Two continuous performance tests were administered to normal adult subjects. The mode of presentation (visual or auditory) and the type of task (vigilance or distractibility) were varied, and their effects on performance measured. Data were collected on eighty-two subjects, and results indicated that auditory presentation of stimuli increased the difficulty of both tasks. Results also suggest that the distractibility task administered in either mode was more difficult than the vigilance task. Intercorrelations among the four continuous performance tasks are provided. Normative data are presented on all four tasks administered. A measure of symptoms of attention-deficit disorder in adults, the Adult Behavior Checklist, was found to correlate significantly with another measure of pathology, the SCL-90-R.

This study explored the relationship between cultural mistrust level and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. It was hypothesized that Blacks with high levels of cultural mistrust, when compared to those with low levels, would show less favorable attitudes toward seeking formal help for psychological problems. Black students were administered the Cultural Mistrust Inventory, Help-Seeking Attitude Scale, Reid-Gundlach Social Service Satisfaction Scale, and Opinions About Mental Illness Scale. Using a 2 (gender) X 2 (mistrust level) MANCOVA, a main effect for the factor of mistrust level was found along with a mistrust level by gender interaction. Students with higher levels of cultural mistrust were found to hold less favorable attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help when compared to students with lower levels of cultural mistrust.

Fictional narratives of 68 female undergraduates classified as either high or low on sex-guilt were rated for libidinal content following subliminal exposure to either a sex-related or a neutral stimulus. Separate dependent measures were obtained for libidinal derivatives bearing either a transparently "close" or a symbolically "distant" relationship to the sex-related stimulus. Subjects in the sex-related stimulus condition expressed significantly fewer close libidinal derivatives than subjects in the neutral condition. High sex-guilt subjects' distant derivative production revealed a near-significant trend toward repression in the neutral condition, but the greatest amount of expression in the sex-related condition. Type of defenses employed are discussed as a function of subliminally perceived stimulus threat.

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the modification of behavior of a thirty-five-year-old, hospitalized, chronic schizophrenic male. The hypothesis was that the patient's aggressive and self-injurious behavior could be modified through the use of aversion therapy.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of various secondary reinforcers on the behavior of a hyperactive child. A base rate of appropriate behavior was obtained in a first-grade classroom. The operant techniques employed were secondary reinforcers consisting of monetary reinforcement; monetary paired with peer reinforcement; monetary, peer, and verbal reinforcement combined; and verbal reinforcement only.

An attempt was made in this study to eliminate the body rocking behavior of a twenty-three-year-old totally blind male, individual, presently classified as moderately retarded. Consequences were placed upon, rocking behavior in seven experimental phases, employing time-out from a positively reinforcing stimulus as a punisher. More specifically, apparatus were designed in such a manner that rocking would result in elimination of the auditory and visual portion of a television, and in a later phase, the auditory portion of a transistor radio.

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 perceptual organization. A multiple linear regression analysis was computed, and the data supported the hypothesis that perceptual organization and favorableness are of significant predictive value (R = .54, F(2, 27) = 5.43, p = .01). The standardized beta for usefulness was .47 (p = .008) and the HVDT beta was .33, (p = .05). The results were interpreted as applying to Rorschach validity research methodology and pedagogy.

Ninety college students served as subjects in research to investigate possible relationships between fear of death, religious doubt, and child-rearing practices. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) contingent childrearing practices would correlate negatively with religious doubt, 2) religious doubt would correlate positively with fear of death, and 3) contingent child-rearing practices would correlate negatively with fear of death. The second hypothesis was supported. Additional analyses revealed that those who changed religious preference from childhood to the present had lower fear of death scores than those who retained the same beliefs. The sample was also divided into religious and nonreligious groups. The religious group as a whole and religious females were found to have scored significantly higher on paternal contingent punishment. Religious individuals in the total sample also scored significantly higher on parental contingent punishment.

This study explored whether depression was related to the way college students interact with their parents. A second purpose was to explore whether the emotional states of depression, anxiety, and hostility were associated with different types of adolescent dependence (Functional, Attitudinal, Conflictual, and Emotional) on each parent. A total of 108 undergraduate students from intact families completed self-report measures of depression, anxiety, hostility and psychological separation. A non-significant relationship was found between the way students relate to their parents and level of depression. However, subjects reporting angry or guilty feelings toward parents had significantly greater depression and hostility scores. Subjects reporting attitudes, values and beliefs that are not distinct from their parents also displayed significantly greater hostility scores. Furthermore, anxiety in the sample was significantly related to subjects' reports of dependence on approval, closeness and emotional support from parents.

The present investigation was concerned with the effectiveness of religion in personality development and the significance of church attendance in ethical and moral control. These concepts were related to specific diagnoses of psychiatric patients to ascertain the effect of religion upon those patients diagnosed as paranoid-type schizophrenics and as sociopaths. In addition, the effect of this variable on other variables related to the patient's past religious experience, such as church attendance, was examined. The religiousness of the patients was measured by a single religious intensity questionnaire.

This study is designed to determine if people have a particular stimulus or perceptual preference which is congruent with their personality. Seventy-six male and female college students completed three personality tests, consisting of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Revised Art Scale of the Welsh Figure Preference Test, and the Gough Adjective Check List. A preference for simplicity or complexity in designs for four different personality dimensions was examined. The personality dimension of introversion and extroversion was looked at in particular.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between anorexia nervosa and several personality traits. Past research in this area has been contradictory for several reasons. Sociocultural theories have described the media's role in promoting eating disorders by portraying a thin body-type as the ideal. However, they have neglected to describe the personality ideal which our society promotes in women. It is proposed here that anorexics incorporate and oppose this ideal. Therefore, the anorexic personality is one filled with conflict.