Perceived tachistoscopic duration and early visual processing in preschool children and adults

Two experiments further explored the Avant et al. (1975) finding that stimulus familiarity influences prerecognition processing to generate differences in the apparent duration of tachistoscopic flashes. The first experiment tested for developmental differences in the effects of upright versus 90°, 180°, and 270° rotations of a single letter or number upon the apparent duration of pre- and postmasked 30- and 50-msec flashes with adults and 4- and 5-year-old children. All age groups judged upright presentations to be of briefer duration. These differences in apparent duration were interpreted to index the automaticity of contacts between stimulus inputs and their memory representations. Failure of the children to recognize the letter and number in any orientation indicates that contact between stimulus inputs and memory representations precedes allocation of attention to the presented stimulus. The second experiment explored the influence of spatial structures which are not coded verbally by testing effects of good and poor dot pattern Gestalts on the apparent duration of tachistoscopic flashes. Adults discriminated between apparent durations of good and poor Gestalts but 4- and 5-year-olds did not. Apparent duration differences in the two experiments showed that spatial pattern structure and familiarity with verbal stimuli influence early visual processing in different ways.     

Assessment of children's social skills

Various methods of social skills assessment with children were reviewed. Based upon an extensive review of the literature, it was found that behavioral observations, sociometrics, and teacher ratings have been the most often used methods of assessing children's social skill deficits. Advantages and disadvantages of each assessment technique were discussed within a psychometric and social validation context. Conclusions were that school psychologists should utilized all three measures to secure a comprehensive picture of children's social behavior and to obtain some measure of social validation.     

Reactions to stigmatized others: Response amplification vs sympathy

Four experiments examined the conditions under which responses to handicapped persons are characterized by sympathy or response amplification. The first two experiments tested the hypothesis that contact with a handicapped person would lead to amplified positive and negative responses in comparison to contact with a nonhandicapped person. The results indicated that mere contact was not sufficient to elicit response amplification. Instead, contact led to more positive evaluations of the handicapped than of the nonhandicapped other, regardless of whether she behaved in a positive or negative manner—a “sympathy” effect. The third and fourth experiments indicated that amplified positive and negative responses to the handicapped will occur when the behavior of a handicapped person is highly relevant to the evaluator. A two-stage model of responses to stigmatized others is proposed to account for these results.     

The effects of two stressors on state anxiety for students who differ in trait anxiety

The role of individual differences in speech trait anxiety as they related to the magnitude of A-State responses in two stressful situations was examined. Measures of anxiety were obtained before, during, and immediately after Ss gave a speech (ego-stressor) and blew up a balloon until it burst (physical stressor). While exposure to each stressor resulted in dramatic changes in A-State, it was found that differential A-State increases for the high and low speech trait anxious Ss occurred only during the ego-stressor condition. These findings were discussed in terms of Trait-State Anxiety Theory with particular reference to the differential stressful effects of ego and physical stressor on A-State for Ss who differ in A-Trait.     

Habituation in children within a behavior suppression paradigm

Using an instrumental response suppression paradigm, Experiment 1 demonstrated habituation and long-term retention of habituation to a tone stimulus in third-grade children, but specificity of habituation was not obtained when a new tone stimulus was presented. In Experiment 2 first graders showed specificity of habituation to auditory stimuli on the response suppression measure whereas fifth graders did not. However, both age groups evidenced specificity when a skin conductance measure was employed. In addition, specificity of habituation was not affected by amount of training at either age level. Experiment 3 demonstrated specificity of habituation in fifth graders on the response suppression measure when a cross-modality stimulus change was introduced. Implications of these data for analyses of habituation and traditional learning are discussed.     

The influence of positive and negative reinforcement on selective attention in the rat

In Experiments 1 and 2 rats were trained under two multiple schedules of reinforcement. In one, bar pressing during a tone-light compound stimulus was reinforced under a variable-interval food reinforcement schedule. In the other multiple schedule, bar pressing avoided grid shock on a free-operant schedule. In both multiple schedules, a discrimination was maintained by an extinction schedule that was operative during the absence of the tone-light compound. In Experiments 1 and 2 the intensity of the tone-light compound was manipulated over three levels. Subsequent extinction tests revealed that light was attended to, almost exclusively of the tone, when food reinforcement had maintained bar pressing. On the other hand, the tone gained considerable attentional control under the shock avoidance schedule. This stimulus-reinforcer interaction was maintained for all three levels of the compound intensity. In Experiment 3 it was investigated whether this interaction was associative by presenting shock during the absence of the tone-light compound when food reinforcement maintained responding, and food during the absence of the compound when shock avoidance maintained responding. Since both food and shock were presented during a single session for both schedules, nonassociative effects of the reinforcing stimuli were equivalent across the schedules. Nevertheless, the stimulus-reinforcer interaction was maintained, indicating that the interaction was an associative effect.     

