John C. Norcross, Ph.D.
The University of Scranton

This mini-workshop draws on accumulated wisdom, literature reviews, and recent studies to present prescriptive information on preparing for graduate school in clinical and counseling psychology. Designed for both faculty advisors and prospective graduate students, Dr. Norcross will present strategies on preparing for admission requirements, selecting compatible graduate programs, and capitalizing on student strengths.  Handouts from his Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology (Guilford, 1998) and Keith-Spiegel's The Complete Guide to Graduate School Admission will supplement the presentation.

Systemic Lidocaine Disrupts Sensitization of the Tail-Flick Response to Radiant Heat

M.S. Osmanski, K.R. Herbert, J.J. Quinn, M.J. Mahometa, & J.T. Cannon
University of Scranton

Research in our lab has found evidence that exposure to a single prolonged test stimulus can induce what appeared to be two forms of sensitization during tail-flick testing in pentobarbital anesthetized rats (Baldwin & Cannon, 1996). First, there was a moderate reduction tail-flick latency that appeared rapidly throughout the length of the tail.  Second, after some delay, a robust sensitization emerged at the tail spot that received the suprathreshold stimulus.  Several labs have begun to examine the interactions between systemically administered lidocaine and nociceptive mechanisms (e.g., Abram & Yaksh, 1994; Bittencourt &Takahashi, 1997; Rigon & Takahashi, 1996).  The present study sought to determine the effects of systemic lidocaine on the forms of sensitization that we have been studying.

Thirty-two rats (8/group) were assigned to lidocaine/prolonged, lidocaine/normal, saline/prolonged, or saline/normal conditions.  Animals were anesthetized with pentobarbital (50 mg/kg/ml, i.p.) and maintained by continuous infusion (12 mg/kg/hr, i.p.). The test stimulus was a radiant heat source directed toward the blackened ventral tail surface.  Fifteen baseline latencies were obtained at 1 min intervals from 5 test spots separated by 2 cm.  Lidocaine (20 mg/kg), or a control injection, was given after the 8th trial.  The prolonged test stimulus (7 sec), or normal testing, occured on the 16th trial.  Testing then continued for 30 min.  Surface tail temperatures were recorded for each trial.

Paralleling our earlier work, exposure to a single suprathreshold tail-flick stimulus produced robust sensitization at the stimulated spot.  Lidocaine virtually eliminated this form of sensitization.  Analysis of covariance indicated that this effect was independent of variations in baseline tail-flick latency and tail temperature.   Surprisingly, we did not observe sensitization at tail spots that were not exposed to suprathreshold heating in either saline or lidocaine treated animals.

Effects of Nicotine on the Acquisition and Retention of Eyeblink Classical Conditioning and Word Recall in Smokers

J. Pall, B. Jones, W. Stom, G. Minsavage, & J.M. Coffin
King’s College
To determine if nicotine plays a role in learning and memory in two memory systems among smokers, participants were assigned to one of two groups- smokers who smoked one cigarette immediately prior to testing (SS) and smokers who refrained from smoking (NSS) for two hours prior to testing. A third group of nonsmokers (NS) was included as a second control.  All participants were then simultaneously tested on eyeblink classical conditioning (EBCC) and verbal learning. The verbal learning task consisted of 25 unrelated words embedded into a silent film. Results were assessed immediately following testing, and after a 48-hour interval, following the same protocol. There was no significant difference in immediate recall and retention of words.  There were significant differences in EBCC performances, specifically the number of trials needed to reach the criterion of 8/9 CRs.  Retention of EBCC among SS as compared to NSS and NS was significantly different. SS required fewer trials to reach criterion during the retest. The results suggest that nicotine may consolidate newly acquired implicit learning.

A Multidimensional Self-Destructiveness Scale to Assess Maladaptive and Risky Behaviors and Beliefs in Young Adults

Carl R. Persing & Connie Schick
Bloomsburg University

Based on CDC statistics, the number one mortality risk for 15 to 45 year old Americans is accidental death (Ventura, Anderson, Martin, & Smith, 1998). Many deaths and injuries occur because of risky and self-defeating behaviors stemming from maladaptive beliefs and illusions of invulnerability (Weinstein & Klein, 1996). We have developed a multidimensional self-destructiveness scale which we hope will assist counselors in assessment, treatment, and prevention of this problem. This 65-item scale has 17 factors, or subscales: despondency, hopelessness, sexual permissiveness, antisocial drinking, dangerous drinking, attempts to control alcoholism, excessive exercising, disordered eating, relationship obsession, brooding anger, frustrated anger, hostility/cynicism, thrill seeking, conformity, social dependency, demandingness, and asceticism. These subscales were derived, using factor analysis, from 252 questionnaire items completed by 754 White, never married undergraduates (553, women, 201 men; aged 17-23). A second study is currently investigating the relationships of these factors to demographics, drinking and sexual habits, and personality traits (e.g., NEO-PI, attachment style).

