Directions In Psychological Science Research Articles

Socialization of Emotion and Children's Emotional Competence: Variations Are the Theme

Pelaez-Nogueras, M., Field, T., Cigales, M., Gonzalez, A., & Clasky, S. (1994). Infants of mothers show less depressed behavior with their nursery teachers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 15, 358-367. Plomin, R., Owen, M. J., & McGuffin, P. (1994, June 17). The genetic basis of complex human behaviors. Science, 264, 1733-1739. Reiss, D. (1997). Mechanisms linking genetic and social influences in adolescent development: Beginning a collaborative search. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 6, 100-105. Rovee-Collier, C. (1993). The capacity for long-term memory in infancy. CurrentDirections in Psychological Science, 2, 130-135. Saudino, K. J. (1997). Moving beyond the heritability question: New directions in behavioral genetic studies of personality. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 6, 86-90. Scarr, S. (1992). Developmental theories forthe 1990s: Development and individual differences. Child Development, 63, 1-19. Stocker, C., & Dunn, J. (1990). Sibling relationships in childhood: Links with friendships and peer relationships. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8, 227-244.

Neurobiology of fear responses: the role of the amygdala.

Evidence from many different laboratories using a variety of experimental techniques and animal species indicates that the amygdala plays a crucial role in conditioned fear and anxiety, as well as attention. Many amygdaloid projection areas are critically involved in specific signs used to measure fear and anxiety. Electrical stimulation of the amygdala elicits a pattern of behaviors that mimic natural or conditioned fear. Lesions of the amygdala block innate or conditioned fear, as well as various measures of attention, and local infusions of drugs into the amygdala have anxiolytic effects in several behavioral tests. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the amygdala may be important in the acquisition of conditioned fear, whereas non-NMDA receptors are important for the expression of conditioned fear. The peptide corticotropin-releasing hormone appears to be especially important in fear or anxiety and may act within the amygdala to orchestrate parts of the fear reaction.

A Reconceptualization of the Effects of Undernutrition on Children's Biological, Psychosocial, and Behavioral Development and commentaries

A Reconceptualization of the Effects of Undernutrition on Children's Biological, Psychosocial, and Behavioral Development and commentaries

