Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology clear version in English

SIGNAL DETECTION THEORY Status of Stimulus Observer's Decision Significance level Stimulus is present Yes, there is a sound. This is termed a HIT, because the sound is there and the observer detects it. No, there is no sound. This is termed a MISS, because the sound is there, but the observer fails to detect it. Stimulus is absent Yes, there is a sound. This is termed a FALSE ALARM, because the sound is present, but the observer fails to detect it. No, there is no sound. This is termed CORRECT REJECTION, because the sound is not there, and the observer correctly notes its absence. more Hits, but will also have more False Alarms. Fewer Hits will be associated with fewer False Alarms. As such, Significance level the number of Hits is not a very revealing indicator of A method to describe the reliability of test results. how sensitive a person is; if the person claims to have heard the stimulus on every single trial, then the person will have said “Yes” in every instance in which the stimu- When researchers measure a behavior, they often lus was actually there. This is not very impressive, how- compare groups to determine whether they differ on ever, because the person will also have said “Yes” on that behavior. The ultimate goal is to determine every trial on which there was no stimulus. Psychologists whether the difference would occur if the measure- have used mathematical approaches to determine the sen- ments were administered a second time, or whether the sitivity of an individual for any given pattern of Hits and difference is accidental and not likely to recur. The de- False Alarms; this index of sensitivity is called d’ (called gree of reliability relates to the concept of significance d-prime). A large value of d’ reflects greater sensitivity. level. The significance level refers to how likely it is that an error (that is, a wrong decision about whether The basic idea behind signal detection theory is that the groups differ from one another) would be made. neurons are constantly sending information to the brain, Psychologists generally accept a 5 percent error rate as even when no stimuli are present. This is called neural reasonable. In order to decide whether differences are noise. The level of neural noise fluctuates constantly. reliable, psychologists conduct statistical tests that pro- When a faint stimulus, or signal, occurs, it creates a neural vide a measure of confidence in their conclusions. This response. The brain must decide whether the neural activi- area of statistics is called inferential statistics because ty reflects noise alone, or whether there was also a signal. psychologists draw inferences, or conclusions, about what would happen if they made similar measurements For very intense signals, there is no problem in de- with a different set of subjects. ciding if there was a stimulus because the neural effect of the signal far outweighs the neural effect of the noise. If two similar groups are being measured, then they Similarly, when there is no signal, the nervous system will produce different scores even though the difference does not respond as it does when an outside signal is pre- is not particularly meaningful. If a researcher measures sent, so decisions are easy. On the other hand, for near- how much time students in separate mathematics classes threshold signals, it can be difficult to know whether take to solve a similar problem, the average for those two neural activity results from noise alone or from a signal classes is likely to differ somewhat, even if the two class- plus noise. At this point, the observer makes a decision es consist of students with comparable abilities based on the payoff matrix. Further Reading Further Reading Berman, Simeon M. Mathematical Statistics: An Introduction Goldstein, E.B. Sensation and Perception, 3rd ed. Belmont, Based on the Normal Distribution. Scranton, PA: Intext CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1989. Educational Publishers, 1971. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 591

B. F. Skinner Christensen, Larry B. Experimental Methodology, 5th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1991. D’Amato, M. R. Experimental Psychology: Methodology, Psy- chophysics, and Learning. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970 Elmes, David G. Research Methods in Psychology, 4th ed. St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1992. Kantowitz, Barry H. Experimental Psychology: Understanding Psychological Research, 5th ed. St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1994. Martin, David W. Doing Psychology Experiments, 2nd ed. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1985. B. F. Skinner 1904-1990 American psychologist and advocate of behaviorism. B. F. (Burrhus Frederic) Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. As a youth, he showed tal- ent for music and writing, as well as mechanical apti- tude. He attended Hamilton College as an English major, with the goal of becoming a professional writer. After graduation, Skinner, discouraged over his literary prospects, became interested in behavioristic psychology B. F. Skinner (The Library of Congress. Reproduced with after reading the works of John Watson and Ivan permission.) Pavlov. He entered Harvard University as a graduate stu- dent in psychology in 1928 and received his degree three years later. Skinner remained at Harvard through 1936, troduced the concept of operant conditioning to the pub- by which time he was a junior fellow of the prestigious lic in his first book, The Behavior of Organisms (1938). Society of Fellows. While at Harvard, he laid the founda- Between 1936 and 1948 Skinner held faculty posi- tion for a new system of behavioral analysis through his tions at the University of Minnesota and the University research in the field of animal learning, utilizing unique of Indiana, after which he returned permanently to Har- experimental equipment of his own design. vard. His ideas eventually became so influential that the American Psychological Association created a separate His most successful and well-known apparatus, division of studies related to them (Division 25: “The known as the Skinner Box, was a cage in which a labora- Experimental Analysis of Behavior”), and four journals tory rat could, by pressing on a bar, activate a mecha- of behaviorist research were established. In the 1940s nism that would drop a food pellet into the cage. Another Skinner began training animals to perform complex ac- device recorded each press of the bar, producing a per- tivities by first teaching them chains of simpler ones. He manent record of experimental results without the pres- was quite successful in training laboratory animals to ence of a tester. Skinner analyzed the rats’ bar-pressing perform apparently remarkable and complex activities. behavior by varying his patterns of reinforcement (feed- One example of this involved pigeons that learned to ing) to learn their responses to different schedules (in- play table tennis. cluding random ones). Using this box to study how rats “operated on” their environment led Skinner to formu- Skinner’s observation of the effectiveness of incre- late the principle of operant conditioning—applicable to mental training of animals led him to formulate the prin- a wide range of both human and animal behaviors— ciples of programmed instruction for human students, in through which an experimenter can gradually shape the which the concept of reward, or reinforcement, is funda- behavior of a subject by manipulating its responses mental, and complex subjects such as mathematics are through reinforcement or lack of it. In contrast to broken down into simple components presented in order Pavlovian, or response, conditioning, which depends on of increasing difficulty. Presented with a set of relatively an outside stimulus, Skinner’s operant conditioning de- simple questions, students receive immediate reinforce- pends on the subject’s responses themselves. Skinner in- ment—and thus incentive to continue—by being told that 592 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

their answers were correct. The programmed learning A healthy adult sleeps an average of 7.5 hours each movement became highly influential in the United States night and most people (approximately 95 percent) sleep and abroad. Although this technique eventually came between 6.5 and 8.5 hours. Tracking brain waves with Sleep disorders under criticism by educators advocating more holistic the aid of electroencephalographs (EEGs), researchers methods of instruction, it remains a valuable teaching have identified six stages of sleep (including a pre-sleep tool. Courses and course materials based on it have been stage), each characterized by distinctive brain-wave fre- developed for many subjects, and at levels of difficulty quencies. Stage 0 is the prelude to sleep, which is char- ranging from kindergarten through graduate school. acterized by low amplitude and fast frequency alpha waves in the brain. At this stage, a person becomes re- Skinner’s work was also influential in the clinical laxed, drowsy, and closes their eyes. Stages 1 through 4 treatment of mental and emotional disorders. In the late are sometimes characterized as NREM (non-rapid eye 1940s he began to develop the behavior modification movement) sleep. In Stage 1, the eyes begin to roll and method, in which subjects receive a series of small re- rhythmic alpha waves give way to irregular theta waves wards for desired behavior. Considered a useful tech- that are lower in amplitude and slower in frequency as nique for psychologists and psychiatrists with deeply the person loses responsiveness to stimuli, experiences, disturbed patients, behavior modification has also been fleeting thoughts, and images. In Stage 2, electroen- widely used by the general population in overcoming cephalogram tracings show fast frequency bursts of obesity, shyness, speech defects, addiction to smoking, brain activity called sleep spindles, marked by muscle and other problems. Extending his ideas to the realm of tension and accompanied by a gradual decline in heart philosophy, Skinner concluded that all behavior was the rate, respiration, and temperature. Stages 3 and 4 nor- result of either positive or negative reinforcement, and mally occur 30 to 45 minutes after falling asleep. In thus the existence of free will was merely an illusion. To Stage 3, there are fewer sleep spindles, but high ampli- explore the social ramifications of his behaviorist princi- tude and low frequency delta waves appear. When these ples, he wrote the novel Walden Two (1948), which de- begin to occur more than 50 percent of the time, the picted a utopian society in which all reinforcement was fourth stage of sleep has been entered. Delta waves de- positive. While detractors of this controversial work re- marcate the deepest levels of sleep, when heart rate, res- garded its vision of social control through strict positive piration, temperature, and blood flow to the brain are re- reinforcement as totalitarian, the 1967 founding of the duced and growth hormones are secreted. A person Twin Oaks Community in Virginia was inspired by Skin- roused from Stage 4 sleep will be groggy and confused. ner’s ideas. Skinner elaborated further on his ideas about Altogether, it takes about a half hour to pass through positive social control in his book Beyond Freedom and these four stages of sleep. Dignity (1971), which critiques the notion of human au- tonomy, arguing that many actions ascribed to free will are performed due to necessity. Rapid eye movement (REM sleep), which makes up approximately 20 percent of sleep time, is interspersed Skinner has been listed in The 100 Most Important with NREM sleep every 30 to 40 minutes throughout the People in the World, and in a 1975 survey he was identi- night. It is during REM sleep that dreams are experi- fied as the best-known scientist in the United States. enced. In this state, the same fast frequency, low-ampli- Skinner’s other books include Science and Human Be- tude beta waves that characterize waking states occur, havior (1953) and Verbal Behavior (1957). and a person’s physiological signs—heart rate, breath- See also Behaviorism ing, and blood pressure—also resemble those in a wak- ing state. However, muscle tone decreases to the point of Further Reading paralysis, with sudden twitches, especially in the face Carpenter, Finley. The Skinner Primer: Behind Freedom and and hands. REM periods may last from 15 minutes at the Dignity. New York: Free Press, 1974. beginning of a sleep cycle to one hour at the end of it. Skinner, B.F. Particulars of My Life. New York: Knopf, 1976. Most people complete four to six complete sleep cycles ———. The Shaping of a Behaviorist. New York: Knopf, 1979. each night, with each cycle lasting about 90 minutes. ———. A Matter of Consequences. New York: Knopf, 1983. These cycles vary in composition, however; early in the night most of the time is spent in Stage 3 and 4 sleep, with Stage 2 and REM sleep predominating later on. Sleep patterns also vary in the course of a person’s life. On the average, an infant sleeps about 16 hours a day, in Sleep contrast to a 70-year-old who sleeps only about six A state that suspends the voluntary exercise of bod- hours. While REM sleep comprises about half of total ily functions and consciousness. sleep at birth, it eventually decreases to only 25 percent. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 593

Sleep disorders Sleeping patterns also vary greatly among individuals, aid, although their use has caused some controversy in medical circles. and even among different cultures (in terms of napping, for example). Narcolepsy,a disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable occurrences of sleep, afflicts 100,000 Two theories of sleep, the repair and the adaptive theories, attempt to explain why sleep occurs. In the linked, and may be curable in the future. Individuals af- repair theory, sleep serves a biological need, replenish- people in the United States. This condition is genetically ing key areas of the brain or body which are depleted fected by narcolepsy abruptly enter REM sleep states during the day. The adaptive theory suggests that sleep during the daytime, collapsing and remaining immobile as a function evolved over time because it prevented for a period of time after awakening. Napping and stimu- early humans from wasting energy and exposing them- lants have both been used to treat this condition. Another selves to nocturnal predators, thus aiding in survival. disorder associated with sleep is sudden infant death REM sleep in particular has been thought to serve spe- syndrome (SIDS), in which a healthy baby stops breath- cial functions. Research subjects whose REM sleep ing during sleep, fails to awaken, and suffocates. While was interrupted made up for the loss by spending extra the exact cause of SIDS is unknown, researchers are at- time in the REM stage on successive nights. It has also tempting to identify and save at-risk infants by studying been suggested that REM sleep aids the activity of the relationship between the disorder and sleeping pat- neurons that use the neurotransmitter norepineph- terns. In sleep apnea, a person repeatedly stops breathing rine, thus maintaining waking alertness. Persons de- while asleep but awakes each time. The disrupted sleep prived of REM sleep have shown poorer retention of that results from these multiple awakenings leaves the skills learned during the day, leading to the hypothesis sleeper fatigued and sleepy during the daytime. Night that REM sleep helps in assimilating daytime learning terrors are non-REM dream experiences from which the experiences. sleeper never fully awakes and which he or she does not recall upon awakening. This condition mostly occurs in As with many other physiological processes, sleep is children and can be treated with hypnosis or medication linked to a 24-hour circadian rhythm and affected by sig- in severe cases. nals such as light and dark. The effects of disrupting the sleep-wake cycle can be seen in jet lag, which is charac- See also Sleep Disorders. terized by fatigue, irritability, lack of alertness, and sleeping problems. A person affected by jet lag feels like sleeping at the wrong times of day. It has been found that the body maintains a circadian sleep-wake rhythm even in the absence of external cues like lightness and dark- Sleep disorders ness, although research subjects deprived of such cues Chronic disturbances in the quantity or quality of eventually adopt a 25-hour “day.” The “internal clock” sleep that interfere with a person’s ability to func- that maintains this pattern is a section of the brain called tion normally. the supra chiasmatic nucleus (SCN), located in the hypo- thalamus. An estimated 15 percent of Americans have chronic sleep problems, while about 10 percent have occasional Various disorders interfere with sleep. The most trouble sleeping. Sleep disorders are listed among the common is insomnia, the inability to fall asleep or stay clinical syndromes in Axis I of the American Psychiatric asleep. Nearly one-third of all Americans are affected Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Men- by some degree of insomnia. Often associated with tal Disorders. They may be either primary (unrelated to mental distress, insomnia is treated with medication, any other disorder, medical or psychological) or sec- psychotherapy,relaxation techniques, or a combination ondary (the result of physical illness, psychological dis- of these methods. The medications most commonly pre- orders such as depression, drug or alcohol use, stress,or scribed are benzodiazepines (Valium, Halcyon, Restoril) lifestyle factors, such as jet lag). and barbiturates. While they alleviate insomnia in the short run, these drugs interfere with normal sleep pat- The Association for Sleep Disorders Centers has terns, and can lead to increased tolerance and depen- divided sleep problems into four categories. The first dence. Researchers and clinicians have had success and most common is insomnia (Disorders of Initiating treating insomnia with the hormone melatonin, a natu- and Maintaining Sleep). In insomnia, sleep loss is so rally occurring substance related to sleep onset and se- severe that it interferes with daytime functioning and creted by the pineal gland. Melatonin supplements first well-being. Three types of insomnia have been identi- became available in American health food stores in fied (although a single person can have more than one): 1993 and have become increasingly popular as a sleep sleep-onset insomnia (difficulty falling asleep); sleep- 594 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

A patient suffering from acute sleep apnea is hooked up to monitors in preparation for a night’s sleep at a Stanford University Sleep sleep lab. (Photo by Russell D. Curtis. National Audubon Society Collection/ Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced by permission.) maintenance insomnia (difficulty staying asleep); and medications such as steroids, thyroid medications, and terminal insomnia (waking early and not being able to certain antihypertensive drugs. go back to sleep). While insomnia can occur at any Many people take medications for insomnia, rang- stage of life, it becomes increasingly common as peo- ing from over-the-counter preparations (which are ba- ple get older. sically antihistamines) to prescription drugs including barbiturates and benzodiazepines. The American Sleep Some cases of insomnia are thought to be caused by Disorders Association recommends benzodiazepines (a abnormalities in the part of the brain that controls sleep- class of drugs that includes Valium and Restoril) over ing and waking. However, insomnia commonly has a barbiturates and other sedatives, although only for lim- wide variety of non-neurological causes, including ited use to treat temporary insomnia or as a supple- stress, physical pain,irregular hours, and psychological ment to psychotherapy and other treatments for disorders. Temporary acute insomnia related to a major chronic insomnia. Benzodiazepines can lead to toler- event or crisis can turn chronic if a person becomes over- ance and addiction, and withdrawal can actually wors- ly anxious about sleep itself and is unable to return to his en insomnia. People who take sleeping pills for two or her normal sleep pattern. Called learned or behavioral weeks or more and then quit are likely to experience a insomnia, this problem troubles about 15 percent of peo- rebound effect that can disrupt their sleep for a period ple who seek professional help. In about 30 percent of of up to several weeks. cases, an underlying psychological disorder—often de- pression—is responsible for insomnia. Disorders that A variety of behavioral treatments are available for can cause insomnia include anxiety disorders (such as insomnia which, when practiced consistently, can be as post-traumatic stress disorder), obsessive-compulsive effective as medication without side effects or withdrawal disorder, and schizophrenia. Normal sleep may be dis- symptoms. Different types of relaxation therapy, includ- rupted by a variety of substances, including caffeine, ing progressive muscle relaxation, hypnosis, meditation, nicotine, alcohol, appetite suppressants, and prescription and biofeedback, can be taught through special classes, GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 595

Sleep audiotapes, or individual sessions. Cognitive therapy fo- rhythm disorders because they interfere with the 24-hour biological clock that regulates many bodily processes. cuses on deflecting anxiety-producing thoughts and be- haviors at bedtime. Stimulus control therapy is based on People with these disorders have trouble adhering to the the idea that people with learned insomnia have become sleep-wake schedule required by their job or environ- conditioned to associate their beds with wakefulness. Per- ment, often due to shift work or jet lag. However, some sons involved in this type of therapy are not allowed to persons suffer from delayed or advanced sleep onset remain in bed at night if they can not fall asleep; they are problems with no external aggravating factor. Exposure instructed to go to another room and engage in a non- to bright lights and chronotherapy, a technique for reset- stressful activity until they become sleepy. In the morn- ting one’s biological clock, have been effective in the ing, they must arise at a set hour no matter how much or treatment of some circadian rhythm disorders. little sleep they have had the night before. Finally, sleep Parasomnias, the final category of sleep disorder, in- restriction therapy consists of limiting one’s hours in bed volve unusual phenomena—nightmares, sleep terrors, to the average number of hours one has generally been and sleepwalking—that occur during sleep or during the sleeping and then gradually increasing them. period between sleeping and waking. Nightmare and The second category of sleep disorder is hypersom- sleep terror disorders are similar in that both occur main- nia, or Disorders of Excessive Somnolence. People affect- ly in children and involve frightening nighttime awaken- ed by any type of hypersomnia report abnormal degrees of ings (in the case of sleep terrors, the person is awakened sleepiness, either at night or in the daytime. While the from non-REM sleep by feelings of agitation that can most common causes are sleep apnea and narcolepsy,hy- last for up to 10 minutes). Both are often outgrown but persomnia may also be caused by physical illness, med- may be treated with psychotherapy, low-dose benzodi- ications, withdrawal from stimulants, or other psychologi- azepines, and, in the case of nightmare disorder, relax- cal disorders. Sleep apnea consists of disrupted breathing ation training. Sleepwalking occurs during the deep non- which wakens a person repeatedly during the night. REM sleep of stages three and four and is also most Though unaware of the problem while it is occurring, peo- common in children, who tend to outgrow it after the age ple with sleep apnea are unable to get a good night’s sleep of 12. It is also more common among males than fe- and feel tired and sleepy during the day. The condition is males. The greatest danger posed by sleepwalking is in- generally caused either by a physical obstruction of the jury through falls or other mishaps. upper airway or an impairment of the brain’s respiration control centers. Common treatment methods include Other features of parasomnias include bruxism weight loss (obesity is a risk factor for the condition), re- (teeth grinding) and enuresis (bedwetting). Both are fraining from sleeping on one’s back, and medications that often stress-related, although enuresis may also be reduce rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. A technique caused by genitourinary disorders, neurological distur- called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) pushes bances, or toilet training problems. Bruxism may be re- air into the sleeper’s throat all night through a small mask, lieved through relaxation techniques or the use of a cus- preventing the airway from collapsing. In addition, a sur- tom-made oral device that discourages grinding or at gical procedure is available that modifies the upper airway least prevents tooth damage. Enuresis often responds to to allow for freer breathing. the medication imipramine (Tofranil) and various behav- ior modification techniques. A parasomnia only identi- The other main type of hypersomnia is narcolepsy— fied within the past decade is REM sleep behavior disor- sudden attacks of REM sleep during waking hours. der. Those affected by this condition—usually middle- Many narcoleptics experience additional symptoms in- aged or older men—engage in vigorous and bizarre cluding cataplexy (a sudden loss of muscle tone while in physical activities during REM sleep in response to a conscious state), hallucinations and other unusual per- dreams, which are generally of a violent, intense nature. ceptual phenomena, and sleep paralysis, an inability to As their actions may injure themselves or their sleeping move for several minutes upon awakening. Between partners, this disorder, thought to be neurological in na- 200,000 and 500,000 Americans are affected by nar- ture, has been treated with hypnosis and medications in- colepsy, which is caused by a physiological brain dys- cluding clonazepam and carbamazepine. function that can be inherited or develop after trauma to the brain from disease or injury. Treatments include Further Reading stimulants to combat daytime sleepiness, tricyclic anti- Hales, Dianne R. The Complete Book of Sleep: How Your depressants to suppress REM sleep, and other medica- Nights Affect Your Days. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley tions to control cataplexy. Longman, 1981. Disorders of the Sleep-Wake Schedule—the third Lamberg, Lynne. The American Medical Association Guide to type of sleep disturbance—are also called circadian Better Sleep. New York: Random House, 1984. 596 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

in females or signal a male that a female is in a sexually Smell receptive state. Although the existence of human pheromones has not been verified, olfaction still plays a The sense that perceives odor by means of the nose and olfactory nerve. role in human sexual attraction, as well as in parenting. Social competence Mothers can usually identify their newborn infants by smell, and breast-feeding babies can distinguish between Olfaction is one of the two chemical senses: smell the smell of their mothers and that of other breast-feed- and taste. Both arise from interaction between chemical ing women. Researchers have also found that children and receptor cells. In olfaction, the chemical is volatile, are able to recognize their siblings by smell and parents or airborne. Breathed in through the nostrils or taken in can use smell to distinguish among their own children. via the throat by chewing and swallowing, it passes However, as people age the sense of smell diminishes, through either the nose or an opening in the palate at the especially for men. By age 80, many men have almost no back of the mouth, and moves toward receptor cells lo- ability to detect odors. The intensity of a particular odor cated in the lining of the nasal passage. As the chemical is strongly affected by adaptation. Odors may become moves past the receptor cells, part of it is absorbed into undetectable after only a brief period of exposure. The the uppermost surface of the nasal passages called the ol- sense of smell also plays an important role in the dis- factory epithelium, located at the top of the nasal cavity. crimination of flavors, a fact demonstrated by the re- There, two one-inch-square patches of tissue covered duced sense of taste in people with colds. The enjoyment with mucus dissolve the chemical, stimulating the recep- of food actually comes more from odors detected by the tors, which lie under the mucus. The chemical molecules olfactory system than from the functioning of the taste bind to the receptors, triggering impulses that travel to system. The olfactory and gustatory (taste) pathways are the brain. There are thousands of different receptors in known to converge in parts of the brain, although it is not the cells of the nasal cavity that can detect as many as known exactly how the two systems work together. 10,000 different odors. Each receptor contains hair-like While an aversion to certain flavors (such as bitter fla- structures, or cilia, which are probably the initial point of vors) is innate, associations with odors are learned. contact with olfactory stimuli. Research suggests that the sensitivity of the olfactory system is related to the num- ber of both receptors and cilia. For example, a dog has 20 times as many receptor cells as a human and over 10 times as many cilia per receptor. Social competence The cribriform plate forms the roof of the nasal cav- Mastering the social, emotional, and cognitive ity. The olfactory nerve passes through openings in this skills and behaviors needed to succeed as a mem- bone and ends in the olfactory bulb, a neural structure at ber of society. the base of the brain. From there, olfactory signals are diffused throughout the brain to areas including the Social competence refers to the social, emotional, amygdala, hippocampus, pyriform cortex (located at the and cognitive skills and behaviors that children need for base of the temporal lobe), and the hypothalamus. Ol- successful social adaptation. Despite this simple defini- faction is the only sense that does not involve the thala- tion, social competence is an elusive concept, because mus. Olfaction messages are especially intensive in the the skills and behaviors required for healthy social devel- amygdala, a part of the brain responsible for emotions, opment vary with the age of the child and with the de- which may help the unusual power of certain smells to mands of particular situations. A socially competent trigger emotions and recollections based on memories preschool child behaves in a much different manner than from the past. Further, a person’s reaction to smell is me- a socially competent adolescent; conversely, the same diated by context. For example, the same smell present behaviors (e.g., aggression, shyness) have different im- in body odor is responsible for the flavor of cheese. In plications for social adaptation depending upon the age the first case, the smell is perceived as negative, in the of the child and the particulars of the social context. second, it is positive. In humans, olfaction intensifies the taste of food, warns of potentially dangerous food, as A child’s social competence depends upon a number well as other dangers (such as fire), and triggers associa- of factors including the child’s social skills, social tions involving memory and emotion. Olfaction is an awareness, and self-confidence. Social skills is a term especially important sense in many animals. A predator used to describe the child’s knowledge of, and ability to may use it to detect prey, while prey may use it to avoid use, a variety of social behaviors that are appropriate to a predators. It also has a role in the mating process through given interpersonal situation and that are pleasing to oth- chemicals called pheromones, which can cause ovulation ers in each situation. The capacity to inhibit egocentric, GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 597

