The MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale (MAC) of the Minnesota Mulltiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) identifies individuals who are likely to abuse alcohol with an accuracy percentage ranging from 60 to 82 percent. The percentage of false negatives when using this scale range from 3 to 17 percent. In order to investigate the characteristics of false…

This paper reports the results of an evaluation of a didactic-experiential program designed to improve memory functioning in healthy older adults with memory complaints, and to allay their concerns (in this case, largely unfounded) about the decline of their memory. The 7-week workshop met weekly for 2 hours, each session consisting of a lecture…

Research has sought to establish a connection between positive psychological state and physical health and longevity. It has been suggested that persons with a sense of purpose or meaning in life are better able to withstand stress, and enjoy better health. To study the link between a sense of meaning and a sense of physical well-being, 28 college…

The value of death education at the elementary school level is discussed. It is pointed out that death education can be helpful in preparing children to cope with death by reducing anxiety, which would enable them to adjust to future experiences. It is suggested that close cooperation between parents, school, and the community is important in…

This first section of this paper reviews the literature on the social world of the institutionalized elderly. Social factors contributing to institutionalization are discussed, including the personal and psychological background of residents. Social behavior and the institutional environment are reviewed, focusing on social interactions among…

Abuse between intimates has begun to be examined. Recent research has studied the incidence and causes of violence in marriages and in premarital relationships. A study was conducted to examine the level of intimate violence, patterns of violence for each gender, and the relationship of stress to violence in adult relationships. Study participants…

Making a promise involves a self-conscious, self-commitment to undertake an obligation in the future and involves a personal sense of control. To study promises and self-focused attention, 72 women completed measures of self-focused attention and locus of control, a questionnaire, and were asked to promise to return postcards. As predicted,…

This selected bibliography lists many of the contemporary resources on suicide and its varied dimensions representing the health sciences, social sciences, and medicine. The materials include books, periodical literature, dissertations, audiovisuals, journals, and a list of related professional organizations. In addition to a general discussion of…

Evidence points to a pervasive tendency for persons to behave to maintain their existing cognitive structures. One strategy by which this self-verification is made more probable involves information processing. Through attention, encoding and retrieval, and the interpretation of events, persons process information so that self-confirmatory…

This paper builds on the concept that fusion--the blending of styles and traditions resulting in new or hybridised genres--takes place in social interaction in the "transformative zone" (Bresler, 2003). First I explore the issues surrounding the tension that can occur between the need, or desire, to maintain cherished traditions and the…

In order to study the relationship between self-esteem and communication anxiety, 1202 college students in a basic communication course completed scales developed to measure the two variables. To make sure that the variables were independent and that one was not a subset of the other, a factor analysis of all the items in each scale was performed.…

Subjects in a stress condition were led to believe that they had failed an important achievement test while subjects in a non-stress condition were not led to believe that they had failed. Projection strategies were manipulated by encouraging subjects either to attribute the cause of their poor performance to the examiner instead of to themselves…

This collection of articles was produced by the Center for Prisoner of War Studies, whose purpose is fourfold: (1) to provide information useful for planning the long-term health care of prisoners of war (POW's); (2) to evaluate the prison experience so that military survival training programs may be effectively planned; (3) to enumerate the…

This study examined the influence of an individual's attributions upon the type of tasks that individuals would select. Questions guiding this study concerned the predictability (congruence) of tasks from attributions, the consistency of this task-attribution congruency, and the generalizability of the results. Subjects were 801 students drawn…

Creativity of 72 third-graders from open and structured classes was measured in relation to anxiety level. Low anxiety children were found more creative in open as compared to structured classrooms. No significant differences were found between creativity levels of high anxiety students in the two types of classes. (Author)