Interrogative suggestibility,delayed memory and self-concept

This study investigates the relationship between interrogative suggestibility as measured by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS) and variables related to memory recall and self-esteem. There were 30 Ss, tested twice 1 week apart. After completing the GSS they were required to fill in a number of Semantic Differential scales relating to the concepts: Myself as I am generally, Myself during the experiment and The experimenter. Ss were generally more suggestible during the second interview when their memory about the context of the interrogation context had deteriorated. The exception was that negative feedback appeared to have most effect on suggestibility and self-esteem the first time it was applied. Self-esteem related to ‘competence’ and ‘potency’ correlated significantly with suggestibility, especially during the first interrogative session. Perceptions of the experimenter were generally not found to be significantly related to suggestibility.     

Interrogative suggestibility: The effects of sleep deprivation and relationship with field dependence

Suggestibility (yield) scores on the first Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale were found to correlate significantly with field dependence, as measured by the Finding Embedded Figures Test. Sleep-deprived subjects, while scoring worse on story memory, reaction time, POMS vigour–energetic and POMS confusion than controls, did not show any increase in yielding to suggestive questions. Upon answering the questions again after negative feedback, however, sleep-deprived subjects shifted their responses to questions significantly more than did controls. The results are interpreted in terms of sleep loss increasing the variability of performance.     

The relationship of confabulation to the memory,intelligence, suggestibility and personality of prison inmates

This study investigates the relationship of confabulation to memory, intelligence, suggestibility and personality, as measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Gough Socialisation Scale. The subjects were 255 Icelandic prison inmates. Confabulation was measured from the memory narrative of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS 1). The two components of confabulation—distortions and fabrications—were scored and analysed separately. Distortions and fabrications correlated poorly with each other. Furthermore, the confabulation scores correlated very poorly with the other psychological variables. The only positive correlations were a positive relationship with GSS Shift and a negative relationship with intelligence.     

Interrogative suggestibility and delinquent boys: An empirical validation study

This study has several aims. First, to validate the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS) among delinquent and adolescent boys placed in an assessment and short-term treatment centre. Second, to test the hypothesis that adolescent boys are particularly susceptible to suggestions when they are ‘pressured’ by negative feedback and instructions. Finally, to investigate the hypothesis that suggestibility is related to memory recall and self-esteem. The GSS was administered to 31 boys (ages 11 to 16 yr) who had been independently rated by two teachers on measures of suggestibility and self-esteem. Suggestibility as measured by the GSS was found to correlate significantly with the teachers' ratings of suggestibility, supporting empirically the criterion-related validity of the GSS. Compared with young ‘normal’ adults the boys were no more likely to give in to suggestive questions than the adults, unless their performance was subjected to criticism and negative feedback. The results suggest that deliquent adolescents may be particularly responsive to interpersonal pressure during interrogation. The findings have important implications for police interrogation procedures.     

Irrational beliefs and personality

This study investigated the relationship between irrational beliefs and the nonpathological personality characteristics origence and intellectence described by Welsh (1972, 1975b). The Adjective Check List (ACL) and the Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) were administered to 319 college students. Data were analyzed for the entire sample and for males and females separately. In each case, two combinations of scores yielding significant canonical correlation coefficients were produced. The results offer a refinement to Ellis' personality model and suggest that irrational beliefs are insufficient as indications of psychopathology.     

The aggressive behaviour of personality disordered patients and its relation to personality and perceptual motor performance

The present study investigates the relationship between the frequency of aggressive behaviour of patients in a therapeutic community and socialization, extraversion and perceptual-motor rule-breaking. The subjects were 33 males and 24 females who had been rated by two observers in regard to frequency of aggressive behaviour during the initial part of their stay in the community. Principal component analysis revealed two fairly pure factors, referred to as verbal and physical aggression. In females both factors correlated significantly with extraversion, lack of role-taking ability and perceptual-motor rule-breaking. No significant correlations were obtained in the male sample except that physical aggression correlated positively with perceptual-motor rule-breaking.     

