Thomas W. Draper

Canine analogs of human personality factors.

Analysis of the behavioral traits of 56 breeds of dog produced three factors with some similarities to the popular five-factor model of human personality: (a) reactivity--surgency, (b) aggression--disagreeableness, and (c) trainability--openness. Canine and human personality similarities are argued to have their origin in biogenetic factors stemming from common evolutionary sources and from canine breeding for human compatibility and assistance with human tasks. Each of the three canine factors was shown to have a highly visible morphological indicator between breeds of dog. Reactivity--surgency was related to overall size, aggression--disagreeableness was related to having pointed ears, and trainability--openness was related to the ponderal index.

Locating the big five personality factors in the relate relationship evaluation measures.

Factor analyses of data from 400 students who completed the adjective section of the Relate relationship evaluation and similar descriptors from the measure of the “big five” factors of personality by Digman and Inouye indicated that all of the “big five” measures, surgency, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness, can be assessed as part of the Relate assessment.

Using a Personal Robot to Teach Young Children

Seventy-five preschool children were instructed about birds by a human teacher, a moving personal robot, a stationary personal robot, and a tape recorder. How much the children learned and how much attention the children paid were compared for each type of instruction. The children learned when they were taught by the human teacher and when they were taught by the animated and the stationary robots. The children paid more attention to the live teacher and to the moving robot than they did to the stationary robot or to the tape recorder. The difference between the amount of attention the children paid to the animated robot and the amount of attention they paid to the human teacher was not statistically significant.

Developmentally appropriate parent training for families with young children

In an effort to explore the value and feasibility of teaching the principles behind developmentally appropriate practices to parents, 53 families with young children were studied. Parents were randomly assigned to participate or not participate in a three month-long, weekly, parent training program. Following completion of the program members of participating families were less likely to engage in conflict during a puzzle solving task than were members of nonparticipating families. Parents who participated were more likely to take a supportive leadership role and have age-appropriate expectations during a puzzle solving task than were nonparticipating parents. Children in participating families showed better social skills than children in nonparticipating families. Portions of the increase in social skills were related to reductions in family conflict and to the development of a task orientation that was more appropriately focused on process than outcome. Lower family conflict was also related to better gross motor skills in children.

Abstinence or Decreasing Consumption among Adolescents: Importance of Reasons

This study determined the pervasiveness of reasons for abstinence or for decreasing alcohol consumption among 196 high school students in eastern North Carolina. Expanding upon prior research, 29 personal, social, and environmental reasons were examined. Generally, the less a student drank, the more important a reason was for abstaining or for a reduction in alcohol intake. Reasons rated important by a majority of all adolescent drinking groups, including heavy drinkers, were related to health, self-esteem/self-control, and parental disapproval/disappointment.

Overt and Covert Verbalization in Normal and Learning Disabled Children's Problem Solving

The problem-solving ability of 18 learning-disabled high school students was increased by instructions to verbalize overtly, but not by instructions to verbalize their actions covertly. This suggests that Vygotskys 1962 “internalization-of-speech” perspective may be as useful in understanding the limitations of disabled learners as it has been in understanding the limitations of young learners.

NEGATIVE EVALUATIONS OF MEN'S NURTURANT TOUCHING OF YOUNG CHILDREN '

82 female and 65 male, mostly unmarried undergraduate students read one of 16 versions of a brief scenario depicting a man or woman either engaging or not engaging in nurturant touching of young children. Subjects then rated story characters on masculinity and goodness scales and on scales measuring likelihood of social acceptance and future instrumental achievement. Men and women who engaged in nurturant touching were rated low on masculinity and high on goodness and social acceptance. Men rated male characters lowest on goodness and women rated male characters highest on goodness. Women who engaged in nurturant touching were given the highest goodness and social acceptance ratings. It was concluded that some men may avoid engaging in nurturant touching of young children due to gender stereotyping.

MEN'S PERCEPTIONS OF NURTURING BEHAVIOR IN OTHER MEN

87 young adult male students were randomly divided into two groups. One group read an account of a young man interacting with preschool-age children in a nurturing manner. The other group read a nonnurturing account of the same interaction. The subjects rated the nurturing male as higher in goodness and obedience and lower in masculinity, potency, activity, and instrumental achievement potential than the nonnurturing male. From this it was concluded that some men may experience sex-role anxieties when they observe other men behave in a nurturing manner.

Developmental Timing of the Male-Female Health-Survival Paradox

A sample of 200,000 men and women was used to examine the paradoxical observation that in old age there are more women than men but the men are in better health. Insofar as subsequent one-year survivability can be used as an index of health, the paradox was partially supported. After 99 years of age, there was a period of time when mens health compared to womens was improving relative to what it was previously. But there was never a time when it was actually better. The possibilities remain that earlier reports of the paradox might be the result of (a) sample limitations, (b) a focus on types of health that are unrelated to subsequent survival, or (c) local behaviors or conditions, such as smoking or air pollution, that can influence the health of men and women differently.

Designating longevity hotspots: cautions concerning the instability of per capita centenarian estimates.

Estimates of per capita centenarians in a Utah population varied between one per 12,864 and one per 4,675, depending on the data that were used, the population assumptions that were made, and the boundary limits that were employed. In general, caution is warranted in claims about the existence of longevity hotspots.