The PLATO computer-based Dilemma Counseling System (PLATO DCS) teaches a generic method for solving life-choice problems and counsels persons regarding their current psychological dilemmas. Two newly developed solutions components are described as additional resources for users of PLATO DCS. The specific and structural dilemma solutions components contain 69 representative life-choice problems and over 400 specific and general solutions that assist users in solving their psychological dilemmas. Computer-based dilemma counseling was examined empirically by assessing self-reported problem improvement in two groups of undergraduate students treated on PLATO DCS (n = 48) or in a no-contact control group (n = 62). Students who used PLATO DCS showed significantly greater improvement in their problems than the control group 1 week after treatment. This difference tended to persist 1 month after treatment. Favorable subjective reactions to the teaching and counseling functions of PLATO DCS suggested that a modern computer system can be helpful in solving psychological dilemmas. PLATO DCS is available for research and application at numerous universities and colleges.People often face life-choice problems that involve two possible actions and two corresponding aversive consequences. In general, these avoidance problems can be phrased: If I make a decision for action p, then unhappy consequence r will occur. If I make a decision for action q, then unhappy consequence s will occur. But I must either do action p or action q. Therefore, unhappy consequence r or unhappy consequence s must occur.The resolution of avoidance-avoidance problems involves reasoning with implication, that is, "if-then" sequences (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958). Unfortunately, a number of studies have shown that people have difficulty with such reasoning (

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The purposes of the present study were to explore the reasons behind gun ownership and to gather evidence concerning popular stereotypes of gun-owners. Male gun-owners (n = 37) and a matched sample of nongun-owners (n = 23) reported demographic information, reasons for gun ownership, knowledge about guns, and experience with firearms. Ss also completed several personality inventories. Results indicated that gun-owners differed greatly from nongun-owners in their knowledge and interest in firearms. It appeared that early socialization to guns was a primary factor in firearm ownership. While gun-owners stated that recreation and defense were the primary reasons for owning guns, they also had personalities which were characterized by lower sociability and higher need for power than the nongun-owners. The gun-owners on the average did not exhibit atypical personality characteristics when compared with the nongun-owners or with national norms on the California Psychological Inventory. However, the small sample and the high educational level of gun-owners in this study indicate caution when generalizing these findings.

Individual differences in the perception of nonemergency helping situations were examined using descriptions of five situations in which a person asked for assistance. Four versions of each situation were created so as to differ in the costs (low vs. high) and rewards (low vs. high) associated with helping. One hundred and thirty-two undergraduates indicated the amount of help they would be willing to provide in each situation and rated the perceived rewards and costs of providing help. Subjects also completed the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and a measure of altruism taken from the Omnibus Personality Inventory. Controlling for individual differences in approval motivation, willingness to help in the five nonemergency situations was negatively related to the costs for helping and was positively related to the rewards for helping and to personality differences in altruism. In addition, highly altruistic persons viewed the identical situations as more rewarding and less costly than persons low in altruism. Individual differences in willingness to help may reflect variations in situation perception. In this case, the altruistic person would be an individual who consistently evaluates helping situations more favorably in terms of the potential rewards and costs of providing help.In order to understand adequately the interaction of personality and situational determinants of behavior, Golding (1978) has advocated the study of individual differences in the perception of situations. He argues that individuals who vary in personality may construe social situations quite differently, with the result that their behavioral responses differ. In support of this viewpoint, Golding (1977) demonstrated that people high in Machiavellianism construe interpersonal situations differently from most people; for example, Machiavellians attribute more hostility to various social actions than the average person. In another study, Forgas (1983) found that people who vary in personality measures of social anxiety and social competence differ in their perception of soThis project was

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