bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Proposed Basis for Delusion Formation within an Information‐Processing Model of Paranoid Development
Authors: HEILBRUN ALFRED B.
Published: July 2011

A developmental model for paranoid behaviour is proposed within a broader theory of schizophrenic development. The model stipulates that given exposure to sustained aversive maternal control and a maternal communication style which is subtle and devious, the child comes to adapt with approach, stratagem‐based behaviours and heightened vigilance for evaluative information (i.e. open adaptive style). The model, already supported empirically at several points, postulates that the delusion serves to organize an overextended and disorganized information‐processing system for the person and generates its reinforcement from reduction of the anxiety associated with thought disorganization. The present study tested an aspect of this postulate. It was predicted that late‐adolescent males who had an open style of adapting to experienced aversive maternal control would find the organization of disorganized evaluative cues uniquely reinforcing. Subjects were presented with an anagrams task made up of scrambled words which they were told came from a poll of mothers asked to evaluate their college‐age sons. This task was followed by the individual tachistoscopic and slightly unfocused presentation of a longer series of words, again described as maternal evaluative terms. The longer series comprised the words used in the anagrams task and an equal number which were not. Reinforcement value of proper ordering of disorganized cues was inferred from the subject's heightened ability to detect previously solved anagram terms, indicating stronger learning of these terms upon prior solution. Males identified as open‐style adapters were far more cognizant of words which they had previously ordered than other child‐rearing groups, as predicted.
Decision‐making for Others under Reciprocal and Non‐reciprocal Conditions
Authors: TEGER ALLAN I. , KOGAN NATHAN
Published: July 2011

Subjects made decisions on a gambling task where the outcome would affect their own payoff or the pay‐off of another person. For the latter, decisions were made reciprocally or non‐reciprocally, and for a friend or a stranger. Decisions for others were significantly more cautious when the subject believed that the other person was making reciprocal choices which would affect the subject's pay‐off than where no reciprocity was involved. Degree of friendship with the other person had no effect on the level of caution chosen for him. Subjects deciding for self more closely resembled subjects in the non‐reciprocal than in the reciprocal condition in terms of chosen risk levels, but overall differences were relatively small. The enhanced caution in the reciprocal relative to non‐reciprocal condition was attributed to a desire to ensure at least a modest pay‐off for another who might benefit the self. It is conjectured that caution in such circumstances serves the function of guilt avoidance.
Prestige Effects and Aesthetic Experiences: Adolescents' Reactions to Music
Authors: CHAPMAN ANTONY J. , WILLIAMS ALAN R.
Published: July 2011

The first part of this study demonstrates that music is an important means of social identification. Adolescents, aged 14 and 15 (n = 201), rated 10 classes of music, and their preferences were shown to relate to sex and educational groupings within their school. The second part of the study is an experimental investigation of Asch's (1948) previously untested argument that prestige effects in aesthetic evaluations are not simply changes of public response to complex stimuli but are mediated by perceptual re‐organizations and altered understandings of stimuli. Subjects disliked ‘serious music’ and were ‘progressive pop’ enthusiasts. They were selected on the basis of data collected in the first part of the study. They were divided into 3 independent groups (n = 36), balanced for sex. Each group was played the same short piece of music which, although bearing a strong resemblance to some forms of ‘progressive pop’, is the work of a contemporary ‘serious' composer. The status of the music was varied for the 3 groups by ascribing it to a ‘progressive pop’ composer (High Status Music), its true composer (Low Status Music), and by giving no information about its source (Control). Subjects provided evaluations and descriptions of the music in a questionnaire which included a set of 12 rating scales. Factor analysis of ratings revealed one evaluative and three descriptive factors. Significant differences on descriptive as well as evaluative scales were corroborated by qualitative responses. Changes in subjective experiences accompanying changes in judgements support Asch's view.
Experimentation: A Social Psychological Perspective
Authors: FARR ROBERT M.
Published: July 2011

An appraisal is attempted of contemporary experimental social psychology by considering (a) the relationship within social psychology of experimental and non‐experimental approaches and (b) distinctly social psychological contributions to methodology and experimentation within general experimental psychology. The broad scope and predominantly non‐experimental nature of early social psychology is noted. Characteristic differences in perspective between ‘behavioural’ and ‘cognitive’ social psychologists in styles of experimenting are identified. The Lewinian era was characterized by innovation in studying experimentally social phenomena not previously thought suited to laboratory investigation and by adapting experimental methods for use in social settings. Imbalance in achieving both these objectives in the post‐Lewinian era is noted, together with the tendency for experimental social psychologists to become unnecessarily imprisoned within the confines of their laboratories. Campbell's antidote to this latter tendency is stressed. The innovative and methodologically controversial nature of research on cognitive dissonance theory is evaluated. The change in perspective suggested by contemporary research on the social psychology of the psychology experiment is elaborated and discussed.
Vigilance and Arousal in Depressive States
Authors: BYRNE D. G.
Published: July 2011

