Elucidates the nature of rumor and its major predictors--personal anxiety, general uncertainty, credulity, and topical importance--from a contextual perspective. Discusses how these factors affect and predict rumor generation and transmission, and presents five general principles of rumor management. (MM)

Investigated the change processes that laypersons and psychologists reported using to overcome psychological distress. Interpersonal relationships and willpower strategies were employed commonly in both samples; medication was used infrequently. Gender, education, and previous treatment were related to coping processes among laypersons. Relative…

Through a case history of the author's experiences as one of the first female civilian faculty members at a United States military academy, describes the debilitating psychological effects of tokenism on an individual. (Author/GC)

Two studies on college students determined the physical effects of responding to questions while taking a walking/running treadmill test. Effects on heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, and time to voluntary exhaustion were observed. Results are discussed. (Author/DF)

Although direct behavioral control by the early learning system wanes, the adult learning system seems to be structured at least partially through the lasting influence of infantile experience. Under (hormonal) stress, residues of early experience are reinstated and incorporated into adult memory where they directly control behavior. (Author/LMO)

Results of a statistical analysis of a study of battered wives in shelters indicated that the wives' economic dependence on their husbands almost always ensured that they would return to their husbands and that respondents who considered the shelters useful had a higher probability of returning to their husbands. (Author)

Using longitudinal data gathered between 1966 and 1981, parent-reported fears of 49 university preschool children were examined with particular attention given to age changes and sex differences. Categories of types of fears reported by Jersild and Holmes (1933) determined a substantial increase in preschool children's fears of the dark, being…

Describes the development of a behavior-anchored scale to measure career indecision and presents the relationship of the behavioral scale to other career indecision and psychological measures. (Author)

Examined social and psychological factors related to suicide, using a sample of primitive societies from the Human Relations Area Files. Results showed suicide prevalence was high where the society is stable agricultural, expects either very restrained or very open emotional expression, and emphasizes individual pride and shame. (JAC)

Tested Sherif and Sherif's hypotheses on intergroup competition and cooperation in a natural setting involving a scout camp for well-acquainted subjects rather than for previously unacquainted subjects. In-group solidarity showed no increase during camps, as would have been predicted by the Sherifs; indeed a decrease was found. (LLL)

This investigation examined the relationship between self-reported fears on the Wolpe-Lang Fear Survey Schedule and scores on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) among hospitalized male veterans and evaluated the effects of threat of failure and loss of self-esteem on the electrodermal activity of 32 male college students classified as high…

Responses of emotionally disturbed and normal children to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children were factor analyzed separately. Two A-State and two A-Trait factors were found, with A-State factors accounting for significantly more variance. Four A-State and two A-Trait factors were found for the normal group, with no significant…

This is a first step in the extension of a method usually used with individuals in the 17-70 age range to children 6-16 measuring psychological states on the basis of the content of small speech samples. Comparisons are made between children's and adult's scores, sex differences, and developmental trends. Results show that a larger populace must…

The purpose of the present study was to determine if a difference in death anxiety exists between people who engage in a risk-taking activity and people who do not. Motorcycle riding was chosen as a risk-taking activity. A significantly lower Death Anxiety Scale score was obtained from the motorcycle group. (Author)

This paper compares the early life, background, and education of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. It makes the case that an adaptation of the curve developed by C. Quigley can be used to trace the motivations of both Piaget and Vygotsky in creating their respective theories. The analysis also reveals the adversity that each man faced. Although they…