Social competence impulsive, or negative social behavior is also a reflection nities to learn about reciprocity and intimacy. These skills are associated with effective interpersonal rela- of a child’s social skills. The term emotional intelli- tions in adult life, including relations with co-workers gence refers to the child’s ability to understand others’ and with romantic partners. emotions, perceive subtle social cues, “read” complex social situations, and demonstrate insight about others’ When children experience serious difficulties in the motivations and goals. Children who have a wide reper- toire of social skills and who are socially aware and per- petencies may be threatened. Rejection or victimization ceptive are likely to be socially competent. Social com- domain of peer relations, the development of social com- by peers may become a source of significant stress to petence is the broader term used to describe a child’s so- children, contributing to feelings of loneliness and low cial effectiveness—a child’s ability to establish and self-esteem. In addition, peer rejection can escalate in a maintain high quality and mutually satisfying relation- negative developmental spiral. That is, when children ships and to avoid negative treatment or victimization with poor social skills become rejected, they are often from others. In addition to social skills and emotional in- excluded from positive interactions with peers—interac- telligence,factors such as the child’s self-confidence or tions that are critical for the learning of social skills. Re- social anxiety can affect his/her social competence. So- jected children typically have fewer options in terms of cial competence can also be affected by the social con- play partners and friends than do accepted children. Ob- text and the extent to which there is a good match be- servations of rejected children have revealed that they tween the child’s skills, interests, and abilities and those spend more time playing alone and interacting in smaller of the other children in his/her environment. For exam- groups than their more popular peers. In addition, the ple, a quiet and studious boy may appear socially incom- companions of rejected children tend to be younger or petent in a peer group full of raucous athletes, but may more unpopular than the companions of accepted chil- do fine socially if a better peer group “niche” can be dren. Exclusion from a normal peer group can deprive found for him, such as a group of peers who share his in- rejected children of opportunities to develop adaptive so- terests in quiet games or computers. cial behaviors. Hence, the social competence deficits of rejected children may increase over time, along with Importance of social competence feelings of social anxiety and inadequacy. Whereas parents are the primary source of social and emotional support for children during the first Social competence deficits and peer years of life, in later years peers begin to play a signifi- rejection cant complementary and unique role in promoting child Many children experience difficulties getting along social-emotional development. Increasingly with age, with peers at some point during their youth. Sometimes peers rather than parents become preferred compan- these problems are short-lived and for some children the ions, providing important sources of entertainment and effects of being left out or teased by classmates are tran- support. In the context of peer interactions, young chil- sitory. For other children, however, being ignored or re- dren engage in fantasy play that allows them to assume jected by peers may be a lasting problem that has life- different roles, learn to take another person’s perspec- long consequences, such as a dislike for school, poor tive, and develop an understanding of the social rules self-esteem, social withdrawal, and difficulties with adult and conventions of their culture. In addition, relation- relationships. ships with peers typically involve more give-and-take than relationships with adults, and thus provide an op- Considerable research has been undertaken to try to portunity for the development of social competencies understand why some children experience serious and such as cooperation and negotiation. During adoles- long-lasting difficulties in the area of peer relations. To cence, peer relations become particularly important for explore factors leading to peer difficulties, researchers children. A key developmental task of adolescence is typically employ the sociometric method to identify chil- the formation of an identity—a sense of the kind of dren who are or are not successful with peers. In this person you are and the kind of person you want to be. method, children in a classroom or a group are asked to Adolescents “try on” different social roles as they inter- list children who they like most and those who they like act with peers, and peers serve as a social “stepping least. Children who receive many positive (“like most”) stone” as adolescents move away from their emotional nominations and few negative (“like least”) nominations dependence upon their parents and toward autonomous are classified as”popular;” those who receive few posi- functioning as an adult. In many ways, then, childhood tive and few negative nominations are designated”ne- peer relations serve as “training grounds” for future in- glected,” and those who receive few positive and many terpersonal relations, providing children with opportu- negative nominations are classified as”rejected.” 598 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Evidence compiled from studies using child inter- ent” about them that sets them apart from other children. views, direct observations, and teacher ratings all sug- When children are shy in the classroom and ignored by gest that popular children exhibit high levels of social classmates, becoming classified as “neglected,” it does not competence. They are friendly and cooperative and en- necessarily indicate deficits in social competence. Many Social competence gage readily in conversation. Peers describe them as neglected children have friendships outside of the class- helpful, nice, understanding, attractive, and good at room setting, and their neglected status is simply a reflec- games. Popular and socially competent children are able tion of their quiet attitude and low profile in the classroom. to consider others’ perspectives, can sustain their atten- Developmentally, peer neglect is not a very stable classifi- tion to the play task, and are able to “keep their cool” in cation, and many neglected children develop more confi- situations involving conflict. They are agreeable and dence as they move into classrooms with more familiar or have good problem-solving skills. Socially competent more compatible peers. However, some shy children are children are also sensitive to the nuances of “play eti- highly anxious socially, and uncomfortable around peers in quette.” They enter a group using diplomatic strategies, many situations. Shy, passive children who are actively dis- such as commenting upon the ongoing activity and ask- liked and rejected by classmates often become teased and ing permission to join in. They uphold standards of equi- victimized. These children often do have deficits in core ty and show good sportsmanship, making them good areas of social competence that have a negative impact on companions and fun play partners. their social development. For example, many are emotion- ally dependent on adults, and immature in their social be- Children who have problems making friends, those havior. They may be inattentive, moody, depressed, or who are either “neglected” or “rejected” sociometrically, emotionally volatile, making it difficult for them to sustain often show deficits in social skills. One of the most com- positive play interactions with others. mon reasons for friendship problems is behavior that annoys other children. Children, like adults, do not like The long-term consequences of sustained peer rejec- behavior that is bossy, self-centered, or disruptive. It is tion can be quite serious. Often, deficits in social compe- simply not fun to play with someone who doesn’t share tence and peer rejection coincide with other emotional or doesn’t follow the rules. Sometimes children who and behavioral problems, including attention deficits, ag- have learning problems or attention problems can have gression, and depression. The importance of social com- trouble making friends, because they find it hard to un- petence and satisfying social relations is life-long. Stud- derstand and follow the rules of games. Children who get ies of adults have revealed that friendship is a critical angry easily and lose their temper when things don’t go source of social support that protects against the negative their way can also have a hard time getting along with effects of life stress. People with few friends are at ele- others. Children who are rejected by peers often have vated risk for depression and anxiety. difficulties focusing their attention and controlling their Childhood peer rejection predicts a variety of diffi- behavior. They may show high rates of noncompliance, culties in later life, including school problems, mental interference with others, or aggression (teasing or fight- health disorders, and antisocial behavior. In fact, in one ing). Peers often describe rejected classmates as disrup- study, peer rejection proved to be a more sensitive pre- tive, short-tempered, unattractive, and likely to brag, to dictor of later mental health problems than school start fights, and to get in trouble with the teacher. records, achievement, and IQ scores or teacher ratings. Not all aggressive children are rejected by their It appears, then, that positive peer relations play an peers. Children are particularly likely to become rejected important role in supporting the process of healthy social if they show a wide range of conduct problems, includ- and emotional development. Problematic peer relations ing disruptive, hyperactive, and disagreeable behaviors are associated with both concurrent and future maladjust- in addition to physical aggression. Socially competent ment of children, and hence warrant serious attention from children who are aggressive tend to use aggression in a parents and professionals working with children. When way that is accepted by peers (e.g., fighting back when assessing the possible factors contributing to a child’s so- provoked), whereas the aggressive acts of rejected chil- cial difficulties and when planning remedial interventions, dren include tantrums, verbal insults, cheating, or tat- it is important to understand developmental processes as- tling. In addition, aggressive children are more likely to sociated with social competence and peer relations. be rejected if they are hyperactive, immature, and lack- ing in positive social skills. Developmental changes and social Children can also have friendship problems because competence they are very shy and feel uncomfortable and unsure of themselves around others. Sometimes children are ignored The key markers of social competence listed in the or teased by classmates because there is something “differ- previous section are remarkably consistent across the de- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 599

Social competence velopmental periods of the preschool years, middle lishment of close, best friendships is an important devel- opmental milestone. That is, in addition to gaining accep- childhood, and adolescence. Across these developmental tance from a group of peers, one of the hallmarks of so- periods, prosocial skills (friendly, cooperative, helpful behaviors) and self-control skills (anger management, cial competence is the ability to form and maintain satis- negotiation skills, problem-solving skills) are key facets fying close friendships. Many of the positive characteris- of social competence. In addition, however, developmen- tics that promote popularity (such as cooperativeness, tal changes occur in the structure and quality of peer in- dren in developing and maintaining friendships. Friend- teractions which affect the complexity of skills con- friendliness, and consideration for others) also assist chil- tributing to social competence. That is, as children grow, ships emerge when children share similar activities and their preferences for play change, and the thinking skills interests and, in addition, when they develop a positive and language skills that provide a foundation for social and mutual bond between them. Group acceptance and competence also change. Hence, the kinds of interac- close friendships follow different timetables and serve tions that children have with peers change qualitatively different developmental functions, with the need for and quantitatively with development. group acceptance emerging during the early grade school years and filling a need for belonging, and the need for The ways in which children spend their time togeth- close friends emerging in preadolescence to meet new- er, for example, changes with development. During the found needs for affection, alliance, and intimacy outside preschool years, social competence involves the ability to the family. Key features of close friendships are reciproc- separate from parents and engage with peers in shared ity and similarity, mutual intimacy, and social support. play activities, particularly fantasy play. As preschool children are just learning to coordinate their social behav- A third major shift in the complexity of peer rela- ior, their interactions are often short and marked by fre- tions involves the changing role of cliques and crowds. quent squabbles, and friendships are less stable than at Grade school children often have little conception of peer later developmental stages. In addition, physical rough- groups. For example, when we interviewed fifth graders and-tumble play is common, particularly among boys. and asked them about groups at their school, a typical reply was, “what do you mean, reading groups?” In con- By grade school, children begin to develop an inter- trast, by eighth grade, children had distinct ideas about est in sports, structured board games, and group games groups at their school, responding to our questions with with complex sets of rules. Being able to understand and labels such as”the jocks, the brains, the nerds.” The follow game rules and being able to handle competition recognition of cliques and crowds as organizational struc- in appropriate ways (e.g., being a good sport) become tures of the peer group usually emerges during early ado- important skills for social competence. Children play lescence. In part, the understanding of cliques reflects a primarily in same-sex groups of friends, and expect more cognitive advance, as children in adolescence are able to stability in their friendships. Loyalty and dependability use formal operational thinking to consider abstract ideas become important qualities of good friends. such as “cliques” and apply them to their thinking about During the preadolescent and early adolescent years, peers. In part, the rise of cliques in the organizational communication (including sending notes, calling on the structure of peer groups reflects the structure of American phone, and “hanging out”) becomes a major focus for schools, which typically transition from small elementary peer interactions. Increasingly, social competence in- schools to large middle schools or junior high schools volves the willingness and ability to share thoughts and around sixth or seventh grade. The change in the school feelings with one another, especially for girls. When context has a large impact on the nature of the peer adolescent friends squabble, their conflicts typically cen- group, as the typical middle school or junior high school ter around issues such as gossiping, disclosing secrets, or peer group involves a very large and diverse set of peers. loyalty and perceived betrayal. It is at this stage that In the context of this large group, children associate with friends and romantic partners consistently rival parents smaller networks of familiar classmates. Typically, the as the primary sources of intimacy and social support. grouping into friendship networks takes place on the basis of shared interests, activities, and attitudes. Children In addition to developmental changes in the content in the same friendship networks influence each other in and focus of peer relations, development brings changes matters of dress, behavior, and language, leading to iden- in the structure of peer relations. During the preschool tifiable characteristics of group members that become the and early grade school years, children are primarily fo- basis for group labels (e.g., jocks or brains). cused on group acceptance and having companions to spend time with and play with. However, during the mid- From an emotional standpoint, adolescents are fo- dle to late grade school years, children begin to distin- cused on developing a sense of themselves and in sorting guish “regular” friends from “best” friends. The estab- out how their identities fit (or do not fit) with the expecta- 600 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

tions of others and the social niches available to them. As panionship and support, the”cost” of such affiliations may a correlate to identity formation, adolescents become be great in terms of their negative influence exacerbating keenly aware of group peer norms and increasingly seek antisocial behavior and attitudes. Preadolescent children to associate with peers and use peer standards to evaluate who form friendships with antisocial peers appear to be at Social competence their own and other’s social behavior. Whereas in grade heightened risk for later antisocial behavior, including school peer status referred to one’s state of acceptance or delinquency, drug use, and school dropout. rejection from the classroom group, by adolescence one’s peer status is complicated by the nature of the various groups toward which one may seek and attain (or be re- Family contributions to social competence fused) membership status. In other words, in addition to Because the family is the primary context for social finding friends, adolescents often worry about their place- development, there are a number of ways in which family ment in the larger social structure of cliques and crowds. interaction patterns may help or hinder the development The increased level of social awareness and self- of children’s social competence. Some researchers have consciousness that accompanies the advanced social rea- speculated that the origins of social competence can be soning of adolescence and the increased importance that found in infancy, in the quality of the parent-child at- adolescents place on peer acceptance may strengthen tachment relationship. Studies have shown that babies the impact of perceived peer rejection on emotional ad- whose parents are consistent and sensitive in their re- justment and self-concept. Social ostracism or self-im- sponses to distress are less irritable, less anxious, and bet- posed isolation my also become a more important deter- ter emotionally regulated. By contrast, parents who are minant of peer rejection during adolescence than at inconsistent and insensitive to their infants’ signals are younger ages. more likely to have anxious, irritable babies who are dif- ficult to soothe. These children may learn both to model At all ages, the treatment a child receives from peers their parents’ insensitivity and to rely on intrusive, de- may influence his or her social adaptation. Once rejected manding behavior of their own in order to get attention. If by peers, disliked children may find themselves excluded they then generalize these socially incompetent behaviors from peer activities and exposed to ostracism, or more se- to their peer interactions, peer rejection may result. verely to victimization by peers. Peers may develop nega- tively biased attitudes and expectations for rejected chil- As children get older, family interaction styles and dren and treat these children differently (with more coun- the ways in which parents discipline may play a primary teraggression and hostility) than they treat their well-ac- role in the development of noncompliant or aggressive cepted peers. Children who are particularly stressed by behaviors in children. In families where parents are ex- the academic demands of school, such as those aggres- tremely demanding and use inconsistent, harsh, and sive-rejected children with attentional deficits or hyperac- punitive discipline strategies, family interaction patterns tive behaviors, may be at increased risk for negative inter- are frequently characterized by escalation and conflict, actions with teachers and peers. Over time, teachers tend and children often exhibit behavior problems. When to become less positive and less contingent in their reac- children generalize the aggressive and oppositional be- tions to these problematic students, decreasing their ef- havior that they have learned at home to their interac- fectiveness at managing social behavior. tions with peers, other children often reject them. In- deed, research has revealed that aggressive behavior is During the preadolescent and later adolescent years, the common link between harsh, inconsistent discipline the combination of ostracism from conventional peer and rejection by peers. groups and the evolution of peer group cliques and crowds can be problematic for rejected children. That is, adoles- By contrast, parents of popular children are typical- cents who feel pushed out of the conventional peer groups ly more positive and less demanding with their children may begin to affiliate with defiant peers. As cliques of de- than parents of unpopular children. In addition, parents viant peers form in adolescence, these groups may begin of popular children “set a good example” by modeling to exert a strong influence on children, shaping their atti- appropriate social interactions, and assist their children tudes and social behaviors and increasing the likelihood of by arranging opportunities for peer interaction, carefully future antisocial and deviant behavior. Particularly in ado- supervising these experiences, and providing helpful lescence, youth turn to their peer groups for guidance in feedback about conflict resolution and making friends. matters of dress code, social behavior, social attitudes, and identity formation. In peer networks containing many Child characteristics and social competence members who exhibit high rates of aggression, group norms are likely to be accepting of aggression. Hence, al- In addition to family interaction patterns and vari- though affiliations with deviant peers may provide com- ous aspects of the parent-child relationship, children’s GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 601