Christie Piedmont, Joanne Riolo, Steve Lukasik, Michael E. Oakes & Carole S. Slotterback
University of Scranton

Attitudes between males and females have been known to differ on nutritional views and food preferences.  Different nutritional practices have also been noted in males and females.  Given that males and females appear to have different attitudes and practices regarding nutrition, would an appetizer effect (which increases appetite) produce differential responses between men and women?  This study represents a first attempt to determine the influence of gender on the appetizer effect. One hundred and forty-nine undergraduate students (NFemale= 93 & NMale= 56) in introductory psychology classes at a medium-sized, Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) university participated in this study.  The age range of the sample was from 18 to 45 (MAge= 19.83, s= 4.32).  In the present study, we tried to find the appetizer effect by giving candy with surveys on hunger, as well as giving candy approximately ten minutes before the surveys on hunger to determine which condition was more effective at producing the appetizer effect. In contrast to Lambert et al. (1991-92), the morsel of chocolate we gave did not increase hunger for chocolate.  Additionally, we found that women who received the candy showed decreased hunger for fruits and vegetables (compared to controls).  Our findings are more compatible with the old adage that eating something before a meal will spoil your appetite for more nutritious food (at least, for women).

What You Don't Know About Aging May Make You Anxious

Lora A. Polowczuk & Carole S. Slotterback
University of Scranton

 Much debate has been generated as to whether attitudes about aging are negative or positive, and what kinds of factors influence people's attitudes. The current study attempted to discover how participants viewed their own aging via the use of open-ended statements about aging and older adults, as well as some variables that might influence how people see themselves when they are older through the use of three scales.
The scales used were the Anxiety About Aging Scale (Lasher & Faulkender, 1993), a ranking exercise dealing with losses in later life, and the Facts on Aging Quiz (Palmore, 1981). Approximately 111 unique descriptors were generated by 100 of the subjects for the question "what will you be like when you are older?" Results indicated that the participants viewed their own aging in a positive fashion. The most frequent responses included being energetic/physically active/healthy (34%), involved with family/having grandchildren (47%), and being happy/nice/kind (19%). There were no gender differences in terms of number of descriptors generated. When presented with a list of possible losses and asked to rank them, the subjects placed concerns for loss of independence, loss of health, mobility, thinking skills, and death of a friend as the most serious. Losses concerning gardening, death of a pet, inability to shop alone, inability to climb stairs, and inability to drive a car were ranked as least serious. The Anxiety About Aging Scale found that the less knowledge the person had, the more anxious he or she was on two of the factors, Fear of Old People and Psychological Concerns
 Participants viewed their own aging very positively, and although their anxiety was related to having little knowledge, this did not influence their rosy picture of their future.

Moral Choices and Reasoning of Vocational Rehabilitation Experts

Patricia M. Reavy*, Galen L. Baril, & Sheri Hanson
*Nova Southeastern University & University of Scranton

The objective of this research was to investigate moral development and ethical decision-making in two groups of vocational rehabilitation (VR) experts:  members of the American Board of Vocational Experts (ABVE) and the Certified Disability Management Specialists (CDMS).  Two random samples totaling 606 experts were surveyed, 294 ABVE members and 312 CDMS members.  The survey instrument consisted of the Defining Issue Test (DIT) (a widely used measure of Kohlberg’s cognitive moral development [CMD] and of the “utilization” of CMD in determining moral decisions), the Expert Ethical Dilemma Test (EEDT) (a measure of job related ethical decision-making developed specifically for this survey), a series of demographic questions, and a letter explaining the purpose of the study.  The total response rate after one follow-up request was 227 or 37%.
Two predictions based on the results of previous research are confirmed in this study.  First, there is a significant positive correlation (.18)  between CMD and EEDT for the total sample of valid responses (137).  Secondly, this correlation is stronger (.22) for respondents high versus low on utilization (.10).  These results are essentially the same for both the ABVE and CDMS groups.  It was also predicted and found that the ABVE members are higher on the EEDT as well as education, experience, age, proportion of plaintiff work.
Contrary to what was expected, however, the EEDT difference between the two groups persists even after the other differences are statistically partialled out.  In fact, ABVE members were even higher on the EEDT after controlling for education level.  In addition, the ABVE group had the same mean CMD score as the CDMS members rather than higher scores as predicted.  Surprisingly, the ABVE members are significantly below the CMD norm for their educational level (graduate training).

