Search Results

open access

Facilitative Effectiveness of Elderly and Adolescent Volunteer Counselors in a Nursing Home Setting

Description: This study examined the effects of volunteer counselor training (empathy training versus information only) and age of volunteer (senior citizens versus adolescents) upon depression level of nursing home residents. Results showed that residents who received a volunteer counselor significantly improved (p < .01) in level of depression compared to the no volunteer control group. The empathy trained counselors were not significantly more effective than the information only group. The age of the. vo… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Nagel, Joseph
open access

The Effects of Cognitive Flexibility on Rorschach Interpretation

Description: Although the Rorschach is one of the most widely used psychological assessment techniques, its empirical support has been equivocal. One possible explanation for this lack of empirical support is the tendency for researchers to study only the assessment tool with little regard for the clinician using it. In order to examine the relationship between accurate Rorschach interpretation and attributes of the clinicians employing the technique, 46 psychology graduate students were tested in terms of … more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Walters, Terry L. (Terry Lynne)
open access

The Psychiatric Rating Scale for Diagnostic Classification of Children and Adolescents Interrater Reliability

Description: This study was designed to assess the reliability of "The Psychiatric Rating Scale for Diagnostic Classification of Children and Adolescents" as an instrument for determining diagnoses congruent with DSM-III criteria. In Phase I graduate students from a University doctoral program in psychology independently rated case vignettes and completed the 64-item rating scale to arrive at Axis I or II diagnoses consistent with DSM-III classifications for Disorders Usually First Evident in Infancy, Child… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Henning, E. Glenn (Elbert Glenn)
open access

The Control of Surface Skin Temperature Through Hypnosis and Hypnotic Age Regression

Description: A total of 60 male and female subjects scoring between 0-5 and 8-12 on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: Form A underwent hypnosis procedures, hypnosis and age regression procedures to age 10, or were read an article about hypnosis. All subjects then listened to 20 minutes of directed imagery for warming and cooling the hands. Skin temperature was monitored on both index fingers. Dependent measures were the difference between each subject's highest temperature and baseline tem… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Neuger, Gary Jay
open access

Self-Directed Relaxation as a Treatment for Essential Hypertension

Description: Male (8) and female (22) Essential Hypertensives (130/85 mm Hg or above) were randomized into a nonspecific treatment or an experimental treatment utilizing eight relaxation strategies. Both groups had eight training sessions which consisted of baseline blood pressures (BP), 15 minute relaxation tapes, and post-relaxation BP's. Subjects were instructed to use their tapes three times between sessions. Five BP readings were taken at the one and two month follow-ups. It was hypothesized that the e… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Hafer, Donald G.
open access

A Comparison of Measures of Masculinity/Femininity in Predicting Instrumental Behaviors

Description: The development of measures of masculinity/femininity in psychology has reflected historical interest in categorizing gender differences. Recent measures have characterized masculinity as instrumental/agentic behavior. In this study, a traditional measure (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Masculinity/femininity scale) was pitted against a more recent measure (the Personal Attributes Questionnaire) in predicting instrumental behavior of mixed sex dyads in laboratory sex stereotype… more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Roesel, Rosalyn
open access

A Comparison of Counterconditioning and Role-Playing Strategies in the Hypnotic Treatment for Cigarette Smoking

Description: This study compared the relative efficacy of two different theoretically-derived strategies in the hypnotic treatment for cigarette smoking. The use of counterconditioning suggestions (present or absent) was compared to the use of role-playing suggestions (present or absent) in a two-way factorial design. Also investigated was whether there were any pretreatment variables which could predict successful long-term smoking control. Fifty adult chronic smokers were matched on the dimensions of base… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Bowman, David Ross
open access

Relaxation Imagery to Facilitate Endogenous Control of Lymphocytic Function in Humans

Description: Whether an individual's state of mind can influence the body's immune system has been studied for several decades. Historical notions of a homeostatic, self-contained, and self-monitored system have been discarded. Studies have explored conditioning effects and cognitive behavioral methods to affect the immune response. This study is based on the assumption that relaxation imagery can be used as an endogenous means to produce specific physiological change in the immune function. Subjects were i… more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Myers, Carol Rae
open access

