The theory of psychological reversals: A review and critique

The main elements in the new theory of psychological reversals are examined. One application of the theory, in the crisis-counselling field, is explored to illustrate its practical implications. A number of problems associated with the recent development of the theory are identified.     

Information displays and preference reversals

Preference reversals occur when a decision maker prefers one option to another in one response mode but reverses that ordering when preferences are elicited in another response mode. We report the results of two experiments which significantly impact the frequency of preference reversals. Specifically, when the probabilities are displayed in a format which appears harder to process, the frequency of reversals is increased. Process-tracing evidence suggests that decision-makers also shifted information processing strategies as a function of information format. We discuss the implications for theories of preference reversals and strategy selection, and for the design of information displays.     

Toward a psychological theory of multidimensional activation (arousal)

The traditional physiologically defined activation or arousal continuum, which ranges from intense emotion and vigorous activity on one extreme to calmness and sleep on the other, is rejected in favor of a psychological model with two activation dimensions and a single continuum of energy expenditure. One activation dimension ranges from subjectively defined feelings of energy and vigor to the opposite feelings of sleepiness and tiredness. Activation states associated with this dimension regularly vary in a circadian rhythm, and this dimension underlies gross physical activity and many aspects of cognition. The second dimension ranges from subjective tension to placidity and quietness, and it probably underlies a variety of emotions (e.g., anxiety) and stress reactions (e.g., effects of loud noise). While the two dimensions are positively correlated at moderate levels of energy expenditure, they are negatively correlated at high levels of expenditure; therefore, tension is lowest when energy-vigor is greatest and vice versa. Vulnerability to tension increases at late night, early morning, and at other times when effort and stress have increased tiredness and reduced vigorousness. Extremely low activation on either dimension de-energizes the whole system. Although only two dimensions are assumed, the possibility of four or more activation dimensions is discussed.I am grateful to Carolyn Thayer, Leonard Hommel, John Jung, Lyle Creamer, and Kenneth Armbruster for reading and commenting on an earlier version of this paper. I also wish to thank David McCarty for his aid in collecting and reducing data for Study 1. Finally, thanks are due to David Payne for his contributions of thermometers for Study 1 and literature retrieval services for other aspects of this work.     

Developmental reversals in false memory: Effects of emotional valence and arousal

Do the emotional valence and arousal of events distort children’s memories? Do valence and arousal modulate counterintuitive age increases in false memory? We investigated those questions in children, adolescents, and adults using the Cornell/Cortland Emotion Lists, a word list pool that induces false memories and in which valence and arousal can be manipulated factorially. False memories increased with age for unpresented semantic associates of word lists, and net accuracy (the ratio of true memory to total memory) decreased with age. These surprising developmental trends were more pronounced for negatively valenced materials than for positively valenced materials, they were more pronounced for high-arousal materials than for low-arousal materials, and developmental increases in the effects of arousal were small in comparison with developmental increases in the effects of valence. These findings have ramifications for legal applications of false memory research; materials that share the emotional hallmark of crimes (events that are negatively valenced and arousing) produced the largest age increases in false memory and the largest age declines in net accuracy.     

Temporal discounting and preference reversals in choice between delayed outcomes

Subjects chose between pairs of hypothetical amounts of money available after different delays. When smaller, more immediate amounts were selected over larger, more delayed amounts, the addition of a constant delay to both outcomes resulted in reversals of preference, contrary to the standard discounted utility model of economics. The delays at which preference reversed were determined for three pairs of amounts ($20 vs. $50, $100 vs. $250, and $500 vs. $1,250). The relation between the delay to the larger amount and the delay to the smaller amount at preference reversal was well fit by both linear and quadratic functions. Intercepts increased with amount, strongly suggesting that rate of discounting decreases with amount. The presence of significant negative curvature in the data from the majority of individual subjects poses problems for exponential and hyperbolic models of temporal discounting in self-control, both of which predict a linear relation between the delays to the larger and smaller amounts.     