Social competence own thoughts, feelings, and attitudes may influence only increases the frustrations and helplessness experi- enced by aggressive, disruptive children. their social behavior. Research has revealed that many rejected children make impulsive, inaccurate, and in- Second, children who are actively disliked, teased, complete judgments about how to behave in social situ- or ostracized by peers are at more risk than children who ations and are lacking in social problem-solving skills. are simply ignored. It is not necessary for a child to be They may make numerous errors in processing social information, including misinterpretation of other peo- When children are ignored by peers and are neither dis- ple’s motives and behavior, setting social goals for popular in order to gain the advantages of peer support. liked nor liked, teachers and parents can take steps to themselves that are unrealistic or inappropriate, and foster friendship development and peer support. When making poor decisions about their own conduct in social children are actively disliked by peers and the victims of situations. For example, aggressive children are more teasing or ostracism, the task is harder for parents and likely to interpret an accidental push or bump from a teachers and the likelihood of the child reestablishing peer as intentionally hostile, and respond accordingly. positive peer relations without help is slimmer. Similarly, socially incompetent children are often more interested in “getting even” with peers for injustices Third, the stability and chronicity of peer problems than they are in finding positive solutions to social prob- should be considered. It is not unusual for children to ex- lems, and expect that aggressive, coercive strategies will perience short-term social difficulties when they are lead to desired outcomes. moving into new peer situations, such as a new school or Many children who are rejected by peers have lower a new classroom. Peer problems may also emerge if chil- self-esteem, feel lonelier, and are more dissatisfied with dren are distressed about other changes in their lives, their social situations than are average or popular chil- such as a reaction to parental conflict or the birth of a dren. These feelings can cause them to give up and avoid sibling. When peer problems emerge at a time that corre- social situations, which can in turn exacerbate their peer sponds to other family or situational changes, they may problems. Interestingly, not all rejected children feel serve as signals to let parents and teachers know that the badly about their social difficulties. Studies have shown child needs extra support at that time. When peer prob- that aggressive-rejected children, who tend to blame out- lems have been stable and have existed for a long time, side factors for their peer problems, are less likely to ex- more extensive intervention focused on improving peer press distress than withdrawn-rejected children, who relations may be needed. often attribute their problems to themselves. There is a variety of methods available for the as- sessment of social competence. When choosing a particu- Assessing social competence lar assessment strategy, it is important to consider the na- ture of a particular child’s problem. Some children have There is an important difference between not being difficulty with all types of social relationships, while oth- “popular” and having friendship problems. Some chil- ers do well in their neighborhoods or in one-on-one dren are outgoing and have many friends. Other children friendships but experience problems with the peer group are quite content with just a good friend or two. Either at school. When problems occur in the school setting, one of these friendship patterns is fine. Distinguishing teachers and other school personnel who have opportuni- “normative” friendship problems from problematic peer ties to see children interacting in several peer group situa- relations that signal serious deficits in social competence tions (such as the classroom, playground, and lunchroom) is an important goal of assessment. There are several key are often the best first step in assessment. Teachers can signs that a child’s peer difficulties may be more serious often provide information about how children treat and and long-lasting rather than temporary. First, the nature are treated by peers, and can also offer opinions about of the child’s social behavior is important. If children be- how typical or unusual a child’s peer problems are rela- have aggressively with peers, act bossy and domineer- tive to others of the same age. Teacher assessments can ing, or are disruptive and impulsive at school, they are include behavioral checklists and rating scales and direct more likely to have stable and long-lasting peer difficul- observations of specific social behaviors. ties than are children who are simply shy. Children who display aggressive or disruptive behavior often have Similarly, parents can also provide information about many discouraging experiences at school, including dis- children’s social competence. Parents can help to identify cipline problems and learning difficulties as well as poor problem behaviors such as aggression, withdrawal, and peer relations. School adjustment can be a downhill slide noncompliance that may interfere with social skills. In for these children as teachers may get discouraged and addition, parents are usually more aware than teachers of peers may get angered by their behaviors. Peers may at- their children’s social activities outside of school, such as tempt to “get back” at these children by teasing, which their participation in sports, clubs, or hobbies. 602 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Because they do not have access to the full range of problem, the reasons for the friendship problem—all of situations in which children interact, however, teachers these may affect the development of the helping strategy. and parents may not always be the best source of infor- One strategy involves social skill training. Observa- mation on children’s peer problems. In some cases, it is Social competence tions have revealed that children who are well-liked by most helpful to get information directly from peers peers typically show helpful, courteous, and considerate themselves. One method of obtaining such information behavior. The purpose of social skill training is to help is the use of sociometric ratings and nominations. With unpopular children learn to treat their peers in positive these procedures, all of the children in a classroom are ways. The specific skills taught in different programs asked to rate how much they like to play with or spend vary depending upon the age and type of child involved. time with each of their classmates. In addition, they Commonly taught skills include helping, sharing, and nominate specific peers with whom they particularly like cooperation. Often children are taught how to enter a or dislike, and may be asked to identify peers who exhib- group, how to be a good group participant, how to be a it particular behavioral characteristics (e.g., nice, aggres- fair player (e.g., following rules, taking turns), and how sive, shy, etc.). The sociometric method, although cum- to have a conversation with peers. The skills might also bersome to administer, identifies children who are popu- include anger management, negotiation, and conflict res- lar, rejected, and neglected by their peers more accurate- olution skills. Problem solving skills (e.g., identifying ly than parent or teacher reports, and provides useful the problem, considering alternative solutions, choosing information about the reasons for peer dislike. a solution and making a plan) are often included in so- A third approach to assessment of social compe- cial skill training programs. Sometimes social skill train- tence involves children’s self-reports. Although input ing is done individually with children, but often it is from parents, teachers, and peers can provide valuable done in a small group. A particular skill concept is dis- insight into children’s social behavior and their status cussed, and children may watch a short film or hear a within the peer group, information regarding children’s story that illustrates the usefulness of the skill. They then thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of their social situa- have the opportunity to practice the skill during activities tions can be obtained only by asking the children them- or role-plays with other children in the group. A trained selves. Depending upon the age of the child, information group leader helps guide the children in their use of the about social competence can be obtained through the use skill and provides support and positive feedback to help of questionnaires and rating scales that measure chil- children become more natural and spontaneous in social- dren’s self-perceptions of their peer relations, the use of ly skillful behavior. stories and hypothetical social situations to elicit infor- mation about the child’s social reasoning, or simply talk- Another intervention strategy focuses on helping ing with children to determine their perspectives on their children who are having trouble getting along with oth- social situations. ers because of angry, aggressive, or bossy behavior. It can be difficult to suppress aggressive and disruptive be- Because children may have different experiences in haviors in peer settings for several reasons. For one different kinds of peer settings and because no one par- thing, these behaviors often “work” in the sense that ticular method of assessment is entirely reliable or com- they can be instrumental in achieving desired goals. By plete, it is desirable to use a variety of sources when at- complaining loudly, hitting, or otherwise using force or tempting to assess children’s social competence. noise, children may be able to get access to a toy they Teacher, parent, peer, and self-reports may yield distinct want or they may be able to get peers to stop doing but complementary information, and hence, by gathering something noxious to them. In this type of situation, an multiple perspectives, a more complete picture of a adult’s expressed disapproval may suppress the behav- child’s social strengths and weaknesses can be obtained. ior, but the behavior is likely to emerge again in situa- tions where an adult supervisor is not present. Often Interventions to promote social contracts and point systems are used to suppress aggres- sive behavior and bossiness; however, positive skill competence training must be used in conjunction with behavior Different strategies may be needed to help children management in order to provide the child with alterna- develop social competencies and establish positive peer tive skills to use in situations requiring negotiations relations depending upon the age of the child and the with peers. Often parents are included in programs to type of peer problem being experienced. Different chil- help children develop better anger management skills dren have different needs when it comes to helping them and to help children reduce fighting. Trained coun- get along better with others and making friends. The age selors, educators, or psychologists work with parents to of the child, the kinds of behaviors that are part of the help them find positive discipline strategies and positive GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 603

Social influence communication skills to promote child anger manage- Dodge, K. A., and R. R. Murphy. “The Assessment of Social Competence in Adolescents.” Advances in Child Behavior ment and conflict resolution skills. Analysis and Therapy 3, 1984, pp. 61-96. A third helping strategy focuses on finding a good Dodge, K. A. “Problems in Social Relationships.” In Mash, E., social “niche” for the child. Large, unstructured peer and R. Barkley (eds.) Treatment of Childhood Disorders. group settings (such as recess) are particularly difficult New York: Guilford Press, l989, pp. 222-44. situations for many of the children who have peer prob- mental Significance.” American Psychologist 44, 1989, lems. These children need a more structured, smaller Hartup, Willard W. “Social Relationships and Their Develop- peer interaction setting in which an adult’s support is pp. 120-26. available to guide positive peer interaction. Finding a Olweus, D. “Victimization by Peers: Antecedents and Long- good social “niche” for some children can be a difficult Term Outcomes.” In Rubin, Kenneth H., and J.B. Asendorpf (eds.) Social Withdrawal, Inhibition and Shy- task, but an important one. Sometimes a teacher can or- ness in Childhood. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1993, pp. 315- ganize cooperative learning groups that help an isolated 344. child make friends in the classroom. Sometimes parents Parke, R. D., and G. W. Ladd. Family-Peer Relationships: can help by inviting potential friends over to play or get- Modes of Linkage. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1992. ting their child involved in a social activity outside of Parker, J., and S. R. Asher. “Peer Acceptance and Later Person- school that is rewarding (such as scouting, church group, al Adjustment: Are Low-Accepted Children at Risk?” sports groups). Providing positive opportunities for Psychological Bulletin 102, no. 3, 1987, pp. 357-89. friendship development is important, as it provides chil- Pepler, Debra J., and Kenneth H. Rubin. (eds.) The Develop- dren with an appropriate and positive learning environ- ment and Treatment of Childhood Aggression. Hillsdale, ment for the development of social competence. NJ: L. Erlbaum, 1991. Rubin, K. H., and S. L Stewart. “Social Withdrawal.” In Mash, Janet A. Welsh, Ph.D., Karen L. Bierman, Ph.D. E.J., and R. A.Barkley. (eds.) Child Psychopathology. New York: Guilford, 1996, pp. 277-310. Schneider, B., K. H. Rubin, and J. E. Ledingham, (eds.) Chil- Further Reading dren’s Peer Relations: Issues in Assessment and Interven- Asher, Steven R., et al. Children’s Social Development: Infor- tion. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1985. mation for Teachers and Parents. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Edu- cation, University of Illinois, 1987. ——— and J. D. Coie. (eds.) Peer Rejection in Childhood. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Social influence ——— and John M. Gottman. (eds.) The Development of Chil- The influence of others on an individual’s behavior. dren’s Friendships. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge Univer- sity Press, 1981. Human behavior is influenced by other people in Berndt, Thomas J., and Gary W. Ladd. (eds.) Peer Relation- countless ways and on a variety of levels. The mere pres- ships in Child Development. New York: Wiley, 1989. ence of others—as co-actors or spectators—can stimu- Bierman, Karen L. “Improving the Peer Relationships of Re- late or improve one’s performance of a task, a process jected Children.” In Lahey, B., and A. Kazdin (eds.), Ad- known as social facilitation (and also observed in non- vances in Clinical Child Psychology. New York: Plenum, l989, pp. 53-84. human species). However, the increased level of arousal responsible for this phenomenon can backfire and create Bukowski, William M., Andrew Newcomb, and Willard W. Hartup. (eds.) The Company They Keep: Friendship Dur- social interference, impairing performance on complex, ing Childhood and Adolescence. New York: Cambridge unfamiliar, and difficult tasks. University Press, 1996. Overt, deliberate persuasion by other people can Cicchetti, Dante, and William M. Bukowski. “Developmental cause us to change our opinions and/or behavior. How- Processes in Peer Relations and Psychopathology.” Devel- ever, a great deal of social influence operates more sub- opment and Psychopathology 7, 1995, pp. 587-89. tly in the form of norms—acquired social rules that peo- Coie, J. D., and G. K. Koeppl. “Adapting Intervention to the ple are generally unaware of until they are violated. For Problems of Aggressive and Disruptive Children.” In Asher, S. R., & J. D. Coie. (eds.) Peer Rejection in Child- example, every culture has a norm for “personal hood. New York: Cambridge University Press, l990, pp. space”—the physical distance maintained between 275-308. adults. Violation of norms generally makes people un- comfortable, while adherence to them provides security Crick, N. R., and K. A. Dodge. “A Review and Reformulation of Social Information-Processing Mechanisms in Chil- and confidence in a variety of social situations. Norms dren’s Social Adjustment.” Psychological Bulletin 115, may be classified as one of two types: descriptive and 1994, pp. 74-101. injunctive. Descriptive norms are simply based on what 604 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

a majority of people do, while injunctive norms involve a value judgment about what is proper and improper be- havior. Social influence Both conformity and compliance are attempts to adhere to social norms—conformity occurs in response to unspoken group pressure, as opposed to compliance, which results from a direct request. Research has shown that conformity is influenced by the ambiguity of a situation (people are more apt to go along with the majority when they are uncertain about which course of action to pursue), the size of the majority, and the per- sonal characteristics of the people involved, including their self-esteem and their status within the group. A person may conform by acting in accordance with group norms while privately disagreeing with them (public conformity) or by actually changing his or her opinions to coincide with those of the group (private acceptance). In contrast to compliance, which characterizes be- havior toward those who make direct requests but have no authority over us, obedience is elicited in response to a specific demand by an authority figure. The most famous experiment involving obedience was conduct- ed by Stanley Milgram in the early 1960s at Yale Uni- versity. Forty men and women were instructed to ad- Cal Ripkin, who broke the record for consecutive major minister electric shocks to another person, supposedly league baseball games played, waves to his home crowd. as part of an experiment in learning. (In fact, there The home advantage in sports is due to the social influence were actually no shocks administered, and responses of the crowd. (Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced with were faked by the “victim,” who was part of the exper- permission.) iment.) When the scientist in charge directed the sub- jects to administer increasingly severe shocks, most of brings with it a reduction of accountability; a high them, while uncomfortable, did so in spite of the ap- level of arousal; and a shifting of attention from one- parent pain and protests of the supposed victim. This self to external events, resulting in reduced self-aware- experiment—which is often referred to in connection ness. The so-called “herd mentality” that results weak- with German obedience to authority during the Nazi ens people’s normal restraints against impulsive be- era—gained widespread attention as evidence of the havior, increases their sensitivity to environmental extent to which people will forfeit their own judgment, stimuli, and reduces their abilities to think rationally will, and values in order to follow orders by an author- and fear censure by others. ity figure (65 percent of the volunteers, when asked to do so, administered the maximum level of shock possi- The relatively new field of environmental psycholo- ble). In variations on this experiment, Milgram found gy investigates the ways in which human behavior is af- that factors affecting obedience included the reputation fected by proximity to others in urban environments, of the authority figure and his proximity to the subject most notably the effects of noise and overcrowding. Liv- (obedience decreased when instructions were issued ing in high-density environments has been associated by phone), as well as the presence of others who dis- with feelings of helplessness resulting from lack of con- obey (the most powerful factor in reducing the level of trol and predictability in one’s social interactions. obedience). Further Reading Another type of social influence that can lead nor- Freedman, J. L., D. O. Sears, and J. M. Carlsmith. Social Psy- mal people to engage in cruel or antisocial behavior chology. 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981. is participation in a crowd or mob. Being part of a Milgram, Stanley. Obedience to Authority: An Experimental crowd can allow a person’s identity to become sub- View. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. merged in a group, a process known as deindividua- Paulus, P. B., ed. Psychology of Group Influence. 2nd ed. Hills- tion. Contributing factors include anonymity, which dale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 605

Social learning theory An approach to personality that emphasizes the in- we attempt. Bandura introduced the term self-efficacy Social learning theory for this concept, arguing that it has a high degree of in- fluence not only on our expectations but also on our per- formance itself. teraction between personal traits and environment and their mediation by cognitive processes. Most recently, Walter Mischel, building on the work of both Rotter and Bandura, has framed the determinants Social learning theory has its roots in the behavior- “person variables.” These include competencies (those ist notion of human behavior as being determined by things we know we can do); perceptions (how we per- learning, particularly as shaped by reinforcement in the of human behavior in particular situations in terms of form of rewards or punishment. Early research in be- ceive our environment); expectations (what we expect haviorism conducted by Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, will be the outcome of our behavior); subject values (our and B. F. Skinner used animals in a laboratory. Subse- goals and ideals); and self-regulation and plans (our quently, researchers became dissatisfied with the capaci- standards for ourselves and plans for reaching our goals). ty of their findings to fully account for the complexities of human personality. Criticism centered particularly on Further Reading the fact that behaviorism’s focus on observable behav- Bandura, Albert. Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971. iors left out the role played by cognition. ———. Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social The first major theory of social learning, that of Ju- Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, lian B. Rotter, argued that cognition, in the form of ex- 1986. pectations, is a crucial factor in social learning. In his in- fluential 1954 book, Social Learning and Clinical Psy- chology, Rotter claimed that behavior is determined by two major types of “expectancy”: the expected outcome of a behavior and the value a person places on that out- Social perception come. In Applications of a Social Learning Theory of The processes through which people form impres- Personality (1972), Rotter, in collaboration with June sions of others and interpret information about Chance and Jerry Phares, described a general theory of them. personality with variables based on the ways that differ- ent individuals habitually think about their experiences. Researchers have confirmed the conventional wis- One of the major variables was I-E, which distinguished dom that first impressions are important. Studies show “internals,” who think of themselves as controlling that first impressions are easily formed, difficult to events, from “externals,” who view events as largely out- change, and have a long-lasting influence. Rather than side their control. Correlations have since been found be- absorbing each piece of new information about an indi- tween I-E orientations and a variety of behaviors, ranging vidual in a vacuum, it is common for people to invoke a from job performance to attitudes toward one’s health. preexisting prototype or schema based on some aspect of the person (for example, “grandmother” or “graduate The social learning theories of Albert Bandura student”), modifying it with specific information about emphasize the reciprocal relationship among cognition, the particular individual to arrive at an overall first im- behavior, and environment, for which Bandura coined pression. One term for this process is schema-plus-cor- the term reciprocal determinism. Hostile thoughts can rection. It can be dangerous because it allows people to result in hostile behavior, for example, which can effect infer many things from a very limited amount of infor- our environment by making others hostile and evoking mation, which partially explains why first impressions additional hostile thoughts. Thus, not only does our en- are often wrong. vironment influence our thoughts and behavior—our thoughts and behavior also play a role in determining If there is no special reason to think negatively our environment. Bandura is especially well known for about a person, one’s first impression of that person will his research on the importance of imitation and rein- normally be positive, as people tend to give others the forcement in learning. His work on modeling has been benefit of the doubt. However, people are especially at- influential in the development of new therapeutic ap- tentive to negative factors, and if these are present, they proaches, especially the methods used in cognitive-be- will outweigh the positive ones in generating impres- havior therapy. Bandura also expanded on Rotter’s no- sions. One reason first impressions are so indelible is tion of expectancy by arguing that our expectations that people have a tendency to interpret new information about the outcome of situations are heavily influenced about a person in a light that will reinforce their first im- by whether or not we think we will succeed at the things pression. They also tend to remember the first impres- 606 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

sion, or overall schema, better than any subsequent cor- scientific measures and analysis of human behavior, an rections. Thus if a person whom one thinks of as compe- emphasis on which social psychologists continue to tent makes a mistake, it will tend to be overlooked and focus. Social psychologists also study the way individu- Socialization eventually forgotten, and the original impression is the als behave in relationship to others, and, alternatively, one that will prevail. Conversely, one will tend to forget how groups act to shape the behavior of individuals. or undervalue good work performed by someone initially As do other scientists, social psychologists develop judged to be incompetent. In addition, people often treat a theory and then design experiments to test it. For ex- each other in ways that tend to elicit behavior that con- ample, Leon Feistinger, an American social psycholo- forms to their impressions of each other. gist, theorized that a person feels uncomfortable when Besides impression formation, the other key area fo- confronted with information that contradicts something cused on in the study of social perception is attribution, he or she already believes. He labeled this uneasiness the thought processes we employ in explaining the be- cognitive dissonance. Other social psychologists subse- havior of other people and our own as well. The most quently conducted research to confirm Feistinger’s theo- fundamental observation we make about a person’s be- ry by studying individuals who believed themselves to havior is whether it is due to internal or external causes be failures. The psychologists found that such people (Is the behavior determined by the person’s own charac- avoid success, even when it would be easily achieved, teristics or by the situation in which it occurs?). We tend because it would conflict with their firmly held belief to base this decision on a combination of three factors. that they are unsuccessful. Consensus refers to whether other people exhibit similar Social psychologists work in academic settings, behavior; consistency refers to whether the behavior oc- teaching and conducting research. They also work with curs repeatedly; and distinctiveness is concerned with businesses and other organizations to design personnel whether the behavior occurs in other, similar situations. management programs based on their knowledge of in- Certain cognitive biases tend to influence whether terpersonal relations. Social psychologists also con- people attribute behavior to internal or external causes. tribute their expertise to market research, government When we observe the behavior of others, our knowledge agencies, and educational institutions. of the external factors influencing that behavior is limit- ed, which often leads us to attribute it to internal factors Further Reading (a tendency known as the fundamental attribution error). Argyle, Michael. The Social Psychology of Everyday Life. New However, we are aware of numerous external factors that York: Routledge, 1992. play a role in our own behavior. This fact, combined Aronson, Elliot. The Social Animal. New York: W.H. Freeman, with a natural desire to think well of ourselves, produces 1995. actor-observer bias, a tendency to attribute our own be- Bandura, Albert. Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social and Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pren- havior (especially when inappropriate or unsuccessful) tice-Hall, 1986. to external factors. Baron, Robert A. Exploring Social Psychology. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1989. Further Reading Zebrowitz, Leslie. Social Perception. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 1990. Socialization Social psychology The process by which a person learns to conform individual behavior and responses to the norms The study of the psychology of interpersonal rela- and values of society. tionships. Socialization is a lifelong process that begins during Social psychology is the study of human interaction, infancy in the complex interaction between parent and including communication, cooperation, competition, child. As parents respond to a baby’s physical require- leadership, and attitude development. Although the first ments for food and shelter, they are also beginning to textbooks on the subject of social psychology were pub- teach the baby what to expect from their environment lished in the early 1900s, much of the foundation for so- and how to communicate their needs. The action-reac- cial psychology studied in the 1990s is based on the tion cycle of smiling, cooing, and touching is a child’s work of the behavioral psychologists of the 1930s. Be- earliest interaction with “society.” It is believed that havioral psychologists were among the first to call for these early interactions during infancy play a major role GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 607

Socialization As children are socialized, they learn which behaviors are acceptable and which are unacceptable. Boys are often encouraged to imitate their fathers’ activities, as this boy is doing. (David Frazier. Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced with permission.) in future social adjustment. Consistent, responsive care tendencies in children have pointed out that certain chil- helps lead to healthy relationships with others and nor- dren are more influenced than others when exposed to mal personal development. Caretakers who neglect an television violence or aggressive behavior by authority infant’s needs or otherwise stifle early attempts at com- figures in the home. Some blind and deaf children dis- munication can cause serious damage to the child’s fu- play aggressive behavior such as stamping feet or yelling ture social interactions. even though they have never had the opportunity to see or hear such displays of temper. Thus, it has been con- The family is the most influential socialization cluded that genetic factors must also be considered part force. Parents, grandparents, and siblings all transmit to of the socialization process. infants and young children what they consider to be im- portant values, behavior, skills, and attitudes. Household Studies of sex-type models also point to this com- rules govern behavior, interpersonal behavior serves as a plex interaction between environmental and genetic fac- model for interactions with outside people, and socially tors. While many researchers believe that most of the valued qualities such as generosity and caring are stereotypical differences between boys and girls are in- learned through example within the home and in the cul- valid, some do appear significant. For example, boys ture. As children grow and interact more with the envi- tend to perform better on tests involving spatial relation- ronment outside the family home, others begin to play ships, and girls tend to score better on tests involving important roles in the socialization process. Friends, in- verbal skills. There is such an overlap among boys and stitutions such as church and school, the media (particu- girls, even on these tests, that it would be impossible to larly television) and co-workers all become important predict the scores of an individual boy or girl. It is be- factors in shaping a person’s attitudes and behavior. lieved, however, that perceived differences often affect Researchers have theorized that socialization is a the behavior of one of the most influential socialization complex process that involves both personal and envi- forces of children—teachers. Some teachers reinforce ronmental factors. For example, studies of aggressive the male image of dominance and independence by re- 608 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

sponding more to boys and demanding more from them to the biological need to continue the human gene pool. in the classroom. Girls are often rewarded for passive, While this is almost certainly true to some extent, many less demanding behavior. Similarly, some parents re- psychologists and those in the various fields of social sci- Sociobiology spond differently to sons and daughters, encouraging ence argue otherwise. They point out that non-genetic stereotypical behavior and traditionally male or female mothers in contemporary society, for example, adoptive hobbies and careers. Media portrayals of one-dimension- parents and step-mothers, demonstrate a bond just as al characters can also perpetuate sex role stereotypes. deep as those between genetic mothers and their children. Further Reading Sociobiologists have also tried to explain the preva- Clark, John, ed. The Mind: Into the Inner World. New York: lence of gender stereotypes across different cultures. As Torstar Books, 1986. children approach school age inWestern culture, their ex- Zimbardo, Philip G. Psychology and Life. Glenview, IL: Scott, periences become more social and less domestic as they Foresman, 1988. spend a great deal of time away from home with people other than their parents. During this time, children start to identify with their same-sex peers and learn stereotyp- ical gender roles whether or not these roles are enforced Sociobiology in the home. Sociobiologists believe the current trend to avoid gender-marking is a wasted effort since gender A term coined by the eminent entomologist Ed- ward O. Wilson to define a field of study combin- roles are an intractable part of human nature. ing biology and social sciences. Young boys tend to be aggressive in their play, while young girls tend to be reflective, or, to use a term In his 1975 work, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, widely applied in sociobiology, coy. This tendency is entomologist Edward O. Wilson first coined the term also seen in other primates and occurs across a variety of “sociobiology” to create a new field of study combining human cultures. It is therefore logical to assume that a biology and social sciences, especially anthropology and young boy is naturally predisposed to aggressive behav- sociology. Sociobiologists study the biological nature of ior while a young girl is naturally predisposed to less vi- human behavior and personality according to the tenet olent modes of play. It is also widely held that boys and that all social behavior has a biological basis. girls have different intellectual capacities, with boys The field of sociobiology has not been widely ac- being more adept at spatial reasoning and girls at verbal. cepted by contemporary theorists of personality and cul- There are reams of standardized test score data backing ture. The trend of social thought for several decades has up such assertions, but it is not clear whether such differ- been that humans are by and large responsible for their ences are genetically determined. personal behaviors and for the ways they interact with others and with society as a whole. Wilson and other so- Sociobiologists do not claim that aggression in males ciobiological theorists consider many human behaviors is acceptable. Even though male domination seems to be to be genetically based, including aggression, mother- the predominant form of social organization, organized child bond, language, the taboo against incest,sexual di- societies are not in any way obliged to defer to it. Social vision of labor, altruism, allegiance, conformity,xeno- structures have for thousands of years modified what phobia, genocide, ethics,love,spite, and other emotions. might be considered “natural” behaviors. Murder is an example. In preliterate societies murder is sanctioned Traditional social scientists, however, debate socio- under a variety of conditions. Human sacrifice, for exam- biology. Feminists have been particularly critical of the ple, used to play a large role in preliterate societies. But new field’s view on gender roles. Feminists believe that as societies develop, these “natural” tendencies are, nec- gender roles are culturally determined. Sociobiologists essarily, curbed. Instinctive behavior is replaced by social see gender roles as basic human traits and point out that behavior because a culture sees social behavior as more in almost no culture in the history of the world have desirable. While sociobiology may predict patterns of be- women, for example, taken the role of sexual aggressor havior in young children, there is no reason to believe or exhibited a propensity to collect harems of sexually that these tendencies cannot or should not be altered. active men—two human traits that appear in nearly every culture. If there is any stage of life that most exemplifies the Sociobiologists point to the mother-child bond as ideas of sociobiologists, it is adolescence. During this one of the prime examples of genetically based behavior. period, hormones are changing the body at a pace un- According to sociobiologists, the attachment a mother matched during any time in life, and with those changes feels for her infant is a genetically programmed response in physical appearance, behavior also changes. Boys and GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 609

