Linda L. Viney

Sampling verbal behaviour in australia: The gottschalk-gleser content analysis scales1

Samples of verbal behaviour were collected from 32 successful students and 35 hospitalized psychiatric patients in order to assess the applicability of the Gottschalk-Gleser Content Analysis Scales in Australia. Estimates of interjudge reliability and criterion groups validity resulted in acceptable findings for the Anxiety and Schizophrenic scales, and for the indices of hostility with the exception of Hostility Outward. Discriminant validity of the scales was successfully demonstrated for the student sample only. Comparisons of the data with American norms yielded significantly higher Hostility Inward scores for both Australian samples.

The application of content analysis scales to life stress research

Application of the Gottschalk-Gleser scales to life stress research has led to greater use being made of anxiety subscale scores, the development of additional content analysis scales measuring cognitive anxiety and positive affect, and toe use of a cost ratio to express peoples overall experience of an event. Methods for studying affective reactions over time and for eliciting verbal samples for retrospective research are discussed and some Australian normative data given.

The primary prevention of illness: A psychological perspective

Health care systems in Australia are focused primarily on the treatment of presenting illness. Much of this illness is known to be psycho-social in origin. Primary intervention, by psychologists among others, aimed at attempting to prevent such ill health therefore seems a most appropriate addition to the already existing systems. The concept of primary prevention is explored in this article, with a focus on the development of more competent coping both by people with ongoing difficulties and those who may experience difficult situations. The question of why primary prevention is not being practised more extensively is examined. Possible answers are discussed including the lack of immediate rewards it provides for professionals, its low visibility preventing adequate government funding and the lack of descriptive research results on which to base it. Examples of primary prevention from North America and Australia are discussed. In conclusion, some implications of this approach for the research and practice of Australian psychologists are considered.

Expectancy effects in a psychophysiological experiment

The effect of the experimenter’s expectations about experimental outcomes on two physiological variables (EMG and EEG) were investigated in an experiment involving a tendon tap stimulus used to elicit a phasic stretch reflex. Experimenter’s and subject’s perceived locus of control scores were incorporated into the design to test their relevance as a mediating variable. Immediately after the presentation of the tendon tap stimulus, subject’s EEG alpha measures were found to be more biased in the direction of the experimenter’s expectations when experimenters and subjects were similar in their scores on the perceived locus of control scale. Biasing effects on EEG alpha measures in the direction of experimenter’s expectations were found early in the experimental session where subjects or their experimenters scored as internally controlled. The EMG measures increased or decreased in the direction of the experimenter’s expectations when subjects were internally controlled but there was a reversal of the direction of the experimenter’s expectations with subjects who scored as externally controlled so that no significant experimenter expectancy effect was observed.

Psychological States in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus differs from many other chronic diseases in that it is accepted medical practice to involve patients suffering from it in monitoring and treating their own condition [1, 2]. This is especially so if the diabetes is of the insulin-dependent type [3], for which patients are required, when possible, to learn to administer injections of insulin to themselves. Even patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes are encouraged by medical and nursing practitioners to test their own blood sugar levels, take care of parts of their bodies which are made especially vulnerable by the disease, such as their feet, and to have an understanding of the disease process and how it affects them. Often these skills are developed and supported through self-help groups, such as the Diabetic Associations throughout Australia, and publications about diabetes for nonprofessionals, such as their magazine Diabetes Conquest. Encouragement of active participation in their treatment by patients through information-seeking and through mastery of illness-related skills is relatively rare among current chronic illness management practices in our society [4–7].

Instrumental learning in preschool children as a function of type of task, type of reward, and some organismic variables.

Abstract The effects on instrumental behavior of differences in type of task, type of reward and three organismic variables were investigated in preschool children. The main results were that: (a) an imitative task was acquired in fewer trials than a nonimitative task; (b) social reward in acquisition led to greater resistance to extinction; (c) a history of frequent social reinforcement from peers led to persistence in responding during extinction for boys only; (d) extraversion was found to interact with the variables of task and reward in errors made during extinction; and (e) intelligence was not found to be a reliable predictor of main acquisition and extinction measures or related errors. Detailed analysis of the different types of errors contributed directly to the interpretation of these findings.

Some Sources of Alienation for Drug Addicts

One major focus in research concerned with drug addiction has been the interpersonal relationships of the addicts, particularly within their family. Families of addicts have been variously depicted as showing extreme marital tension, family breakdown, ineffectuality of fathers, pathology of mothers, alcoholism, cruelty, and overdependent, overprotective relationships [1–5]. Some of these factors have been seen as causes of addiction, others as factors contributing to addiction. Some researchers emphasize the need for family reconciliation and family therapy, while others see separation and independence from families as necessary for the successful treatment of the addiction.

Sex differences in expectations of success of Papua New Guinea preschool children

Sex differences in the expectations of success of Papua New Guinea preschool children were examined for two tasks (block towers and bead strings). The expectations were subjected to an ANCOVA with three factors of sex, fathers occupation, and urban village or migrant settlement background, and two covariates of chronological and mental age. Boys were found to have higher expectations than girls on the standard block task, but not for the bead task preferred by Papua New Guinea girls. Chronological age proved to be a predictor of expectations for both tasks, older children having higher expectations than younger children.