Using Content to Interpret Structure: Effects on Analogical Transfer

ion as Sense Making The studies described were de signed to show that when people attempt to understand novel prob lems, they operate under the as sumption that problem structures are compatible with semantic con straints implied by the problems' cover stories. In most cases, this assumption is justified, because the people who present students with word problems (e.g., teach ers, textbook writers) usually se lect cover stories that are compati ble with the appropriate problem structures. In fact, students of for mal domains are encouraged by teachers to adjust their abstract formal knowledge to the con straints implied by the entities that instantiate the variables in the learned equations (e.g., not to add distance to speed). Interestingly, it appears that the same students who achieve good understanding of the abstract formal concepts are those who are most likely to con strain their solutions by semantic knowledge implied by the prob lems' cover stories.8 Thus, unlike the case of content effects that re flect interference from associated content, when people use object attributes to constrain abstraction and transfer, their performance does not necessarily indicate poor understanding or insufficient ab straction from content. Rather, it might indicate their preference to reason and communicate at a level of abstraction that respects impor tant semantic distinctions. To demonstrate that interpre tive effects of content might reflect sensible rather than insufficient abstraction from content, Chase and I designed a task in which people's formal knowledge should make it easier for them to ignore rather than respect semantic con straints implied by object attrib utes. Specifically, instead of asking participants to solve unfamiliar word problems, we asked under graduate students to make up sim ple addition or division word problems for various pairs of ob ject sets (e.g., priests-ministers, priests-parishioners).9 The task in structions specified that the con Published by Cambridge University Press This content downloaded from 157.55.39.121 on Mon, 28 Nov 2016 04:01:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 57 structed problems had to involve the two object sets and the re quired arithmetic operation (either addition or division in a between participants design). Thus, partic ipants were free to choose the ac tual structure of the problems. The minimal solution that satis fies the requirements of the task is to construct problems in which the paired sets can be related directly by the required operation of addi tion (m + n) or division (m/n). This minimal solution was presented to participants in a sample problem that followed the task instructions. In principle, participants could construct such simple problems for every pair of object sets. How ever, our stimuli were designed so that the minimal solution was compatible with people's semantic knowledge for half of the paired object sets and incompatible for the other half. Specifically, the paired sets bore either a symmetric or an asymmetric semantic relation to each other (e.g., tulips-daffodils or tulips-vases, respectively). Symmetric pairs could be com bined to form meaningful super sets (e.g., tulips + daffodils = flowers), but addition of asymmet ric pairs would result in possible but unreasonable semantic ab stractions (e.g., tulips + vases = things). Similarly, asymmetric pairs could be meaningfully aligned with the operation and outcome of direct division (e.g., tulips/vases = tulips contained in each vase), but division of sym metric sets would result in possi ble but arbitrary proportional rela tions (e.g., tulips/daffodils = number of tulips per daffodil). That is, symmetric and asymmet ric object pairs were compatible, respectively, with direct addition and direct division, but not vice versa. Consistent with our interpretive view, participants were much more likely to construct simple problems for semantically compat ible than for semantically incom patible object pairs (81% vs. 59%, respectively). That is, despite par ticipants' overall preference to construct simple problems, in or der to achieve semantic compati bility they were ready to invest ex tra effort by constructing problems with a more complex mathematical structure. For example, when asked to construct a division prob lem for the symmetric pair tulips daffodils, participants would in vent another variable (e.g., p = days) and construct a division problem in which the paired sets were related by the compatible op eration of addition ([m + n]/p): Wilma planted 250 tulips and 250 daffodils, and it took 20 days to plant them. How many did she plant per day? The extra effort participants invested in construct ing semantically compatible com plex problems mirrors the inter pretive errors of participants who solved novel permutation prob lems.7 However, their perfor mance cannot be dismissed as in dicating insufficient abstraction from content.

Reaction time (RT) and IQ: Shape of the task complexity function

The shape of the function relating reaction time (RT) and IQ was determined as complexity of the RT-tasks varied. At issue is whether the function is linear or U-shaped. Vernon and Weese ( Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 413–419, 1993) posit a linear task complexity function; i.e. the magnitude of the correlation between RT and IQ increases as RT tasks resemble IQ tests in the demands placed upon Working Memory. Jensen ( Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 53–56, 1993) posits a U-shaped function; too-easy and too-hard RT tasks measure non-information processing factors that interfere with the precise measurement of mental speed. Experiment 1 tested 105 university students with paper-and-pencil coding (RT) tests in which task complexity was defined by number of bits of information. Two procedures were used to reduce or eliminate motor time to obtain ‘purer’ measures of mental RT. The results did not support a linear task complexity function; nor were the RT tasks sufficiently difficult to adequately test Jensen's U-shaped function. In Experiment 2, 90 university students were tested with more difficult RT tasks. A definite U-shaped function was obtained with the highest correlation between RT and IQ at an intermediate level of task complexity. When the results of Experiments 1 and 2 were combined, the U-shaped function became even clearer. The results strongly support Jensen's notion that the highest correlation between RT and intelligence is found just below the point at which Working Memory is strained to the point of breakdown and loss of information. The results also support the conception of the Erlangen School that capacity of Working Memory and speed of information processing are determinants of IQ.