An experiment was performed to investigate predictions of vigilance performance among depressive patients, based on the assumptions that vigilance would vary in a predictable manner with level of arousal, and that levels of arousal among diagnostic categories of depressive patients are well known. It was found that psychotic depressives, presumed to be hypo‐aroused relative to normals, exhibited poor signal detection performances and committed few false positive errors relative to normals. This was consistent with predictions. Neurotic depressives, presumed to be hyper‐aroused relative to normals, detected fewer signals than did normals, but also made more false positive errors than normals. Again this was consistent with predictions.

A measure of arousal in experimental subjects, namely barbiturate tolerance, was found to directly relate to the false positive error rate in all subjects. The relationship between arousal and total signal detection rate was significantly curvilinear, and an ‘inverted U’ (quadratic) function provided the best fit. This justified the conclusion that vigilance performance is a function of at least that component of arousal measured by barbiturate tolerance.
Styles of Decision‐making and Probability Appraisal in Selected Obsessional and Phobic Patients
Authors: VOLANS P. J.
Published: July 2011

A questionnaire was administered to obsessional and phobic patients and normal subjects. The results of this survey confirmed the prediction that a sizeable proportion of phobic patients report irrational expectations associated with their most feared situations. A group of phobics who reported irrational expectations, a group of obsessionals who reported an abnormal degree of checking behaviour and a group of normal subjects, took part in a probabilistic inference task. Several predictions about the differential performance of these groups were fulfilled. (i) Deviations from the optimal model for individual responses were greatest in the obsessional group. (ii) When Neuroticism was partialled out, the three groups differed with respect to amount of evidence required prior to a decision, the obsessional group having the highest score on this variable. (iii) The phobic group were more likely than the other two groups to make irrational event predictions.
Friendship Duration and Responses to Attitudinal Agreement‐Disagreement
Authors: MCCARTHY BARRY , DUCK STEVEN W.
Published: July 2011

Byrne's paradigmatic approach to the study of interpersonal attraction was extended to the study of friendships at several stages of development. It was proposed that the reinforcement value of attitudinal similarity to a laboratory stranger might be modified by other motivational processes at more advanced levels of relationship, to the extent that dissimilarity might become reinforcing and thus produce an increase in attraction. In Expt. I a positive relationship was found between similarity and attraction in the fictitious stranger (new encounter) and established friendship groups (one year's acquaintance) but friends at an earlier (‘tentative’) stage of relationship (1–6 months) were more attracted to their partner when he displayed a mild or high degree of dissimilarity in attitudes. In Expt. II the fictitious stranger group was omitted, and the tentative friendship group was divided into early (1–3 months) and late (4–6 months) subgroups. Subjects in the early group were most attracted to the mildly dissimilar friend, while those in the late group preferred the highly dissimilar friend, and established friends were most attracted, as in Expt. I, to totally similar partners. Implications of these outcomes for friendship development and for the measurement of interpersonal attraction are discussed.
Increasing Patients' Satisfaction with Communications
Authors: LEY PHILIP , BRADSHAW PETER W. , KINCEY JOHN A. , ATHERTON STEPHEN T.
Published: July 2011

This paper reports a successful experimental attempt to increase satisfaction with communications amongst general medical patients. A group of patients who received extra interviews designed to increase their understanding of what they had been told about their illnesses showed significantly greater satisfaction than patients treated in the usual manner, and patients who received extra placebo interviews about their hospital stay.

Changes in satisfaction with communications over the period following discharge from hospital are also described and possible reasons for them are discussed.
Sex differences in response to a self‐rating depression scale
Authors: Byrne D. G. , Boyle Desley , Pritchard D. W.
Published: July 2011

Fifty‐five male and 80 female psychiatric in‐patients complaining of depression completed the Zung Self‐Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Both quantitative and qualitative differences were found between male and female respondents. Females had significantly higher (more pathological) total scores than males and significantly higher scores on six individual items. Examination of factor profiles for males and females revealed further differences. These differences are consistent with the thesis that men and women subjectively perceive feelings of depression in disparate ways. The implication of this finding is that the clinical use of the SDS be modified to take such differences into account.
Affiliation before and after child delivery as a function of repression‐sensitization
Authors: Rofé Yacov , Lewin Isaac , Padeh Benjamin
Published: July 2011

A group of 177 women were asked, before and after child delivery, to state their preference for being alone or with other women. They were also asked to rank their level of anxiety. After delivery they filled out the Repression‐Sensitization Scale of Byrne, Barry & Nelson (1963).

