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Biomedical subjects

A Furnham

Publications and source records attributed to A Furnham.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Attitudes to the medical specialities: comparing pre-clinical students' perceptions of nine specialities.

This study set out to compare pre-clinical (2nd year) and clinical (5th year) medical students' attitudes to nine specialities. Previous research using the questionnaire employed in this study revealed a large number of significant differences, particularly with regard to pre-clinical students' beliefs about and attitudes towards psychiatry, general practice and surgery. Both multivariate (factor analysis) and univariate (analysis of variance) analyses showed significance main effects for both group (2nd vs 5th years) and speciality but perhaps more importantly significant interactions. Both predispositional and socialization factors are used to account for the difference in students' attitudes and beliefs over time. The advantage of longitudinal over cross-sectional designs is also discussed.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1986

The social desirability of the type A behaviour pattern.

Nearly one hundred subjects completed two Type A behaviour questionnaires twice. First, they were asked to complete them honestly, reporting accurately on their behaviour patterns. Half of the subjects were then asked to fake good, presenting themselves in a positive light, and half to fake bad, presenting themselves in a negative light. There was only a marginal difference on one questionnaire's total score, with fake good subjects having lower Type A (i.e. higher Type B scores) yet nearly every individual question revealed large significant differences. The subjects' own A/B classification did not effect the way in which they faked the questionnaires. The results are discussed in terms of the literature on faking, lay concepts of psychological phenomena and the multidimensionality of the Type A concept.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Attributional versus preattributional variables in self-esteem and depression: a comparison and test of learned helplessness theory.

Predictions made according to the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory concerning the cognitive determinants of low self-esteem and depression were tested in two samples of undergraduates; real and hypothetical life events were used. As predicted, internal attributions for hypothetical success and failure were correlated with self-esteem, but there was an unexpected correlation with global attributions for negative outcomes. Two "preattributional" variables, consensus and consistency judgments, were also related to self-esteem and depression. In contrast to learned helplessness theory, a path analysis indicated that these variables were not attributionally mediated. Consensus judgment was as strong a predictor of depression as the number of recent distressing life events that subjects had experienced. Other evidence that links depression to perceived low consensus is described, and a possible etiological role for this variable is outlined.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Career attitudes of preclinical medical students to the medical specialties.

This study set out to investigate the attitudes of preclinical medical students to various specialties. It specifically aimed to measure a range of attitudes to nine medical specialties, by nearly 200 students. Multivariate analysis showed that the scale has various interpretable dimensions which measured such things as the way the specialty is taught in medical school, the recognized efficacy of treatment, type of patients, etc. Univariate analysis revealed numerous significant differences between the subjects' perceptions of the different specialties. It was concluded that the questionnaire provided a reliable, robust and valid instrument for the measurement of medical student attitudes to any or all specialties and may be particularly useful for research in this field.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1986

The dieting and body shape concerns of adolescent females.

This study set out to examine dietary and body shape concerns of four age groups (12-18 yr) of British female adolescents in order to compare current findings with previous results. Although less than 4% were overweight as measured by standard tables, over 10 times this number considered themselves overweight. Approximately half desired to alter their weight and considered various ways of doing so. The subjects' shape related directly to the subjects' desire to alter body shape, particularly in the oldest group. These results are discussed in terms on the literature on the development of an idea of ideal body shape, increasing interest in exercise and previous research in the area.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Patients' conceptions of psychological adjustment in the normal population.

This study concerned patients' ability to predict a 'normal' response on two self-report inventories. There has been a great deal of research on normal subjects' ability to 'fake good, bad, mad' but very little study of psychiatric patients' conceptions of normality. Two groups of psychiatric patients--anxiety state or depressed--and a normal control group filled in two questionnaires twice: first responding honestly and then as they believed a normal person might. The results showed that whereas 'normal' people tend to see other normals as much the same if not slightly less well adjusted than themselves, patients see themselves as less well adjusted than the ordinary person. The controls were not significantly more able to predict the normal response to these measures than the patient groups were. However, the depressed and anxious groups differed in the accuracy of their estimates and in their conceptions of normal functioning.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1986

Body satisfaction in adolescent girls.