Temperament and Attachment: Individuals and Relationships

10. S.P. Tipper, Selection for action: The role of inhibitory mechanisms Current Directions in Psy chological Science, 1, 105-109 (1992); T.W. Neill, Lexical ambiguity and context: An activation suppression model, in Resolving Semantic Ambigu ity, D.S. Gorfein, Ed. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1989). 11. M.E. Bouton and J.B. Nelson, Context specificity of target versus feature inhibition in a fea ture-negative discrimination, Journal of Experimen tal Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 20, 51 65 (1994). R.W. Hendersen, Fearful memories: The motivational significance of forgetting, in Affect, Conditioning, and Cognition: Essays on the Deter minants of Behavior, in F.R. Brush and J.B. Over mier, Eds. (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1985). 12. D.C Brooks and M.E. Bouton, A retrieval cue for extinction attenuates spontaneous recovery, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behav ior Processes, 19, 77-89 (1993); D.C. Brooks and M.E. Bouton, A retrieval cue for extinction attenu ates renewed performance resulting from a change of context, manuscript in preparation (1993). 13. It did not elicit responding on its own, and it failed both summation and retardation tests for con ditioned inhibition; see, e.g., R.A. Rescorla, Pavlov ian conditioned inhibition, Psychological Bulletin, 72, 77-94(1969).

Traits and Theoreticians

Clary, E. G., & Snyder, M. (1991). A analysis of altruism and prosocial behavior: The case of volunteerism. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 12, 119-148. Omoto, A. M., & Snyder, M. (1990). Basic research in action: Volunteerism and society's response to AIDS. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 152-166. Omoto, A. M., & Snyder, M. (1993). Sustained helping without obligation: Motivation, longevity of service, and attitude change among AIDS volunteers. Unpublished manuscript, University of Kansas, Lawrence, and University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Omoto, A. M., Snyder, M., & Berghuis, J. P. (1993). The psychology of volunteerism: A conceptual analysis and a program of action research. In J. B. Pryor & G. D. Reeder (Eds.), The social psychology of HIV infection (pp. 333-356). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Snyder, M. (1993). Basic research and practical problems: The promise of a functional personality and social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 251-264. Snyder, M., & Omoto, A. M. (1992a). Volunteerism and society's response to the HIV epidemic. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 113-116. Snyder, M., & Omoto, A. M. (1992b). Who helps and why? The psychology of AIDS volunteerism. In S. Spacapan & S. Oskamp (Eds.), Helping and being helped: Naturalistic studies (pp. 213-219). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Scenes from the corridor

Current Directions in Psychological Science. Editors S. Scarr and C. R. Gallistel. Cambridge University Press. 6/yr. $125, £69 (institutional); $63f £35 (personal). The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. Editors L. B. Brown, Ralph W. Hood Jr and H. Newton Malony. Lawrence Erlbaum. 4/yr. USA and Canada $125, elsewhere $150 (institutional); USA and Canada $35, elsewhere $60 (personal).

Understanding Creativity: Where to Start?

(1993). Understanding Creativity: Where to Start? Psychological Inquiry: Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 232-234.

Issues in Preventive Intervention Research

Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 76,492-504(1990). 7. See also N. Kanwisher and J. Driver, Ob jects, attributes, and visual attention: Which, what, and where, Current Directions in Psychological Sci ence, 1, 26-31 (1992); S.P. Tipper, J. Driver, and B. Weaver, Object-centred inhibition of return of vi sual attention, The Quarterly Journal of Experimen tal Psychology, 43A, 289-298 (1991). 8. S.P. Tipper and J. Driver, Negative priming between pictures and words: Evidence for semantic analysis of ignored stimuli, Memory and Cognition, 16, 64-70 (1988); S.P. Tipper, G. MacQueen, and J. Brehaut, Negative priming between response mo dalities: Evidence for the central locus of inhibition in selective attention, Perception and Psychophys ics, 43,45-52 (1988). 9. S.P. Tipper, C. Lortie, and G.C. Baylis, Se lective reaching: Evidence for action-centered atten tion, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance (in press). 10. L.G. Ungerleider and M. Mishkin, Two cor tical visual systems, in Analysis of Visual Behavior, D.J. Ingle, M.A. Goodale, and R.J.W. Mansfield, Eds. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1982). 11. A. Beech, T. Powell, J. McWilliams, and G. Claridge, Evidence for reduced cognitive inhibi tion in schizophrenia, British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28, 109-116 (1989); L. Hasher, E.R. Stoltzfus, R.T. Zacks, and B. Rympa, Age and inhi bition, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learn ing, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 163-169 (1991); S.P. Tipper, Less attentional selectivity as a result of declining inhibition in older adults, Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 29, 45-47 (1991). 12. G. Houghton and S.P. Tipper, A model of the dynamics of selective attention, in Inhibitory Mechanisms of Attention, Memory and Language, D. Dagenbach and T. Carr, Eds. (Academic Press, Orlando, FL, in press). 13. M. Taffe, B.O. Moore, S.P. Tipper, and G.C. Baylis, Action-based spatial attention in nor mal and hippocampal lesioned monkeys, Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 18, 479.9 (1991).