Results show sensitizers to be more anxious than repressors before but not after delivery. Before delivery repressors preferred to be alone, while sensitizers wanted to stay with others. After delivery both groups show a significant preference for being with others. There is no significant correlation between anxiety and affiliation.
Smokers, non‐smokers and the attribution of addiction
Authors: Eiser J. Richard , Sutton Stephen R. , Wober Mallory
Published: July 2011

Questionnaires concerned with attitudes towards cigarette smoking were completed by 368 respondents who were taking part in a survey of audience reactions to one week's television programmes. Cigarette smokers were asked how difficult it would be for them to give up cigarettes, whether they would like to do so, whether they felt they were addicted to cigarettes, and how often a cigarette gave them real pleasure. Non‐smokers were asked parallel questions to determine their perceptions of the average cigarette smoker. In comparison to how smokers saw themselves, non‐smokers saw the average smoker as more addicted, and as deriving less pleasure from cigarettes. Smokers who saw themselves as more addicted felt it would be more difficult for them to give up, smoked more cigarettes per day, said they would like to give up more, and derived somewhat more pleasure from cigarettes. Among those who had never smoked cigarettes, the attribution of addiction to the average smoker was related only to perceived difficulty of giving up. Lesser self‐attributed addiction was also relevant to the prediction of which smokers claimed to be trying to reduce or give up smoking. Implications of these data for attribution theory, and for health education, are discussed.
The influence of context on language perception in schizophrenia
Authors: de Silva W. P. , Hemsley D. R.
Published: July 2011

The present experiment employed the ‘Cloze’ procedure to investigate language perception in schizophrenia. The stimulus immediacy hypothesis of Salzinger, Portnoy & Feldman (1966) predicts that with increasing context, schizophrenic performance, unlike that of normals, will fail to improve. A comparison of groups of schizophrenics and normals on such a task, with varying levels of context, not only showed that schizophrenics failed to improve with greater context but that their performance deteriorated. A comparison of acute and chronic schizophrenics indicated that the deterioration was most prominent in acute patients, the performance of chronics remaining relatively stable. An interpretation of the data in terms of narrowed attention in chronic schizophrenia appears plausible, and consistent with Broen's (1968) theory. Such an interpretation may be tested by an extension of the range of context conditions.
Dimensionality of the perceived self: The Tennessee Self Concept Scale
Authors: Lang Rudie J. , Vernon Philip E.
Published: July 2011

The 12 indices of self‐perception in the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, together with the Eysenck Personality Inventory, were factor analysed using data obtained from psychiatric day‐care patients (n = 131). Separate item‐ and scale‐level factor analyses revealed that: (1) the five external and three internal domains of self‐concept, hypothesized as distinct, may be accurately viewed as lying in one‐dimensional space; (2) the conflict, variability and distribution scores are unrelated to subtype of self‐esteem; (3) extraversion and neuroticism form a bipolar factor that is orthogonal to self‐concept; and (4) the emergence of 30 item‐factors with a 30 per cent factorial overlap implies a good deal of spuriously shared variance, low inter‐scale homogeneity and sizable redundancy in the TSCS scales. Owing to these results, the construct and factorial validity of the TSCS is seriously questioned. It is suggested that future researchers develop more sensitive, treatment‐oriented (or idiographic) measures to compare man's less conspicuous and more private ‘self‐image feelings and cognitions’ against his public self‐disclosure in the interests of facilitating more rapid behavioural change.
Psychological implications of mastectomy
Authors: Ray Colette
Published: July 2011

The adjustment of a group of mastectomy patients to their operation was assessed at an interval of between 18 months and 5 years after surgery. They were found to be significantly more depressed and anxious than a control group of cholecystectomy patients; they tended to have lower self‐esteem; and they described themselves as being more introverted in their behaviour. These differences were attributed to concern about both the loss of the breast and the possibility of recurrence of the cancer.
The HDHQ results of long‐term prisoners: Relationships with criminal and institutional behaviour*
Authors: Crawford David A.
Published: July 2011