Auditory Perception: A Gibsonian Ecological Perspective

Michael K. Russell
Kutztown University

Traditionally, investigations into auditory perception have held certain assumptions.  The sound signal is assumed to be the sole source of information about source location and distance. Bodily movements, the surrounding environment, and the visual experience of the observers are all assumed to be inconsequential.  One purpose to this presentation is to present an alternate approach, a Gibsonian, ecological approach to auditory perception which considers the sound signal, observers actions, the surrounding environment, and the visual experience of the observer as indispensable to veridical auditory judgments.  Mounting evidence suggests that auditory judgments of sound source location and distance are more accurate when experiments are ecologically designed than if the traditional approach is adhered to.  To highlight the differences of these two approaches, examples of non-ecological and ecological auditory investigations will be presented.  It is further believed that an ecological approach to auditory perception offers the opportunity to extend our conceptions of the way in which sound is used to perceive the world around us.

Effects of Visual Interference on Immediate and Delayed Recall of Words

M. Shirley, J. Marston, C. Merz, B. Jones, & J. M. Coffin
King’s College

To determine if competing visual information interferes with the acquisition and retention of target information in verbal learning, participants were presented with a list of 25 unrelated words in one of two formats: (1) words were embedded in a blank VCR tape and presented for a 500 ms duration, at a variable ITI of 20-30 s (control group) or (2) words were presented as above, but embedded in a silent movie (Charlie Chaplin's City Lights) to create competing visual information (experimental group). Following presentation of the word stimuli, participants were tested on immediate recall and recognition of target words. Following a 48-hour interval, participants were tested for recall and recognition of the target words.  The results suggest that immediate, but not delayed recall of target words was significantly higher when words were presented alone. There was no significant difference in word recognition.

The Relationship between Workplace Demands and Marital Status

Michael Schultz & Catherine Chambliss
Ursinus College

Much research over the past two decades focuses on interactions between individuals’ work and family roles. Some findings suggest a facilitative effect of workplace involvement on family functioning, while others support a competitive model, which casts work and family roles as incompatible and conflicting. Data from a large national poll (Marital Instability over the Life Course, Booth et al., 1998) was used to assess work-related differences between married and divorced adults. Two of 17 workplace variables investigated were found to be significantly associated with marital status. Irregularity of working hours among husbands and overall financial satisfaction were both found to be associated with marital status. A median split on household income was used to create two income groups (high and low income). Respondents in intact marriages were distinguished from those who had divorced without remarrying (non-divorced vs. divorced). Two-way ANOVAs were preformed on several variables presumed to influence a workers’ success in balancing occupational and marital obligations. Only one of the specific work characteristics examined proved to be significantly related to marital status. Among those with low income, married respondents were more likely to state husbands worked irregular hours than divorced respondents. Also, we found that satisfaction with finances differed across both the non-divorced and the divorced groups, and the low and high income groups. As expected, those with intact marriages were more financially satisfied than those who had divorced. Contrary to expectation, a trend suggested that those in the high income group expressed greater dissatisfaction concerning personal finances than those in the low income group. In addition, a significant interaction effect was found, indicating that among those with high income, the divorced respondents were least satisfied with finances. The respondents’ ages, level of education, and overall happiness did not vary significantly across the two income groups.

The Use of Home Videotaped Vignettes in Diagnosing Disorders in Children:
A Preliminary Exploration

Lauren Schuster
Ursinus College

This preliminary project will explore the feasibility of using home videotape vignettes in improving the process of diagnosing children’s behavioral problems.  One of the obstacles in accurately diagnosing children’s disorders involves children’s tendency to behave atypically with strangers.  As  a result, parents are often frustrated by their failure to accurately convey relevant problematic behaviors to diagnosticians.  Videotaping problematic behaviors at home may therefore improve communication between parents and professionals, thus enhancing the diagnostic procedure.

This study assessed whether recurrent symptomatic behaviors appear spontaneously on home videotapes.  Mental health providers-in-training completed the Randolph Questionnaire (Attachment Disorder) and ACTeRS (ADD/ADHD) symptom checklists after viewing videotaped segments of target children.  Their responses to tapes of children without diagnoses and those already diagnosed with mild Attachment Disorder or ADHD were compared.  The diagnosed and undiagnosed cases were matched on the basis of age, sex and situation taped.

