1, The major objective of this stidl was to explore how prescrlool children's ability to delay gratification was affected when children were ed-tcrattend to actual rewards rather than pictures of reWar s. Sixt subjects, 3 to 5 years of age, were given a choice between two rewards and then placed in a delay of gratification situation._ Half of the subjects were left in the waiting situation with the real reward pressent, and the other half had a realistic picture of the reward in ront of -them. Subjecwere either instructed to pretend th t the real or pictured reward was real, to pretend that real or ictured reward was pictured, or the subject was not given any additional instructions. Results showed that having the actual reward object in front of the Subject presented as real led to low de-ay' of gratification and piCtures of the reward, presented as pictures, facilitated delay. However, these effects were reversed by instruo#ng the child to construe the actual object as pictured, and the pittuted object as real. (BRT)

Lynn Alden Howard Hall Craig Anderson Dale Harris Merrill Anderson Dorothy Harris Donna Andrews William Hay Don Bakal Fred Heide Rus Bauer Kenneth Holroyd Richard Bedrosian Sara Honn Alan Bellack John Horan Helen Best Allen Israel J. Alan Best Carlton James Larry Beutler Matt Jaremko Ed Blanchard Belinda Johnson Elaine Blechman Mark Johnson Deborah Block Robert Karlin Richard Bootzin Don Keat Thomas Borkovec Dan Kirschenbaum Kenneth Bowers Eric Klinger Daniel Briddell Marika Kovacs Mark Burrell Ben Lahey John Caccioppo Alvin Landfield Roy Cameron Thomas Lane Susan Campbell Arnold Lazarus Nancy Cantor Paul Lehrer Bill Carter Gloria Leon Diane Ciaambless Peter Lewinsohn Harry Cole Bert Loro W. Edward Craighead Kathryn Mahoney Jerry Deffenbacher James Mancuso Marilyn Denninger Richard McFall Michael Dow Thomas Merluzzi Thomas Dowd Jack Michael Albert Ellis Suzanne Miller Martha Epstein Bert Moore Fred Evans Peter Nathan Edna Foa Susan O'Leary Arthur Freeman Michael Osarchuk William Fremouw Robert Pandina John Galassi William Ray Charles Garfield Lynn Rehm Alan Glaros Clive Robbins Carol Glass Ted Rosenthal Leon Gorlow William Sacco Steven Greer Michael Sachs Larry Grimm Robert Sherman

Research has shown that stress is associated with depressed cellular immune functioning. Controversy exists as to whether humoral immunity shows a similar depression under stress. Several psychological variables have been found to moderate responses to stress. In particular, an internal locus of control has been correlated with better health. The present study examined the level of salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) and health locus of control in subjects with high and low stress levels. The Hassles scale was administered to identify two subject groups differing significantly in reported stress levels. Results showed no significant differences between the two groups on salivary IgA. There was a significant negative correlation between IgA and internal locus of control. The direction of this correlation is in contrast with previous findings on internality. The evidence suggests that high internal individuals may be especially vulnerable to high levels of stress, particularly stress that they cannot control. Also, there was a significant difference in IgA levels between females depending on whether they were in the first or the second half of their menstrual cycle. Those in the premenstrual phase had lower IgA levels.

Reviews the evidence regarding the development of altruism and suggests that various forms of perspective-taking (perceptual, social, empathic, moral) might be the mediators of this development. Previous reviews in this area have generally concluded that the evidence relating perspective-taking and

It was demonstrated that variations in the informativeness of a social stimulus place important limitations on the generality of the proposition that deprivation heightens, while satiation lowers, responsiveness to a social stimulus. Using 60 children 5 to 6 years of age as subjects, a social stimulus (“good”) was presented at either a high or a low frequency in one of three information-value contexts (high, medium, or low). Immediately following the exposure treatment the same social stimulus was employed as a reinforcer of nonpreferred responses in a two-choice discrimination learning task. The findings indicated that the heightened efficacy of deprivation relative to satiation only held for low information value; when initial information value was high the subsequent efficacy of a social stimulus was enhanced by its initial recurrent usage. Trend analyses revealed that the effects of variations in information value were strongest within the high-frequency-of-praise treatment. Possible mechanisms underlying the significant Information Value × Frequency interaction were discussed.