Somnambulism girls take on social roles during adolescence that are rad- it may be impossible to do so. Sleepwalking children should be gently guided back to bed, and will usually be ically different from their roles as children. cooperative in this effort. Episodes of sleepwalking may Some sociobiologists believe that many of the prob- be signs of a child’s heightened anxiety about some- lems adolescents face in constructing their adult identi- ties have a basis in evolution. There is increasing evi- and environmental changes that may have triggered the dence, for instance, that certain adolescents are geneti- thing. Parents should give careful consideration to events onset of sleepwalking. If sleepwalking is common cally predisposed to fall into clinical depressions. Genet- among family members, it is more likely that the child ic research has shown that many people suffering may respond to even slight increases in anxiety with depression share a genetic abnormality that may only sleepwalking behavior. “turn on” if confronted with certain overwhelming social problems such as those faced by adolescents. There is also evidence that a predisposition to drugs and alcohol dependency is genetically determined. Recent studies have found links between several biological functions and anti-social and criminal behavior among adoles- Charles Edward Spearman cents. Included in this list are a slowly developing frontal 1863-1945 lobe system in the brain,a variety of genes, a faulty au- British theoretical and experimental psychologist tonomic nervous system,abnormal blood sugar levels, who pioneered studies of intelligence. deviant brain waves, and hyperactivity. So, while specif- ic behaviors are not linked to a specific gene or to evolu- Charles Edward Spearman was an influential psychol- tionary adaptation,a propensity to behave in a certain ogist who developed commonly used statistical measures way, in the absence of more socially acceptable alterna- and the statistical method known as factor analysis. His tives, may have a partial foundation in biology. studies on the nature of human abilities led to his “two-fac- tor” theory of intelligence. Whereas most psychologists Further Reading believed that mental abilities were determined by various Wilson, Edward. Sociobiology—the New Synthesis. Cam- independent factors, Spearman concluded that general in- bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975 telligence, “g,” was a single factor that was correlated with de Wal, Frans B.M. “The Biological Basis of Behavior.” The specific abilities, “s,” to varying degrees. Spearman’s work Chronicle of Higher Education, June 14, 1996, p. B1. became the theoretical justification for intelligence testing. Horgan, John. “The New Social Darwinists.” Scientific Ameri- He also formulated eight basic laws of psychology. can, October, 1995, p. 174. ———. “Revisiting Old Battlefields.” Scientific American, Spearman was born in London in 1863, the second April 1994, p. 36. son of Alexander Young and Louisa Ann Caroline Amelia “Irven DeVore.” Omni (interview) June 1993, p. 69. (Mainwaring) Spearman. Educated at Leamington Col- Laying, Anthony. “Why Don’t We Act Like the Opposite lege, Spearman joined the army in 1883 and served as a Sex?” USA Today, January 1993, p. 87. much-decorated infantry officer in Burma and India. However his early interest in philosophy led him to his desire to study psychology and, in 1897, he resigned from the army as a captain and continued his education. Somnambulism For the next ten years, Spearman studied experi- Also known as sleepwalking, a common disorder mental psychology in Germany. After earning his Ph.D. among children that involves getting out of bed with Wilhelm Wundt at the University of Leipzig in and moving about while still asleep. 1906, he worked with Oswald Külpe at the University of Würzburg and with Georg Elias Müller at the University Somnambulism, or sleepwalking, affects an estimat- of Göttingen. His studies were interrupted for a time by ed 15% of children in the early school years. It is similar the Boer War, during which Spearman served as deputy- to pavor nocturnus (night terrors) in that it occurs dur- assistant-adjutant-general in Guernsey. Spearman married ing the non-dreaming stage of sleep, usually within an Fanny Aikman in 1901. The couple had four daughters, hour or two of going to bed. The sleepwalking child as well as a son who was killed in the Second World War. feels an intense need to take action and may appear alert, purposeful, or anxious as he moves about. For many Measures intelligence years, people believed that it was dangerous to waken a sleepwalker, but there is no basis for this view. There is, In 1904, Spearman published “General Intelligence however, little reason to waken a sleepwalking child, and Objectively Determined and Measured” in the American 610 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Publishes laws of psychology In 1923 Spearman published The Nature of “Intelli- gence” and the Principles of Cognition, in which he set Special education down his principles of psychology. In 1930, in the Cre- ative Mind, he applied his laws of psychology to various other fields, including aesthetics. Spearman was the leader of what became the “Lon- don school” of psychology that stressed statistical meth- ods and systematic testing of human abilities. Through Spearman’s influence, University College became the center of psychological studies in Britain. He was elect- ed a fellow of the Royal Society in 1924 and was presi- dent of the British Psychological Society from 1923 until 1926. In 1925 Spearman served as president of the psy- chology section of the British Association for the Ad- vancement of Science. He became professor of psychol- ogy at University College in 1928 and was awarded an honorary L.L.D. from the University of Wittenberg in 1929. Spearman held honorary memberships in a num- ber of foreign scientific societies. Writes a history of psychology Following his retirement as an emeritus professor in 1931, Spearman traveled extensively and taught in the Charles Spearman (Archives of the History of American Psychology. Reproduced with permission.) United States, India, and Egypt. His historical survey, Psychology Down the Ages was published in 1937. Dur- ing the Second World War, he served as honorary advisor Journal of Psychology. In this work, the first of its kind, on psychology to the school district of Chesterfield. he introduced factor analysis and attempted to determine Spearman died in London in 1945. His final work on in- the factors that were measured by intelligence tests. telligence, Human Ability, written with L. Wynn Jones, Using statistical methods, Spearman found that the gen- was published posthumously in 1950. eral intelligence factor “g” was associated with mental processes that were distinct from memory,physical abil- Margaret Alic ities, and the senses. He demonstrated that intelligence tests, in addition to measuring “g,” also measured specif- Further Reading Hearnshaw, Leslie. “Spearman, Charles E(dward).” In Thinkers ic abilities that he called “s” factors, such as verbal, of the twentieth century: a biographical, bibliographical mathematical, and artistic skills. This became Spear- and critical dictionary, edited by Elizabeth Devine, man’s “two-factor” theory of intelligence. Michael Held, James Vinson, and George Walsh. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. Returning to England in 1907, Spearman joined Spearman, C. “C. Spearman.” In A history of psychology in au- University College, London, as a reader in experimental tobiography, edited by Carl Allanmore Murchison. New psychology. In 1911 he became Grote Professor of Mind York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967. and Logic. During the First World War, Spearman re- turned to the army and then, as a civilian, carried out psychological research for the military. Spearman’s work on intelligence resulted in A Measure of “Intelligence” Special education for Use in Schools (1925) and The Abilities of Man, their Nature and Measurement (1927). Spearman’s “two-fac- Educational instruction or social services designed tor” theory was never widely accepted, and by the 1930s or modified to assist individuals with disabilities. it was being replaced by multi-factor theories of intelli- gence. Nevertheless, his work laid the foundation for sta- Special education refers to a range of services, in- tistical “factor analysis” in psychology. cluding social work services and rehabilitative counsel- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 611

Special education ing, provided to individuals with disabilities from ages speech and language disorders, specific learning disabili- ties (e.g., dyslexia ), and specialized health care needs 3-21 through the public school system, including instruc- (e.g., oxygen dependence). Traumatic brain injury also tion given in the classroom, at home, or in institutions. qualifies. Of students enrolled in special education pro- Special education classes are taught by teachers with professional certification. Some teachers specialize in grams in 1994, 45% were learning disabled; 19% had working with children with learning disabilities or multi- ed; 8% were deaf or hearing impaired; 8% were seriously ple handicaps, and instruction may take place within a regular school or a residential school for students with speech and language disorders; 10% were mentally retard- emotionally disturbed; and 8% had other disabilities disabilities. In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Chil- Screening and evaluation dren Act (EHCA, PL 94-142) mandated that states pro- To qualify for special education, a child must be di- vide a “free and appropriate public education” (FAPE) to agnosed as having a disability and the disability must be all students, including those with physical, mental, or be- found to “adversely affect educational performance” so havioral disabilities. This special education must include as to require special services. There is wide variability in a comprehensive screening and diagnosis by a multi-dis- the way students are referred and evaluated for special ciplinary team and the development of an annual Indi- education. For children with severe disabilities, the vidualized Education Plan (IEP) for each student, outlin- physician and parents identify and refer the child to spe- ing academic and behavioral goals, services to be pro- cial education. Other disabilities or deficits in the child’s vided, and methods of evaluation. The student’s parents developing physical and cognitive abilities may be iden- must consent to initial screening and must be invited to tified by teacher and parent observation or revealed by participate in all phases of the process. Besides the un- academic or developmental tests. Most districts have precedented move in guaranteeing free comprehensive standardized programs to screen large numbers of chil- services to children with special needs, the act was revo- dren between kindergarten and third grade. Other dis- lutionary in that it specified that special education take abilities may be subtle or compensated for, such as place in the “least restrictive environment” (LRE). In dyslexia, and may not be discovered until demands on 1991 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act the student increase in college. After referral, a meeting (IDEA) provided federal assistance to state and local is held to determine whether the child should be “as- agencies to implement EHCA and made some revisions sessed” or “evaluated” to determine the type of disability including: requiring that the disability status of the spe- he or she may have. Tests will attempt to identify the cial-needs student be reevaluated every three years; cognitive (academic), social, or physical tasks which the adding the category of learning disabled as a qualifying child has difficulty performing, and why the difficulty disability; and further interpreting the LRE clause to re- exists, i.e., what disability or disabilities are present. quire that the special-needs student be educated “to the Tests may include: reading, writing, spelling, and math maximum extent appropriate” with children who are not tests; psychological or intelligence tests; speech and lan- disabled. Services are available to individuals ages 2-21, guage tests; vision and hearing tests; or an examination and states are required to seek and initiate contact with by a doctor. Parents must consent to all testing, evalua- qualifying individuals. tion, and placement, and can appeal most decisions if During the nearly 20 years after the passage of spe- they disagree with the conclusions. cial education laws (1977-94), the rate of enrollment in public special education programs increased by 46%, Over- and under-referral while total enrollment in public schools declined 2%. In 1994, 12% of students enrolled in public schools or insti- There is some concern about over- or under-referral tutions were in special education programs. Much of the in particular disability categories. Mild disabilities are increase took place after 1991, when children identified especially difficult to diagnose. Since special education with learning disabilities dominated special education laws went into effect, the enrollment of students diag- classrooms: in 1994 learning disabled students made up nosed with mental retardation and speech and language 5% of total enrollment, falling short of just half of all spe- disorders decreased sharply, while those with learning cial education students. Children’s disabilities are defined disabilities increased. The changes reflect a social con- under 13 categories: autism,blindness, visual impair- sciousness about the stigma of labeling and fundamental ment, deafness, hearing impairment, deaf-blindness, or- changes in the way people view disabilities. Yet, under- thopedic (movement) impairments, multiple handicaps referral of mental retardation in particular may reflect (several disabilities), mental retardation (also called de- schools’ realistic fear of litigation. Others are concerned velopmental disability), serious emotional disturbance, about over referral for mild disabilities (learning and be- 612 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

havioral disorders) as a method of classroom manage- ment specialists, may serve a whole region, tutoring a spe- ment. Thirty-four states require some method of pre-re- cific student only once a week. Others teach entire special ferral intervention. If a teacher suspects a disability, he education classes, providing general education teachers or she must consult with a team of teachers and develop with support, ideas, and resources for mainstreamed Special education alternate methods of effectively addressing the student’s pupils. Inclusion, sometimes considered the logical goal problems, through modifications in instruction or class- of mainstreaming, is total integration of special education room environment, before the school will consider spe- students and services into the general education class- cial education referral. room, where special education teachers collaborate with general education teachers to teach the entire class. Full Race inclusion of all special education students would require restructuring of several traditional educational policies. To There is a concern that minority students are dispro- the extent that it necessitates extensive continuing collabo- portionately represented in special education, mostly with ration between special education teachers, general educa- learning disabilities. In 1993, white, learning-disabled tion teachers, and support paraprofessionals, and requires students made up 5% of total enrollment in special educa- restructuring of curricula and lessons, full inclusion repre- tion. The corresponding percentage of black students sents a revolution in educational methods. Research on ex- (proportionate to their representation in the total popula- isting programs suggests that for inclusion to be success- tion) would be 0.5%, but African American students with ful certain attitudes and beliefs must be held and certain learning disabilities make up 6% of total enrollment. resources must be available: There is no consensus on the exact diagnosis of specific • The general education teacher must believe the special- learning disabilities, and the same treatment goals and needs student can succeed teaching strategies are used for all types of learning dis- •The school must be committed to accepting responsi- abilities. Often psychologists will continue testing until bility for the learning outcomes of special education they “find” a learning disability for which a student can students receive special instruction. Criticism can be levied from both sides against this practice: white, low-achieving stu- •Parents must be informed and supportive dents do not receive special attention they need, and • Services and physical accommodations must be ade- black students are segregated and labeled incorrectly. quate for the student’s needs • The principal must understand the needs of special ed- Location of services, mainstreaming, and ucation students inclusion • Enough teacher and staff hours must be devoted to the child’s care Before passage of the EHCA and IDEA, many dis- • Continuing staff development and technical assistance abled children were either not provided public education must be provided services at all, were in residential settings, or at best in sep- arate day schools. In addition to providing special educa- •Evaluation procedures must be clear tion in regular public school buildings, the stipulation that • Special education teachers must be part of the entire special-needs children be educated in the “least restrictive planning process environment” led to the practice of mainstreaming. Main- •A team approach is used by teachers and other special- streaming is the policy of placing special education stu- ists dents in regular classrooms as much as possible, and using •A variety of instructional arrangements must be avail- resource rooms where the student receives special tutoring, able (team teaching, ability grouping, peer tutoring) review, and instruction. In 1993, 40% of children received instruction primarily in regular classrooms, 30% in re- source rooms, 24% in separate, special education class- Matriculation and employment rooms, and the remaining 6% in public or private day In 1992, 44% of special education students graduat- schools and residential facilities. Students with speech or ed with a diploma, 13% graduated with a certificate (in- language impairments (80%) were most likely to be in cluding GED finished by age 21), 22% dropped out, and general education classrooms. Mentally retarded and mul- 21% exited school for other reasons. The highest dropout tiple-handicapped students (7% of each group) were the category was seriously emotionally disturbed students at least likely to be in general education classrooms. 35%. The lowest was deaf-blind students, only 4% of The type of contact special education teachers have whom dropped out. Graduation and employment rates for with students varies according to district resources and students with disabilities rose over the two decades after student population. Some teachers, such as visual impair- the passage of EHCA and IDEA and other disability leg- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 613

Other tools for pacing the learning of gifted and tal- Special education islation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Yet ented students are portfolios and learning centers. Sever- depending on the disability, as many as 45-70% of dis- al commercially prepared curricula that provide struc- abled adults were still unemployed in the early 1990s. tured exploratory and design projects are also available. People with learning disabilities and speech disorders have the lowest rates of unemployment. Because 77% of Further Reading students take vocational education classes, a comprehen- sive vocational assessment, including assessment of inde- Disabilities. Pacific, CA: Brooks, 1993. pendent living skills, is necessary. The assessment may Adelman, H., and L. Taylor. Learning Problems and Learning Algozzine, B. et al. Behaviorally Disordered? Assessment for take place at a regional center and follow an adult reha- Identification and Instruction. Reston, VA: The Council bilitation model. Assessments should take place several for Exceptional Children, 1991. times in the course of a student’s school career. Council of Administrators of Special Education. Student Ac- cess: A Resource Guide for Educators, Section 504 of the Gifted and talented Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Albuquerque, NM: Author, 1991. Gifted and talented children are those who demon- Cummins, J. Bilingualism and Special Education: Issues in As- strate special abilities, aptitude, or creativity. Often they sessment and Pedagogy. Clevedon, England: Multilingual will express themselves primarily in one area such as hu- Matters. Co-published in the U.S. by College-Hill Press, manities, sciences, mathematics, art, music, or leader- San Diego, 1994. ship. Gifted and talented students are not usually consid- Cook, L., and M. Friend. Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals. White Plains, NY: Longman Pub- ered clients of special education. There is no federal lishing, 1992. mandate or regular funding to support gifted and talented Council for Exceptional Children, Department of Public Poli- students, although about half of the states have programs cy. The Rights of Children with Disabilities under ADA for the gifted and talented. As a percentage of total pub- and Section 504: A Comparison to IDEA. Reston, VA: lic school enrollment, students in gifted and talented pro- Author, 1994. grams range from 1-2% in Idaho, Nevada, Alabama, and Giangreco, M. F., et al. Choosing Options and Accommoda- Washington to over 10% in Hawaii, Maryland, Michi- tions for Children: A Guide to Planning Inclusive Educa- gan, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin, and South Carolina. tion. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes, 1993. Gutkin, T. B., and C. R. Reynolds, eds. The Handbook of In addition to special counseling, grade skipping, School Psychology. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 1990. taking summer or correspondence courses, or early grad- Hallahan, D., and J. Kaufmann. Exceptional Children. Engle- uation, there are a variety of adaptations that can be wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991. made to serve the needs of gifted students. Adaptations Hunt, N., and K. Marshall. Exceptional Children and Youth. can be made to the content, the process, or the products Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994. of learning. Some strategies include: Levinson, E. M. Transdisciplinary Vocational Assessment: Is- sues in School-Based Programs. Brandon, VT: Clinical Acceleration—Raising the academic level of assign- Psychology Publishing Co., 1993. ments and giving the student reading material at a higher Marder, C., and R. D’Amico. How Well Are Youth with Dis- level of difficulty. abilities Really Doing? A Comparison of Youth with Dis- Telescoping—Reducing the time allowed the student abilities and Youth in General. Menlo Park, CA: SRI In- to cover given content. For example, a teacher could give ternational, 1992. the student two successive mathematics chapters to com- National Center for Education Statistics. Products Avaialbe from the National Center for Education Statistics. Wash- plete in the ordinary time period used to cover one chapter. ington, DC: NCES, 1997. Compacting—Testing to determine how much of a Stoner, G., et al. Interventions for Achievement and Behavior certain content unit the student knows already and cus- Problems. Silver Spring, MD: National Association of tom designing a curriculum to fill in the gaps. Students School Psychologists, 1991. can then use the gained time for creative or exploratory U.S. Department of Education. Eighteenth Annual Report to activities. Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act. Washington, DC: Office of Special Edu- Independent study—Allowing the student to choose cation Programs, 1996. his or her own focus, plan research, present material, and Wang, M. C., et al. The Handbook of Special Education: Re- evaluate the process. search and Practice. Vols 1 & 2. Oxford, England: Perga- Tiered assignments—Preparing assignments at dif- mon Press, 1987. ferent levels for different students. Asking more complex Further Information and higher order questions in assignments for gifted and American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities. 1012 Four- talented students. teenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005. 614 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabili- with language impairments is still much more heteroge- ties. 4156 Library Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15234. neous than required to support a search for a gene. National Information Center for Handicapped Children and Youth. 155 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 508, Arlington, VA Children with SLI usually begin to talk at roughly 22209. the same age as normal children but are markedly slow- National Center for Education Statistics. 555 New Jersey Ave., er in the progress they make. They seem to have particu- NW, Washington, DC 20208-5574. nces.gov. lar problems with inflection and word forms (inflectional Specific language impairment (SLI) The Council for Exceptional Children. 1920 Association Drive, morphology), such as leaving off endings as in the past Reston, VA 22091, (703) 620–3660. tense verb form. This problem persists much longer than Learning Disabilities Association of America. 4156 Library early childhood, often into the grade school years and Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15234, (412) 341–1515. beyond, where the children encounter renewed difficul- ties in reading and writing. The SLI child has also been observed to have difficulties learning language “inciden- tally,” that is, in picking up a new word from context, or generalizing a new syntactic form. This is in decided Specific language impairment contrast to the normal child’s case, where incidental (SLI) learning and generalization are the hallmarks of lan- guage acquisition. Children with SLI are not necessarily Describes a condition of markedly delayed lan- cognitively impaired, and are not withdrawn or socially guage development in the absence of any apparent aloof like the autistic child. handicapping conditions. Some investigators have attributed the SLI child’s Many different terms have been used to describe the difficulty to speech sounds (a phonological problem), disorder of childhood characterized by markedly de- suggesting that inflection and word forms (morphology) layed language development in the absence of any ap- such as endings are vulnerable because those items are parent handicapping conditions such as deafness, so fleeting and unstressed in speech. It is not that the autism, or mental retardation. It is sometimes called child is deaf in general, but that he has a specific difficul- childhood dysphasia, or developmental language disor- ty discriminating speech sounds. der. Much research since the 1960s has attempted to Other researchers have argued that this difficulty is identify clinical subtypes of the disorder. These include not specific to speech but reflects a general perceptual verbal auditory agnosia and specific language impair- difficulty with the processing of rapidly timed events, of ment. Some children have a very precise difficulty in which speech is the most taxing example. The left hemi- processing speech, called verbal auditory agnosia, that sphere of the brain seems to be specialized for process- may be due to an underlying pathology in the temporal ing rapid acoustic events, so perhaps the SLI child has a lobes of the brain. The most prevalent sub-type of child- unique difficulty with that part of the brain. Yet phonolo- hood language disorder, phonosyntactic disorder, is now gy does not seem to be the whole problem because the commonly termed specific language impairment or SLI. child may be quite good at articulation or speech per- These children have a disorder specifically affecting in- ception per se. Instead, it is argued that the child may flectional morphology and syntax. have a linguistic difficulty with morphology, going be- Very little is known about the cause or origin (re- yond the sounds themselves. Cross-linguistic work sup- ferred to as etiology) of specific language impairment, ports a more refined perspective that suggests certain though evidence is growing that the underlying condition kinds of inflectional morphology, especially those asso- may be a form of brain abnormality, not obvious with ex- ciated with the verb, may be more likely to be disrupted isting diagnostic technologies: SLI children do not have than others. If so, that would suggest the problem is not clear brain lesions or marked anatomical differences in just phonological and not just inflectional. Given the either brain hemisphere. However, there is some indica- centrality of the verb to sentence structure, the difficulty tion of a familial pattern in SLI, with clinicians noting causes pervasive problems. patterns across generations. It is more common in boys than girls. As of the 1990s, research suggests a possible Whatever the final identification of the linguistic genetic link, though there are still many problems in iden- problem, researchers are curious to discover how such a tifying such a gene. Sometimes the siblings of an affected specific disorder could come about: is a language “mod- child show milder forms of the difficulty, complicating ule” of the brain somehow compromised in these chil- the picture. One of the major stumbling blocks is the defi- dren? The puzzle is that children with very precise le- nition of the disorder, because the population of children sions of the usual language areas somehow overcome GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 615