Accurate Empathy and Rorschach Interpretation

Description: Although the Rorschach is one of the most widely used psychological assessment techniques, its empirical support has been equivocal. One possible explanation for this lack of empirical support is the tendency for researchers to study only the assessment tool with little regard for the clinician using it. The current study examined one clinician variable (empathy) and its relationship to accuracy of interpretation of the Rorschach. The literature regarding Rorschach theory and research and empat… more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Freeze, Sandra Joanna Davis
open access

Religious Orientation, Death Anxiety, Locus of Control and Belief in Punishment After Death

Description: Evidence is cited in this paper which suggests religion is gaining in influence on American life. Although interest in religiosity is increasing, mental health research into the area is meager. As psychological researchers grow cognizant of the impact of social systems on the individual, it becomes important to examine the impact of religion and religious belief on the emotional health of the individual. The literature also suggests that attitudes toward death and the individual's perception of… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Lofton, Debra Ann
open access

Accuracy of Eyewitness Memory Under Leading Questioning: The Effects of Hypnosis and Anxiety

Description: Hypnosis has gained substantial support in the psychological community, as well as related health professions. The intense renewal of interest in hypnosis has also affected our legal-judicial system. Many police investigators trained in hypnosis operate from an exactcopy memory theory. They claim eyewitness eyewitness retrieve veridically stored memory traces from long-term memory, if questioned under hypnosis. Conversely, other researchers ascribe to a reconstructive memory theory. They believ… more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Atkins, Loy Keith, 1955-
open access

Enkephalin Hydrolysing Activity in Alcoholism and Related Changes in Mood and Ability to Perform a Biofeedback/Relaxation Task

Description: Evidence linking the development of chronic alcoholism with endogenous opioid peptides is reviewed. Particular emphasis is placed on enkephalin metabolism with respect to its involvement in the development of addiction and stress-related psychophysiological changes. The study was concerned with enkephalin hydrolysing activity (EHA) in chronic alcoholism as well as the mood changes that reportedly accompany alcoholism. Also of interest was the relationship of enkephalin degradation to voluntary … more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Benoit, Larry J.
open access

Instruments Bias in Assessment Centers

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of behavioral checklist critical item content on subsequent global, Likert-type ratings. It was hypothesized that assessment center participants rated with positive critical items would receive higher scores on subsequent global ratings than would participants rated with negative critical items. Additionally, it was hypothesized that volunteers would receive better ratings than nonvolunteers. Finally, it was hypothesized that behavioral ratin… more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Cunningham, Howard Michael
open access

Relationship of Premarital Pregnancy to Marital Satisfaction and Personal Adjustment

Description: Discriminant function analysis was performed on data from 87 female volunteers who were between the ages of 21 and 53 years old and who had been married at least one time. Sixty-two of the subjects had no history of premarital pregnancy; 18 subjects had been pregnant when they married; and seven subjects had an induced abortion before marriage. All groups were discriminated (p < .05) by the variables of marital adjustment, lack of emotional vulnerability, masculinity, chance locus of control, p… more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Rudolph, Diana Cox
open access

Androgyny and Sex-Role Measurement: A Personal Construct Approach

Description: Recent research into sex roles has been heavily influenced by androgyny theory, and by the development of the Bern Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bern, 1974). Psychological androgyny is the combination, in one individual, of both culturally defined masculine and feminine personality traits. The Sex-Rep, a new instrument for assessing sex role which is aimed at rectifying certain problems associated with the BSRI, was then described. The Sex-Rep, the BSRI (Bern, 19 34), the Texas Social Behavior Inve… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Baldwin, Amy Caroline
open access

