The present study examined the degree to which slot machine near-miss trials, or trials that displayed 2 of 3 winning symbols on the payoff line, affected response times and win estimations of 12 recreational slot machine players. Participants played a commercial slot machine in a casino-like laboratory for course extra-credit points. Videotaped sessions were later coded to assess trial types and participant response latencies and win estimations for each participant. Results show that all 12 participants emitted verbalizations suggesting near-miss trials were of a higher approximation to a win than non-near-miss losing trials. Of the 12 participants 8 also demonstrated higher response latencies following losing trials than following winning trials. Variations across participants' response latencies were attributed to the presence of and response to near miss trials. The implications of the near-miss on game preference, resistance to extinction, and the development of a behavioral treatment for pathological gamblers are discussed.

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"Spectatoring" refers to a cognitive self-absorption, wherein individuals fixate on and carefully monitor personal body parts and/or the adequacy of personal sexual functioning. To examine this process within a university population, undergraduate and graduate students (108 male and 140 female) filled out questionnaires that assessed body image, sexual knowledge, global sexual attitudes (i.e., liberal-conservative), general psychological adjustment, and frequency of sexual behaviors. Multiple regression analyses were used to determine if spectatoring, operationalized by measures of body image, would significantly predict sexually avoidant behavior. Results indicated that body image scores significantly predicted frequency of sexual behaviors for both genders, while general sexual knowledge and psychological adjustment did not predict sexual behavior. Overall, sexual attitude scores were the best predictors of sexual approach/avoidance behaviors for both genders. Implications are drawn for future research using the assessment of more global sex attitudes in the study of spectatoring.

Health care providers within psychology currently fall into three dominant practice areas: clinical, counseling, and school psychology. This article reviews data from four different sources-archival descriptions, training curricula, internship and employment outcomes, and professional activities-to examine the overlap among the three practice areas. Archival descriptions revealed substantial similarities, with smaller but interesting differences. A comparison of actual curricula from 10 programs accredited in each of the three practice areas yielded similar findings: Programs across the three practice areas were much more similar than different. Within-practice area variations among programs were nearly as large as across-practice area differences. We briefly review the professional activities of clinical, counseling, and school psychologists, again demonstrating considerable similarity. We conclude by explaining implications for doctoral training programs, internships settings, and professional credentialing.

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