The HDHQ (Foulds, Caine & Creasy, 1960) was administered to 100 long‐term prisoners as part of routine psychological assessment prior to their allocation to training prisons. The questionnaire results were analysed in terms of the prisoners' past and present criminal and institutional behaviour. Additionally they were used to test Megargee's (1966) hypothesis that extremely assaultive individuals are generally overcontrolled and will thus express less hostility than moderately assaultive individuals. The results showed that the sample of long‐term prisoners had a significantly higher total hostility score than normals but did not differ significantly in the direction of their hostility. Violent offenders were significantly more extrapunitive than non‐violent offenders, and prisoners who had attempted suicide were more extrapunitive than those with no history of attempted suicide. Apart from these findings no significant relations were found between the HDHQ results and criminal and institutional behaviour, whether violent or non‐violent. Megargee's (1966) over‐ and under‐controlled hypothesis failed to receive support. The results suggest that the HDHQ would be of little value in making predictions about future violent or criminal behaviour.
The role of postural change in dyadic conversations
Authors: Bull P. E. , Brown R.
Published: July 2011

Videotapes of six dyadic conversations were analysed to test some hypotheses derived from observations of Scheflen (1964) relating changes in posture to important features in the structure of conversation. Speech was scored for the extent to which it introduced new information into the conversation, and the more informative speech categories were found to be associated with more changes in posture. It is argued that this provides quantitative evidence in support of Scheflen's notion of a ‘programme’, where new stages of a social interaction are indicated by postural markers. Significant changes in trunk and leg postures were found only in the most informative speech category, providing some evidence to support Scheflen's notion of the ‘position’ where gross postural shifts involving at least half the body are reckoned to indicate a shift in the point of view that an interactant takes in a conversation.
Vulnerability and conditioning in relation to the human menstrual cycle
Authors: Vila J. , Beech H. R.
Published: July 2011

An experiment aimed at testing some implications of a model of symptom acquisition is reported. In particular, the effect of changes in state attributable to the menstrual cycle upon conditioning and extinction is examined. Sixteen female phobic patients were tested either immediately pre‐menstrually or inter‐menstrually. Using white noise as the UCS and a blue light as the CS, conditioned GSR responses were readily established in members of the pre‐menstrual group, who also showed resistance to extinction. Subjects tested inter‐menstrually were less susceptible to these effects. Those subjects taking the contraceptive pill showed increased sensitivity to the acquisition of conditioned responses.
Judgements of different types of aggressive behaviour
Authors: Edmunds George
Published: July 2011

Subjects read a description of a person performing an aggressive act. Then followed a series of statements relating to the motives of the respondent and the circumstances in which he acted. One set of instructions indicated that the aggression was directed towards achieving the respondent's own goals (personal aggression) and another instruction indicated that the aggression was exhibited to help another individual (social aggression). The personal aggression behaviours were further classified according to whether they were intended to hurt the victim (hostile) or were performed for financial reasons (instrumental), and according to whether the aggressive sequence was started by the victim (reactive) or by the respondent himself (initiatory). Subjects evaluated each of these behaviours along several dimensions. Social aggression was evaluated more favourably than all forms of personal aggression except reactive instrumental. Initiatory aggression was evaluated more unfavourably than reactive aggression and, of the types of personal aggression, initiatory instrumental and reactive instrumental received, respectively, the most unfavourable and most favourable evaluations. Subjects' ratings of the degree to which they would behave in a similar manner to the respondent showed little generality across different motives and circumstances. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the processes that mediate judgements of aggression and for theory and assessment in the area of aggression.
Interpersonal distance as a function of situationally induced anxiety
Authors: Brady Adele T. , Walker Michael B.
Published: July 2011

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of situationally induced anxiety on interpersonal distance in a two‐person conversation. In the anxiety‐arousing situation subjects were asked to discuss an interesting incident while their social competence was assessed from behind a one‐way screen. The briefing and debriefing periods were used for control purposes. Analysis of speech disturbance rates showed that the anxiety manipulation was successful. A significant increase in interpersonal distance was found in the anxiety‐inducing situation relative to the low stress situation. The implications for the controversy concerning the effect of anxiety on the need for affiliation are discussed.
Smokers' and non‐smokers' attributions about smoking: A case of actor‐observer differences?
Authors: Eiser J. Richard , Sutton Stephen R. , Wober Mallory
Published: July 2011

In a postal survey to compare smokers' and non‐smokers' attributions about cigarette smoking, those who had never smoked saw smokers on average as deriving less pleasure from cigarettes and as less frightened by the health risks than smokers saw themselves. Smokers attributed less importance than never‐smokers to advertisements and to seeing actors smoking on television as factors influencing people to start smoking. Younger subjects attributed more importance than did older subjects to the influence of having friends or relatives who smoked in this regard. The relevance of these data to attribution processes was discussed.
The selection interview: Candidates' reactions and interviewers' judgements
Authors: Keenan A.
Published: July 2011

Candidates in 551 initial graduate recruitment interviews provided estimates of the level of their motivation to succeed immediately before and after each interview. Their level of state anxiety was also measured before interviews. At the end of the interview they indicated how much they liked the interviewer personally and estimated both the likelihood of their being successful in the interview and the likelihood that they would accept a job with that company, if eventually offered one. Interviewers were asked to evaluate each candidate and to estimate his chances of being offered a job by their company.