Speech-language pathology those difficulties more easily than the SLI child who pre- Speech disorders treated by speech-language patholo- gists include voice disorders (abnormalities in pitch, vol- sents no such dramatic brain abnormalities. ume, vocal quality, or resonance or duration of sounds), The child with SLI becomes increasingly aware of articulation disorders (problems producing speech his difficulties with language and may lose spontaneity sounds), and fluency disorders (impairment in the nor- and avoid conversation as he gets older. Intensive lan- mal rate or rhythm of speech, such as stuttering). guage intervention can allow these children to make con- Speech-language pathologists participate in the screen- siderable gains, with modeling of appropriate linguistic ing, assessment, and treatment of patients. forms producing more gains than simply “enriching” the child’s language environment. Early identification is Persons with isolated speech disorders are often thus seen as very important for intervention. One proce- helped by articulation therapy, in which they practice dure for children aged 24 to 36 months asks parents to repeating specific sounds, words, phrases, and sen- complete a standardized questionnaire in which they tences. For stuttering and other fluency disorders, a check off the vocabulary the child knows, and write down popular treatment method is fluency training, which de- examples of the child’s two-word sentences. If the child velops coordination between speech and breathing, has fewer than 50 words and no two-word sentences, that slows down the rate of speech, and develops the ability is an indication of risk for language disorder. Estimates of to prolong syllables. A person may practice saying a true SLI vary according to the age of identification: some single word fluently and then gradually add more experts argue that as many as 10% of 2-year-olds may words, slowly increasing the amount and difficulty of have a specific language impairment, but by age 3 or 4, speech that can be mastered without stuttering. The that percentage drops considerably, presumably because speaking situations can gradually be made more chal- some difficulties resolve themselves. The incidence in the lenging as well, starting with speaking alone to the general population is estimated at about 1%. pathologist and ending with speaking to a group of peo- ple. Delayed auditory feedback (DAF), in which stut- Jill De Villiers, Ph.D. terers hear an echo of their own speech sounds, has also been effective in treating stuttering. When a speech Further Reading problem is caused by serious or multiple disabilities, a Gleason, Jean Berko. The Development of Language. (4th ed.) neurodevelopmental approach, which inhibits certain Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996. reflexes to promote normal movement, is often pre- Peterson, Harold A. Appraisal and Diagnosis of Speech and ferred. Other techniques used in speech therapy include Language Disorders. (3rd ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: the motor-kinesthetic approach and biofeedback, Prentice Hall, 1994. which helps people know whether the sounds they are Taylor, Orlando L. Nature of Communication Disorders in producing are faulty or correct. For people with severe Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations. San Diego: College-Hill Press, 1986. communication disorders, speech pathologists can as- sist with alternate means of communication, such as manual signing and computer-synthesized speech. The majority of speech-language pathologists work Speech-language pathology in educational institutions, many of them in public ele- mentary schools. They are also found at both residential Treatment for the improvement or cure of commu- health care facilities and over 300 outpatient clinics that nication disorders, including both speech problems and language disorders. specialize in communication disorders and are often af- filiated with hospitals and universities. Professional training programs in speech-language pathology are of- Formerly referred to as speech therapy, the tech- fered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Un- niques, strategies, and interventions designed to improve dergraduate training may include classes in biology, or correct communication disorders are known as speech- anatomy, psychology, linguistics, education, and special language pathology. Both speech disorders, which in- education. Most clinicians hold a master’s degree in volve difficulty in producing the sounds of language, and communications sciences and disorders from a program language disorders, which involve difficulty in under- accredited by the ASHA. standing language or using words in spoken communica- tion, are treated by speech-language pathologists. Further Reading In 1993, there were nearly 70,000 speech-language Flower, R.M. Delivery of Speech-Language Pathology and Au- pathologists in the United States certified by the Ameri- diology Services. Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins, can Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 1986. 616 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

A school-age girl is repeating phrases in speech therapy. ( Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced with permission.) Speech perception Hicks, Patricia Larkins. Opportunities in Speech-Language ture”) and sensitivity to experience (“nurture”) as Pathology Careers. Lincolnwood, IL: VGM Career Hori- demonstrated in infants’ abilities to perceive speech. zons, 1996. Studies of infants from birth have shown that they re- Lass, N.J., L.V. McReynolds, and J.L. Northern. Handbook on spond to speech signals in a special way, suggesting a Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Philadelphia: strong innate component to language. Other research has B.C. Decker, 1988. shown the strong effect of environment on language ac- Further Information quisition by proving that the language an infant listens to American Academy of Private Practice in Speech-Language during the first year of life enables the child to begin pro- Pathology and Audiology. 7349 Topanga Canyon Boule- ducing a distinct set of sounds (babbling) specific to the vard, Canoga Park, CA 91303. language spoken by its parents. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20785, (301) 897–5700. Since the 1950s, great strides have been made in re- National Black Association for Speech, Language and Hear- search on the acoustics of speech (i.e., how sound is pro- ing. 3542 Gentry Ridge Court, Silver Spring, MD 20904. duced by the human vocal tract). It has been demonstrat- ed how certain physiologic gestures used during speech produce specific sounds and which speech features are sufficient for the listener to determine the phonetic iden- Speech perception tity of these sound units. Speech prosody (the pitch, rhythm, tempo, stress, and intonation of speech) also The ability to hear and understand speech. plays a critical role in infants’ ability to perceive lan- guage. Two other distinct aspects of perception—seg- Speech perception, the process by which we employ mentation (the ability to break the spoken language sig- cognitive, motor, and sensory processes to hear and un- nal into the parts that make up words) and normalization derstand speech, is a product of innate preparation (“na- (the ability to perceive words spoken by different speak- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 617

Using the sucking technique, this study revealed that Speech perception ers, at different rates, and in different phonetic contexts at birth, infants’ discrimination of /pa/ and /ba/ was cate- as the same)—are also essential components of speech gorical not only with the perception of sounds in their na- perception demonstrated at an early age by infants. tive language but also with sounds from foreign languages In addition to the acoustic analysis of the incoming as if the infants heard all the phonetic distinctions used in messages of spoken language, two other sources of in- formation are used to understand speech: “bottom-up” ception ability of infants later became “language-specific” and “top-down”. In the former, we receive auditory in- all languages. But if this “language-general” speech per- speech perception in adults, when and by what process did formation, convert it into a neural signal and process this change occur? To answer this question, researchers the phonetic feature information. In the latter, we use began to study the perception of phonetic prototypes (i.e., stored information about language and the world to the “best” members of a phonetic category). make sense of the speech. Perception occurs when both sources of information interact to make only one alter- Under the assumption that sound prototypes exist in native plausible to the listener who then perceives a speech categories, adults were asked to judge the catego- specific message. ry “goodness” of a sampling of one hundred instances of the vowel /i/ using a scale from 1 to 7. Results indicated To understand how bottom-up processing works in evidence of a vowel prototype for /i/, but also showed the absence of a knowledge base providing top-down in- that phonetic prototypes or “best” vowels differed for formation, researchers have studied infant speech per- speakers of different languages. Further perceptual test- ception using two techniques: high-amplitude sucking ing revealed an even more unique occurrence: sounds (HAS) and head-turn (HT). In HAS, infants from 1 to 4 that were close to a prototype could not be distinguished months of age suck on a pacifier connected with a pres- from the prototype, even though they were physically sure transducer which measures the pressure changes different. It appeared as if the prototype perceptually as- caused by sucking responses when a speech sound is similated nearby sounds like a magnet, attracting the presented. Head turn conditioning is used to test infants other sounds in that category. Dubbed the perceptual between 6 months and one year of age. With this tech- magnet effect, this theory offered a possible explanation nique, a child is trained to turn his or her head when a of why adult speakers of a given language can no longer speech sound, repeated once every second as a back- hear certain phonetic distinctions as is the case with ground stimulus, is changed to a comparison speech Japanese speakers who have difficulty discriminating be- sound. When the head is turned during the presentation tween /r/ and /l/; the Japanese prototype is something of the comparison stimulus, the child is rewarded with a that is acoustically similar to both sounds and results in visual stimulus of a toy which makes a sound. their assimilation by the Japanese prototype. As a result of studies using these techniques, it has To discover whether infants are born with all the been shown that infants at the earliest ages have the abil- prototypes of all languages and whether language expe- ity to discriminate phonetic contrasts (/bat/ and /pat/) and rience then eliminates those prototypes which are not re- prosodic changes such as intonation contours in speech. inforced, an experiment in which 6-month-old American However, to understand speech, more than the ability to infants listened to English was performed (Kuhl, 1991). discriminate between sounds is needed; speech must be It confirmed the perceptual magnet effect but left the perceptually organized into phonetic categories, ignoring question of the role of language experience unresolved. some differences and listening to others. When a study was conducted (Kuhl, Williams, Lacerda, Stevens & Lindblom, 1992) with listeners from two dif- To measure categorical perception, adults were ferent languages (English and Swedish) on the same asked to discriminate between a series of sounds varying vowel prototypes it was demonstrated that the perceptual in equal steps in acoustic dimension from /ra/ to /la/. As magnet effect is strongly affected by exposure to a spe- predicted by the categorical perception phenomenon, cific language. their discrimination improved at the boundary between the two phonetic categories. However, adult listeners The Native Language Magnet (NLM) theory grew could do this only for sounds in their native language. out of the research on the development of speech percep- The discovery that categorical perception was language- tion. Simply stated, it explains how infants at birth can specific suggested that it might be a learned behavior. hear all of the phonetic distinctions used in the world’s This prompted researchers to question if categorical per- languages. However, during the first year of life, prior to ception was the result of experience with language. If so, the acquisition of word meaning and contrastive phonol- young infants could not be expected to show it, while ogy, infants begin to perceive speech by forming mental older infants, who had experienced language, might be representations or perceptual maps of the speech they expected to do so. hear in their environment. These representations, stored 618 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

in the brain, constitute the beginnings of language-spe- vidual who has served as president of both the American cific speech perception and serve as a blueprint which Psychological Association and the American Psychologi- guides infants’ attempts to produce speech. The native cal Society, Spence has been the recipient of numerous language magnet effect works to partition the infant’s awards. She was elected to the American Academy of Janet Taylor Spence perceptual space in a way that conforms to phonetic cat- Arts and Sciences and holds honorary degrees from egories in the language that is heard. Sounds in the spo- Oberlin College and Ohio State University. ken language that are close to a given magnet or proto- Born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1923, young Janet was the type are perceptually pulled into the magnet and thus as- elder of two daughters of John C. and Helen Hodge Tay- similated, and not discriminated, by the listener. As the lor. Both her mother and grandmother were graduates of perceptual space surrounding a category prototype or Vassar College. Helen Taylor also held a master’s degree magnet shrinks, it takes a very large acoustic difference in economics from Columbia. She worked for the for the listener to hear that sound. However, a very small League of Women Voters, managed Republican election acoustic difference in the region of a nonprototype can campaigns, and eventually became director of a social be heard easily. Thus the developing magnet pulls service agency. John Taylor was the business manager of sounds that were once discriminable toward a single a labor union and an active Socialist. After two years at a magnet, making them no longer discriminable and girls’ high school in Northfield, Massachusetts, Spence changing the infant’s perception of speech. enrolled at Oberlin College, a liberal arts school in Ohio. Following graduation in 1945, she entered the graduate Patricia Kuhl, Ph.D. clinical psychology program at Yale University. Further Reading Measures anxiety and motivation Aitchison, Jean. The Seeds of Speech: Language Origin and Evolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. After a year of working with intelligence tests at Yale Kuhl, Patricia K, Ph.D. “Speech Perception.” Introduction to with Catherine Cox Miles, Janet Taylor took a rotating in- Communication Sciences and Disorders. San Diego: Sin- ternship in New York State. Deciding against pursuing gular Publishing Group, Inc. clinical psychology, she moved to the University of Iowa ———. Learning and Representation in Speech and Lan- to work with Kenneth Spence, co-author of the Hull- guage. Philadelphia: Current Biology Ltd. Spence theory of behavior. For her dissertation, Taylor de- veloped the MAS, which measured individual motivation- al levels and was used to select subjects for experimental studies. In further research, she studied the relationship Speech between anxiety levels and performance. The MAS is still used in psychology to measure anxiety levels. See Language development After receiving her Ph.D. in 1949, Taylor joined the psychology department of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, as the first woman faculty member. Two years later, she was promoted from instructor to as- sistant professor and she became an associate professor Janet Taylor Spence in 1956. Despite a demanding teaching load, that re- quired her to develop seven different courses, from intro- 1923- American clinical, experimental, and social psy- ductory and experimental psychology to statistics, dur- chologist, known for her studies on motivation and ing her first year at Northwestern, she continued her pro- on gender identity. ductive research program. Taylor published eighteen pa- pers and co-authored a statistics textbook during her ten Janet Taylor Spence has made important contribu- years at Northwestern. tions to several branches of psychology. Her early work, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS), became a Marries Kenneth Spence standard method for relating anxiety to performance. She discovered the importance of intrinsic motivation in per- Janet Taylor Spence returned to Iowa City with her formance, at a time when most psychologists believed in new husband in 1959. Since nepotism policies at the uni- reward models of learning and performance. Later, versity prevented her from working in the same depart- Spence turned her attention to gender studies and devel- ment as her husband, she became a research psycholo- oped a general theory of gender identity. The only indi- gist at the Veterans Administration Hospital. When Ken- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 619

N. O’Connell and Nancy Felipe Russo. New York: Green- Kenneth W. Spence neth Spence moved to the psychology department at the Spence, J. T. “Janet Taylor Spence, 1923-.” In Models of wood Press, 1990. University of Texas at Austin, she found a research asso- ciate position at a Texas state school for retarded chil- achievement: reflections of eminent women in psychology, dren. In 1965, she obtained a faculty appointment in the edited by A. N. O’Connell and N. F. Russo. Vol. 2. Hills- Department of Educational Psychology at the Universi- dale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1988. ty of Texas. During this period, Spence studied motiva- tion and reinforcement,first with schizophrenics at the Gilbert. Sexism and stereotypes in modern Society: the Veterans Hospital and then applying her experimental Swann, William B., Judith H. Langlois, and Lucia Albino gender science of Janet Taylor. Washington, DC: Ameri- methods to developmental issues in children. She made can Psychological Association, 1999. the remarkable discovery that rewards were not only in- effective, but were counterproductive, as motivators of performance. Instead, Spence demonstrated the impor- tance of intrinsic motivation in individual performance. Kenneth W. Spence With her husband’s death in 1967, Spence finally was able to join the psychology department of the Uni- 1907-1967 versity of Texas. Between 1968 and 1972, she served as American neobehavioral psychologist known for both theoretical and experimental research on department chair. In addition to her numerous publica- learning. tions, Spence served on the editorial boards of a number of psychology journals and, from 1973 until 1979, she Kenneth Wartinbee Spence was known for his theo- edited Contemporary Psychology. She also has worked retical and experimental studies of conditioning and with many professional committees, including those of learning. His analyses and interpretations of the theories the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- of other psychologists also were very influential. Spence ence. Spence was as a Fellow at the Center for Advanced was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1978 and, in 1979, 1954 and was a fellow of the American Association for she became Ashbel Smith Professor of Psychology and the Advancement of Science and the American Psycho- Educational Psychology at the University of Texas. logical Association (APA). Undertakes gender research The son of Mary E. Wartinbee and William James Spence, an electrical engineer, Spence was born in In the 1970s, Spence began collaborating with Chicago, Illinois, in 1907, but he grew up in Montreal, Robert Helmreich. Their “Work and Family Orientation Quebec, Canada. Spence attended West Hill High Questionnaire” examined various factors in achievement School and McGill University in Montreal, earning his motivation; in particular, perseverance, mastery, and bachelor’s degree in 1929 and his master’s degree the competitiveness. They also began examining achieve- following year. He won the Wales Gold Medal in Men- ment motivation and behavior. At the same time, Spence tal Sciences from McGill in 1929 and the university’s and Helmreich began examining gender issues. They de- Governor-General’s Medal for Research in 1930. Mov- veloped several indices for measuring gender-related ing to Yale University, Spence studied with the famous characteristics and attitudes, including the “Attitudes to- primate biologist Robert M. Yerkes and with the be- ward Women Scale” and the “Personal Attributes Ques- havioral psychologist Clark L. Hull. Spence’s early tionnaire.” Their 1978 book, Masculinity and Feminini- work was concerned with discrimination learning in ty: Their Psychological Dimensions, Correlates and An- animals. After receiving his Ph.D. in psychology in tecedents,moved the study of gender into the main- 1933, Spence was a National Research Council fellow stream of psychological research. Spence’s theory of and research assistant, working with chimpanzees at gender identity was published in 1985. the Yale Laboratories of Primate Biology in Orange Spence, who also became the Alma Cowden Mad- Park., Florida. den Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas, retired in 1997. She lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Elaborates on Hull’s learning theories In 1937, Spence became an assistant professor of Margaret Alic psychology at the University of Virginia and, a year later, he moved to the State University of Iowa (now the Uni- Further Reading versity of Iowa) in Iowa City, as an associate professor. Deaux, Kay. “Janet Taylor Spence (1923- ).” In Women in psy- Spence was particularly interested in learning and condi- chology: a bio-bibliographic sourcebook, edited by Agnes tioning. He extended the research and theories of Hull, in 620 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

an attempt to establish a precise, mathematical formula- Further Reading tion to describe the acquisition of learned behavior. He Amsel, A. “Kenneth Wartenbee Spence.” Biographical memoir. tried to measure simple learned behaviors such as sali- Vol. 66. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, vating in anticipation of eating. Much of his research fo- 1995. Split-brain technique cused on classically conditioned, easily measured, eye- Amsel, K. W. S. “Spence, Kenneth Wartenbee.” In Biographi- blinking behavior in relation to anxiety and other factors. cal dictionary of psychology, edited by Noel Sheehy, Antony J. Chapman, and Wendy A. Conroy. London: He measured anxiety using the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Routledge, 1997. Scale developed by his graduate student, Janet Taylor, Kendler, Howard H., and Janet T. Spence. Essays in neobehav- whom he eventually married. Spence believed in “latent iorism: a memorial volume to Kenneth W. Spence. New learning,” that reinforcement was not necessary for York: Appleton-Century-Crofts,1971. learning to occur. However, he thought that reinforce- ment was a strong motivator for performance. Collec- tively, this work eventually became known as the Hull- Spence theory of conditioning and learning. Split-brain technique Procedure used to study the activities of the two University of Iowa becomes center of hemispheres of the brain separately, and indepen- theoretical psychology dent of each other. Spence became a full professor and head of the psy- Psychologists have demonstrated that even simple chology department at Iowa in 1942. Together with human tasks, like thinking of a word when viewing an Kurt Lewin at the Child Welfare Research Station, and object, involve separate subtasks within the brain. These the science philosopher Gustav Bergmann, Spence smaller tasks involve identifying the object, assessing its made the University of Iowa into a major center of theo- use, remembering what other objects are related to it, de- retical psychology, with the goal of transforming psy- termining how many syllables are in the word associated chology into an advanced natural science. Spence col- with the object, and so on. laborated with Bergmann on logical positivism, the framework for his theories of psychology. In 1956, People do not realize the complexity of seemingly Spence’s Silliman Lectures at Yale University were pub- simple tasks because the brain integrates information lished as Behavior Theory and Conditioning . In 1960, smoothly and flawlessly almost all the time. One struc- many of his papers were collected as Behavior Theory ture in the brain involved in the exchange and integration and Learning. Spence also served on the U. S. Air Force of information from one part to the next is the corpus Committee on Human Resources and the Army Scientif- callosum, a bundle of about 200 million nerve fibers that ic Advisory Panel. connect the right and left hemispheres of the brain. By the late 1940s, Spence and other neobehaviorists Beginning in the 1940s, neurologists questioned had succeeded in infusing all of American psychology whether the corpus callosum was involved in the devel- with behaviorism. Spence pointed out that American opment of epileptic seizures. Evidence from monkeys psychologists no longer bothered to identify themselves suggested that abnormal neural responses in one hemi- as behaviorists; rather, it was taken for granted. With the sphere spread to the other via the corpus callosum, re- rise of cognitive behavioral approaches, Spence’s theo- sulting in major seizure activity. As such, it might be ries received less attention. However his experimental beneficial to patients suffering from epilepsy to sever the methods continued to be regarded highly. corpus callosum in order to prevent the spread of this ab- normal neural activity. After some initial problems with Spence married his former graduate student, Janet the surgical procedure, neurologists documented the Taylor Spence, in 1959. In 1964, he moved to the psy- benefit of such surgery, called cerebral commisurotomy. chology department at the University of Texas in This so-called split-brain surgery resulted in an increase Austin. Over the course of his career, Spence was ad- in split-brain research. One of the primary researchers in visor to some 75 Ph.D. students. His many awards in- this area was neurosurgeon Roger Sperry (1913-1994). cluded the Howard Crosby Warren Medal of the Soci- ety of Experimental Psychologists in 1953 and the first Research neurosurgeons discovered that after Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the surgery, patients often experienced a short period during APA in 1956. Spence died of cancer in Austin, Texas, which they could not speak and had difficulty controlling in 1967. the left side of their bodies. This set of problems, called acute disconnection syndrome, probably reflected the Margaret Alic trauma caused by the surgery itself. After the patient re- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 621

