While human emotions are often considered instinctive, this paper examines the notion that indifference to events or circumstances which might seem to have a prima facie claim to emotional significance is related to the narrative construction of those events or circumstances in the life of the observer, and is not a result of absolute stimulus…

This issue of working papers focuses on the relationship between the mind and language. Papers include the following: (1) "The Role of Language of Thought in Foreign Language Learning" (Andrew D. Cohen); (2) "UG Accessibility in Second Language Acquisition: Re-examining the Binding Parameter" (Howard Chen); (3) "Helping Philippe: Constructions of…

As the AIDS epidemic grows, society is faced by a growing number of children who are born HIV infected. Unfortunately, little systematic research has been conducted which addresses the psychological and social ramifications of HIV status disclosure to children. While most parents prefer not to inform the child of the illness, most clinicians favor…

The possibility of using measures of ways of coping to predict career advancement activities was examined in a study of 104 undergraduate students (69% were Caucasian, 19% were Asian-American, 9% were Latina/Latino, and 46% were male) enrolled in a career planning course at a large southwestern university. The students completed the 50-item Ways…

Numerous studies on death anxiety report conflicting findings. Concluding that a lack of specificity may explain the mixed results, this study sought to address the lack of focus and to extend and validate the results of an earlier study. A sample of 152 undergraduate students (111 female) from middle to upper-middle class participated. Subjects…

In recent decades, the incidence of eating disorders has sharply increased. This paper reviews literature published between 1969 through 1992 which addresses personality characteristics of individuals with anorexia nervosa, restrictor subtype, utilizing the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-I). The current literature and research…

Feeling, emotion, and passion are the "stuff" of everyday experience. This guidebook helps the reader understand emotions in a two-step approach. First, common assumptions about emotion are examined in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of current approaches to emotion, especially as these exist in the fields of psychology and…

Self-handicapping is the phenomenon of setting oneself up to fail a feared evaluation task to protect a sense of self-worth. A study examined whether individuals self-handicap to protect a general or global perception of themselves or to protect perceptions of competence in the specific domain being evaluated. Handicapping behaviors related to…

Teachers can be more effective and efficient as peace educators, if they know about the typical conceptions and other psychological prerequisites of their students. In addition, psychological components are important in most conflict and war situations. This bibliography provides examples of publications containing studies or discussion related to…

Kazimierz Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration is applied to counseling gifted students having emotional and adjustment problems. According to the theory, a central feature of psychological growth is a series of disintegrations--progressive contradictions and conflicts that arise from a person's experience of life. Such conflicts and…

This study examined the relation between early family relationship patterns and adolescents' regulation of negative affect; attunement to their partners' affect; and capacity to balance their needs with those of their partner during conflict. A total of 27 college women completed measures pertaining to their relationship with their parents and…

Stereotypically masculine men tend to adopt family roles in which they are more important symbolically, as models for power and authority, than realistically, as teachers, care takers and nurturers. For these men, nurturant-expressive involvement with their children is still the exclusive domain of women. Men who have integrated affective…

The author discusses Seligman's research on helplessness: how it is learned, what factors influence its formation, how it is unlearned and the implications of his research for counseling depressed clients. The author clains that directive counseling would be quite helpful for depressed and helpless clients. (SE)

Although several theoretical positions deal with the concept of childhood depression, accurate measurement of depression can only occur if valid and reliable measures are available. Current efforts emphasize direct questioning of the child and quantification of parents' observations. One scale used to study childhood depression, the Personality…

Most studies investigating the decision to seek mental health care have focused on socio-demographic differences in health utilization behavior rather than psychological variables. To evaluate three psychological explanations of help-seeking behavior, i.e., the health belief model, the socio-cultural perspective, and an ego psychological approach,…