The providers-in-training were able to detect a behavioral difference between the diagnosed and undiagnosed children on the revised Attachment scale, the revised ADD/ADHD Hyperactivity and Oppositional scale and the revised ADD/ADHD Attention and Social Skills scale.  Tapes of the diagnosed target children received higher ratings on the revised Attachment scale and lower ratings on the ADD/ADHD Attention and Social Skills scale than tapes depicting undiagnosed children.  On the revised ADD/ADHD Hyperactivity and Oppositional scale a significant sex effect was found. Across diagnosis groups, males were perceived as showing more hyperactive and oppositional symptoms than females.

Early Behavior on the Visual Cliff as a Predictor of Later Spontaneity and Shyness in Social Environments

April Smith
Ithaca College

The study is designed to investigate the interactions among children in a social environment and to examine how these interactions relate to behavior recorded in earlier studies on the visual cliff and three cognitive tests.  Kagan (1988) has found that only stable temperamental characteristic of those he studied was that of behavioral inhibition.  Previous research involving cognitive tests indicates that eight to eleven year old-girls who crossed the visual cliff as infants when a toy was shown are more likely to respond quickly, though with a higher error rate, on the MMFT (Ban, 1998).  Those who had avoided the deep side of the cliff as infants were better able to avoid interference in a Stroop test.  It is hypothesized that those children who crossed the deep side of the visual cliff as infants will be more spontaneous in the social interactions during the study, while children who avoided the deep side of the visual cliff will be more reserved.  In the study, children will be invited to a two hour “party” in groups of 8-10 where they will play games like dance-freeze, making faces into the video camera, and telling everyone about themselves.  The “party” will be videotaped and children’s behaviors will be coded from the tapes.

Grade Inflation: Second Word, Three Syllables

Steven M. Specht
Lebanon Valley College

As evidenced by the rise in the number of citations to "grade inflation" in the literature over the past ten years, academicians appear to be increasingly concerned with potential grade inflation within institutions of higher education. In order to begin to assess and address grade inflation, however, a more complete discussion of the issues must occur at many levels. For example, most discussions of grade inflation only superficially acknowledge the implicit models of grade distributions which are being used for standard comparisons and rarely are such models justified explicitly. In addition, it is commonly assumed that some absolute measure of students' knowledge is available for comparison to their grades. This workshop will stimulate group discussion by presenting various models which might be used in explicitly defining what academicians mean by "grade inflation" and by beginning to address some of the complex issues related to grade inflation.

Ascendance, Extraversion, and Gender Differences in Human Mating Strategies

Brian Stetler
Elizabethtown College

Based on sexual strategy theory, the present study examined the relationship between a person’s gender, level of ascendance, and level extraversion to their preferred and actual number of sexual partners, and ideal time of knowing a potential partner before sexual intercourse.  It was predicted that males prefer greater number of partners than females, that levels of extraversion would correlate positively with desired number of partners and correspond to lower amounts of time before intercourse, while level of ascendance would determine more than extraversion the strength of the relationship between preferred and actual number of partners.  No significant main effects or interactions were found predicting actual number of partners.  No significant main effects were found for gender, ascendance, or extraversion on desired number of sexual partners, although there was a significant interaction between these three variables, in which males who were high in ascendance and low in extraversion preferred the highest number of sexual partners, R=.51697, B =-11.283616, p< .01.  A similar trend approaching significance in the number of expected partners over the next three years, R= .38858, B= 7.230141, p=.0610.  A significant interaction between ascendance and extraversion was found effecting the degree to which actual number of partners over the last three years matched the number of preferred partners over the next three years R=.42235, B=1.504966, p<.05.  For preferred length of time before intercourse, there was a significant main effect for gender, as males were more likely than females to choose intervals of one month or shorter X2-(8, N=87)23.72972, p<.01.

Infant Perception of Transparent Surfaces

Pavitra Sundar, Nancy Rader, & Research Team 04
Ithaca College

The visual cliff apparatus (Gibson and Walk, 1960) has been used by a number of researchers to study perception of a surface of support.  Campos and his associates (Bertenthal & Campos, 1984; Campos, Bertenthal, & Kermoian) have proposed that the avoidance response infants exhibit is a direct function of the child’s crawling experience.  Rader and her associates (Rader, Bausanw, & Richards, 1980; Richards & Rader, 1981, 1983), on the other hand showed that avoidance is dependent on the age of crawling onset or and in not related to experience.  Piazza (1998) recently demonstrated that the presence or absence of reflections on the glass surface of the visual cliff provides an explanation for the difference between Campos’ and Rader’s results.  She found that with reflections present, infants were more likely to treat the transparent surface affording locomotion.  Piazza’s results suggest that the presence of reflections does add an extra element to the visual information available to the infant, and allows awareness of the presence of the transparent surface.  Our study seeks to examine further whether infants use reflections as information specifying the presence or absence of a transparent surface of support.  Infants, 7-9 months of age, view an automated robot walking across a “visual hole”, an illusion of a steep drop-off.  In one condition the glass over the hole is visible due to reflections, while in another the rate is monitored using BIOPAC equipment and a telemetry device.  Split-screen video recordings provide information about the infants’ looking behavior and facial expressions.  The videotaped events and heart rate are synchronized on a second-by-second basis.  It is expected that in the “reflections absent” condition infants will show a change in heart rate and facial expressions as the robot proceeds towards the “visual hole,” and then walks across it.  Testing is currently underway;  results will be reported at the conference.