Dissociation and hypnotizability in posttraumatic stress disorder

The authors compared the hypnotizability of 65 Vietnam veteran patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to that of a normal control group and four patient samples using the Hypnotic Induction Profile. The patients with PTSD had significantly higher hypnotizability scores than patients with diagnoses of schizophrenia (N = 23); major depression, bipolar disorder--depressed, and dysthymic disorder (N = 56); and generalized anxiety disorder (N = 18) and the control sample (N = 83). This finding supports the hypothesis that dissociative phenomena are mobilized as defenses both during and after traumatic experiences. The literature suggests that spontaneous dissociation, imagery, and hypnotizability are important components of PTSD symptoms.

Drs. Kiesler and Sibulkin Reply

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article ArticleNo AccessDrs. Kiesler and Sibulkin ReplyCHARLES A. KIESLER, and AMY E. SIBULKINCHARLES A. KIESLERSearch for more papers by this author, and AMY E. SIBULKINSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Apr 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.11.1497AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail "Drs. Kiesler and Sibulkin Reply." American Journal of Psychiatry, 141(11), p. 1497 Access content To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access. Personal login Institutional Login Sign in via OpenAthens Purchase Save for later Item saved, go to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry $35.00 Add to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry Checkout Please login/register if you wish to pair your device and check access availability. Not a subscriber? Subscribe Now / Learn More PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5 library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development. Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.). FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByJournal of Child and Family Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 2, No. 3Administration and Policy in Mental Health, Vol. 19, No. 6Journal of Child and Family Studies, Vol. 1, No. 3New Directions for Mental Health Services, Vol. 1991, No. 49Administration and Policy in Mental Health, Vol. 18, No. 3DICP, Vol. 25, No. 1 Volume 141Issue 11 November 1984Pages 1497-1497 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 April 2006 Published in print 1 November 1984

"ALTRUISTIC" BEHAVIOR IN RHESUS MONKEYS.

A 5 X 5 X 2 ft. masonite and plexiglass box was divided in the middle by a half-silvered screen that blocked vision only from the right (stimulus) to the left (operator) compartment. The latter was equipped with red and blue signal lights, two chains suspended from ceiling microswitches, a food tube and a water cup; the right compartment was bare except for floor and wall grids attached to a Grason-Stadler E6070B constant current shock source and scrambler. Eight male and 7 female feral rhesus monkeys (Os) were separately trained in the operator compartment to secure a 0.7 gm. pellet of food by pulling one chain in response to a red light and the other chain to a blue one, each of 5 sec. duration and occurring in random order at irregular intervals ranging from a mean of 15 sec.; this training was continued until the responses were 90% correct with less than 20 unsignalled reactions in 2 consecutive sessions. A "stimulous animal" (SA) was then placed in the right compartment for 3 sessions while the O continued to feed on signal; however, on the 4th day one of the chanins was programmed also to administer a 3 sec., 5 ma high-frequency shock to the SA. Each O was run with a given SA until, again in 2 consecutive sessions, either (i), the O selected the non-shock

INTERFERENCE FACTORS IN DELAYED RESPONSE IN MONKEYS AFTER REMOVAL OF FRONTAL LOBES

INTERFERENCE FACTORS IN DELAYED RESPONSE IN MONKEYS AFTER REMOVAL OF FRONTAL LOBES