Benjamin Spock covered from this trauma, his or her everyday behavior 1903-1998 Benjamin Spock appeared unchanged. The two hemispheres of the brain were no longer directly connected, so information from one half of the brain should not have been able to get to Pediatrician most noted for his authorship of Baby the other. Researchers required subtle and sophisticated techniques to be able to differentiate people whose cor- dominant attitudes toward the raising of infants and pus callosum had been cut from those with intact brains. and Child Care, which significantly changed pre- children. Such techniques involve using apparatus that can present visual information so that it goes to only one side Benjamin McLane Spock was born on May 2, of the brain. In this case, split-brain patients may not be 1903, in New Haven, Connecticut, the oldest child in a able to label a picture that stimulates on the right side of large, strict New England family. His family was so the brain; they may have no difficulty when the left side strict that in his 82nd year he would still be saying “I of the brain, which normally controls language produc- love to dance in order to liberate myself from my puri- tion, receives stimulation. At the same time, research in tanical upbringing.” Educated at private preparatory the area has been conflicting. Some work reveals consid- schools, he attended Yale from 1921 to 1925, majoring erable sophistication in language ability in the right in English literature. He was a member of the racing hemisphere. Although language functions do differ crew that represented the United States in the 1924 across hemispheres, split-brain research has not com- Olympic Games at Paris, finishing 300 feet ahead of its pletely resolved the issue about the nature and the degree nearest rival. He began medical school at Yale in 1925, to which the left and right hemispheres differ. and transferred to Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1927. He had, by this time, More recent research has suggested that the left married Jane Davenport Cheney, whom he had met after hemisphere may be involved in much linguistic behavior a Yale-Harvard boat race. because of its strength in dealing with analytical, struc- Spock had decided well before starting his medical tured tasks. On the other hand, the right hemisphere may studies that he would “work with children, who have be better in spatial tasks because these tasks require their whole lives ahead of them” and so, upon taking his holistic, synthetic functioning—the strength of the right M.D. degree in 1929 and serving his general internship hemisphere. at the prestigious Presbyterian Hospital, he specialized in When the patients were asked to point to pictures of pediatrics at a small hospital crowded with children in the normal faces, they selected the normal face associat- New York’s Hell’s Kitchen area. Believing that pediatri- ed with the half of the chimeric face that stimulated the cians at that time were focusing too much on the physi- right hemisphere. When forced to respond verbally, the cal side of child development, he took up a residency in patients showed a preference for the picture that had psychiatry as well. stimulated the left hemisphere. Although researchers Between 1933 and 1944, Spock practiced pediatric cannot specify the exact differences in the functioning of medicine, while at the same time teaching pediatrics at the two hemispheres, regular differences along visual Cornell Medical College and consulting in pediatric psy- and linguistic lines have emerged. chiatry for the New York City Health Department. On a Although the research has demonstrated differences summer vacation in 1943, he began to write his most fa- in the functioning of the two hemispheres of the brain, mous book, Baby and Child Care, and he continued to everyday behavior may appear completely normal in work on it from 1944 to 1946 while serving as a medical split-brain patients. This is true because human behavior officer in the Navy. is very flexible and adaptable. For example, a split-brain The book sharply broke with the authoritarian tone patient might turn the head when focusing on an object; and rigorous instructions found in earlier generations of thereby stimulating both hemispheres. Further, these pa- baby-care books, most of which said to feed infants on a tients use cross-cuing in which they invoke as many dif- strict schedule and not to pick them up when they cried. ferent modalities, like vision, audition, and touch,to Spock, who spent ten years trying to reconcile his psy- help them make sense of their world. choanalytic training with what mothers were telling him See also Left-Brain Hemisphere; Psychosurgery; about their children, told his readers “You know more Right-Brain Hemisphere. than you think you do…. Don’t be afraid to trust your own common sense…. Take it easy, trust your own in- Further Reading stincts, and follow the directions that your doctor gives Springer, S. P., and G. Deutsch. Left Brain, Right Brain. 2d ed. you.” The response was overwhelming. Baby and Child New York: W. H. Freeman, 1985. Care rapidly became America’s all-time best-seller ex- 622 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

cept for Shakespeare and the Bible; by 1976, it had also eclipsed Shakespeare. After his discharge from the Navy, Spock became Benjamin Spock associated with the famous Mayo Clinic (1947-1951) and then became a professor of child development at the University of Pittsburgh (1951-1955) and at Case West- ern Reserve (1955-1967). His political activism began during this period, growing logically out of his concern for children. A healthy environment for growing chil- dren, he believed, included a radiation-free atmosphere to breathe and so, in 1962, he became co-chairman of SANE, an organization dedicated to stopping nuclear bomb tests in the Earth’s atmosphere. The following year, in which the United States did ratify a nuclear test ban treaty, he campaigned for Medicare, incurring the wrath of the American Medical Association, many of whose members were already suspicious of a colleague who wrote advice columns for the Ladies Home Journal and Redbook instead of writing technical monographs for the medical journals. Spock was an early opponent of the Indo-China war; his view on that subject, Dr. Spock on Vietnam, appeared in 1968. As the war escalated, so did antiwar protest, in which Spock participated vigorously, marching and demonstrating with militant youths who had not yet been Benjamin Spock (The Library of Congress. Reproduced with born when he began his medical career. Conservatives permission.) accused him of having created, in large measure, the youth protest movement of the 1960s. Ignoring his many returned their well-thumbed copies of Baby and Child admonitions to parents in Baby and Child Care that they Care in order to prevent further undermining of their should “set limits,” his political opponents accused children’s patriotism. To many other readers, however, Spock of teaching “permissiveness,” by which they the government’s indictment of the baby doctor seemed claimed an entire generation of American youth had rather like prosecuting Santa Claus. been raised and ruined. In vain, Spock pointed out that similar student protests were happening in Third World Two books published in 1970, Decent and Indecent: countries where his book enjoyed no circulation and Our Personal and Political Behavior and A Teenager’s were not happening in Western Europe countries where Guide to Life and Love, made it clear that Spock was a it sold well. good deal more of a traditional moralist than either his Because of his own strict personal upbringing and friends or his enemies were aware. He had been driven his acute moral sense, Spock may have intended a lot into the antiwar and other reform movements by the less when he told parents to “relax” than some of them same imperious, old-fashioned conscience that propelled realized. In 1968, he revised Baby and Child Care to some of his opponents in exactly the opposite direction. make his intentions more clear, now cautioning his read- At the same time, the doctor showed himself capa- ers “Don’t be afraid that your children will dislike you” ble of growing and changing. His social activism mutat- if you set those limits and enforce them. Nevertheless, ed into socialism, and in 1972 he ran for president on the that 1968 edition showed a 50 percent drop in sales, People’s Party ticket. He was also capable of admitting a mainly, Spock thought, because of his stand on Vietnam. mistake. Badgered for some five years on the lecture On May 20, 1968, along with several other leading platform by feminist objectors to the gender-role stereo- war protesters, Spock was put on trial for conspiracy. types of fathers and mothers as they appeared in Baby The charge was that he had counseled young people to and Child Care, he eventually conceded that much of resist the draft. In the superheated political atmosphere what they had said had been right. In 1976, 30 years of the times, he was convicted, but on appeal the verdict after its initial publication, Spock brought out a third was set aside on a technicality. Some indignant readers version of the famous book, deleting material he himself GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 623

Sports psychology termed “sexist” and calling for greater sharing by fathers for psychological study. People involved in sports at- tempt to master very difficult skills, often subjecting in the parental role. He also yielded 45 percent of subse- themselves to intense physical stress as well as social quent book royalties in the divorce settlement that year pressure. When psychologists began studying sports in with his wife, who contended she had done much more the 1930s and 1940s, they focused on motor perfor- of the work on Baby and Child Care than he had ever ac- knowledged. Spock was remarried in the fall of 1976 to mance and the acquisition of motor skills. Sports psy- chology emerged as a distinct discipline in the 1960s, Mary Morgan Councille. dominated by theories of social psychology. Since then, Formally retired in 1967, Spock was the kind of per- research has expanded into numerous areas such as im- son who in spirit never really retires. Contemplating his agery training, hypnosis,relaxation training, own death as his health began to fail in the 1980s, he motivation, socialization, conflict and competition, wrote in 1985 (at the age of 82) that he did not want any counseling, and coaching. Specific sports and recreation- lugubrious funeral tunes played over him: “My ideal al specialties studied include baseball, basketball, soccer, would be the New Orleans black funeral, in which volleyball, tennis, golf, fencing, dance, and many others. friends snake-dance through the streets to the music of a jazz band.” He had chronic bronchitis and suffered a Three primary areas of sports research are personal- stroke in 1989. His wife, Mary, collaborated with Spock ity, motivation, and social influence. Personality studies on his autobiography, Spock on Spock, which was pub- have investigated whether there are specific traits that lished in 1989. His book A Better World for Our Chil- distinguish athletes from non-athletes. Although most of dren was published in 1994 and explored the relationship these studies failed to yield significant results, some between child-rearing and politics. According to an arti- valid connections were made between success in athlet- cle in the Detroit Free Press, Spock said “When I look at ics and positive mental health. Research on wrestlers, our society and think of the millions of children exposed runners, and oarsmen found lower levels of depression, every day to its harmful effects, I am near despair.” Dr. tension, hostility, and fatigue among more successful Spock died at his home in La Jolla, California on March athletes when compared with their peers and with the 15, 1998 at the age of 94. general population. Individual differences within a sport See also Child development; Child psychology have also been studied. One instrument devised for this type of investigation is the Sport Competition Anxiety Further Reading Test (SCAT), developed by Rainer Martens, which mea- Bloom, Lynn Z. Doctor Spock: biography of a conservative sures levels of anxiety in competitive sport. Studies of radical. 1972. motivation have focused on optimum arousal levels for Maier, Thomas. Dr. Spock: an American life. 1998. athletes. Mostly such studies have corroborated existing Mitford, Jessica. The trial of Dr. Spock, the Rev. William research on arousal by relating peak performance to a Sloane Coffin, Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman, moderate, optimum arousal level, with performance di- and Marcus Raskin. 1969. minishing if arousal is either increased or decreased Kellogg, M.A. “Updating Dr. Spock.” Newsweek. March 3, 1976. from that level. Negative effects of excess arousal in- Spock, Benjamin. Decent and indecent. 1970. Spock, Benjamin. A Teenager’s Guide to Life and Love. 1970. clude inefficient movement patterns and loss of sensitivi- Spock, Benjamin. “A way to say farewell.” Parade Magazine. ty to environmental cues. In successful athletes, the abil- March 10, 1985. ity to control arousal and focus attention has proven to Spock, Benjamin. Spock on parenting. 1988. be as important as the level of arousal itself. Motivation Spock, Benjamin. Spock on Spock: a memoir of growing up in sports has also been approached from the angle of be- with the century. 1989. havior modification, with attention to such issues as the Spock, Benjamin. A better world for our children. National effects of intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards. Press Books, 1994. Studies of social influence, which were predominant in the 1960s and 1970s, focused on such issues as the in- fluence of spectators, teammates, and competitors. Sports psychologists have also studied specific types of Sports psychology behavior. For example, the origin and effect of aggres- A developing subfield of psychology concerned sion in sports have been investigated by researchers test- with applying psychological theories and research ing the concept of sport as a cathartic release of aggres- to sports and other recreational activities. sion. (It was found that aggressive sports tend to increase rather than diminish hostility and aggression.) The social Sports—which involve emotion, competition, co- dynamics of team sports have also been studied. Psycho- operation, achievement, and play—provide a rich area logical theories from other subfields, such as social psy- 624 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

chology and behavioral psychology, have been applied successfully to the study of sports and recreation. At times, research has yielded findings which are different from those seen in these more traditional areas. Contrary Sports psychology to what a behavioral psychologist might predict, for in- stance, some studies done on coaching behaviors reveal that effective methods of instruction are not always relat- ed to high levels of praise or positive reinforcement. The common behavior of coaches, even successful ones, is disproportionately composed of scolding and “hus- tling,” or urging on, rather than providing supportive feedback. Another finding that goes against conventional wisdom is that team cohesiveness in team-oriented sports does not necessarily lead to top performance. Following the already existing practice in Europe, sports psychologists in North America now work directly with professional athletes and teams to help improve per- formance. Techniques applied include anxiety manage- ment, progressive relaxation, autogenic training, biofeed- back,hypnosis, and cognitive behavioral therapy. Men- tal imagery,attention control, goal-setting, and work on interpersonal skills are also part of sports psychology programs for athletes. Positive results have been reported in enhancing performance and controlling anxiety. As the study of sports psychology has grown, it has Speed skater Eric Heiden. Individual sports, like speed borrowed less from other specialties, such as behavior- skating, require greater self-motivation in their athletes. ism, making its own contributions to the field of psy- (AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.) chology. The unique findings in this discipline have con- tributed to other, more conventional areas of psychology and are recognized as having significant applications to lated information to build skills and enjoy their activities the mental health of the general population. One exam- more fully. These individuals become likely subjects, ple can be seen in numerous research reports which have along with athletes, for psychologists seeking to do re- cited the benefits of jogging and other sports in alleviat- search or to provide counseling in the area of sports and ing depression. (Some studies have found that running is recreation. equal to psychotherapy in its ability to relieve depres- While there is no specific division devoted to sports sive symptoms.) Sports psychology has also gained psychology within the American Psychological Associa- recognition through the popularity of such books as tion, those involved in the discipline may join the Acade- Thaddeus Kostrubala’s The Joy of Running, David my of Sport Psychology International (ASPI), the Amer- Kauss’s Peak Performance, and Timothy Gallwey’s ican College of Sports Medicine, the International Soci- “inner game” books. Psychologically-oriented instruc- ety of Sports Psychology, or various other organizations. tion books, such as Vic Braden’s Tennis for the Future, English-language journals in the field include the Jour- have also gained wide audiences. Principles developed nal of Sport Psychology, the International Journal of through sports research, such as attention control train- Sport Psychology, the Journal of Sport and Social Issues, ing, have also been adapted for use in business and other and Psychology of Motor Behavior and Sport. organizational settings. Coaching and fitness models and other sports psychology concepts have been used in Further Reading training managers and supervisors. Books on this topic Bird, Anne Marie. Psychology and Sport Behavior. St. Louis: include Coaching for Improved Work Performance by Times Mirror/Mosby College Pub., 1986. Ferdinand Fournies and Coaching, Learning, and Action Cratty, Bryant J. Psychology in Contemporary Sport: Guide- by B.C. Lovin and E. Casstevens. lines for Coaches and Athletes. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: As medical findings continue to support the role of Prentice-Hall, 1983. exercise and fitness in building and maintaining health, LeUnes, Arnold D. Sport Psychology: An Introduction. Chica- people are interested in learning how they can apply re- go: Nelson-Hall, 1996. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 625

Other Helpers Need to Know about Psychological Test- Standard progressive matrices (SPM) Further Information Walsh, W. Bruce, and Nancy E. Betz. Tests and Assessment. ing. New York: Crossroad, 1992. Academy of Sport Psychology International (ASPI). 6079 Northgate Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43229, (614) 846–2275. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. American College of Sports Medicine. P.O. Box 1440, Indi- anapolis, Indiana 46206-1440, (317) 637–9200. International Society of Sports Psychology. Department of Ki- nesiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 906 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61801, (217) Standardized test 333–6563. A test administered to a group of subjects under ex- actly the same experimental conditions and scored in exactly the same way. Standard progressive matrices Standardized tests are used in psychology, as well as (SPM) in everyday life, to measure intelligence,aptitude, Assesses intelligence nonverbally in children and achievement, personality,attitudes and interests. At- adults. tempts are made to standardize tests in order to eliminate biases that may result, consciously or unconsciously, The Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) is a from varied administration of the test. Standardized tests group or individually administered test that nonverbally as- are used to produce norms—or statistical standards— sesses intelligence in children and adults through abstract that provide a basis for comparisons among individual reasoning tasks. It is sometimes called Raven’s, although members of the group of subjects. Tests must be stan- the SPM is only one of three tests that together comprise dardized, reliable (give consistent results), and valid (re- Raven’s Progressive Matrices. Appropriate for ages 8-65, producible) before they can be considered useful psy- the SPM consists of 60 problems (five sets of 12), all of chological tools. which involve completing a pattern or figure with a part Standardized tests are highly controversial both in missing by choosing the correct missing piece from among psychological circles and particularly in education be- six alternatives. Patterns are arranged in order of increasing cause true standardization is difficult to attain. Certain difficulty. The test is untimed but generally takes 15-45 requirements must be rigidly enforced. For example, minutes and results in a raw score which is then converted subjects must be given exactly the same amount of time to a percentile ranking. The test can be given to hearing- to take the test. Directions must be given using precise- and speech-impaired children, as well as non-English ly the same wording from group to group, with no em- speakers. The Standard Progressive Matrices is usually bellishments, encouragement, or warnings. Scoring used as part of a battery of diagnostic tests, often with the must be exact and consistent. Even an unwitting joke Mill Hill Vocabulary Scales. The SPM is part of a series of spoken by the test administrator that relaxes the sub- three tests (Raven’s Progressive Matrices) for persons of jects or giving a test in a room that is too hot or too varying ages and/or abilities, all consisting of the same cold could be considered violations of standardization kind of nonverbal reasoning problems. The SPM is consid- specifications. Because of the difficulty of meeting ered an “average”-level test for the general population. The such stringent standards, standardized tests are widely Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM), which includes the criticized. two easiest sets from the SPM and a dozen other questions Critics of the use of standardized tests for measuring of similar difficulty, is designed for five- to 11-year-olds, educational achievement or classifying children are criti- persons with mental or physical handicaps, and non-Eng- cal for other reasons as well. They say the establishment lish speakers. The Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) of norms does not give enough specific information about is generally for ages 11 to adult or, specifically, for gifted what children know. Rather, they reveal the average level students. It consists of a practice and screening test (Set I) of knowledge. Secondly, critics contend that such tests and a 36-problem series for use with persons of above-av- encourage educators and the public to focus their atten- erage intellectual ability. tion on groups rather than on individuals. Improving tests scores to enhance public image or achieve public funding Further Reading become more of a focus than teaching individual children McCullough, Virginia. Testing and Your Child: What You Should the skills they need to advance. Another criticism is that Know About 150 of the Most Common Medical, Education- al, and Psychological Tests. New York: Plume, 1992. the tests, by nature, cannot measure knowledge of com- Shore, Milton F., Patrick J. Brice, and Barbara G. Love. When plex skills such as problem solving and critical thinking. Your Child Needs Testing: What Parents, Teachers, and “Teaching to the test”—drilling students in how to an- 626 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

swer fill-in-the-blank or multiple-choice questions— takes precedence over instruction in more practical, less objective skills such as writing or logic. Achievement tests, I.Q. tests, and the Stanford- Binet intelligence scales are examples of widely used Statistics in psychology standardized tests. Further Reading Houts, Paul L., ed. The Myth of Measurability. New York: Hart Publishing Co., 1977. Wallace, Betty, and William Graves. Poisoned Apple: The Bell- Curve Crisis and How Our Schools Create Mediocrity and Failure. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. Zimbardo, Philip G. Psychology and Life. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1988. Abstract and visual reasoning are analyzed in Stanford- Binet intelligence tests.This blindfolded subject is Stanford-Binet intelligence matching shapes by touch. (Richard Nowitz. Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced with permission.) scales The oldest and most influential intelligence test, devised in 1916 by Stanford psychologist Lewis Statistics in psychology Terman. A branch of mathematics devoted to the collection, compilation, display, and interpretation of numeri- Consisting of questions and short tasks arranged cal data. from easy to difficult, the Stanford-Binet measures a wide variety of verbal and nonverbal skills. Its fifteen Psychologists rely heavily on statistics to help as- tests are divided into the following four cognitive areas: sess the meaning of the measurements they make. Some- 1) verbal reasoning (vocabulary, comprehension, absur- times the measurements involve individuals who com- dities, verbal relations); 2) quantitative reasoning (math, plete psychological tests; at other times, the measure- number series, equation building); 3) abstract/visual rea- ments involve statistics that describe general properties soning (pattern analysis, matrices, paper folding and cut- of groups of people or animals. ting, copying); and 4) short-term memory (memory for sentences, digits, and objects, and bead memory). While In psychological testing, the psychologist may inter- the child’s attitude and behavior during the test are pret test results in light of norms, or the typical results, noted, they are not used to determine the result, which is provided from previous testing. In research, psycholo- arrived at by converting a single raw score for the entire gists use two kinds of statistics, descriptive and inferen- test to a figure indicating “mental age” (the average age tial. Descriptive statistics simply give a general picture of a child achieving that score). A formula is then used to of the scores in a given group. They include the mea- arrive at the intelligence quotient, or I.Q. An I.Q. of 100 sures of central tendency and the measures of variability. means that the child’s chronological and mental ages Central tendency involves different kinds of averages: match. Traditionally, I.Q. scores of 90-109 are consid- the mean, median, and mode. Variability involves the ered average, scores below 70 indicate mental retarda- standard deviation, which indicates how far scores in a tion. Gifted children achieve scores of 140 or above. group are likely to be from the average. Most recently revised in 1986, the Stanford-Binet intelli- Inferential statistics are used to help psychologists gence test can be used with children from age two, as draw inferences, or conclusions, from the data obtained well as with adults. Although some of its concepts— from their research. The most common statistical tests such as mental age and intelligence quotient—are being include the student’s T-test and the Analysis of Variance questioned, the test is still widely used to assess cogni- (or F-test); these statistics help the psychologist assess tive development and often to determine placement in whether the differences in averages across groups are special education classes. due to the effects of an independent variable. Another See also Terman, Lewis; Wechsler Intelligence widely used inferential statistic is the correlation coeffi- Scales. cient, which describes the strength of the relationship be- GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 627

