A sample of 196 participants (mean age 45.94 years, 54% women) completed inventories assessing upward and downward positive and negative social comparisons and general well-being. Widows and widowers were higher on upward negative comparisons than divorced or married persons while being lower on well-being measures of life satisfaction and…

The present experiment was an attempt to extend a new reinforcement paradigm to attitude change concerning labor unions. Rather than having reinforcers contingent upon critical responses, they were simply correlated with the critical response. The 8 adjective pairs from the evaluative scale of the semantic differential (and 4 buffer pairs) were…

The case study presents long-term followup data on Clarence, one of L. Kanner's original cases of infantile autism. (Author/CL)

Examined effects of videogame play on older adults. Seven senior center participants had opportunity to play videogames at least two hours per week for eight weeks. Compared to seven control subjects, experimental subjects experienced a decrease in pleasure, increase in arousal, and no change in dominance. (Author)

Explored relationships between factors of Templer's Death Anxiety Scale and measures of subjective state. Findings revealed that, in a general population, Factor I, conceptualized as fear of death, was unrelated to anxiety and depression in contrast to positive correlations provided by Factors II-IV, which were collectively conceptualized as death…

Discusses a study that found that marital adjustment was positively related to both spouse's reported self-disclosure of feelings and to self's reported perception of affective disclosure. Also found that one's perception of differences between self and other in the disclosure of love was inversely related to one's marital adjustment. (JOW)

Shows that the heart rate acceleration of 16 infants ranging in age from 8 to 16 months consistently began well before the onset of crying. This suggests that heart rate acceleration is not merely a by-product of crying but that it is associated with negative affect. (JMB)

In this longitudinal study a close association between affective expression and cognitive development was demonstrated. (SB)

Compassion fatigue, or secondary traumatic stress response, describes the reaction of counselors, teachers, and others who work with trauma survivors. They may experience stress or restimulation of their own traumatic experiences. Cognitive and behavioral techniques focused on prevention and intervention can help them cope. (SK)

Discusses the relationship between play and creativity and reviews research studies that suggest that play does facilitate creativity and studies that have found relations between affective processes in play and creativity. Outlines directions for future research into play and creativity. (SLD)

In two classes of 8 year olds and 2 classes of 11 year olds, each child ranked all members of his or her class in terms of degree to which classmate was strong and liked. Subjects consistently overestimated their place in the hierarchy in relation to peers' perceptions. Bias in perceptions of strength extended to peer group. (RH)

Examined the function and effectiveness of certain behaviors in regulating negative arousal in infants who participated in an arm restraint procedure at age 5 months and a toy removal task at age 10 months. Results showed that comforting behaviors were preferred at both 5 and 10 months of age. (MDM)