The locality and globality of instrumental rationality: the normative significance of preference reversals

When we ask a decision maker to express her preferences, it is typically assumed that we are eliciting a pre-existing set of preferences. However, empirical research has suggested that our preferences are often constructed on the fly for the decision problem at hand. This paper explores the ramifications of this empirical research for our understanding of instrumental rationality. First, I argue that these results pose serious challenges for the traditional decision-theoretic view of instrumental rationality, which demands global coherence amongst all of one’s beliefs and desires. To address these challenges, I first develop a minimal notion of instrumental rationality that issues in localized, goal-relative demands of coherence. This minimal conception of instrumental rationality is then used to offer a more sophisticated account of the global aspects of instrumental rationality. The resulting view abandons all-or-nothing assessments of rationality and allows us to evaluate decision makers as being rational to varying degrees. My aim is to propose a theory that is both psychologically and normatively plausible.     

Color preference and food choice among children

The effects of color on children's food choices were investigated. Subjects were 120 children who were equally distributed among each of the combinations of age (5 vs. 9 years old), sex (male vs. female), food type (3 types of candies), and color (red, green, yellow, and orange) in a counterbalanced, factorial, analysis-of-variance design with repeated measures on subjects. A significant main effect for color indicated that children preferred foods that were red, green, orange, and yellow, in that order. Interpretation of this main effect was not interfered with by main effects or interaction terms involving age, sex, or food type, which served as alternative rival hypotheses.     

The acceptability and preference for the psychological treatment of PTSD

The acceptability and preference of psychological treatments is important in understanding patient treatment seeking, choice, engagement and attrition and possibly treatment response in health care. The acceptability of, and preference for, 14 different types of psychological treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were investigated in a student population through invitation to participate in a web-based survey. Respondents were asked to rate each treatment on 10 scales and to rank the treatments in order of preference. Respondents were also asked whether they would seek treatment themselves, recommend treatment to friends and family, feel stigmatised by suffering from PTSD, had any prior knowledge of the treatments and if this had been positive or negative and whether they had a history of psychological problems or treatment. A total of 330 respondents completed the survey. A past or current history of psychological problems and treatment was surprisingly high. Almost all respondents indicated that they would seek or recommend treatment in spite of high levels of stigmatisation. Factor analysis of the 10 scales indicated two factors: Endorsement and Discomfort. Rank ordering on preference and Endorsement scores was highly consistent. The highly preferred and endorsed treatments involved cognitive therapy, exposure or psycho-education in spite of high levels of discomfort anticipated with exposure. Treatments involving new technologies, EMDR and psychodynamic psychotherapy received the lowest Endorsement and preference. There was a modest influence of prior knowledge of a treatment.     

Postempiricism and psychological theory

Discusses postempiricism as a view of scientific knowledge and of knowledge in general. It gives a prominent role to theory in relation to experience, experiment, and action and emphasizes the contextual nature of knowledge. The articles by Dishion and Patterson (this issue), Evans (this issue), and Liddle (this issue) are all positioned clearly in this contemporary epistemology. Fonagy's (this issue) analysis of the apparent restriction of psychoanalytic methods of change is discussed.     

Comparison of arousal and preference assessment outcomes for sex offenders with intellectual disabilities

We compared outcomes of arousal and preference assessments for five adult male alleged sexual offenders with intellectual disabilities. Arousal assessments involved the use of the penile plethysmograph to measure changes in penile circumference to both deviant (males and females under the age of 18) and nondeviant (males and females over the age of 18) video clips. Paired‐stimulus preference assessments were arranged to present still images from the video clips used in the arousal assessments. Results showed correspondence between the assessments for four out of the five participants. Implications are discussed for the use of preference assessment methodology as a less intrusive assessment approach for sexual offender assessments.     

Developmental reversals in false memory: a review of data and theory

Can susceptibility to false memory and suggestion increase dramatically with age? The authors review the theoretical and empirical literatures on this counterintuitive possibility. Until recently, the well-documented pattern was that susceptibility to memory distortion had been found to decline between early childhood and young adulthood. That pattern is the centerpiece of much expert testimony in legal cases involving child witnesses and victims. During the past 5 years, however, several experiments have been published that test fuzzy-trace theory's prediction that some of the most powerful forms of false memory in adults will be greatly attenuated in children. Those experiments show that in some common domains of experience, in which false memories are rooted in meaning connections among events, age increases in false memory are the rule and are sometimes accompanied by net declines in the accuracy of memory. As these experiments are strongly theory-driven, they have established that developmental improvements in the formation of meaning connections are necessary and sufficient to produce age increases in false memory.