Attribution of blame for criminal acts and its relationship with personality

This paper examines the relationship between some personality variables and attribution of blame by offenders for their criminal activity. A specially-designed ‘Blame Attribution Inventory’ was constructed and administered to 224 Ss who had committed ‘serious’ criminal acts. Factor analysis of the items revealed 3 independent factors: (1) ‘External’ Attribution (i.e. blaming the crime on social circumstances, victims, society); (2) ‘Mental-Element’ Attribution (i.e. blaming responsibility for the crime on mental illness, poor self-control, distorted perception); (3) ‘Guilt-Feeling’ Attribution (i.e. feelings of remorse, regrets, need for punishment). The inventory was administered to 40 offender patients who had completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the Gough Socialization Scale (GSS) and the Beck Depression Inventory. External Attribution had significant correlation with the EPQ P scale, Mental-Element Attribution correlated significantly with the EPQ L scale and the GSS. Guilt-Feeling Attribution was associated with depression and neuroticism.     

The development of the Meaning in Life Index (MILI) and its relationship with personality and religious behaviours and beliefs among UK undergraduate students

The scales available for assessing meaning in life appear to be confounded with several related constructs, including purpose in life, satisfaction with life, and goal-directed behaviour. The Meaning in Life Index (MILI), a new instrument devised as a specific measure of meaning in life, was developed from responses to a pool of 22 items rated by a sample of 501 undergraduate students in Wales. The nine-item scale demonstrated sufficient face validity, internal consistency, and scale reliability to commend the instrument for future use. With respect to personality, the MILI scores were most strongly predicted by neuroticism (negatively), and less strongly by extraversion (positively) and psychoticism (negatively). With respect to several religious behavioural variables, those who attended church at least weekly returned significantly higher MILI scores than those who attended church less frequently. Intrinsic religiosity was the only orientation to be significantly associated with the MILI scale scores, although the magnitude of the association was smaller than anticipated. These results suggest that meaning in life is associated more strongly with individual differences in personality than with specific religious behaviours and attitudes. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of individual's personal values and attitudes that might underlie their experience of a meaning in life.     

Essentialist beliefs about personality and their implications

Two studies examine implicit theories about the nature of personality characteristics, asking whether they are understood as underlying essences. Consistent with the hypothesis, essentialist beliefs about personality formed a coherent and replicable set. Personality characteristics differed systematically in the extent to which they were judged to be discrete, biologically based, immutable, informative, consistent across situations, and deeply inherent within the person. In Study 1, the extent to which characteristics were essentialized was positively associated with their perceived desirability, prevalence, and emotionality. In Study 2, essentialized characteristics were judged to be particularly important for defining people's identity, for forming impressions of people, and for communicating about a third person. The findings indicate that people understand some personality attributes in an essentialist fashion, that these attributes are taken to be valued elements of a shared human nature, and that they are particularly central to social identity and judgment.     

Interpersonal violence and its relationship to some personality measures

One hundred and fifteen patients in a psychiatric hospital for criminal offenders volunteered to be tested with the overcontrolled hostility scale, the self focus sentence completion, and an emotional empathy measure. The subjects were divided into five groups on the basis of criminal offenses (murder, assault with a deadly weapon, rape, pedophilia, and nonviolent property offenses). It was also possible to divide the sample on the basis of diagnostic features (psychosis, personality disorder, and brain syndrome). The results failed to support the hypothesis that more violent (by nature of their offense) individuals would-as a group-score higher on the overcontrolled hostility scale than less aggressive counterparts. There was some evidence that psychotics showed more self focus at the expense of external focus. The empathy measure failed to reveal any meaningful differences. It is suggested that more validation data are called for to establish the generality of the overcontrolled hostility scale and that, in view of the therapeutic importance which empathy training may have for violent individuals, further effort should be expanded to find a generally valid empathy measure.     