In a self-imposed delay of gratification paradigm, preschool children waited for preferred but delayed rewards. We systematically varied the contents of slide-presented images of the rewards and instructions about ideation during the delay. As predicted, exposure to the relevant slide-presented rewards greatly enhanced delay; this effect was totally reversed by instruction-induced ideation that focused on the consummatory (arousing) qualities of the rewards. Theoretical implications for understanding the role of reward-relevant ideation during delay by preschool children were discussed.

The effect of success and failure on interpretation of ambiguous feedback was examined under conditions in which the ambiguous feedback was on a task that was either similar or dissimilar to the one at which subjects succeeded or failed. Subjects who received success feedback were more likely than controls or failure subjects to interpret ambiguous feedback as indicating success. Failure subjects were less likely than controls to interpret the feedback as indicating success. Subjects who performed on a task similar to the original training were more likely to generalize on the basis of their previous experience than were those who performed on a dissimilar task. There was greater generalization to the dissimilar task on the part of failure subjects than success subjects. These results are interpreted in terms of previous findings on success and failure. Analogies between the results of failure subjects and reactive depression were examined.

Two experiments examined the effect of time on causal attributions. In Experiment I, subjects who described themselves into a tape recorder assumed more personal responsibility for their behavior after 3 weeks' time than others who explained their behavior immediately after its occurrence. In Experiment II, actor-subjects took part in a getting acquainted conversation and explained their behavior more dispositionally and less situationally after 3 weeks' time than they had initially, while observer-subjects experienced no change over time. Results were interpreted in terms of an altered self-perspective in memory and the diminished salience of situational details over time.

A study was conducted comparing the effects of two modes of cognitively representing rewards on delay of gratification. Nursery school children were told to think about the rewards in a delay situation as either “real” or “pictures.” They were also given instructions designed to elicit either arousal or cueing functions of the cognitive representations. It was found that previously obtained differences of focusing on actual or symbolic rewards were found also when the children represented the rewards cognitively. It was also found that, consistent with our hypothesis, there was an interaction between cognitive representation and instructional set. These results are discussed in terms of Berlyne's (1960)and Estes's (1972)distinction between two functions of a reward stimulus.

MOORE, BERT S.; CLYBURN, ANDREA; and UNDERWOOD, BILL. The Role of Affect in Delay of Gratification. CHrLD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 273-276. 3-5-year-old children were given instructions designed to evoke either a positive, negative, or neutral mood. They were then given a choice between an immediately available but less preferred reward or a delayed, preferred reward. It was found that positive-mood subjects were more likely to choose the delayed reward, while negative-mood subjects were more likely to choose the immediate reward. Results were interpreted in terms of processes of affect and self-gratification.

This field study attempted to replicate the finding that sadness decreases generosity and also to test the plausi bility of the suggestion that sadness decreases generosity because it decreases the radius of attention. Donations to a well-known charity were collected both prior to and after movies which had independently been rated as sad or neutral. The sad movies produced significantly lower donation rates than the neutral movies. An attention manipulation did not alter this relationship, suggesting that the negative mood effect is not mediated by a decreased radius of attention.

An experiment was conducted to clarify the relations between affect and altruism by inducing affect directly. It was hypothesized that children who experienced positive affect would share more than controls, while those experiencing negative affect would share significantly less than controls. Ss were 25 girls and 18 boys from the second and third grades. Ss were brought individually to a trailer by the Experimenter and were told that they were to receive 25 pennies for helping test some new hearing equipment. The child had the option of donating his money to a less fprtunate child.. Results indicate that brief affective experiences have significant implications for behavior toward others..People who are experiencing positive affect tend to be kind to themselves and others. Results for negative affect are inconclusive. Further research is recommended.