A fundamental assumption underlying the formation of our most important relationships is that they will persist indefinitely into the future. As an acquaintanceship turns into a friend- ship, for example, both members of this newly formed interpersonal bond are likely to expect that their interactions will become increasingly frequent, diverse, and intimate over time. This expectation is perhaps most apparent in romantically involved couples who, through a variety of verbal and symbolic means, make explicit pledges to a long-lasting relationship. In either case, it is clear that these...

Examination stress and test anxiety are pervasive problems in modern society. As the information age continues to evolve, test scores will become even more important than they are today in evaluating applicants for demanding jobs and candidates for admission into highly competitive educational programs. Because test anxiety gen- ally causes decrements in performance and undermines academic achievement, the development of effective therapeutic interventions for reducing its adverse effects will continue to be an important priority for counselors, psychologists, and educators. Alleviating test...

Temperament is the first monograph in 40 years to present theories and basic findings in the field of temperament from a broad international and interdisciplinary perspective. The text, based on the author's four decades of personal study and data collection, thoroughly explores the physiological, biochemical, and genetic bases of temperament - incorporating age-specific methods of assessment developed through child- and adult-oriented approaches. The 147 illustrations comprise tables of the most popular temperament inventories for both children and adults, and unique data tables...

This book discusses the interaction of light with atoms, concentrating on the semiclassical descriptions of the processes. It begins by discussing the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation and its interaction with a classical charged dipole oscillator. Then, in a pivotal chapter, the interaction with a free charge is described (the Compton effect); it is shown that, in order to give agreement with observation, certain quantum rules must be introduced. The book then proceeds to discuss the interaction from this point of view-light always being described classically, atoms described...

Leading researchers examine how behavior genetics provides crucial insights into genetic and environmental influences in the development of biobehavioral disorders. These influences are illustrated by using the examples of cardiovascular disease, obesity and eating disorders, alcohol use and abuse, and smoking behavior. Contributors discuss the relevance of molecular genetic approaches and twin and family designs to the complex field of behavior medicine research.

This volume is an outgrowth of an invitational conference held in October 1991 on the main campus of Texas A&M University and sponsored by a grant from the Dean's Office of the College of Education. The expressed purpose of the conference was to allow researchers from too often dispa- rate areas of research related to individual differences to come together and discuss their approaches to the topic, share ideas, and critique their differing paradigms to shorten the time it takes for researchers in parallel disciplines to discover advances that may aid their own work. We sought to bring...

Dementia is a state that has implications for several groups. There are, first, those who wish to assess its nature and impact in an objective and scientific fashion, using tools of research to uncover dementia's causes, effects, and parameters. The result has been a rapidly expanding literature in diverse disciplines: physiology, chemistry, neurology, psychology, and sociology, among others. Second, there are those professionals and caregivers who work di- rectly with patients and other caregivers and who must assess and apply interventions. Third, physicians are involved in diagnosis and...

During the last two decades the experimental investigation of atomic coherence phenomena has made rapid progress. Detailed studies have been performed of angular correlations, spin polarization effects, angular momen- tum transfer, and the alignment parameters which characterize the charge cloud of excited atoms. The enormous growth in the number of these investigations was made possible through substantial development and application of new experimental technology, the development of sophisti- cated theoretical models and numerical methods, and a fine interplay between theory and experiment....

With the recent increase in the scope of drug and alcohol problems has come an awareness of the need for solutions. In this context, federal support for research on drug problems increased tremendously during the last 10 to 15 years with the establishment of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Funding from these and other sources has led to a substantial increase in the quantity and quality ofpublished work related to substance abuse. As data accumulate, it is becoming more apparent that substance abuse problems are...

This book presents an introduction to the study of relationships among per- sonality, social skills, and psychopathology. Although research findings dur- ing the last decade have made it clear that the relationships among these variables are almost always complex and mUltiply determined, many clini- cians and theoreticians have not incorporated such complexities into their models of human behavior and therapeutic intervention. This discrepancy between clinical theory and research-based findings has been of special con- cern to us because we have been both empirically oriented academic re-...