Hemispheric asymmetry in memory search for four-letter names and human faces

Two memory search experiments were conducted using vertically oriented four-letter names and human faces as stimuli. Subjects were required to indicate as quickly and as accurately as possible whether or not a single probe stimulus (presented for 150 msec to either the left or right visual field) was contained in a set of 2, 3, 4, or 5 items being held in short-term memory. The probe stimuli were presented alone (clear condition) or centrally embedded in a matrix of dots (degraded condition). In Experiment 1 (involving names), a right visual field/left hemisphere advantage was obtained and pinpointed at the encoding stage rather than at the memory comparison stage of the information-processing system. For Experiment 2 (involving human faces), no hemispheric advantage was readily observed. In each experiment, both the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere employed an abstract memory comparison operation from which the effects of probe degradation have been removed. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for various models of hemispheric asymmetry.     

Birth order and introversion-extraversion

The relationship between birth order and introversion-extraversion was investigated. Subjects were 70 male and 77 female undergraduates, all from three-child families. The measure of introversion employed was the Social Introversion Scale (Scale 0) of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. A two-way analysis of variance indicated that first borns were more introverted than either middle-horns or last-horns, with no difference between the latter two groups. It was suggested that inconsistent results in this area may be due to the use of different measures of introversion.     

Behavioral expectations of retarded and nonretarded children

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of the mental retardation (MR) label on impression formation among retarded and nonretarded children and adolescents. The first experiment, conducted with nonretarded children in a mainstreamed school, indicated that they have pessimistic expectations of retarded children with regard to cognitive and ability-related behaviorsand, to a lesser extent, social behaviors (i.e., getting married). However, their reactions were not as pessimistic nor as “patronizing” as were those demonstrated by college students in previous research. In the second experiment, mentally retarded adolescents indicated that they also have negative behavioral expectations of retarded children, however, their self expectations were negative only for social behaviors. The results suggest that, among retarded persons, the expectations associated with the MR label are negative for social behavior, but apparently less pessimistic for cognitive and ability related tasks.     

Need for uniqueness,self-schemas,and thought as moderators of the false-consensus effect

L. Ross and his colleagues (L. Ross, D. Greene, & P. House, 1977, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 32, 880–892) have demonstrated the tendency for people to expect peer similarity in behavior, termed the “false-consensus” bias. The present study was concerned with factors that might affect the generality of this bias. Specifically, we looked at the impact of level of need for uniqueness (C. R. Snyder & H. L. Fromkin, 1977, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 5, 518–527), existence of a self-schema (H. Markus, 1977, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 63–78), and thought on expectations of peer similarity. It was predicted that thought would polarize the estimates of high and low N Uniq individuals in opposite directions, but only when the individual possessed a self-schema along the relevant behavioral dimension. The results for behaviors reflecting independence supported this prediction. Discussion centered around limits of the false-consensus bias, along with consideration of the complexities involved in the link between availability factors and interpersonal judgments.     

Vocational behavior and career development, 1982: A review

This paper reviews the research published on vocational behavior and career development in 1982. A total of 278 studies published in 31 journals are reviewed. The literature is presented in the following major categories: discrimination; performance; turnover; satisfaction; commitment and involvement; job analysis and evaluation; selection and classification; life history experiences; performance appraisal; assessment centers; training; unions and collective bargaining; alternate work schedules; job design; pay; motivation; leadership; stress; Type A behavior; career preference, choice and behavior; consistency; maturity; indecision; work orientation; assessment; interventions; instrumentation; and methodology. Trends in current research and possible directions for future research are discussed.     

Perception of partly occluded objects in infancy

Four-month-old infants sometimes can perceive the unity of a partly hidden object. In each of a series of experiments, infants were habituated to one object whose top and bottom were visible but whose center was occluded by a nearer object. They were then tested with a fully visible continuous object and with two fully visible object pieces with a gap where the occluder had been. Patterns of dishabituation suggested that infants perceive the boundaries of a partly hidden object by analyzing the movements of its surfaces: infants perceived a connected object when its ends moved in a common translation behind the occluder. Infants do not appear to perceive a connected object by analyzing the colors and forms of surfaces: they did not perceive a connected object when its visible parts were stationary, its color was homogeneous, its edges were aligned, and its shape was simple and regular. These findings do not support the thesis, from gestalt psychology, that object perception first arises as a consequence of a tendency to perceive the simplest, most regular configuration, or the Piagetian thesis that object perception depends on the prior coordination of action. Perception of objects may depend on an inherent conception of what an object is.     

Human covariation judgment: Accuracy and strategy

Judgment strategy is proposed as a contributor to the variability of findings in past research on human covariation judgment. Mathematically sophisticated judgment strategies will accurately judge all event covariations. However, faulty judgment rules will also produce correct judgments of many event relationships. Several methods have been used in past research to identify subjects' strategies of covariation judgment. Each of these methods indicates that humans employ simplistic, error-prone rules to judge event relationships. Shifts in covariation strategy use are proposed as a source of past findings that judgment accuracy depends on the decision conditions.     

