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Biomedical subjects

S Strack

Publications and source records attributed to S Strack.

43 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Old is old is old?

We examined potential differences between two matched subgroups of elderly men: young-old (65-74 years of age; n = 53) and old-old (75 years of age and older; n = 56). Subjects were fairly healthy men from community agencies, who were interviewed and tested on a number of characteristics involving personality, mood, attitudes, and behaviors. Although t tests and correlations indicated some differences between the groups, the overall findings underlined their similarity on the vast majority of variables scrutinized. The crucial base for enhancing understanding in gerontology should not only focus on the age-advancing senescent person but on the whole individual.

Affect↗
PubMed1987

Development and validation of an adjective check list to assess the Millon personality types in a normal population.

A 405-item experimental Personality Adjective Check List (PACL) was refined into a 153-item form to assess the personality types outlined by Millon (1969, 1981) in a normal population. Scale construction and validation followed a method outlined by Loevinger (1957, 1972). Nine scales were developed based on the responses of 459 men and women, one for each of Millon's eight basic personalities plus an Experimental scale measuring aspects of his three more severe types. Extensive reliability and validity analyses were conducted involving over 2,200 men and women from across the United States, including a factor analysis of scales. These revealed good internal consistency for each scale, good test-retest reliability over a 3-month period, adequate factor structure, and good convergent and discriminant validity based on self-report data. Results indicated that Millon's basic types exist in normal form much as they are postulated to exist as disorders. Research efforts focusing on Millon's theory as it applies to normals may bring a more complete understanding of the entire spectrum of personality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Pessimistic self-preoccupation, performance deficits, and depression.

Three studies are presented testing a model of the cognitive performance deficits shown in depression. The model proposes that such deficits occur as an interaction of expectancy and focus of attention variables, that is, in the presence of both low expectancy of success and high self-focus. Study 1 was a pilot study which documented that depressed undergraduates evidence poorer anagram performance, greater self-focus, and lower pretask expectancies than do nondepressed subjects. Study 2 showed that nondepressed undergraduates evidence performance deficits only when both expectancy is lowered and self-focus is increased. Study 3 suggested that depressed undergraduates' performance deficits are overcome either by lowering self-focus or by raising expectancy. Discussed are discrepancies between self-report and performance data, the relevance of these studies to the test anxiety literature, the need to integrate literature concerning the effects of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem on performance, and how the interactive roles of positive expectancy and focus of attention may be related to effective coping in a variety of situations.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1983

Social confirmation of dysphoria: shared and private reactions to depression.

Social responses to dysphoria were investigated. Subjects conversed for 15 minutes with persons selected on the basis of the presence or absence of depressed mood. Following the conversations, mood measures were administered along with social perception questionnaires that were described as either being confidential or to be shared with the other person. Subjects who interacted with depressed persons were anxious, depressed, and hostile, and the subjects rejected them. Contrary to predictions, subjects were willing to share their negative responses with the depressed persons. The depressed persons correctly anticipated rejection and reciprocated. The authors argue that cognitive models of depression need to be integrated with a conception of the social environment as being active and responsive. Judgments of cognitive distortion cannot be made without an understanding of the feedback typically available from the social environment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Biokinetic aspects of tissue-bound tritium in algae.

For the estimate of the radiation exposure of man and for the calculation of the risk of artificial tritium from nuclear power plants, organic tissue-bound tritium is of decisive importance. In model experiments, a tritium incorporation of 61 to 71% was found from tritiated water (HTO) into organic matter of planctonic algae under under reproducible conditions and this was related to the theoretical value. In further experiments the tritium release from these high tritiated algae was of interest. Kept in darkness in tritium-free, non-sterile river water, so that autolytic processes and bacterial decomposition could occur, the concentration of HTO was measured over a period of three weeks. A relatively long half-life of tissue-bound tritium was found under various temperature conditions. Therefore it must be considered that a significant retention of tritium in biological matter has to be taken into account in a natural ecosystem. In streams into which the cooling water of a nuclear reactor is released all conditions are found already for a long turnover and cycling of artificial tritium in living organisms as well as the conditions for a favourable transport of tritium by food chains to man.

Ecology↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Coping strategies and associated features of medically ill patients.

This study examined the psychological and behavioral correlates of three major coping strategies used by medically ill patients in dealing with their illness; namely, confrontation, avoidance, and acceptance-resignation. The subjects consisted of 223 male medical patients with a variety of life-threatening and chronic illnesses. Coping responses were measured by the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire, while other variables were tapped by a variety of self-report and test measures, as well as by interview data. Significant correlates were found for each of the coping strategies accounting for 10 to 53% of the variance. These included demographic, illness, and psychological variables. Employment of acceptance-resignation as a coping strategy was particularly evident in patients with little expectation of recovery and a lack of hope. Effectiveness of coping appeared to be negatively linked to frequent use of avoidance and acceptance-resignation in life-threatened patients. Overall, it seems that a variety of variables across several domains accompany the use of a particular coping strategy; that choice of a specific strategy is most likely multidetermined; and that the configuration of variables associated with a particular strategy is likely to be different for each coping strategy. Coping behavior is a subtle, multifashioned expression the complete grasp of which demands an integrative approach.

Adaptation, Psychological↗