all Ss exhibited significantly greater improvement after 5 yr. Results parallel those obtained in another 5-yr follow-up based on a similar patient sample. The nature and effect of differential treatment over long periods of time is discussed in terms of differential patient attrition, criteria of successful psychotherapy, and the influence of nonspecific factors in psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex bias in the diagnosis of primary orgasmic dysfunction.

M. Kaplan proposed that some diagnostic categories are constructed with a built-in sex bias, making diagnosis of females more likely by the very way the disorder is defined. However, critics such as Williams and Spitzer have remained unpersuaded that such categories exist. After briefly analyzing the concept of sex bias, I argue that Masters and Johnson's widely used diagnostic criteria for primary orgasmic disorders are sex biased in several ways. Problematic consequences of such biases include inflated incidence estimates for women, the appearance of enormous gender differences in pathology, ill-founded ideas about female psychosexual vulnerability, and overconfidence in the efficacy of sex therapy. Finally, contrary to Kaplan's critical comments about DSM-III, I argue that DSM-III's diagnostic criteria for orgasmic dysfunction correct the sex biases in Masters and Johnson's approach and represent substantial progress in diagnostic logic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)