The four articles in this journal explore various aspects of empathy and its application to oral interpretation of literature. The first article examines the concept of empathy, discusses measures of it, and includes an "accurate empathy exercise" and an empathy scale. The second article discusses the way in which the writings of Dylan…

The results obtained in a series of investigations with locus of control used as an independent variable provide evidence in support of the results obtained from situationally contrived studies of perceived control. The impact of stressors seems to be diminished in situations in which participants can exercise some degree of control. Likewise,…

Recent research indicates that basic indicators of quality of life have some consistent associations with mental health needs. Factors such as socioeconomic status, proportion of a population in poverty, unemployment and underemployment rates, family instability and family life cycle have persistent associations with social and economic stress and…

This investigation was designed to ascertain the relationship between alienation and specified forms of drug use in three differing collegiate settings. The results indicated that, contrary to many subjective judgements, there was essentially no significant relationship between students' degree of alienation and their use of drugs. (Author)

Explains a study designed to consider the influence of positive and negative affect induced by cognitive mediation on behaviors thought to reflect depression. Concludes that results show fairly strong support for Velten's (1968) methodology and suggest that affect can be manipulated in the laboratory. (Author/EJT)

Reviews the theory and research on the physiological or genetic origins of parenting behavior, noting that an ethological or evolutionary analysis of parenting behavior supports the idea that primates, including man, have evolved psychological structures which are particularly adapted to respond to cues from young children. (Author/JM)

Studied the efficacy of induced affect as a pregroup training experience for coping with stress related to participation in an encounter group. Results indicated that group participants who did not receive the induced-affect pregroup training demonstrated significant increases on the Neuroticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. (Author)

One hundred fifteen depressed inpatients with a history of attempted suicide were matched by age and sex with 115 nonsuicidal depressed patients and 285 normal subjects. The results indicated that the early separation of parent from child does not, in itself, predispose the child to attempted suicide. (Author)

This report presents initial results of the first phase of the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study (TOPS) a longitudinal investigation of the natural history of persons identified as eligible for treatment at selected federally-funded drug treatment programs in 1979-1981. The materials describe the characteristics, behavior, and intreatment…

A prototype is a theoretical standard against which real people can be evaluated. To derive a prototype of a lonely person, 40 students were asked to describe a lonely person whom they knew. All descriptions were studied by judges who formed a final listing and frequency of all identified features. The 18 features which formed the prototype fell…

Reminiscence has long been considered an integral part of the aging process, whether as a form of cultural transmission or as a method of strengthening the ego structure. To examine the form of reminiscence defined as life review and its relationship to adjustment in the final stages of development, older Canadian adults (N=82) completed a…

The concept of social role range (SRR) deals with the magnitude of an individual's repertoire of different interpersonal behavior patterns and exhibits the properties of a personality trait. Over a broad range of interpersonal settings, individuals tend to be consistent in the magnitude of their SRR's. A role play technique was devised for…

Although widowhood is a disruptive and inevitable phenomenon for many older people, few studies have explored either adjustment to widowhood or the impact of widowhood on the lives of elderly people. Recently widowed persons (N=51), ranging in age from 49 to 83 years old, were interviewed to examine their relatively immediate psychosocial…

This packet of materials provides information for those who have obtained Lansing Community College's videotape series on stress and professional burnout and who plan to use these tapes in a professional development seminar. General information for seminar leaders is presented first, including a list of the contents of the packet, an outline of…