Stereotype tween two variables. For example, there is a positive cor- Further Reading Liebert, Robert M.; Joyce N. Sprafkin; and Emily S. Davidson. relation between a student’s score on the Scholastic As- The Early Window: Effects of Television on Children and sessment Test (SAT) and his/her grades in the first year Youth. New York: Pergamon Press, 1982. of college. Correlations involve patterns that exist in groups; individuals within those groups may not perform in the manner the correlation predicts that they will, but if large numbers of students are tested, general trends may be detected. Robert J. Sternberg Further Reading 1949- Anderson, David Ray. Introduction to Statistics: Concepts and American cognitive psychologist who developed a Applications. St. Paul, MN: West Pub. Co., 1990. new model of learning and intelligence. Bluman, Allan G. Elementary Statistics: A Step-by-Step Ap- proach. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1995. From childhood anxiety to a career Freund, John E. Statistics: A First Course. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995. Robert J. Sternberg was born in December 1949 in Newark, New Jersey. As a child growing up in Maple- wood, New Jersey, Sternberg suffered from a problem common to many children. An otherwise bright student, he suffered such severe anxiety when taking IQ tests that Stereotype he consistently scored low. His active brain was evident when he discovered as a sixth grader re-taking a test An unvarying view about the physical appearance, among fifth graders that his anxiety was pointless. In personality, or behavior of a particular group of seventh grade, his science project was called the “Stern- people. berg Test of Mental Ability.” He gave the test to his classmates along with the traditional Stanford-Binet in- Some people believe and perpetuate stereotypes telligence scales that he had discovered in the town li- about particular ethnic groups: Italians are emotionally brary. From this point on, Sternberg devoted his time to sensitive, loud, and talk with their hands; Irish people researching the processes of testing and learning. drink too much; Germans are serious and intelligent. As a student at Yale University, Sternberg spent his While such characteristics may apply to few members of summers working for the Psychological Corporation in that ethnic group, some people characterize all people in New York, and the Educational Testing Service in a certain group to share these traits. Psychologists have Princeton, New Jersey, alongside writers who wrote also noted the role stereotypes play in human memory. standardized test materials. While at Yale he studied When meeting a new person, for example, people some- with Endel Tulving, graduating summa cum laude in times combine their firsthand perceptions of that per- 1972 with a BA in psychology. He also received the son—appearance, personality, intelligence—with prestigious Wohlenberg Prize and was named to Phi stereotypes they have formed about similar people. Beta Kappa. Sternberg received his Ph.D. from Stanford Later, when trying to describe or recall that person, the in 1975. While at Stanford he studied with Gordon actual characteristics become distorted by the stereotypi- Bower and received the Sidney Siegel Memorial Award. cal features that often have no relation to that person. He also continued to work on investigating the analyti- Television has been criticized for perpetuating cal processes people utilize while taking intelligence stereotypes, particularly regarding racial groups and tests. Along with his work as the IBM Professor of Edu- women. Studies have shown that early television pro- cation and Director of Graduate Studies in the Depart- grams, in particular, were guilty of portraying stereo- ment of Psychology at Yale, Sternberg has enjoyed a typed characters. For instance, minorities were more prolific career as a writer and editor. In 1994, he served likely than whites to be criminals, and women were as president of the American Psychological Associa- often shown in the roles of wife, mother, or sex object. tion (APA) Division 1 (General) and in 1994–95 as Children proved to be especially vulnerable to the influ- president of APA Division 15 (Educational). In all, he is ence of these stereotypes. The civil rights movement of a fellow of nine APA divisions, and has won two APA the 1960s and the women’s movement of the 1970s awards, the Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early prompted the development of “prosocial” programs such Career Contribution to Psychology in 1981, and the Mc- as Sesame Street that sought to counter racial, ethnic, Candless Award. Other awards have come to him from and gender stereotypes. around the world. 628 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

According to a profile of Sternberg from the APA it’s important to bring intelligence into the real world Monitor,“Sternberg views himself as a generalist dedi- and the real world into intelligence.” cated to improving the profession for all psycholo- See also Intelligence quotient Stimulant drugs gists.” His book, Beyond IQ: A Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence,however, began to define his stud- Jane Spear ies more closely. Sternberg’s compilation of the “com- ponential” theory associated information processing stages with specific brain functions. To that, he added Further Reading the “experiential” and “contextual,” or external, to sig- Paul, Annie Murphy. Sternberg: a wayward path to wisdom. Psychology Today, May-June 1998. nify the entirety of cognitive ability,re-defining intelli- Sternberg, Robert J. Successful Intelligence. New York: Simon gence. Sternberg believes that life, not what is learned & Schuster, 1996. in the classroom, determines intelligence. His creative Trotter, Robert J. Three heads are better than one. Psychology approach to understanding human intelligence as a Today, August 1986. composition of creativity, emotional balance, and cog- nitive abilities has made him a celebrity not only among his professional colleagues, but with the general public, especially through his books, The Triangle of Love, Love The Way You Want It, and Love Is a Story: A Stimulant drugs New Theory of Relationships. Sternberg has been deter- Also called psychostimulants, drugs that produce mined to keep the integrity of his occupation at the increased levels of mental and physical energy and highest level and yet available to those other than sea- alertness and an elevated mood by stimulating the soned professionals. His writing style is conversational central nervous system. and not prohibitively academic. Stimulants are used for the treatment of certain psy- His work has also extended into studying learning chiatric conditions and also used (and abused) for recre- disabilities in children and understanding exactly what ational purposes, enhanced levels of energy, and weight such a designation implies. One book he has published loss. They may be prescription or over-the-counter med- on this subject is Our Labeled Children co-authored with ications, illegal street drugs, or ingredients in commonly Elena L. Grigorenko and published in 1999. ingested substances, such as the caffeine in coffee or the nicotine in cigarettes. Whatever their form, stimulants increase respiration, heart rate, and blood pressure, and International collaborations and a “labor of their abuse can cause adverse physical effects and endan- love” ger a person’s health and even his or her life. An over- dose of stimulants can result in chest pains, convulsions, Sternberg’s research group is actively connected to paralysis, coma, and death. groups around the world, including Israel, Tanzania, France, Norway, and Spain. Sternberg describes the various projects of his students as “interrelated” while Caffeine and nicotine individually developing a specific focus. For Sternberg The most commonly used stimulant (and the most himself, the study of love and close relationships often widely consumed drug) in the United States is caffeine. catches his greatest interest. Sternberg states that “here, Found in coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate, and drugs, we are studying issues such as people’s conceptions of including pain relievers, diet pills, and cold and allergy love, the growth and decline of love over the course of medications, caffeine belongs to a family of drugs called relationships, and the structure of love in different rela- methylxanthines. It works by disrupting the action of a tionships.” neurotransmitter called adenosine. Since caffeine is Sternberg not only studies love in the research set- usually consumed in food, it normally enters the body ting. His marriage to Alejandra Campos, also trained in through the gastrointestinal system, passing from the in- clinical psychology, has produced two children, Seth testines into the blood, which circulates it through the and Sara. Sternberg has observed that his children also body. It reaches its maximum effect within 30-60 sec- have the same test anxiety from which he suffered, even onds from the time it is consumed, although it remains in though they are “A” students. In an interview with Psy- the body for several hours. Caffeine is addictive. People chology Today in 1986, Sternberg told Robert J. Trotter who consume it regularly develop a tolerance for it, “it’s really important to me that my work has an effect meaning that they need to ingest progressively greater that goes beyond the psychology journals. I really think amounts to continue getting the same effect. (Thus, diet GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 629

Stimulant drugs pills containing caffeine lose their effectiveness after a controversy surrounding the frequency with which this medication—whose use by children doubled between few days, when a tolerance is established.) Caffeine 1988 and 1994—is prescribed. Side effects include in- causes physical dependence, producing withdrawal symptoms including anxiety, headaches, and fatigue somnia, appetite loss, and stomach pains. Ritalin may also produce withdrawal symptoms, including headache, when its use is discontinued. People who stop using caf- feine also experience a craving for it, which is a sign of and movements of the tongue. Other stimulants used for psychological dependence. It is generally agreed that irritability, nausea, and abnormal chewing movements daily caffeine consumption equal to the amount con- ADHD (usually when Ritalin doesn’t work or produces tained in one cup of coffee or soft drink (under 240 mil- too many negative side effects) are Dexedrine and Cy- ligrams) is probably harmless, but that consumption over clert (pemoline), a stimulant similar to Ritalin. Ritalin 600 milligrams (the amount in four cups of coffee) can and other stimulants have also been prescribed to prevent cause anxiety, sleep and digestive disorders, a rapid daytime sleep episodes in persons suffering from severe heartbeat, and other health problems. The National Col- narcolepsy. lege Athletic Association has limited the amount of caf- feine that its players can consume. Abuse of illegal stimulants Besides caffeine, the other stimulant widely ingest- The primary illegal stimulants used for recreational ed is the nicotine consumed in smoking. Both caffeine purposes are amphetamines and cocaine. Street names and nicotine are classified as secondary stimulants be- for various types of amphetamines include speed, up- cause, unlike drugs such as amphetamines and cocaine, pers, dexies, bennies, ice, L.A. ice, Ecstasy, and crank. they affect the sympathetic nervous system more than Amphetamines produce an effect similar to that of the the central nervous system. Also unlike stimulants that hormone adrenaline, making its users feel awake, alert, are abused for recreational purposes, caffeine and nico- and energetic. Drugs of this type were abused by young tine produce only an increased energy level but not a people as early as the 1930s, when it was popular to tear feeling of intoxication. Nicotine acts mostly as a stimu- the medicated strip out of Benzedrine nasal inhalers and lant in new users, but long-term users claim that it relax- ingest them directly or in coffee. By the 1950s and 1960s es them. Teenage smoking has been rising steadily amphetamines were widely used by people who needed throughout the 1990s. A 1995 survey of high school stu- to keep themselves awake through the night, such as dents by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention truck drivers and night musicians, or by athletes for extra found that on average 34.8% of teenagers smoke. Like energy. Many young people used them to stay awake users of other addictive substances, teen smokers start when they needed to cram for tests or complete school out thinking they will be able to control their use of ciga- assignments. It is estimated that up to half the ampheta- rettes, but two-thirds of young people who smoke have mines sold by drug companies in the 1960s were sold il- tried to quit and failed. Nicotine withdrawal symptoms legally. After the government imposed controls on the include anxiety, irritability, insomnia, depression, manufacture of these drugs, they began to be produced headaches, mood swings, difficulty concentrating, and illegally in home laboratories. Not only are these prepa- changes in appetite. rations vulnerable to contamination, they are often dilut- ed by manufacturers and dealers. Many supposed am- Stimulants used for therapeutic purposes phetamines sold on the street contain mostly caffeine and other drugs, with a very small percentage of amphet- Stimulant drugs have long been used to treat psy- amine or even none at all. chological disorders. In the past, psychiatrists used cer- tain stimulants as antidepressants,but today this prac- The use of amphetamines declined in the 1980s as tice is confined primarily to seriously depressed patients cocaine became the drug of choice. However, in the who have failed to respond to either psychotherapy or 1990s methamphetamine (traditionally known as speed) to the wide range of other antidepressants that are cur- has become newly popular, especially among middle- rently available (and that, unlike stimulants, are not ad- class suburban teenagers, in a crystalline form—known dictive). Today the primary therapeutic use of stimulants as ice, L.A. ice, or crank—that can either be smoked or is for the treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity snorted like cocaine. Smoking methamphetamine first be- disorder (ADHD) in children, and the most widely used came fashionable in Hawaii. Use of the drug then became drug is Ritalin (methylphenidate). Ritalin works by facil- widespread in California, and now it is increasing in other itating the release of the neurotransmitter norepineph- parts of the country. A 1994 survey conducted at the Uni- rine, which improves alertness, attention span, and the versity of Michigan found that more high school seniors ability to focus. Although it is generally considered safe had used methamphetamine than cocaine. In 1993 alone, and effective for the treatment of ADHD, there is still the number of emergency room admissions related to the 630 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

use of this drug increased by 61%. Crank is much cheap- as a substance abused by celebrities, including actor John er to produce than cocaine, so its manufacturers realize a Belushi (who died of a cocaine-heroin overdose), come- larger profit (a pound can be produced for $700 and sold dian Richard Pryor (who was badly burned freebasing co- for as much as $225,000). Users like it because it reaches caine), and Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry, who Stranger anxiety the brain almost immediately, and its effects last longer was forced to resign from office but was later reelected. than those of cocaine. It produces feelings of alertness, In 1991, a government study found that 15% of high euphoria, and increased energy. Like other ampheta- school seniors and 21% of college students had tried co- mines, crank also decreases appetite and promotes weight caine, and cocaine use by teenagers continued to increase loss, making it attractive to young women, who represent significantly through the 1990s. 50% of the teenage market for the drug. Cocaine produces a physical addiction by affecting People taking methamphetamine, which remains in the brain’s chemistry and a psychological addiction be- the body for as long as four days, quickly establish a tol- cause users become dependent on the confident, euphor- erance for the drug and require ever greater amounts to ic feeling it creates to help them cope with the stresses of experience the same effect. Users can become addicted daily life. Possible negative reactions to large doses of within four to six months. Side effects of the drug include cocaine use include hallucinations, paranoia, aggressive a dry mouth, sweating, diarrhea, insomnia, anxiety, and behavior, and even psychotic “breaks” with reality. Co- blurred vision. Severe reactions can include hallucina- caine can cause heart problems, seizures, strokes, and tions (called “tweaking”), paranoia, and speech disor- comas. Reactions to withdrawal from the drug are so se- ders, all of which may persist for up to two days after use vere that most users are unable to quit without profes- of the drug. In addition to physical addiction, ampheta- sional help. Withdrawal symptoms, which may last for mines produce a psychological dependency on the eu- weeks, include muscle pains and spasms, shaking, fa- phoric effects produced by these drugs, especially since tigue, and reduced mental function. Both inpatient and when they wear off they are followed by a “crash” that outpatient programs are available to treat persons for co- produces a depression so severe it can lead to suicide. caine addiction. A related stimulant, which is derived from metham- Further Reading phetamine, is MDMA, also known as Ecstasy. MDMA Carroll, Marilyn. Cocaine and Crack. The Drug Library. combines the characteristics of a stimulant and a psyche- Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1994. delic drug, producing hallucinations and enhanced feel- Chomet, Julian. Speed and Amphetamines. New York: Franklin ings of sociability and closeness to others. It is less ad- Watts, 1990. dictive than amphetamines but more dangerous. Persons DeBenedette, Valerie. Caffeine. The Drug Library. Springfield, have died from taking this drug; some had preexisting NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1996. heart conditions, but others had no known medical prob- Jahanson, C.E. Cocaine: A New Epidemic. New York: Main lems. MDMA causes brain damage, and its use can lead Line Book Co., 1992. to the development of panic disorder. Lukas, Scott E. Amphetamines: Danger in the Fast Lane. New York: Chelsea House, 1985. Cocaine is a stimulant made from the leaves of the Salzman, Bernard. The Handbook of Psychiatric Drugs. New coca plant. Its street names include coke, snow, toot, York: Henry Holt, 1996. blow, stardust, nose candy, and flake. When the pure drug was first extracted from the leaves in the 19th century, its Further Information harmful effects—including addiction—weren’t known, Drug Abuse Clearinghouse. P.O. Box 2345, Rockville, MD 20847–2345, (301) 443–6500, (800) 729–6686. and early in the 20th century it was legally sold in medi- National Cocaine Hotline. (800) COCAINE. cines and soft drinks, including Coca-Cola, which origi- nally contained small amounts of the substance (from which its name is derived). Cocaine use has been illegal since 1914. Until the 1970s it was not widely used, ex- cept among some members of the arts community. At Stranger anxiety first cocaine was largely used in a diluted powder form that was inhaled. Eventually, more potent smokable Fear of people with whom a child is not familiar. forms were developed, first “freebase” then “crack,” which has been widely used since the 1980s. In 1988, the An infant learns to recognize her parents within the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reported that first few months of birth by sight, sound, and even 1 in 10 Americans had used cocaine. Of young adults be- smell. Up until six months, a baby will usually seem in- tween the ages of 18 and 25, one in four reported having terested in other adults as well, engaging in games such used cocaine at some point. Cocaine also became visible as peek-a-boo. After six months, many babies undergo a GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 631

Strange Situation period of fear and unhappiness around anyone except would arouse in the infant both the motivation to ex- plore and the urge to seek security. An observer (often a their parents. The child may burst into tears if an un- researcher or therapist) takes a mother and her child known person makes eye contact or shriek if left even momentarily in the care of an unfamiliar person. This (usually around the age of 12 months) to an unfamiliar stranger anxiety is a normal part of a child’s cognitive room containing toys. A series of eight separations and development; the baby has learned to differentiate her stress for the infant. Separation in such an unfamiliar caretakers from other people and exhibits her strong reunions are staged involving mild, but cumulative, preference for familiar faces. Stranger anxiety begins setting would also likely activate the child’s attachment around eight or nine months and generally lasts into the system and allow for a direct test of its functioning. Al- child’s second year. though no single behavior can be used to assess the qual- ity of the infant’s attachment to the caregiver, the pattern Stranger anxiety can be upsetting to friends and rel- of the infant’s responses to the changing situation is of atives, who may feel rebuffed by a suddenly shy child. interest to psychologists. The validation of the procedure The baby may reject a babysitter she was previously and its scoring method were grounded in the naturalistic comfortable with or grow hysterical when relatives visit. observation of the child’s exploration, crying, and prox- It can also be a trying time for the child’s parents; the imity-seeking in the home. baby may reject the parent who is not the principal care- giver. Furthermore, the child may be particularly upset Ainsworth’s research revealed key individual differ- around people who look different to her—perhaps peo- ences among children, demonstrated by the child’s reac- ple with glasses, men with beards, or people of an unfa- tion to the mother’s return. Ainsworth categorized these miliar skin tone. Parents should respect the child’s fear responses into three major types: as much as possible, and allow her to approach people as (A) Anxious/avoidant—the child may not be dis- she is able. Extra time should be spent with the child tressed at the mother’s departure and may avoid or turn when dropping her off at a babysitter or relative’s house. away from her on her return; The new face should be introduced slowly. If the child does not want to be hugged by or sit with a relative, it is (B) Securely attached—the child is distressed by the unwise to force her. Generally, the child will outgrow his mother’s departure and easily soothed by her on her re- fear and may become more sociable. turn; (C) Anxious/resistant—the child may stay extremely Further Reading close to the mother during the first few minutes and be- Greenberg, Mark T., Dante Cicchetti, and E. Mark Cummings. come highly distressed at her departure. When she re- Attachment in the Preschool Years: Theory, Research, and turns, the child will simultaneously seek both comfort Intervention. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. and distance from the mother. The child’s behavior will Watkins, Kathleen Pullan. Parent-child Attachment: A Guide to Research. New York: Garland Publishing, 1987. be characterized by crying and reaching to be held and Spock, Benjamin. “Mommy, Don’t Go!” Parenting (10): June- then attempting to leave once picked up. July 1996, pp. 86+. Using the Strange Situation procedure, many re- Sroufe, L. A., and J. Fleeson. “Attachment and the Construc- searchers have studied the development of child attach- tion of Relationships.” In Hartup, W., and Z. Rubin (Eds.) ment to the mother and to other caregivers. However, Relationships and Development. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, there continues to be much debate about the origins of 1986, pp. 51-71. the child’s reaction in the Strange Situation, and about Wingate, Carrie. “Separation Distress.” American Baby (58): May 1996. pp. 20+. what factors influence the development of an infant’s at- tachment relationships. Further Reading Ainsworth, M. Infancy in Uganda: Infant Care and the Growth Strange Situation of Love. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967. A research technique developed by American psy- Ainsworth, M., M. C. Blehar, E. Waters, and S. Wall. Patterns chologist Mary Ainsworth and used in the assess- of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situ- ment of attachment. ation. Hillsdale, NJ: Earlbaum, 1978. Bowlby, J. A Secure Base: Parent-Child Attachment and The Strange Situation procedure, developed by Healthy Human Development. New York: Basic Books, American psychologist Mary Ainsworth, is widely used 1988. in child development research. The goal of the Strange Sroufe, L. A., and J. Fleeson. “Attachment and the Construc- Situation procedure is to provide an environment that tion of Relationships.” In Hartup, W. and Z. Rubin, eds. 632 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Relationships and Development. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, TOP TEN STRESSFUL EVENTS 1986, pp. 51-71. Stress Ainsworth, M., and S. M. Bell. “Infant Crying and Maternal Death of spouse Responsiveness.” In Child Development, 1171-90. Divorce Silver, Nan. “The ABCs of Intimacy.” Parents Magazine 71, Marital separation June 1996, p. 72+. Jail term or death of close family member Spock, Benjamin. “Mommy, Don’t Go!” Parenting 10, June- July 1996, pp. 86+. Personal injury or illness Marriage Loss of job due to termination Marital reconciliation or retirement Pregnancy Stress Change in financial state The physiological and psychological responses to situations or events that disturb the equilibrium of Source: “What Are the Leading Causes of Stress?” In an organism. Science and Technology Desk Reference. Edited by The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Science and Technology Department. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc. 1993, p. 415. While there is little consensus among psychologists (Stanley Publishing. Reproduced with permission.) about the exact definition of stress, it is agreed that stress results when demands placed on an organism cause un- situation generally depends upon a person’s perceived usual physical, psychological, or emotional responses. In ability to cope with it. If the stress is predictable—a humans, stress originates from a multitude of sources scheduled dentist appointment, for example—it usual- and causes a wide variety of responses, both positive and ly causes less stress. A person’s ability to control the negative. Despite its negative connotation, many experts stressor also can mitigate its effects. A strong network believe some level of stress is essential for well-being of social support undermines the magnitude of stress and mental health. in most situations. Stressors—events or situations that cause stress— can range from everyday hassles such as traffic jams to Reactions to stress, then, vary by individual and the chronic sources such as the threat of nuclear war or over- perceived threat presented by it. Psychological responses population. Much research has studied how people re- may include cognitive impairment—as in test anxiety, spond to the stresses of major life changes. The Life feelings of anxiety, anger, apathy, depression, and ag- Events Scale lists these events as the top ten stressors: gression. Behavioral responses may include a change in death of spouse, divorce, marital separation, jail term, eating or drinking habits. Physiological responses also death of close family member, personal injury or illness, vary widely. The “fight or flight” response involves a marriage, loss of job through firing, marital reconcilia- complex pattern of innate responses that occur in reac- tion, and retirement. It is obvious from this list that even tion to emergency situations. The body prepares to han- good things—marriage, retirement, and marital reconcil- dle the emergency by releasing extra sugar for quick en- iation—can cause substantial stress. ergy; heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing increase; muscles tense; infection-preventing systems activate; When presented with a stressful event or situation, and hormones are secreted to assist in garnering energy. the process of cognitive appraisal determines an indi- The hypothalamus, often called the stress center of the vidual’s response to it. One option—to judge the stres- brain,controls these emergency responses to perceived sor as irrelevant—would cause little disturbance and life-threatening situations. thus little stress. For example, a high school student who does not plan to attend college will experience Research has shown that stress is a contributing fac- much less stress during the Scholastic Assessment tor in a majority of disease cases. A relatively new area Test (SAT) than a student who wants to attend a top of behavioral medicine, psychoimmunology, has been university, even though both are in the same situation. developed to study how the body’s immune system is af- Another option is recognizing the stressor as disturb- fected by psychological causes like stress. While it is ing, yet positive. Retirement or marriage could fit into widely recognized that heart disease and ulcers may re- this category. The judgment that a situation truly is sult from excess stress, psychoimmunologists believe stressful would cause the most disturbance and thus many other types of illness also result from impaired im- the most stress. For example, few people would con- mune capabilities due to stress. Cancer, allergies, and sider a serious traffic accident as anything less than arthritis all may result from the body’s weakened ability stressful. The magnitude of resulting stress from any to defend itself because of stress. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 633

