Kathleen M. Dillon

Psychological factors, immunocompetence, and health of breast-feeding mothers and their infants.

We investigated whether the use of humor as a coping device and psychological hardiness were related to IgA levels in the saliva and breast milk of mothers, and if these factors were related to the incidence of upper respiratory infection (URI) in the mothers and their newborns. Nineteen mothers volunteered to participate and met the qualifications; however, only 17 completed all phases of the study. Prior to the birth of their child, mothers filled out demographic questionnaires and the psychological inventories. Saliva and milk samples were taken within 1 week after delivery, and follow-up questionnaires were mailed out 2 months after delivery. Coping humor was inversely related to URI incidence in both the mothers and the infants. Hardiness was directly related to coping humor and inversely related to URI incidence in the infants. Older mothers had higher coping humor and hardiness scores and fewer URIs in themselves and their infants.

Sex Roles, Gender, and Fear

Male and female college students classified as masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated on the Bem (1974) Sex Role Inventory (N = 199) were given the Wolpe (1969) Fear Inventory. Significant differences in average fear scores were seen between men and women and between the four sex-role categories, with sex role and gender contributing equally to the variability. The argument is raised here that excessive fearfulness or fearlessness might be as much a product of sex-role conditioning as a product of gender.

Attitudes toward Aging Portrayed by Birthday Cards

In this article, contemporary attitudes toward the aged are inferred from an analysis of birthday greeting cards which are divided into six thematic categories. Overall, the attitudes appear to be negative supporting previous studies that analyzed attitudes toward the aged found in joke anthologies. The question is raised whether this kind of humor is being used defensively to counteract age anxiety by exaggerating age-related deficits to create a psychological distance, or whether, in fact, it reflects a healthy adaptation to a difficult truth.

Unusual cleaning behavior in the luteal phase

18 undergraduate women recorded episodes of unusual cleaning, defined as excessive cleaning or cleaning of things not usually cleaned, and the dates of their menstruation over a 2-mo. period. Unusual cleaning was significantly more likely to occur during the luteal phase than at any other time in women not using oral contraceptives. Possible links between changes in progesterone levels and obsessive compulsive disorders are suggested.

Think Old: Twenty-Five Classroom Exercises for Courses in Aging

Use of this annotated resource guide surely will increase student learning through participation, and may also change attitudes.

NARCISSISM AND EMBELLISHMENTS OF SIGNATURE

30 male and 20 female college students completed a measure of narcissism and signed a simulated birthday card with the instructions to embellish their signatures as they normally would if sending the card to a good friend. While narcissism scores did not differ significantly between sexes, women who did choose to embellish their signatures with multiple exclamation points and underlinings had significantly higher narcissism scores than women who did not. Men added significantly fewer embellishments to their signatures than women, and their embellishments did not appear to be related to their narcissism scores.

I Am 95% Confident That the Earth is Round: An Interview about Statistics with Chris Spatz

Kathy Dillon is a professor of psychology at Western New England College in Springfield, MA. She teaches statistics, experimental methods, and introductory psychology. She is a generalist who has published in a wide range of fields including autism and psychoimmunology. Chris Spatz is a professor of psychology at Hendrix College in Conway, AR. He teaches statistics, research methods, history and systems, and general psychology and is the author of Basic Statistics: Tales of Distributions (6th edition). He frequently makes presentations on teaching issues at regional conferences for psychology teachers.

Belief in and Use of a Questionable Technique, Facilitated Communication, for Children with Autism:

23 educators and therapists of children with autism were surveyed about their beliefs and use of Facilitated Communication, a technique previously shown to have questionable scientific validity. 65.2% or 15 use the procedure often or very often in their work with children. Some factors that appeared related to this choice were beliefs consistent with those of proponents of Facilitated Communication, less education, belief in the notion that individuals with autism were more intelligent than their behavior indicated, and lack of belief in science as source of explanation of human behavior. It was concluded that supervisors need to be more informing about the scientific validity of techniques used by their employees.

Could Blood Pressure Phobia Go Beyond the White Coat Effect

BACKGROUND While it is known that excessive anxiety surrounding the measuring of blood pressure may preclude an accurate measurement, it is not known whether it could also lead to phobic avoidance behavior. METHODS Self-reported information was collected on 125 individuals who made postings on 5 internet-based medical forums. RESULTS Qualitative thematic analysis revealed that these individuals reported experiencing intense fear associated with the measuring of blood pressure, that was excessive or irrational and which contributed to avoidance of medical treatment and interference with life decisions. CONCLUSIONS Based on these preliminary observations, we are speculating that these symptoms could be considered consistent with a diagnosis of a Specific Phobia. Investigations using quantitative methods, representative samples, and standardized clinical instruments need to be conducted before definitive conclusions can be reached.

Popping sealed air-capsules to reduce stress

30 undergraduate students participated in a study to assess whether tactile manipulation in the form of popping sealed plastic air-capsules would be stress-reducing. Three of the four dependent measures were significantly changed; subjects reported feeling significantly more energized, less tired, and more calm after popping the capsules. Some advantages to this technique over existing ones include that this technique involves minimum ability, essentially no training or practice, and little likelihood of paradoxical anxiety effects that have been shown to accompany meditative relaxation techniques in some subjects.