When candidates liked interviewers personally, they were more optimistic about their chances of success and were more willing to accept potential job offers. Candidates were also more confident of success at the end of the interview when their pre‐interview motivation had been high. However, interviewer evaluations of candidates were most favourable when the level of their pre‐interview motivation had been intermediate. Candidate state anxiety was unrelated to the favourability of interviewers' evaluations of them.
Can gender stereotypes and sex‐role conceptions be distinguished?
Authors: Stoppard Janet M. , Kalin Rudolf
Published: July 2011

A study was conducted to investigate whether personality characteristics, previously found to define gender stereotypes (i.e. consensual beliefs about the differing characteristics of the sexes) are also part of sex‐role conceptions (i.e. prescriptive beliefs regarding appropriate behaviour and personality characteristics for men and women). Male and female university students completed either a measure of gender stereotypes or one of three measures of sex‐role conceptions. Results showed that personality characteristics were differentially attributed to men and women on stereotype and role measures. The characterization of men and women was very similar on the two types of measures, suggesting that sex‐role conceptions and gender stereotypes overlap. The social desirability of personality characteristics was carefully controlled in order to determine whether the prescription of personality extends to undesirable traits. Results showed that although undesirable characteristics were differentially attributed to men and women, the level of prescription was relatively low, implying that such characteristics are not strongly required for adequate sex‐role performance.
The relationship between children's explanations of communication failure and their ability deliberately to give bad messages
Authors: Robinson E. J. , Robinson W. P.
Published: July 2011

The assumption was tested that children who blame only the listener for communication failure do not understand that the listener's needs must be taken into account for communication to be effective. Child speakers were asked to give a ‘hard’ message about one of a set of drawings, thereby making it difficult for the listener to choose the matching one from his identical set. With these instructions, 42 out of 86 children aged between 5:4 and 9:10 sent messages that referred to more cards than did their corresponding messages given under neutral or ‘easy’ instructions. Of the 18 listener blamers in the sample, only two managed this. The proportion of children who could give harder messages increased from listener blamers, through intermediates, to speaker blamers both for the whole sample (P < 0·0001) and for the subsample spanning the age range in which listener blamers occurred (P = 0·016). Further validation for the ‘whose fault’ technique was provided by the finding of a trend towards the giving of better ‘standard’ and ‘easy’ messages through the categories of listener blaming, intermediate, and speaker blaming (P = 0·001).
An experimental study of the effectiveness of different techniques of questioning child witnesses
Authors: Dent Helen R. , Stephenson Geoffrey M.
Published: July 2011

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects upon accuracy of recall of different techniques of obtaining evidence from 10‐ and 11‐year‐old children about a previously witnessed incident.

The first experiment studied three techniques: (a) free report, (b) use of general questions, and (c) use of specific questions. It was expected that the free report method would produce the most accurate but least complete initial recall, but that this lack of completeness might have a detrimental effect upon the accuracy of later recall. The free report technique did produce highly accurate, although rather incomplete recall, but initial use of this technique did not have any detrimental effect upon later, more structured recall.

The second experiment investigated the sole use of the free report technique over a 2‐month period. It was expected that a high level of accuracy would be achieved at all recall sessions. The effect upon accuracy of recall of a delay of 2 weeks or 2 months prior to the first experimental recall session was also investigated in this experiment. A high level of accuracy was obtained at all recall sessions. However, a delay before the first recall session had an adverse effect upon the completeness of recall.
Physiological effects of meditation: A longitudinal study
Authors: West Michael A.
Published: July 2011

Previous research has shown physiological differences between meditators and non‐meditators but it is not known whether these differences are attributable to the practice of meditation. It is hypothesized that the regular relaxation, associated with the practice of meditation, produces physiological de‐arousal outside of meditation itself. Eleven subjects were taught meditation in the belief that it was an untried relaxation exercise.