The hardy personality and its relationship to extraversion and neuroticism

Hardiness is conceptualised as a personality characteristic which encompasses three component traits (commitment, challenge and control), and acts as a resistance resource mitigating the adverse effects of stressful life events (Kobasa, 1979). A number of empirical studies in the U.S. have demonstrated its role in moderating stress-illness relationships, but hardiness has not received much attention in the U.K. In the present article, data from a U.K. sample (N = 87) are used to examine (i) the psychometric characteristics of the current version of Kobasa's hardiness measure, and (ii) the relationships of hardiness, and its component scales, to the Eysenck dimensions of extraversion, neuroticism and the lie scale.Hardiness scores were found to be negatively related to age, but did not differ significantly between males and females, and were not influenced by social desirability biases. The alpha value for the reliability of the overall scale was 0.89. Scores on the components of commitment, challenge and control were strongly related to extraversion (positively) and to neuroticism (negatively), the canonical correlation being 0.60. Multiple regression analysis showed that age, gender and the Eysenck dimensions jointly accounted for 37% of the variance in hardiness scores. These results are discussed in relation to psychometric issues and relevant literature findings.     

An EEG correlate of the Archimedes spiral after-effect and its relationship with personality

Previous work has demonstrated a relationship between the Archimedes spiral after-effect (SAE) and dysthymia-hysteria. The aim of the present study was to discover whether there was any EEG correlate of this relationship. As subjects 20 dysthymics, 17 hysterico-psychopaths, and 9 normals were used, comparisons being made between the SAE and various EEG parameters. These included the alpha index and latency of alpha return on eye-closure, following fixation of a rotating spiral. Using various criteria of the latter measure a consistently significant positive correlation was found between the SAE and the extent to which the return of alpha was delayed by visual stimulation. Significant correlations were also found between alpha index and SAE, and alpha index and alpha latency. In addition, previous group differences in sedation threshold and SAE were confirmed, although there were low correlations between the EEG measures and sedation threshold.

It was concluded that subjects having more activated EEG records tend to report longer subjective SAE's and to show a greater delay in the return of alpha alter visual stimulation. In terms of personality type obsessionals and psychopaths seem to show the greatest differences in this respect. These results are thought to throw some light on the physiological basis of Eysenck's excitation-inhibition theory of personality.     

Self-pity: exploring the links to personality,control beliefs,and anger

Self-pity is a frequent response to stressful events. So far, however, empirical research has paid only scant attention to this subject. The present article aims at exploring personality characteristics associated with individual differences in feeling sorry for oneself. Two studies with N = 141 and N = 161 university students were conducted, employing multidimensional measures of personality, control beliefs, anger, loneliness, and adult attachment. With respect to personality, results showed strong associations of self-pity with neuroticism, particularly with the depression facet. With respect to control beliefs, individuals high in self-pity showed generalized externality beliefs, seeing themselves as controlled by both chance and powerful others. With respect to anger expression, self-pity was primarily related to anger-in. Strong connections with anger rumination were also found. Furthermore, individuals high in self-pity reported emotional loneliness and ambivalent-worrisome attachments. Finally, in both studies, a strong correlation with gender was found, with women reporting more self-pity reactions to stress than men. Findings are discussed with respect to how they support, extend, and qualify the previous literature on self-pity, and directions for future empirical research are pointed out.     

Choice ambiguity, dissonance, and defensiveness

Female repressors and sensitizers were presented with a choice between two pens of different colors from five which they had previously rated on a relative-attractiveness scale Following choice, they rerated the pens under one of two conditions (a) where the choice had unequivocal implications for their femininity or (b) where it had equivocal implications for femininity Attractiveness ratings of the pens before and after choice constituted the major dependent variable Repressors tended to show greater average change in ratings than sensitizers under low ambiguity but not under high ambiguity Skin conductance measurements did not show interpretable dissonance effects, but there was evidence of R-S differences in skin conductance and self-report measures of tension     

Differential recall of successes and failures: Its relationship to defensiveness,achievement motivation,and anxiety

Differential recall of completed and incompleted tasks under high and low stress was studied in 157 Ss. On the basis of repression, it would be expected that Ss identified as hysterics would recall fewer incompletions (ego threatening failures) under high than low stress. The results indicated that hysteria was not related to recall. On the other hand, Ss with high achievement motivation or low anxiety recalled more incompletions under high than low stress while there were no differences in their recall of completions under high and low stress. These results offered no support for repression. Furthermore, the relationships between recall and achievement motivation and anxiety suggest that the differential recall is due to differences in the original learning of the completed and incompleted tasks.