No abstract

Measures of visual fixation and of focused manipulation of an array of familiar and of novel toys were evaluated for three groups of infants: thirty-two 8-montholds and thirty-two 12-month-olds for whom both arrays contained three toys, and thirty-two 12-month-olds for whom both arrays contained five toys. Prior to testing, half of the infants in each group had been habituated to the familiar array, whereas the other half had been familiarized but interrupted before habituation could be completed. The results showed that habituated infants in each group preferred to look at and manipulate toys in a novel array. In contrast, interrupted infants preferred toys in a familiar array, but only if the array was complex relative to age (three toys for 8-month-olds and five toys for 12-montholds) and only with the focused manipulation measure. If the stimulus was simple and/or the response measured was visual fixation, interrupted infants showed no preference for either array. The results provided evidence of a progression from familiarity preference to novelty preference that is not tied to a particular age but occurs repeatedly as new stimuli are encountered. Age-related changes are present, however, in the effective complexity of the stimuli, the amount of familiarization, and the form of response necessary to elicit the progression.Preparation of this article and the research reported Hunter, Ross, and Ames (1982) found faherein was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities miliarity preferences in 12-month-olds, and Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship 453-" _, 3 * f . , ~ . JT ,-j /,no<>\ 79-4479 and Natural Science and Engineering Research Rose > Gottfried, Carmmar, and Bndger (1982) Council Grant A8291.have reported similar findings for 3Va-to 6'/2-We wish to thank Katherine Covell and Susan Khazaie month-olds, for their help in data collection, and Robert B. McCall An alternative view is that the shift from fo ^™ S SSSttS Mich^A.

A new measure of Erikson's final psychosocial stage, Integrity versus Despair, is presented and validated across two studies. In the first, 97 adults (68 women and 31 men) aged 65 and older responded to this measure: the SelfExamination Interview (SEI). Responses on the SEI were treated both categorically and dimensionally (continuous scores) with respect to four integrity statuses: Integrated, Nonexploring, Pseudointegrated, and Despairing. In Study One, categorical and dimensional Integrity statuses were examined in relation to five convergent measures: the Integrity subscale of the Modified Eriksonian Psychosocial Inventory, Openness to Experience, the Competence subscale of the California Personality Inventory, the Geriatric Depression Scale, and Perceived Health. As hypothesized, Integrated respondents were socially competent and resilient; Nonexploring persons conventional; Pseudointegrated respondents immature; and Despairing persons, demoralized. A subsample of participants took a semi-structured Adult Identity Status Interview. Integrated persons were most often Identity Achieved; Pseudointegrated and Nonexploring persons were most often Foreclosed. Study Two evaluated a new sample of 70 persons (51 women and 19 men) aged 70 and older. It generally confirmed the Integrity statuses developed in Study One, extending them to variables related to complexity and maturity of sociomoral reasoning and thinking style. As expected, the Integrated status was negatively related, and the Nonexploring status positively related, to intolerance for ambiguity. The highest levels of sociomoral reasoning occurred most in the Integrated status group, as did dialectical reasoning. In contrast, the Nonexploring and Despairing statuses had more formisticmechanistic reasoners. Pseudointegrated persons produced the highest number of invalid protocols. The importance of present findings and implications of these studies for future directions in integrity research are discussed.

Two groups of male adolescents, incarcerated young offenders (N =64

This study investigated whether self-and partner-perceptions of interpersonal problems predicted relationship functioning. Partners' understanding of one another's interpersonal problems, projection of their own problems onto their partners, and positive perceptions of their partners' problems were assessed. Individuals from 76 couples completed selfreport measures of their own interpersonal problems and of their perceptions of their partners' interpersonal problems. Relationship functioning was assessed by self-reported satisfaction and by expert ratings of relationship quality. Partner-perceptions more strongly and consistently predicted relationship functioning than did self-perceptions. There was evidence of understanding of interpersonal problems, but degree of understanding did not predict relationship satisfaction or quality. Similarly, there was evidence of projection of level of interpersonal problems, but degree of projection did not predict relationship functioning. In contrast, positive perceptions of interpersonal problems were associated with positive relationship functioning. KEY WORDS: couples • interpersonal problems • partnerperceptions • relationship satisfaction Journal of Social and Personal Relationships