They regularly practised the technique for a period of 6 months. Pre‐, mid‐ and post‐‘treatment’ measures of skin conductance and spontaneous skin conductance responses were taken and were compared with similar measures taken from a comparison group, who merely attended for retesting. The experimental group showed a significant decrease in spontaneous skin conductance responses over the 6 month period. The comparison group and a small group of subjects who gave up meditation early in the experiment exhibited no significant change on this parameter. The experimental group also demonstrated a progressively greater decrease in skin conductance during meditation over the 6 months. This progression was not evident in the small group of ‘drop‐outs’. The results suggested that regular meditation practice might be effective in producing some physiological relaxation outside of the meditation state itself.
Social comparison and social inequality: An experimental investigation of intergroup behaviour
Authors: Commins Barry , Lockwood John
Published: July 2011

If members of an in‐group discriminate against an out‐group in order to distinguish themselves on some social dimension valued by both groups then it may be hypothesized that their in‐group bias will be affected by the initial position on that dimension of the in‐group and out‐group. This hypothesis was investigated by giving an initial arbitrary favour to either the in‐group or to the out‐group. Intergroup comparisons were measured in terms of money or points allocations by in‐group members to other in‐group members and to out‐group members. Results indicate that those groups initially most lacking in positive distinctiveness show the greatest amounts of in‐group bias but, contrary to predictions from equity theory, in‐group bias is shown in all conditions.
Intergroup relations and social change within a nursing context
Authors: Skevington Suzanne M.
Published: July 2011

Tajfel's theory of intergoup relations (1974) was used to predict the responses of 40 high and low status nurses (SRNs and SENs) to the possible effects of social change in the form of a merger of both groups. Evidence is presented to support the prediction that the high status group are threatened by loss of status, and will emphasize their superiority if change occurs. The high status group is highly evaluated by both groups and, even when social change is rejected, the low status group still continues to favourably evaluate the high status group. Contrary to prediction, low status nurses do not perceive current status relations to be more illegitimate than the high status group; but as a group they show more hostility than the high status group, especially in situations which demand cooperation rather than competition. The results are interpreted in terms of the theory and the social context of nursing. Some suggestions are made for amendments to the theory.
Processing information within implicit personality theory
Authors: Harris P. L. , Hampson S. E.
Published: July 2011

Consistent with the claim that traits form an organized network in semantic memory, Expt 1 showed that subjects make faster inferences from a given trait to strongly correlated probe traits. Thus, subjects decide more quickly whether a friendly person is generous than whether he is careful. In Expt 2, subjects made inferences to probe traits on the basis of either one or two given traits. Speed and confidence were both assessed. Surprisingly, subjects were as confident and as fast in making inferences from two traits as they were in making inferences from one trait. The results indicate that inferences from two traits need not be made by deriving successive estimates from each given trait and subsequently integrating those estimates. It is argued instead that decisions in implicit personality theory can be based on the most rapidly completed path between a given trait and a probe trait within a network of spreading activation (Collins & Loftus, 1975). The implication of these findings for weighted averaging models of trait integration is discussed.
The social ecology of intelligence in France
Authors: Lynn Richard
Published: July 2011

Data are presented for the 90 Departements of France for mean population IQs, earnings, unemployment, intellectual achievement and infant mortality. Most of the variables are significantly associated. Mean population IQs are also significantly correlated with migration since 1801 and it is suggested that internal migration has been an important factor leading to contemporary differences in intelligence.
Young children's awareness of violence in Northern Ireland: The influence of Northern Irish television in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Authors: Cairns Ed , Hunter Dale , Herring Linda
Published: July 2011

Children aged 5 to 6 years living in either a suburb of London or in a small town in Northern Ireland which has been virtually free from violence, were asked to make up stories in response to a series of pictures depicting such things as derelict houses or a train crash. More Northern Irish children mentioned bombs and explosions than did the London children. To investigate the possibility that this knowledge of explosions might be the result of at least incidental exposure to coverage of such events on Northern Irish television news a further study was initiated. Children from another relatively quiet part of Northern Ireland were compared with children from two separate areas of Scotland where television reception is only possible from Northern Ireland and from a third area in Scotland where Northern Ireland television news cannot be received. Children from those areas where Northern Irish television news can be received again outnumbered those from the control area in terms of mentions of the words bomb or explosion.
The Subjective Memory Questionnaire (SMQ). An investigation into the self‐reporting of ‘real‐life’ memory skills
Authors: Bennett‐Levy Jamie , Powell Graham E.
Published: July 2011

It was noted that there may sometimes be quite marked discrepancies between patients' performances on standard laboratory or clinical tests of memory and how these patients actually perform in day‐to‐day real life. In order to help assess real‐life memory abilities a 43‐item questionnaire was constructed and standardized on a total of 141 subjects. The Subjective Memory Questionnaire (SMQ) was reasonably reliable, but its completion was influenced by at least two biases that were described — one producing a sex difference and the other shifting item means. The SMQ had a fragmented, multidimensional structure which, except for the first factor, was not possible to interpret psychologically. Performance on the SMQ was correlated with performance on typical clinical memory tests to find a weak positive relationship. The strength of this relationship was distinctly greater if subjective and objective measures were trying to assess the same ability, e.g. remembering people's names. Further papers in this series will explore the clinical and academic implications of assessing real‐life memory skills, which may differ from those skills utilized in laboratory settings.
Olfaction in Korsakoffs, alcoholics and normals
Authors: Gregson Robert A. M. , Free Michael L. , Abbott Max W.
Published: July 2011