Tachistoscopic Versus Free Inspection Presentation of the Müller-Lyer Illusion

Description: This study was designed as an attempt to extend Schneider and Shiffrin's (1977) automatic versus controlled processing distinction into the area of visual perception. Hasher and Zacks (1979) proposed a continuum of automatic processes, with processes which encode the fundamental aspects of the flow of information as the anchor of the continuum. They presented evidence that depressed people perform more poorly than nondepressed on effortful (controlled) memory tasks, but not on automatic tasks. … more
Date: August 1984
Creator: Ellington, Jane Elizabeth
open access

Effortless Control Processing: A Heuristic Strategy for Reducing Cognitive Bias in Judgments of Control

Description: The present investigation tested the prediction that effortless control processing, the deliberate activation of innate automatic encoding mechanisms, will enable nondepressed persons to accurately judge degree of control. Subjective judgment of control in nondepressed students was examined by a modification of the method developed by Jenkins and Ward (1965). The modification was based on Hasher and Zacks' (1979) version of the method. Several measures were used to assess students' representati… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Evans, Harry Monroe
open access

Rorschach Interpreters: Relationship to Spatial Intelligence

Description: In an attempt to find meaningful predictors of the ability to interpret Rorschach protocols by clinicians, a paradigm change (Kuhn, 1962) was instigated by using as predictors the scores of the perceptual organizational abilities of 30 subjects, and their ratings of favorableness toward the Rorschach in terms of its usefulness as a clinical tool. The subjects were first year, graduate psychology students, and the Haptic Visual Discrimination Test (HVDT) was the instrument used to measure percep… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Laverty, Vivian D.
open access

Helping Among Children

Description: This study investigated the effect of cost-of-escape on helping among children. Forty-four children between the approximate ages of six and twelve served as subjects. The experiment was performed in a natural setting using an ice cream truck. The driver (experimenter) manipulated the cost-of-escape and then had an "accident." The easy-to-escape group received their ice cream before the driver spilled 300 spoons on the ground. The difficult-to-escape group had paid for their ice cream but had no… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Russell, Sue Ann
open access

The Importance of Staff Cohesiveness in Treatment Effectiveness as Demonstrated by Client Self-Disclosure

Description: Much research has studied cohesiveness within client groups in terms of making therapeutic gains. These studies have defined cohesiveness in terms of a) attraction of the group as perceived by a group member, b) how clearly each member sees his/her role within the group, and c) the effectiveness of one's skills in attaining group goals. Little research has dealt with the role of staff cohesiveness in developing an effective treatment program. Effectiveness, in this study, is defined as the degr… more
Date: December 1984
Creator: MacMullan, Peter Alex
open access

A Comparison of Behavioral Therapy and Contextual Therapy for the Treatment of Overweight

Description: The purpose of the present study is to compare a "traditional" behavioral therapy approach (based on selfcontrol techniques) with a previously unresearched "contextual therapy" for the treatment of overweight. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to a discussion of a variety of relevant behavioral techniques, an evaluation of them, and a discussion of a contextual model for the treatment of overweight.
Date: May 1984
Creator: Mathews, Matt
open access

A Study of Premenstrual Syndrome in Teachers and Reported Classroom Misbehavior

Description: Periodic fluctuations in women's emotions during the menstrual cycle have been a continuing topic of research and discussion. The current study was designed to determine if premenstrual syndrome conditions in female teachers have any effect on reported classroom misbehavior and infractions. Subjects were twenty-one faculty members presently employed in the capacity of teachers in a public middle school. By utilizing a teacher's daily behavioral checklist, along with student misconduct reports, … more
Date: December 1984
Creator: Kerr, Jacqueline Marie
open access

The Effects of School Performance on the Self-Concept and Locus of Control of Learning Disabled and Emotionally Disturbed Elementary Students

Description: A number of authors have suggested recently that the behavioral characteristics and self-perceptions of learning disabled and emotionally disturbed children are so similar as to negate the fruitfulness of trying to differentiate between these two groups. These characteristics are quite similar for the two special education groups when they have been compared independently of each other to regular education students. In order to provide support for these prior studies, the self-concepts and locu… more
Date: May 1984
Creator: Ronalder, Ronnie Lee
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