Self-focused attention and reactions to conflicting standards

A fundamental postulate of self-awareness theory that has received considerable empirical support is that self-focused attention increases behavioral consistency with “standards of correctness.” This appears to be true whether the standards are internal (such as attitudes or values) or external (e.g., norms). There is some question, however, as to what happens in situations in which an important personal standard conflicts with a salient external standard. Research by E. Diener and T. K. Srull (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1979, 37, 413–423) has suggested that under such circumstances the social standard is likely to predominate. However, there is reason to believe that the standards employed in their study may not have been very salient nor very important to the subjects. In the present experiment, subjects with either conservative or liberal sexual attitudes were exposed to information suggesting a prevailing norm of sexual liberalism. They were then asked to respond to a number of sexual and nonsexual attitude measures while their attention was or was not self-directed by means of a mirror. Primary results indicated that self-awareness enhanced conformity to the social standard (as in Diener & Srull, 1979) for the conservative subjects; however, correlational analyses within the self-focused and non-self-focused conditions indicated that self-aware subjects did not “abandon” their personal standards when responding to the conformity pressure. Instead, their responses tended to be more in line with their previously expressed attitudes than did the responses of the non-self-focused group. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of self-awareness on reactions to potent, but conflicting behavioral standards.     

Abortion as a stigma: in the eyes of the beholder

The purpose of this study was to investigate social perceptions of a man who impregnated a woman and advised her to have an abortion, and those of a woman who had an abortion. Each subject rated one of four persons on a social distance measure: either a man involved in an abortion, a woman having had an abortion, a male control target, or a female control target. Both abortion targets were perceived less favorably than the control targets. The female abortion target was rejected more by male subjects than by female subjects, and the male abortion target was more rejected by females than by males. While holding permissive attitudes toward abortion was related to willingness to meet the female abortion target, restrictive attitudes toward abortion predicted willingness to meet the male abortion target. Variables related to stigmatization of the man were lack of identification, restrictive attitudes toward abortion, and perceived responsibility. Restrictive attitudes toward women's rights and roles in this society and restrictive attitudes toward abortion predicted stigmatization of the woman. It is suggested that shifting one's attention from characteristics of the stigmatized to observers' characteristics provides a useful perspective on the stigmatization process.     

Where is the facilitation of media violence: The effects of nonexposure and placement of anger arousal

The present study examined the conditions under which media violence would “facilitate” aggression in angered individuals. It was noted that previous research has lacked support for facilitation due to improper control groups. It was predicted, based upon evidence that aggressive and neutral films are capable of both arousing a subject and shifting his attention away from previous anger instigation (attentional shift), that only under a condition where an aggressive film is viewed prior to anger arousal will increased aggression occur if compared to a no-film control. It was found that when subjects were angered prior to film exposure, netural films reduced aggression, with aggressive films not differing from a no-film control. Under subsequent anger arousal, however, there was a facilitation for aggressive film exposure. The implication of this, and other recent media violence studies, for past and future research in the area of media violence and aggression is discussed.     

Returning a favor and retaliating harm: The effects of stated intentions and actual behavior

Two studies were carried out to determine the joint effects of an-other's stated intentions toward helping a person, and the amount of help the other actually gives a person, on the reciprocation of help. In Study I (n = 120) another person stated she intended to either help, not help, or did not state her intent; this person actually helped the subject a great deal or very little. The data showed subjects reciprocated solely on amount of actual help received (p < .001); however, questionnaire data revealed that when the past helper stated her intentions, regardless of whether the intent was to help or not to help, subjects showed less involvement with the situation. It was hypothesized that knowledge of the past helper's intent threatened the subject's freedom of choice with regard to reciprocation, which led subjects to ignore the intent in order to restore their freedom. Study II (n = 60) was a replication of Study I with the exception that the helper's intent, while stated, was discovered by subjects in such a way that they believed the helper unaware of the subject's knowledge. Both the other person's intent (p < .10) and her actual helping behavior (p < .001) were related to reciprocation. The results were interpreted in terms of Brehm's reactance theory, although other potential explanations were also explored.     

Developmental differences in mental rotation.

A reaction time paradigm was used to investigate developmental differences in ability to rotate and compare imaginal representations. Third grade, fifth grade, and college students (ages 9, 11, and 20 years, respectively) were required to determine whether a letter of the alphabet was presented in its backward or normal position. Letters were presented at 0, 60, 120, 180, 240, or 300° orientations from upright. Subjects were given no advance information about a test letter, or they were given identity and orientation information. In the no information condition, reaction time increased for all age groups as a function of the departure in orientation of the test letter from an upright position. In the advance information condition, reaction time remained uniform across orientation for only the college subjects. The developmental implications of these findings are discussed.