Samples of 12 hospitalized Korsakoffs, 12 hospitalized non‐Korsakoff alcoholics, and 12 controls, all groups being of comparable age range, were tested using a set of seven visual and olfactory measures which involved memory. By stepwise multiple discriminant analysis it was shown that strong separation could be effected between the three groups, solely on the basis of the olfactory recognition and recall tests, which included the Campbell–Gregson (1972) procedure. The use of anosmia as a diagnostic indicator for Korsakoff's syndrome is discussed.
Psychological sequelae of brain tumours in childhood: A retrospective study
Authors: Eiser Christine
Published: July 2011

Forty‐seven patients who had been treated for brain tumours during childhood were assessed on standardized measures of intellectual ability. Five patients could not be satisfactorily assessed. For the remaining 42, the mean IQ was lower than expected (90·0), with 20 patients having scores in the ‘below average’ categories. There were no apparent effects in IQ between patients treated for different tumours, but patients treated before five years of age had significantly lower scores (mean = 76·54) than patients treated from 6–10 years (mean 91·86) and 10–16 years (99·93). There was wide variability in educational achievement and type of employment among the group.
Induced mood and accessibility of memories: An effect of mood state or of induction procedure?
Authors: Teasdale John D. , Taylor Robert
Published: July 2011

Previous studies have shown that inducing elated and depressed moods by verbal mood inductions differentially affects the accessibility of memories of past happy and unhappy experiences. This study examined whether the accessibility effects obtained resulted from differences in moods induced or from differences in the procedures used to induce moods. Mood induction procedures from which all references to the subjects' life experience had been eliminated were used to induce elated and depressed moods. Subjects were then asked to retrieve past life experiences associated to each of a series of stimulus words. The experiences retrieved were subsequently rated for their original happiness/unhappiness and pleasantness/unpleasantness. Happy and pleasant experiences were more probable in elated than in depressed mood. Unhappy and unpleasant experiences were more probable in depressed than in elated mood. The extent of differences in accessibility between mood conditions correlated with the extent to which mood actually differed between conditions. There was no relationship between the extent of differences in accessibility and the extent to which subjects reported thinking about their life circumstances during the mood inductions. The results replicate previous findings and suggest that the observed differences in accessibility result from the differences in mood induced rather than directly from the differences in mood induction procedures.
The Bristol Social Adjustment Guide: Comparison between the offspring of alcoholic and non‐alcoholic mothers
Authors: Bell Brian , Cohen Rudolf
Published: July 2011

A German translation of the BSAG was completed by class‐teachers of children whose mothers had a history of alcoholism. These children were judged as showing significantly more over‐reactive behaviour in school than a control group of children whose mothers had no previous alcohol abuse. Furthermore, the alcoholic mothers also reported more over‐active behaviour in their own childhood. The results are supportive of retrospective studies with adult alcoholics which indicate that childhood hyperactivity may be one precursor of subsequent alcohol abuse.
Binge eating: A theoretical review
Authors: Wardle Jane , Beinart Helen
Published: July 2011

An eating pattern consisting of gorging, alternating with dieting and purging is identified as a clinical problem in patients of normal weight, in the obese, and in patients with anorexia nervosa. The clinical reports have used a variety of names for this problem, and this has obscured the similarity between the various descriptions. Another perspective on the problem is offered by the experimental research on dietary restraint and counter‐regulation. Counter‐regulation, found in subjects from all weight groups who are restricting their food intake, is construed as a laboratory version of an eating binge. The clinical and experimental reports are combined to provide suggestions for the aetiology and treatment of the problem of binge eating.
Differences in social skills performance between institutionalized juvenile male offenders and a comparable group of boys without offence records
Authors: Spence Susan H.
Published: July 2011

Eighteen institutionalized young male offenders and 18 boys without criminal records, comparable in terms of age, academic performance and social background, were videotaped during a five‐minute standardized interview with a previously unknown adult. The videotapes were then subjected to a behavioural analysis of 13 responses which had previously been suggested to be important social skill components. The tapes were also shown to six independent judges who rated each tape in terms of social skills performance, social anxiety, friendliness, and employability. The offender group was found to differ significantly from the non‐offender group in terms of the level of eye‐contact, head movements, amount spoken, fiddling movements, and gross body movements. The offender group was also rated in significantly less favourable terms on the scales of social skills performance, social anxiety, and employability, compared to the non‐offender groups. No significant difference was found in terms of friendliness ratings. Correlation analyses between the specific behavioural measures and the subjective rating scales revealed statistically significant associations between six of the 13 behavioural measures and one or more of the subjective rating scales. This provides some indication of the type of responses important in determining the impression made by adolescent males in an interview situation.
An experimental investigation of pain production in headache patients
Authors: Pearce Shirley , Morley Stephen
Published: July 2011