Careful laboratory research has explored the extent to Coping with stress is a subject of great interest and Stuttering is the subject of many popular books and media cover- which subliminal stimulation can affect our behavior. The best evidence for subliminal perception comes from stud- age. One method focuses on eliminating or mitigating the effects of the stressor itself. For example, people who experience extreme stress when they encounter daily ies on semantic priming. In a priming task, the viewer’s task is to decide whether or not a presented letter string traffic jams along their route to work may decide to (the target) is a word or not. The task is not difficult. If the change their route to avoid the traffic, or change their target is a legitimate word (e.g., DOCTOR), the respon- schedule to less busy hours. Instead of trying to modify dent pushes the “yes” button. If it isn’t a word (e.g., TOR- their response to the stressor, they attempt to alleviate the COD), he pushes the “no” button. Of special interest is problem itself. Generally, this problem-focused strategy how long it takes the subject to make his or her decision. is considered the most effective way to battle stress. An- Reaction times are faster when the target is preceded by a other method, dealing with the effects of the stressor, is word whose meaning is similar to the target’s meaning used most often in cases in which the stress is serious (e.g., NURSE). Thus, people will identify the target string and difficult to change. Major illnesses, deaths, and cata- DOCTOR as a word more quickly if it is primed with strophes like hurricanes or airplane crashes cannot be NURSE than they would if it were primed with an unrelat- changed, so people use emotion-focused methods in ed word like TRUCK. This priming effect is a well-estab- their attempts to cope. Examples of emotion-focused lished phenomenon. Researchers interested in subliminal coping include exercise, drinking, and seeking support perception wondered what would happen if the prime was from emotional confidants. Defense mechanisms are presented so briefly that the viewer could not recognize it. unconscious coping methods that help to bury, but not Would the priming effect still occur? The answer is yes, cure, the stress. Sigmund Freud considered repres- and this finding is interesting because it shows that the sion—pushing the source of stress to the unconscious— prime initiates cognitive activity in the brain,even though one way of coping with stress. Rationalization and denial the viewer does not feel as if any word recognition took are other common emotional responses to stress. place. Thus, there is a discrepancy between what is per- ceived and what the viewer is aware of having perceived. Further Reading It is important to emphasize that subliminal priming Tanner, Ogden. Stress. New York: Time-Life Books, 1976. is obtained under extraordinarily artificial conditions, and that the effect is very subtle and brief. It does not show that people’s motives, beliefs, or behavior can be Stuttering significantly altered by secret messages. In fact, two- word subliminal primes do not appear to work. While some researchers have reported subliminal effects of a See Speech-language pathology more profound nature than a mere priming effect, the claims are, at best, controversial and sometimes com- pletely false. For example, in the 1980s subliminal audi- tory tapes were advertised as being able to produce many Subliminal influence desirable effects, including weight loss, memory en- hancement, and improvement of sexual function. Exten- The effects of stimuli that are so weak the receiver sive testing by researchers has shown that these products is unaware of their presence. have no therapeutic utility. The term subliminal is derived from the Latin words Timothy E. Moore sub (below) and limen (threshold). The threshold, in this case, is the threshold of conscious awareness. Can we be influenced by stimuli that are so faint or brief that we are Further Reading unaware of their presence? In other words, can people be Moore, T. E., “Subliminal Perception: Facts and Fallacies” affected by invisible stimuli? This controversial notion Skeptical Inquirer, 16, 273-281, 1992. has intrigued scientists and the public for decades. A pub- lic relations stunt in 1957 triggered widespread concern that consumers were being induced to “eat popcorn” and “drink cola” by means of subliminal messages flashed Suicide/Suicidal behavior onto a movie screen. Although there was never any good evidence that this procedure actually worked, the possi- The act of taking one’s own life voluntarily and in- bility of such “mind control” caused considerable alarm. tentionally. 634 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

The annual death toll from suicide worldwide is rized suicide into four types. Altruistic suicide is actually 120,000, and it is the eighth leading cause of death in the mandated by society, as in the case of suttee, where an United States, accounting for one percent of all deaths. Indian wife commits suicide by throwing herself on her Between 240,000 and 600,000 people in the U.S. and husband’s funeral pyre. In egoistic suicide, individuals Canada attempt suicide every year, and over 30,000 suc- kill themselves because they lack the social ties that Suicide/Suicidal behavior ceed. The suicide rate is three times higher for men than could motivate them to go on living. Anomic suicide oc- for women in the United States, although females make curs following the loss of a spouse, child, job, or other three times as many suicide attempts as males. Tradition- significant connection to the community, and fatalistic ally, men over 45 and living alone are the demographic suicides are committed by people driven to despair by group at greatest risk for suicide. However, in the past 30 dire external circumstances from which there appears to years, youth suicides have risen alarmingly, tripling for be no escape. people aged 15 to 24. The suicide rate among persons Twenty years after the publication of Durkheim’s aged 10 to 24 between 1980 and 1992 rose an average of work, Sigmund Freud provided the first theory that ad- 177%. Suicide among women has also increased dramat- dressed suicide in terms of one’s inner mental and emo- ically since 1960, when the ratio of male to female sui- tional state. In Mourning and Melancholia (1917), he cides was 4 to 1. Suicide rates vary significantly among proposed that suicide was the result of turning hostility different ethnic groups in the United States; Native toward a loved one back on oneself. In Man Against Americans have the highest rate at 13.6 per 100,000 (al- Himself (1936), Karl Menninger extended Freud’s con- though there are sizable variations among tribes), com- tribution to the psychodynamic study of suicide, relating pared with 12.9 for European-Americans, and 5.7 for it to other forms of self-destructive behavior such as al- African-Americans. coholism. Attitudes toward suicide have varied throughout his- Today, many possible contributing factors are asso- tory. The ancient Greeks considered it an offense against ciated with suicide. Psychological disorders linked to the state, which was deprived of contributions by poten- suicide include depression, schizophrenia, and panic tially useful citizens. The Romans, by comparison, disorder. A variety of research studies indicate a possible thought that suicide could be a noble form of death, al- physiological predisposition to suicide as well. In a though they legislated against persons taking their own study of the Amish of southeastern Pennsylvania—a lives before an impending criminal conviction in order to population whose close-knit community structure and insure their families’ financial inheritance. Early Chris- isolation from such influences as drugs and alcohol tianity, which downplayed the importance of life on make suicide extremely infrequent—four families ac- earth, was not critical of suicide until the fourth century, counted for 73 percent of suicides between 1880 and when St. Augustine condemned it as a sin because it vio- 1980, suggesting a hereditary tendency toward self-de- lated the sixth commandment (“Thou shalt not kill”). structive impulses. Separate studies have found a corre- Eventually, the Roman Catholic Church excommunicat- lation between suicide and levels of the neurotransmit- ed and even denied funeral rites to people who killed ter serotonin in the brain. Personality features associat- themselves. The medieval theologian St. Thomas ed with suicide include low self-esteem, impulsiveness, Aquinas condemned suicide because it usurped God’s and what social learning theorists call an “external locus power over life and death, and in The Divine Comedy, of control”—an orientation toward believing that one’s the great writer Dante placed suicides in one of the low- fate is determined by forces beyond one’s control. est circles of Hell. The view of suicide as a sin prevailed Social scientists have found that media coverage of in Western societies for hundreds of years, and many suicides can spur imitative behavior. In the 1970s, soci- people are still influenced by it, either consciously or un- ologist David P. Phillips found that increased numbers of consciously. Suicide was a felony and attempted suicide people killed themselves following front-page coverage a misdemeanor in England until 1961. of suicides. He also observed that such articles had a One of the greatest influences on 20th-century no- “copycat” effect, primarily in the geographic area where tions about suicide has been French sociologist Emile the original suicides took place, and that the more pub- Durkheim’s 1897 work Le suicide. Analyzing French licity, the greater the effect of the suicide. The issue of statistics on suicide, Durkheim concluded that suicide is whether fictional accounts of suicide in movies or televi- primarily a function of the strength or weakness of a per- sion influence real life behavior is more controversial son’s ties to family, religion, and community. Persons and harder to document, but evidence has been found to with weak social ties and those for whom such ties have link increases in both attempted and completed suicide been disrupted (such as divorced or widowed people) are to the release of televised movies featuring suicide. the most vulnerable to suicide. Durkheim also catego- Probably the best-known examples of this phenomenon GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 635

Harry Stack Sullivan are the 37 deaths by “Russian roulette” linked to the Further Reading Biskup, Michael, and Carol Wekesser, eds. Suicide: Opposing movie The Deer Hunter. Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1992. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among all Colt, George Howe. The Enigma of Suicide. Fort Worth, TX: adolescents and the second leading cause among college Summit Books, 1991. students. The rate of suicide is highest at the beginning Francis, Dorothy. Suicide: A Preventable Tragedy. New York: of the school year and at the end of each academic term. Teenagers who contemplate or commit suicide are likely to have family problems, such as an alcoholic parent, an E. P. Dutton, 1989. unwanted stepparent, or some other ongoing source of conflict. The breakup of romantic relationships is among the most common triggering factors—one study found Harry Stack Sullivan over a third of suicidal teens were involved in the final 1892-1949 stages of a relationship. Teen pregnancy can be another American psychiatrist who based his approach to contributing factor. Drug and alcohol problems are mental illness primarily upon interpersonal theory. closely related to teen suicide—one study found that drinking had preceded about a third of all suicide at- Harry Stack Sullivan, born on February 21, 1892, tempts by teenagers. In another study, almost half of all in the farming community of Norwich, New York, was teens between the ages of 15 and 19 who committed sui- the only surviving child of a poor Irish farmer. His cide in a particular geographic area were found to have childhood was apparently a lonely one, his friends and had alcohol in their blood. playmates consisting largely of the farm animals. His mother, who was sickly, was unhappy with the family’s Various harmful myths have been perpetuated about poor situation, and is reported to have shown her son suicide. One is that people who talk about killing them- little affection. These personal experiences seem to selves do not actually do it—in fact, one of the main have had a marked effect on Sullivan’s professional warning signs of suicide is thinking and talking about it. views in later life. Another myth is the fatalistic idea that people who want to kill themselves will keep trying until they eventually Sullivan took his medical degree in 1917 at the succeed. For many people, the suicidal urge is related to a Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery. In 1919 he temporary crisis that will pass. Of all people who attempt began working at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, suicide, 90 percent never try again. Yet another myth is D.C., with William Alanson White, an early American the idea that nothing can be done to stop someone who is psychoanalyst. Clinical research at Sheppard and Enoch bent on suicide. Most people who feel suicidal are am- Pratt Hospital occupied a portion of Sullivan’s life, as bivalent about their intentions. Mental health profession- did an appointment in the University of Maryland’s als claim that all persons contemplating suicide give at School of Medicine. In 1936, he helped establish the least one warning, and 80 percent provide repeated warn- Washington School of Psychiatry. In later life, he served ings. If these warnings are heeded, potential suicides can as professor and head of the department of psychiatry in be averted. Common warning signs include giving away Georgetown University Medical School, president of the prized possessions; changes in eating or sleeping habits; William Alanson White Psychiatric Foundation, editor of social withdrawal; declining performance at work or in Psychiatry, and chairman of the Council of Fellows of school; and violent or rebellious behavior. the Washington School of Psychiatry. Sullivan’s approach to psychiatry emphasized the Suicide can be averted when family members or social factors which contribute to the development of friends recognize these and other warnings and actively personality. He differed from Sigmund Freud in view- seek help for a loved one contemplating suicide. Suicide ing the significance of the early parent-child relationship hotlines staffed by paraprofessional volunteers are an as being not primarily sexual but, rather, as an early important source of support and assistance to people quest for security by the child. It is here that one can see who are thinking of killing themselves. Psychotherapy Sullivan’s own childhood experiences determining the can help a troubled person build self-esteem, frustration direction of his professional thought. tolerance, and goal orientation. In cases of severe depres- sion, antidepressant medication is an important resource; Characteristic of Sullivan’s work was his attempt electroconvulsive therapy is recommended for persons to integrate multiple disciplines and ideas borrowed who have not been helped by medication or who are so from those disciplines. His interests ranged from evolu- severely suicidal that it is considered too risky to wait tion to communication, from learning to social organi- until medication can take effect. zation. He emphasized interpersonal relations. He ob- 636 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

Superego In psychoanalytic theory, the part of the human Superstition personality that represents a person’s inner values and morals; also known as conscience. The superego is one of three basic components of human personality, according to Sigmund Freud. The id is the most primitive, consisting of largely uncon- scious biological impulses. The ego uses reality and its consequences to modify the behavior being urged by the id. The superego judges actions as right or wrong based on the person’s internal value system. Freud believed that a child develops the superego by storing up the moral standards learned from experience in society and from parents and other adults. When a parent scolds a child for hitting another child, for exam- ple, the child learns that such aggression is unaccept- able. Stored in that child’s superego, or conscience,is that moral judgment which will be used in determining future behavior. Another component of the superego is a person’s own concept of perfect behavior, which pre- sents a second standard used to govern actions. The complex interaction among the id, the ego, and Harry Stack Sullivan (The Library of Congress. Reproduced the superego is what determines human behavior, ac- with permission.) cording to Freud. A healthy balance between the more instinctual demands of the id and the moral demands of jected to studying mental illness in people isolated the superego, as negotiated by the ego, results in a “nor- from society. Personality characteristics were, he felt, mal” or healthy personality. determined by the relationship between each individual and the people in his environment. He avoided think- Further Reading Atkinson, Rita L.; Richard C. Atkinson; Edward E. Smith; and ing of personality as a unique, individual, unchanging Ernest R. Hilgard. Introduction to Psychology. 9th ed. San entity and preferred to define it as a manifestation of Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987. the interaction between people. Zimbardo, Philip G. Psychology and Life. 12th ed. Glenview, On January 14, 1949, while returning from a meet- IL.: Scott, Foresman, 1988. ing of the executive board of the World Federation for Mental Health, Sullivan died in Paris. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Superstition Further Reading Mullahy, Patrick, ed. The contributions of Harry Stack Sulli- A belief or attitude that does not correspond to van: a symposium on interpersonal theory in psychiatry what is generally believed to be true or rational. and social science. 1952. Ellenberger, Henri F. The discovery of the unconscious: the The study of psychology generally does not in- history and evolution of dynamic Psychiatry. 1970. clude any emphasis on these seemingly irrational be- Chapman, A. H. (Arthur Harry). Harry Stack Sullivan: his life liefs that motivate behavior. Nevertheless, superstitious and his work. New York: Putnam, 1976. actions are common in our society. Avoiding walking Chatelaine, Kenneth L. Good me, bad me, not me: Harry Stack under ladders in order to ward off disaster, crossing fin- Sullivan: an introduction to his thought. Dubuque, Ia.: gers for good luck, and knocking on wood surfaces to Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 1992. ensure continued prosperity or avoid tragedy are exam- Chatelaine, Kenneth L. Harry Stack Sullivan, the formative ples of commonplace superstitions that have permeated years. Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1981. society since ancient times. Sigmund Freud called GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 637

Synapse such superstitions “faulty actions.” Some psychologists when information must be transmitted from one neuron to a succeeding neuron, the transmission is chemical. consider them expressions of inner tensions and anxi- eties. Others believe intense superstitious feelings indi- cate some sort of mental disorder. However, there has For two neurons to communicate, chemical messen- gers, or neurotransmitters, are released into the synaptic been no reliable clinical correlation between supersti- cleft (a tiny gap about one thousandth of a millimeter be- tious beliefs and mental illness. tween neurons), at which point they migrate to the next Further Reading neuron and attach themselves to locations called receptor Lorie, Peter. Superstitions. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. sites. The result is an initiation of electrical current that Rachleff, Owen S. The Secrets of Superstitions: How They moves through that neuron toward the next one. After the Help, How They Hurt. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976. neurotransmitter exerts its effect, it is either destroyed by other chemicals in the synaptic cleft or is reabsorbed into the original neuron. This action prevents the neurons from becoming overstimulated. Synapse When neurons communicate, the effect can be either stimulation or inhibition of the next neuron. For example, The tiny gap through which communication be- when a person pays attention to one conversation and ig- tween two neurons takes place. nore others, the neurons in the brain are actively seeking out that information (stimulation) and actively ignoring Every thought, movement, and sensation occurs due to the rest (inhibition). Neurons come in different shapes communication between different neurons, which provide and sizes, affecting many other neurons, and can have information throughout the nervous system. Within a single different numbers of synapses. Some neurons, called neuron, information proceeds through electrical signals, but Purkinje cells, may have as many as 100,000 synapses. 638 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION

T four basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. (It has also Taste been proposed that monosodium glutamate (MSG) pro- duces a fifth taste, called “umami,” that enhances other The chemical sense which perceives or distinguish- tastes.) Each receptor responds most strongly to one or es flavor. two of the four basic tastes and slightly to the others. The receptors that are sensitive to bitter substances are located Taste, or gustation, is one of the two senses triggered on the back of the tongue. Beginning at the tip of the by chemical stimuli (the other is olfaction). A person has tongue and progressing to the rear on each side are over- approximately 10,000 taste buds. Most are on the tongue, lapping receptors for sweet, salty, and sour tastes. Al- but some are located in the back of the throat. Grouped though the number of basic tastes registered by human together in bumps or papillae on the surface of the taste receptors is extremely limited when compared with tongue, the taste buds contain receptors that respond to the hundreds of odors that can be identified by olfactory Bitter Sour Circumvallate papillae Filiform papillae Salt Sweet Fungiform papillae Trough Taste buds Taste regions of the tongue (left) and taste bud anatomy (right). (Hans & Cassidy. Gale Group. Reproduced with permission.) GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION 639

Television and aggression receptors, the taste buds work together to send a unique working on developing new artificial sweeteners to allow consumption of sweet foods that are low in calories. pattern of impulses to the brain for each substance tast- ed. As any gourmet or wine taster will attest, a wide range of patterns can be created by mixing and blending the four primary tastes in different combinations. Television and aggression As food is chewed, its chemicals act as the stimuli for taste, breaking down into molecules, mixing with For many years, behavioral and educational re- saliva, and infiltrating the areas that contain the recep- tors. Activation of the taste buds triggers nerve impulses vision programs on viewers, particularly children. Sub- that travel to the brain and are there transformed into searchers have studied the psychological effects of tele- sensations of taste. Because of their relatively “toxic” stantial debate over television began as early as the environment, taste buds live short lives, being replaced 1960s. The term “TV violence” was coined in 1963 as about every ten days. The sense of smell often works in critics accused programs of promoting antisocial violent conjunction with our sense of taste by combining sensa- and aggressive behavior. More contemporary discussions tions to achieve the perception of flavor. In fact, the ol- center on the use of rating systems to label the content of factory sense actually contributes more to the perception programs and the use of technology to allow parents to of specific flavors than does the sense of taste. This phe- censor children’s viewing habits. nomenon is commonly demonstrated in people whose Although there have been cases of “copy-cat” sense of taste becomes dulled by colds. It has also been crimes, where an actual murder or suicide is said to have investigated in laboratory research, including tests in been triggered by a specific television incident, a direct which subjects detected little taste in such strong sub- correlation between what a person sees and does is diffi- stances as peppermint, onions, and cinnamon when their cult to prove. Since the 1950s, more than 3,000 studies noses were congested. have been dedicated to tracing more indirect links be- tween actual violence and televised violence. Some re- When a person eats, chemical stimuli taken in searchers have employed a laboratory setting where chil- through chewing and swallowing pass through an open- dren watched either violent cartoons or more passive ing in the palate at the back of the mouth and move to- children’s programming, and then measured the chil- ward receptor cells located at the top of the nasal cavity, dren’s aggressiveness. Much research has been done where they are converted to olfactory nerve impulses that comparing communities without television (such as a travel to the brain, just as the impulses from olfactory town in a remote part of Canada) to similar communities stimuli taken in through the nose. The olfactory and gus- with television. Researchers have also compared crime tatory pathways are known to converge in various parts rates and indicators of violence and aggression in com- of the brain, although it is not known exactly how the munities before and after television became available. two systems work together. Such studies concluded that verbal and physical aggres- siveness increased in children exposed to television. One Another way to regard the relationship between long-term study, carried out by a psychiatrist at the Uni- taste and smell is as two component parts of a perceptual versity of Michigan, tracked hundreds of subjects from function identified as the “flavor system,” which also in- age eight to age 30, and the ones who watched the most cludes temperature and tactile receptors. Warm foods television were the most aggressive, were more likely to seem tastier because warming releases additional aromas be convicted of a serious crime, and were prone to use from the mouth to the olfactory receptors. Warm foods violence to punish their children. also seem sweeter, although temperature has no effect on the perception of salty foods. A food’s tactile properties Other studies have found concomitant effects. Peo- (how it feels in one’s mouth) influence perception of its ple may become more aggressive as well as more fearful flavor, hence distinctions such as that between smooth of becoming a victim of violence. They may also be- and crunchy peanut butter. Pain receptors are even in- come desensitized to violence and not react to help cluded among the mouth’s nerve endings involved in fla- someone who is in trouble. Not only does exposure to vor perception, and may account for some of the appeal television violence stimulate antisocial behavior, it also of hot and spicy foods. A person’s nutritional state can seems to block prosocial, altruistic behavior. Other re- influence perceived tastes, as well as the desire for par- searchers note a difference between the way violence is ticular foods: salt deficiency and food deprivation in- depicted on television and in movies, and the way vio- crease the desire for salty foods. The sweet properties of lence is portrayed in literature, from fairy tales to Shake- saccharin and aspartame were discovered by accident in speare, noting that television violence often seems to be laboratory settings, and researchers are now actively without consequences. It is not portrayed as tragic or 640 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION