This task group report is one of a series prepared by eminent psychologists who have served as consultants in the U.S.O.E.-sponsored grant study to conduct a Critical Appraisal of the Personality-Emotions-Motivation Domain. In order to achieve the goal of identifying important problems and areas for new research and methodological issues related…

This manual sets forth in detail the therapist behaviors necessary for effective application of this relaxation training technique. The materials presented are designed to provide therapists in many disciplines with the skills they need to train their clients in relaxation. A background to relaxation training is presented, and the basic procedures…

This series on stress training for teachers includes three film modules. They are meant to be shown in sequence, but with at least two hours of discussion between each. The purpose of these modules is not to communicate or entertain, but to stimulate discussion and role playing. The series attempts to encourage each teacher to find his/her own way…

Seven hypotheses regarding the role of anger for aggressive behavior were testes in an experimental exchange situation using male children as subjects. In previous studies, anger had not actually been employed as the intervening variable in a provocation/aggressive cue-aggression model. The results indicate a strong relationship between…

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…

Theoretical interpretations of cooperation and competition are discussed in relation to motivational and situational determinants. It is suggested that the degree of competition exhibited in an interaction is an inverse function of the quantity of resources available, and that the effect of situational characteristics on cooperative behavior is…

Hypotheses derived from a theory of self-image maintenance and enhancement were employed to interpret the phenomena of attitude change following counter-attitudinal behaviors. Attitude change was viewed as a means of avoiding responsibility for the negative consequences of actions which threaten the self-image. The converse hypotheses were…

Two factors are important in understanding heckling. First, heckling is a negative comment on the speaker. This negative feedback tends to lower speaker effectiveness. Second, the relationship between the heckler and the audience member is important. If the audience member sees himself as more closely aligned to the speaker, heckling will increase…

Although the bulk of recent research on nonverbal communication has involved studies of the functions of nonverbal behavior (emotion conveying, regulation, and adaption), a few studies have focused on the differences in nonverbal communication variables between men and women. These differences have been found in vocal patterns, intensities, length…

Previous equity research indicates that females more often than males prefer to divide rewards equally when their own work inputs are greater than that of their partner. In the present study, males and females divided rewards either between themselves and another person, or between two hypothetical members of a work dyad. Results showed that when…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not sensitivity training increased perceptivity in recognizing the emotional meaning of others, and thus, increase accuracy in responding to an audio tape (Davitz Tape) on which nine different emotions are expressed within the content of an emotionally neutral or content free sentence. Two…

Previous researchers have presented conflicting data about the effects of nurturance and nurturance withdrawal on resistance to temptation among young girls. Age differences between the samples may have produced the conflicting experimental findings. In order to test this assertion, four-, six-, and eight-year-old female children were randomly…

The author conceives of the human emotional system as being composed of three functions of motivational stimuli: (a) the attitudinal or emotional, (b) the reinforcing, and (c) the discriminative controlling function which the stimuli acquire. He defines and describes each of these functions and their effect on integrated learning principles. He…

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was developed specifically to make possible the implementation of Carl Jung's theory of type and is concerned mainly with conscious elements of the personality. It assumes that to function well, an individual must have a well-developed system for perception and a well-developed system for making decisions or…

This study is designed to determine whether data obtained cross-sectionally from a sample of subjects in the middle childhood range on selected personality characteristics could be well described by a concave parabolic curve and thus linked to the closure behaviour elicited from the subjects. Specifically, the investigation seeks to determine if…