An experiment was conducted to test two assumptions underpinning the prevailing medical model of tension headache: (1) that tension headache pain is due to sustained contraction of the skeletal muscles of the scalp; (2) that the muscle contraction produces greater pain for tension headache patients than for migraineurs. Six tension headache patients and six migraine patients were compared with six matched non‐headache control subjects. All subjects used visual EMG biofeedback to hold different levels of frontalis muscle contraction for periods of one and three minutes. Ratings of pain and subjective tension were obtained for all trials. The results provided little support for either hypothesis. Pain ratings were not clearly related to induced EMG levels, but there was clear evidence that subjective tension was a function of EMG activity. It is suggested that the role of psychological factors in the production of pain should be further explored.
Cognitive style in depressed and recovered depressed patients
Authors: Wilkinson I. M. , Blackburn I. M.
Published: July 2011

Depressed and recovered depressed patients were compared with a recovered mixed psychiatric group and normal controls on three cognitive measures relating to Beck's theory of depression. Levels of depression and neuroticism were also assessed. Cognitive response was not found to differentiate the recovered depressed patients from the two control groups, though depressed patients were consistently differentiated. The three cognitive measures, of which one was devised by the authors, intercorrelated highly among themselves and with levels of depression and neuroticism. When levels of depression and neuroticism were controlled for, the differences between the depressed group, recovered depressed and control groups disappeared, except on one of the measures. The implications of the findings for the cognitive theory of depression are discussed.
As others see us: General practitioners' perceptions of psychological problems and the relevance of clinical psychology
Authors: Eastman Clive , McPherson Ian
Published: July 2011

Structured interviews were carried out with 30 randomly selected general practitioners, to discover how they perceived and handled psychological problems in their patients. In addition, the doctors' perceptions and expectations of other professionals who might assist in the management of such problems were examined. Much of the previously published work was confirmed by the present investigation, but some new information was also uncovered. Thus, although almost all the GPs were sympathetic towards the wish of some clinical psychologists to work at the primary health care level, almost half the doctors would not want a psychologist within their practice, even if finance and accommodation were not problematic. Clinical psychologists were viewed, primarily, as therapists and, as such, were mostly expected to provide a regular part‐time service to the practice. Only a minority of GPs wished to acquire skills from clinical psychology, but a large majority were in favour of direct referrals. The results of this study are discussed in terms of their implications for clinical psychology services.
Functional analysis in applied psychology
Authors: Owens R. Glynn , Ashcroft J. Barrie
Published: July 2011

Various clinical problems in recent years have been described under the general heading of ‘functional analyses! The present paper considers the background to the notion of a functional analysis and some of the differences between functional analysis and more traditional approaches. The processes involved in producing such analyses of the origin and maintenance of clinical problems are outlined, using a clinical case as an illustration. It is suggested that, amongst the features highlighted by such analyses, feedback loops will often be apparent, and that these may provide particularly valuable targets for intervention. Moreover it appears that the use of such analyses transcends, at least to some extent, the type of problem or client (in being applicable to institutional or individual problems) and in particular that the use of functional analyses transcends theoretical biases of the clinician. In this respect it provides a potential common ground for workers of different orientations.
Outcome in elderly psychiatric patients: Implications of cognitive changes
Authors: Whitehead Antonia
Published: July 2011

Elderly psychiatric patients who were in contact with the hospital service one year after admission were reassessed using clinical and psychometric measures. Outcome was determined by survival over the following four years. On the psychometric tasks, there was a differential tendency for those who subsequently died to show declining levels of functioning over the year.
Recognition of patients' worries by nurses and by other patients
Authors: Johnston Marie
Published: July 2011

Previous studies indicate that patients' worries may not be communicated very effectively to hospital staff. The current study examines whether other patients know more about surgical patients' worries than the nursing staff on the ward. For each patient, the patient, a nurse and a colleague‐patient completed a checklist to describe the patients' worries. The results showed that the other patients were more accurate than the nurses both in terms of overall accuracy and, more tentatively, using signal detection theory estimates of sensitivity. As in a previous study, the nurses overestimated the number of worries; the overestimation did not appear to be related to the content of the items nor was it due to patients' underreporting of problems. Relationships between patients, both on the surgical ward and in self‐help groups, are discussed.