This paper proposes and tests a theory of catharsis of repressed emotion. The key concept in this theory is the balance of attention, a concept that is shown to be equivalent to aesthetic distance. Laughter and other emotional releases occur when one's attention is equally divided between a distressful past event and the safe present. In the…

This paper presents some data on the relationship between the psychological maturity of adolescent women and their sexual behavior and contraceptive use. The information was collected under the coordination of the American Public Health Association in the Spring of 1975 from 269 16-, 17-, and 18-year old females. The relationship between status,…

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 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…

Forty-one subjects who score at the high and low extremes of the Psychosocial Maturity (PSM) Inventory were intensively interviewed. These interview data were analyzed to contrast the phenomenological and psychodynamic forces in the lives of these subjects that influence their current state of psychosocial maturity. Case material is presented.…

Subjects were angered or not angered during a bogus experimental task following which their assistance was solicited. Consistent with derivations from Rawling's concept of Anticipatory Guilt, the results indicated that anger facilitated helping only when the lone bystander's anger was directed toward the victim of an emergency. However, anger…

Subjects were 44 males and 44 females. They were presented with a photograph showing a female with either an attractive or an unattractive male and with background information concerning the status of the male, (medical student or sales clerk). After receiving the information, subjects evaluated the female. Results revealed strong effects for…

An analysis of perceived altruism was conducted within the framework of Kelley's (1973) attributional model. In a 2 by 2 factorial design, the consistency and distinctiveness of a donor's prosocial history were manipulated. Subjects were provided with written scenarios depicting the work of a voluntary welfare organization aiding the elderly.…

This study tested opposing predictions made by Gamson's Minimum Resource Theory and equity theory concerning the type of coalitions that will be formed when members of a triad expect that rewards will be correlated with amounts of individual resources. Results supported equity theory in that subjects, whose work on a pretask was used as the basis…

This research tests the hypothesis that trust is a prerequisite for the exchange of information about needs and priorities in negotiation. Bargainers who do not trust one another will fail to exchange information because they fear exploitation. Aspiration level and trust were manipulated in a simulated bargaining task. Bargainers induced to trust…