Body satisfaction was examined in four age groups of female British adolescents. Overall satisfaction with nine body features declined from age 12 to 18 years, particularly upper thigh, buttocks and stomach measurements. Although a shape ratio (weight divided by height) determined various aspects of body satisfaction in older girls, self-perceived weight (underweight, OK, overweight) related more directly to body satisfaction. The results suggest that body satisfaction declines during adolescence and is linked to psychological self-esteem and excessive dieting.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Type A behaviour pattern, the recall of positive personality information and self-evaluations.

This paper reports on two studies of how Type A and B subjects perceive themselves. Both studies investigated differences in self-ratings of personality by Type As and Bs, and differences in the recall of positive and negative personality information. As predicted, a modest significant positive correlation was found in both studies between Type A scores and number of positive traits remembered, suggesting that Type A behaviours are associated with a tendency to process information about the self in such a way as to bolster self-esteem. Self-ratings of positive and negative personality traits showed that Type As tended to rate themselves much more negatively than Type Bs. This provides support for a self-evaluative model of Type A behaviour. The results are discussed in terms of the paradoxical nature of the Type A behaviour pattern.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Youth unemployment: a review of the literature.

This paper sets out to review the studies on youth unemployment conducted in a range of English speaking countries: America, Australia and Great Britain. The studies have been divided into six sections: psychological adjustment, attributions and expectations, education about unemployment, job choice and work experience, values, and job interview training. The paucity of good studies in this area partly explains the lack of clear replicated findings or coherent theories for the causes, correlates and consequences of unemployment among young people, though this is an area of relevance to social policy. Furthermore, it was concluded that various factors such as individual differences, salient demographic variables and previous work experience have been neglected. Nevertheless, many of the studies seem to indicate the presence of a destructive vicious circle which young people experience when failing to get a job: stress and disappointment, leading to lowered self-esteem, a change in expectations, and minor psychiatric illnesses which handicap the job search and application process so making unemployment all the more likely.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

The determinants of attitudes towards social security recipients.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between demographic variables (age, sex, education, vote and income), psychological beliefs (alienation, Protestant work ethic and Conservatism) and social security attitudes. Over 250 people from a variety of different backgrounds completed a number of standardized questionnaires. A factor analysis of the attitudes to social security scale revealed four clearly interpretable factors, which were later computed in four subscale scores. Analysis of variance showed that vote, Protestant work ethic, and Conservative beliefs most differentiated subjects' attitudes to social welfare. A canonical correlational analysis revealed three significant variates which showed age, alienation and the Protestant work ethic most closely related to social security attitudes. These results were discussed in terms of previous literature in this area and various social policy implications are considered.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

School children's attitudes towards the handicapped.

This study set out to determine the attitude of a group of normal British 13-year-old school children towards handicapped people while avoiding problems of previous research. As has been shown in previous studies it was demonstrated that the children's attitudes to the physically handicapped were more positive than those towards the mentally handicapped. Whereas there were very few sex differences indicating that males were more negative to the handicapped in general than females, there were a number of contact differences. Children who knew or interacted with a handicapped person were by-and-large more positive in their attitudes than those who had little or no contact with handicapped people. The results of this study are discussed in terms of the integration of handicapped and non-handicapped school children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Adults' perceptions of the economic socialization of children.

This study was concerned with the determinants of adults' beliefs in the economic socialization of children through the use of pocket money (allowances). Over 200 adults completed a questionnaire on their beliefs concerning, for instance, how much and how often children should be given pocket money, as well as such things as whether they should be encouraged to work for it, save it, etc. The independent variables included the subjects' age, sex, education, voting pattern, religion, occupation and whether or not they were parents. The results showed that whereas there were few age or sex differences, the socio-economic class of the adults, and the fact that they did or did not have children did discriminate between the responses of the subjects. Findings were discussed in terms of the literature of economic socialization.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Attitudes to alcohol consumption: the attribution of addiction.