Attitudes Toward Women and Maternal Employment: A Cross-Cultural and Cross Generation Comparison

Laura Thomas & Catherine Chambliss, Ph.D.
Ursinus College

The purpose of this project was to explore the differences between Japanese and American respondents’ attitudes toward women and maternal employment.  Secondarily, generational and gender differences in both countries were addressed.  Results showed significant nationality, generation, and gender differences in attitudes toward women.  Americans, students, and females all held more egalitarian views as compared to their counterparts.  Significant generation and sex effects were found on the maternal employment Benefits subscale.  Students perceived more benefits associated with maternal employment than their parents did.  Females also perceived more benefits than did the males.  There were significant nationality and sex main effects found on the maternal employment Costs subscale.  Americans perceive fewer costs than the Japanese cohort did, and females perceived fewer costs than did males.  The results indicate a continuing effect of both sex and generation on attitudes toward women and maternal employment.  More importantly, the results also indicate a significant difference in attitudes between the Japanese and Americans respondents.  Understanding this and related differences may facilitate more effective international communication and collaboration.

The Effects of Postsurgical Handling on Fixed-Interval Performance Following Medial Septal Lesions in Rats

Eric M. Truxell
Bloomsburg University

The effects of postoperative handling as an aid in recovery of response inhibition on a fixed-interval (FI) schedule of reinforcement in rats with medial septal lesions was studied.  Twenty-two male albino rats were matched by response rate on preoperative variable interval training into one of four groups: Medial septal non-handled, medial septal handled, control non-handled, and control handled.  After surgery, handled groups were removed from their home cages daily for 10 days and handled by the experimenter for a period of 5 minutes.  After this, rats were placed in an open field container by pairs for a period of 5 minutes to socialize.  Control animals remained in their home cages during these 10 days.
All rats then responded on an FI-60 schedule of reinforcement.  The FI schedule delivers a reinforcement on the first response after the 60 s interval times out.   Rats that learn the schedule respond less following the reinforcer and more at the end of the interval, before the reinforcer is made available.  The index of curvature is a numerical value that indicates the degree of this type of patterning.
The data was analyzed using a 2x2x15 ANOVA.  Rats in all groups significantly improved their index of curvature over the 15 sessions.  A significant interaction was found.  Handling significantly increased the mean index of curvature in the medial septal rats F(1,18) = 5.62, p < .03 and had no effect on the controls F(1,18) = 0.12.  The results suggest that handling may be effective in reducing the emotional reactivity characteristic of a medial septal lesion.

Aldona A. Vainius
Ursinus College

A pilot mentoring program was created to help freshmen adjust to college.  The program was created to investigate the freshman's social development when they were given an upperclassmen as a confidante.  Twenty freshmen were recruited as mentees and twenty upperclassman as mentors.  The freshmen mentees completed surveys measuring social comfortability, social support, social anxiety, moods and loneliness at the beginning and end of the program.  Twenty freshmen who were not in the mentoring program served as the control group.

Components of Embarrassability and Humor Responses

David J. Wimer & Bernard C. Beins
Ithaca College

The present study attempted to answer the question of whether participants who are more likely to feel embarrassment for other people or participants who are more likely to feel embarrassment for themselves will like jokes that feature a victim in a sexual, violent, or non-violent situation.  To find this out, 73 undergraduates were asked to rate a set of 21 jokes that featured victims in the different types of jokes.  Then, the same participants were given an embarrassability scale similar to the scale designed by Modigliani (1966).  This scale determined whether participants were more likely to feel embarrassment for themselves or for others.  I expected that the participants who were more likely to feel embarrassment for others would like the jokes less, but the results indicated the opposite in that participants embarrassed for others gave the jokes higher ratings.  An explanation may be that participants who are embarrassed for themselves are more likely to be self-conscious, and self-conscious individuals may be more likely to feel compassion for others.