Factors influencing sexual performance in male rhesus monkeys.

A 5-yr retrospective study of the sexual behavior of eight adult male rhesus monkeys showed that sexual vigor declined over the years but testosterone levels in peripheral vein plasma did not. Two prospective experiments were then carried out on these males during the sixth year. (a) The four poorest performers were injected daily for 28 days with testosterone propionate (1 mg/kg of body weight). There was no significant increase in level of performance, and behavior was not correlated with plasma levels of testosterone either before or 24 hr after the last hormone injection. (b) All eight males were exposed to novel nonspecific sensory stimulation during tests of sexual behavior. Eight different adult male rhesus strangers-present in the room but not in the test cage-were used as stimuli, one for each experimental test. Sexual behavior during experimental and control tests did not differ.     

Self-appraised social problem solving abilities, emotional reactions and actual problem solving performance

Self-report measures of social problem solving abilities have yet to be associated with objective problem solving performance in any consistent manner. In the present study, we investigated the relation of social problem solving abilities--as measured by the Social Problem Solving Skills Inventory--Revised (SPSI-R [Maydeu-Olivares, A. & D'Zurilla, T. J. (1996). A factor analytic study of the Social Problem Solving Inventory: an integration of theory and data. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 20, 115-133])--to performance on a structured problem solving task. Unlike previous studies, we examined the relation of problem solving skills to performance curves observed in repeated trials, while controlling for affective reactions to each trial. Using hierarchical modeling techniques, a negative problem orientation was significantly predictive of performance and this effect was not mediated by negative affectivity. Results are discussed as they pertain to contemporary models of social problem solving.     

Factors influencing prescribing decisions in the treatment of depression: a social judgement theory approach

The under‐diagnosis and inappropriate treatment of depression in primary care has become a serious public health problem despite the development of many clinical guidelines to guide recognition and treatment of the disorder. This study aims to investigate decision‐making processes and to identify factors which influence general practitioners' (GPs) prescribing decisions and how these factors differ from those the guidelines recommend. Brunswik's lens model, from Social Judgement Theory (SJT), was employed to explore individual treatment decision policies of 40 GPs in the Grampian region of Scotland for 20 case vignettes. These individual policies were then aggregated and compared with those derived from guideline recommendations; important differences emerged between the two in the utilization of cues and there was considerable variation between GPs' policies. Guidelines placed more importance on the duration of symptoms whereas GPs gave weight also to particular symptoms, such as ‘thoughts of suicide’ and ‘sleep disturbance’ and patient treatment preference. GPs prescribed antidepressants at a greater rate than was recommended by the guidelines. The findings have important implications for implementation strategies, which maybe developed to accompany clinical guidelines. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Test performance and social comparison choices of high school men and women

The present research was designed to investigate whether anticipated publicity of performance would adversely affect the performance of high school girls to a greater extent than high school boys. If ambivalence about success is intensified for girls towards the end of high school, they would be expected to do better when test results were anticipated to be private rather than public. These results were confirmed only for girls of average ability. Average-ability girls also chose same-sex comparisons and showed less interest in comparison with standard setters. Performance data and social comparison choices suggest that the pattern of achievement for average-ability girls may be well established by sixth grade. Further clarification of the period when incompatibilities arise between the female role and academic achievement is required.Portions of this article were presented as a paper at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago 1977, and formed part of the first author's research for her master's thesis, submitted to Indiana University, 1976.     

The long‐term effect of social comparison on academic performance

The present study was part of a large‐scale cohort study among several thousand students in the Netherlands. The purpose of the study was to investigate the long‐term effects of comparison choice, i.e., comparison with a target performing better or worse than oneself, and academic comparative evaluation, i.e., the extent to which one thinks one's performance is better or worse than that of others, on scores on standardized tests for reading comprehension and mathematics. While controlling for earlier performance, the results showed that both comparison choice and academic comparative evaluation positively predicted test scores over a period of 2 years. Moreover, it was found that the positive effect of comparison choice only applied to students with a favorable comparative evaluation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of self-nominated and actual speeds in work zones

Despite significant research on drivers’ speeding behavior in work zones, little is known about how well drivers’ judgments of appropriate speeds match their actual speeds and what factors influence their judgments. This study aims to fill these two important gaps in the literature by comparing observed speeds in two work zones with drivers’ self-nominated speeds for the same work zones. In an online survey, drivers nominated speeds for the two work zones based on photographs in which the actual posted speed limits were not revealed. A simultaneous equation modeling approach was employed to examine the effects of driver characteristics on their self-nominated speeds. The results showed that survey participants nominated lower speeds (corresponding to higher compliance rates) than those which were observed. Higher speeds were nominated by males than females, young and middle aged drivers than older drivers, and drivers with truck driving experience than those who drive only cars. Larger differences between nominated and observed speeds were found among car drivers than truck drivers. These differences suggest that self-nominated speeds might not be valid indicators of the observed work zone speeds and therefore should not be used as an alternative to observed speed data.     