Research on smoking has found actor-observer differences in the attributions of addictions. Non-smokers were much more likely to label the average smoker as addicted than the smokers were prepared to label themselves as such. This study sought to determine whether the findings from the studies on smokers generalized to those drinking alcohol. Subjects, who were classified as heavy, moderate, light and non-drinkers on the basis of their self-reported weakly consumption, completed a questionnaire. Results showed that although there were some similarities between findings on the attribution of smoking and drinking, drinkers were less concerned about stopping drinking and less likely to label themselves as addicted. The results were discussed in terms of lay beliefs about the health factors related to drinking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Actual and perceived attitudes towards deafness.

This study had two aims: first, to investigate the attitudes of deaf and hearing people towards deafness; and, secondly, to study the difference between how deaf people perceive the attitudes of hearing people towards deafness, and how hearing people perceive the attitudes of deaf people towards deafness. The results showed that the deaf had more negative attitudes towards deafness than the hearing. In addition, the deaf believed that hearing people have more negative attitudes to deafness than hearing people actually have. This lack of empathy between the two groups was discussed. The amount of contact with the deaf was found to be associated with more realistic and less stereotyped attitudes to the deaf. The results are discussed in the context of research on social interaction with disabled people.

Attitude↗
PubMed1984

Personality, social skills, anomie and delinquency: a self-report study of a group of normal non-delinquent adolescents.

A group of over 200 'normal' adolescents were administered self-report measures of personality (extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism), social skills, anomie and delinquency in order to establish which of three theories best predicted delinquency. Eysenck's personality factors, particularly psychoticism, correlated most highly with delinquency, while there was no correlation at all between self-reported social skills and delinquency. Overall the males tended to have lower neuroticism but higher psychoticism and anomie scores. The results are discussed in terms of the various psychological theories of delinquency, and the implications of these results for treatment are noted. It was pointed out that because this study was restricted to well-educated, middle class, above-average sixth-form college students the findings may not generalize to a group of convicted or institutionalized offenders. The limitations inherent in self-report measures and in studies of this sort are also considered.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Perceptions of television violence: effects of programme genre and type of violence on viewers' judgements of violent portrayals.

This paper reports two studies which examined the mediating effects of programme genre and physical form of violence on viewers' perceptions of violent TV portrayals. In Expt 1, a panel of British viewers saw portrayals from five programme genres: British crime-drama series, US crime-drama series, westerns, science-fiction series and cartoons which feature either fights or shootings. In Expt. 2, the same viewers rated portrayals from British crime-drama and westerns which featured four types of violence, fist-fights, shootings, stabbings and explosions. All scenes were rated along eight unipolar scales. Panel members also completed four subscales of a personal hostility inventory. Results showed that both fictional setting and physical form had significant effects on viewers' perceptions of televised violence. British crime-drama portrayals, and portrayals that featured shootings and stabbings, were rated as most violent and disturbing. Also, there were strong differences between viewers with different self-reported propensities towards either verbal or physical aggression. More physically aggressive individuals tended to perceive physical unarmed violence as less violent than did more verbally aggressive types.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Lay theories of the causes of alcoholism.

This paper investigates the range, structure and determinants of lay people's implicit theories of alcoholism. The different explicit medical and psychological theories are reviewed as are studies on lay beliefs about alcoholism and heavy drinking. After a number of interviews in which people were asked to list what they believed to be the major causes of alcoholism, 265 people completed a questionnaire in which they rated 30 explanations for their importance in explaining the causes of alcoholism. Females more than males believed alcoholics to be socially inadequate and anxious and that there was too much social pressure and not enough prohibitions against drinking. Middle-aged rather than younger or older people tended to explain alcoholism in terms of poor education, social and cultural pressures and biological or genetic mechanisms. However, there were few differences in the ratings of heavy, moderate, light and non-drinkers. Factor analysis revealed six factors labelled psychological stress, personal and social problems, psychoanalytic theories, sociocultural explanations, biological or genetic explanations and social desirability or pressure. The results are discussed in terms of the research on lay understandings of psychological and medical phenomena, and the relationship between explicit and implicit theories.

Adolescent↗