Acquisition of emotional responses: Reconstruction and revision of the Little Albert

In 1920 John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner published the results of the study experiment describing how they had conditioned an 11-month-old boy (known as Little Albert) to fear a rat. The experiment is one of the best known and the most frequently cited empirical studies in  the history of psychology. Many studies and theories suggesting the role of learning processes in the development of emotional responses were initiated by the Little Albert experiment.  The article summarizes the procedures and results of the experiment reported by J.B. Watson and R. Rayner. The importance and impact of the results of the experiment on the development of psychological theories and research is discussed. Errors in the discussions of the Little Albert experiment in Polish psychological literature are identifi ed. The results of the latest historical research on the Little Albert experiment are summarized and their consequences are discussed.

Hearing impairment is regarded to be a barrier to the psychological development and language skills of deaf students. In understanding and establishing what comprises the value priorities amongst adolescents, certain deviations can be expected amongst teenagers who are deaf or who have hearing impairment. The article describes and compares the value priorities of 246 adolescents who are deaf or with hearing impairment from Poland and the Czech Republic with hearing peers. The Schwartz Portrait Values Questionnaire is used to measure the value priorities of the respective groups of participants. In comparison to peers responses the results indicate that hearing status impacts upon an individuals’ values of conformity, tradition as well as achievement, however, other value priorities are shown to be infl uenced by gender and country of domicile.

The article was partially made with the financial support of the grant CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0004

Eye movement while evaluating the correctness of spelling as an indicator of the development of spelling awareness in adolescents with a spelling disorder

In this paper we discuss the problem whether the disorder of the development of spelling awareness visible in the form of spelling errors occurs at the level of the visual perception of words. It was assumed that, in an eye-tracker study, adolescents aged 13–15 years with a spelling disorder (N = 32) will have a different pattern of eye movement in the task of evaluating the correctness of spelling in word and pseudo-word tasks than good spellers (N = 19).
The main result was the lack of inter-group differences with regard to most indicators of eye movement. This means that both groups examine the words with a spelling diffi culty in a similar, visual way. There is no difference between the level of engagement and direction of visual attention. The disorder of the development of spelling awareness, therefore, is not the result of the problems with perception and attention.

The Significance of temperament traits to young people’s alcohol use involvement

Previous research based on Jan Strelaus (2006) Regulative Theory of Temperament (RTT) shows that energetic traits of temperament and non-harmonization of its structure are of particular signifi cance to the risk of development of problems with alcohol drinking in late adolescents and young adults. The purpose of this study was to verify the results of previous research. The degree of alcohol use involvement constituted the variable explained, whereas  temperament traits and their structure constituted the predictor variables. The degree of alcohol use involvement was measured with the use of Ryszard Poprawa’s (2013) Alcohol Use Scale (AUS). Temperament traits according to RTT were measured with the use of Bogdan Zawadzki and Jan Strelau’s (1997) Formal Characteristics of Behaviour – Temperament Inventory (FCB-TI). A sample of 208 adolescents and young adults at the age of 16 to 20 years old were interviewed. As a result of a multiple regression analysis, two sex-dependent models of the AUS temperamental predictor were selected. The temperamental variables determine the AUS results to a greater degree when it comes to young men rather than women. Together with the lower sensory sensitivity, emotional reactivity and endurance, and higher activity in men comes their deeper alcohol use involvement. Together with the higher activity and emotional reactivity, and lower sensory sensitivity in women comes their deeper alcohol use involvement. Based on the cluster analysis, there were selected groups of young men and women whose structure of temperament traits on the one hand predispose them to deep alcohol use involvement and on the other hand might protect them against risky involvement . In contrast to previous research, it was proved that low sensory sensitivity is of crucial importance to the degree of alcohol use involvement. It has not been fully proved that the lack of temperament structure harmonization has any particular significance to the risk of addiction in young women.

Declarations of Attitudes toward Bullying among Middle School Pupils

Studies on bullying have typically concentrated only on the bully-victim relationship. It is as if bullying behavior is regarded only as a function of certain characteristics of the bully and/or the victim, while the group context is set aside, or forgotten. Meanwhile bullying is a group process, a social phenomenon, and each group member could assume a different role. The aim of the study was to examine different participant roles taken by individual adolescents in the bullying process, as well as the relation between the sex of the adolescent and the declared behavior. The study was conducted on a sample of 214 students. The participant roles assigned to the subjects were: reinforcer and assistant of the bully, passive bystander, outsider and defender of the victim. There were significant sex differences in the distribution of participant roles.

Creative preschoolers as perceived by their parents and teachers

The paper presents the results of research on identification of creative preschoolers via observation of their overt behavior in two settings: at home and in the kindergarten. A model of preschoolers’ creative activity as well as two original observational sheets were prepared on the basis of the knowledge of the subject. The data were collected form a sample of parents and teachers of 235 preschoolers.
The main categories of creative activity at home were: humour, autonomy, self-expression, persistence, fantasy/imagination, stubbornness; in the kindergarten they were: exploration, control/autonomy, engagement. The results show that the relationship between the parents’ and teachers’ ratings was very weak. The children exhibited a wide range of creative behaviors across the main categories rather than a full pattern (syndrome) of creative behavior. These findings support the existence of a large and at the same time dispersed creative potential of preschoolers, very diversified patterns of creative behaviors, and small developmental changes within this range.

Recenzja: Chris Moulin, Moshe Naveh-Benjamin, Celine Souchay (eds.), 2009, Episodic memory and healthy ageing Hove, New York: Psychology Press

Sprawozdanie z XXII Ogólnopolskiej Konferencji Psychologii Rozwojowej Społeczny kontekst rozwoju.
Od dziecka do dorosłego

Gdańsk, 27–29.05.2013