Chronometric comparison of actual and imaged complex movement patterns

The authors' aim in this study was to consider the functional equivalence of internal imagery, external imagery, and action execution. Sixteen elite gymnasts imaged and performed a complex gymnastic vault. Ten performers imaged from an internal perspective, and 6 used an external perspective. Although the results revealed that the time to image the entire motor task did not significantly differ from the time required to physically perform it, irrespective of the imagery perspective used, the temporal organization of the action was different within the imagery conditions than it was in the physical condition. The results do not provide support for the principle of temporal functional equivalence. The authors discuss the results in light of recent findings from the cognitive neuroscience and psychology literatures.     

Assessment of children's social problem-solving skills in hypothetical and actual conflict situations

This study compared the social problem-solving skills of 57 maladjusted and 57 well adjusted first and second graders in a series of hypothetical and actual provocations. All children were asked how they would react to four videotaped provocations involving same-age peers. They were also exposed to three provocations simulated by a peer-confederate; their verbal and nonverbal behaviors were videotaped. Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that, overall, maladjusted subjects displayed less assertiveness and more verbal and nonverbal aggressive responses to the actual provocations. Conversely, hypothetical situations yielded few between-group differences with respect to verbal strategies. The validity of hypothetical situations is questioned; the importance of actual situations for assessment and intervention purposes is stressed.This research was funded by the Conseil Québécois de Recherche Sociale. We thank the authorities and directors of the Outaouais-Hull and Aylmer School Boards as well as the first- and second-grade teachers and children for their collaboration. Josée Bouchard, Doreen McCaughry, Michel Diotte, Elizabeth Ruel, David Cuthill, and Alain Gendron also deserve our thanks for their participation in the collection or analysis of the data.     

Ability evaluation by proxy: role of maximal performance and related attributes in social comparison

Four experiments tested the effects of information about a proxy's related attributes and maximal effort in social comparisons of ability. In Study 1, a proxy's prior performance at maximal effort exerted systematic effects on participants' personal performance predictions for a novel task. When information about the proxy's effort was ambiguous (Study 2). information about related attribute similarity was used in the formulation of performance predictions. In Studies 3 and 4, 2-way interaction terms revealed that participants used related attribute information in generating performance predictions when the proxy's maximum effort was unknown. However, related attribute information was disregarded when proxy's maximum effort was unambiguous. Results were consistent with the proxy comparison model of ability self-evaluation (L. Wheeler, R. Martin, & J. Suls, 1997).     

Factors influencing child witnesses

This study elucidates how professional intervention can influence children's abilities to report accurately about abuse experiences. Based on knowledge acquired through previous research and the present case study, the study shows how methods of information acquisition used during preliminary investigations can negatively affect child reports. The case study emanates from a larger study of 193 allegedly sexually abused children. Examination of these police interviews shows that 55 children were interviewed more than once and their reports were exposed to possible professional influences before and during the preliminary investigation. The case study reveals the inadequate management of a child witness. The findings indicate that police officers and psychologists should avoid suggestive interventions and co-ordinate their efforts during the preliminary investigation in order to safeguard the children's as well as the suspects' legal interests. This paper points out the need for implementing interview interventions that can enhance children's abilities to report accurately about abuse experiences.     

Effects of generalized self-efficacy and negative social comparison feedback on specific self-efficacy and performance

The effects of social comparison feedback on specific self-efficacy and performance of high generalized self-efficacy participants and low generalized self-efficacy participants were examined with the help of 20 participants with high generalized self-efficacy and 20 participants with low generalized self-efficacy. Half of the participants in each generalized self-efficacy group received negative social comparison feedback after each of four trials of an experimental task while the other half received no feedback. Two kinds of specific self-efficacy-performance-based and normative-based--were measured once before the task and four times after the trials of the task. After the task, the High generalized self-efficacy/Feedback group rated performance-based specific self-efficacy higher and performed better than the Low generalized self-efficacy/Feedback group. No significant difference was observed between the High generalized self-efficacy/No feedback group and Low generalized self-efficacy/No feedback group. There were no significant effects with regard to normative-based specific self-efficacy.     

Self-activation increases social comparison

In a series of studies it was demonstrated that activating the self is sufficient to increase social comparison tendencies. Treating the relevant constructs as individual differences that can be measured as well as contextual variables that can be manipulated, the authors show that individual differences in self-activation are correlated with interest in social comparison information and that manipulations of self-activation cause changes in interest in social comparison. Self-certainty often has been portrayed as the primary determinant of social comparison interest. The present results suggest that self-activation affects interest in social comparison even when self-certainty is controlled.     

Uncertainty and social comparison

Two experimetnal tests were conducted of a model which predicts social comparison choices of extreme scores on a personality inventory. In groups of nine, subjects completed a bogus personality inventory that ostensibly measured a desirable or undesirable trait, and were told that either the highest or the lowest obtained score was a positive instance of the trait. The highest score was located for the subjects either with certainty or uncertainty, and the two experiments employed different manipulations of this factor. In both experiments the pattern of subjects' social comparison choices of other subjects' scores was fit best by a model comprising main effects of each factor and interactions between desirability and positive instance and between desirability and certainty.