Pervasiveness of effects in sample-based experimental psychology: A Re-examination of replication data from nine famous psychology experiments

Data previously reported from successful replications of 9 famous experiments (Zwaan et al., 2018) were re-analysed. Rather than the null hypothesis significance tests performed in the original study, this study performed a pervasiveness analysis, which examined the number of people in the original samples that demonstrated the effect each experiment is renowned for. Seven of the 9 experiments were shown to exceed the pervasiveness threshold adopted in this study. That is, in each of these 7 experiments, over 80% of participants demonstrated the target effect, indicating support for Zwaan et al.’s claim that these effects are robust. The remaining 2 experiments (Repetition Priming and Shape Simulation) did not meet this pervasiveness criterion, casting doubt on the reproducibility of these effects. The pervasiveness analysis was demonstrated to be a useful adjunct to traditional forms of analysis because it provides information directly relevant to claims about the reproducibility of psychological effects.     

ePsych: Interactive demonstrations and experiments in psychology

ePsych (http://epsych.msstate.edu), a new Web site currently under active development, is intended to teach students about the discipline of psychology. The site presumes little prior knowledge about the field and so may be used in introductory classes, but it incorporates sufficient depth of coverage to be useful in more advanced classes as well. Numerous interactive and dynamic elements are incorporated into various modules, orientations, and guidebooks. These elements include Java-based experiments and demonstrations, video clips, and animated diagrams. Rapid access to all material is provided through a layer-based navigation system that allows users to visit various “Worlds of the Mind.” Active learning is encouraged, by challenging students with puzzles and problems and by providing the opportunity to “dig deeper” to learn more about the phenomena at hand.     

Effects of researcher follow-up of distressed subjects: tradeoff between validity and ethical responsibility

Researchers studying depression often encounter research participants in serious preexisting distress. Examining investigators' ethical responsibilities to these subjects, Stanton and New (1988) found that depression researchers reported actions that ranged from doing nothing to contacting both the distressed subject and a significant other. By experimentally manipulating consent form information regarding potential treatment referral, we examined whether subjects (n=357) adjusted their responses on depression measures as a function of the level of follow-up they expected to receive. Results reveal that subjects who potentially could receive the most intrusive intervention (i.e., experimenter contact with the subject and a significant other) were less likely to report depressive symptoms than were subjects who anticipated less intrusive follow-up. Willingness to report depressive symptoms in particular conditions varied in part as a function of subject sex. Thus, ethical safeguards used in studies with subjects in preexisting distress may have consequences for the validity of self-report depression measures.     

Programmable calculator as timer,storer, and decision maker in psychology experiments

This paper describes how a portable programmable calculator can be used to time behavior, to store time values from successive trials, and to perform criterial calculations on a trial-by-trial basis. A specific application for visual habituation studies in infants is described and an exemplary program, currently in use, is listed.     

National psychology, national socialism, and analytical psychology: reflections on Jung and anti-semitism. Part II.

The paper is a critical study of the intellectual relations of analytical psychology and national socialism. I try to show that it was Jung's attempt to establish a psychology of nations that brought him into the same frame as Nazi anti-semitic ideology. In addition, Jung was absorbed by the question of leadership, also a pressing issue during the 1930s. Exploring these ideas as thoroughly as possible leads to a kind of reparation, for I think that post-Jungians do have reparation to make. Then it is possible to revalue Jung's overall project in more positive terms. By coupling a less simplistic methodology and a more sensitive set of values to Jung's basic intuitions about the importance of a psychology of cultural difference, analytical psychology has something to offer a depth psychology that is concerned with processes of political and social transformation.     

Ethical beliefs and behaviors in applied sport psychology: The AAASP ethics survey

Abstract

AAASP members (N = 508) were surveyed to obtain preliminary data on ethical beliefs and behaviors specific to the practice of applied sport psychology. Completed surveys were received from 165 individuals. On the structured response portion of the survey, there were few differences in ethical beliefs and behaviors as a function of gender, professional/student status, and academic discipline. Nevertheless, a large number of controversial behaviors (N = 24) and difficult judgments (N = 8) were identified. Results of the open-ended portion of the survey indicated that most of the questionable ethical practices cited by respondents corresponded to violations of American Psychological Association (APA) Ethical Standards. The findings lend initial support for AAASP to adopt the APA Ethical Standards and suggest the need for ethics training specific to applied sport psychology.     

Adolescents' reply intent for sexual disclosure in cyberspace: gender differences and effects of anonymity and topic intimacy.

This study examined the effects of anonymity and topic intimacy on adolescents' reply intent for cyber partners' sexual disclosure on the Internet. Two hundred thirty-seven Taiwanese adolescents with sexual self-disclosure experiences on the Internet participated in an experimental study. Regardless of anonymity and topic intimacy, male adolescents were more willing than females to respond to cyber friends' sexual disclosure. The higher the anonymity was, the higher the reply intent for sexual self-disclosure. Participants exhibited higher reply intent when cyber friends self-disclosed sexual topics with higher intimacy. However, the effect of topic intimacy was moderated by anonymity. Topic intimacy displayed prominent influence on adolescents' reply intent in responding to cyber friends' sexual disclosure only when their disclosing condition was under moderate and high anonymity. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

A note on the effects of anonymity,response consequence information,and sex on the self-assessment of fear

Despite an increasing emphasis on the direct observation and measurement of behavior in the assessment of fear (e.g. Bernstein, 1973. Goldfried and Sprafkin, 1974: Hersen, 1973). the Fear Survey Schedule (FSS; Geer, 1965: Wolpe and Lang, 1964) has remained popular as a paper-and-pencil instrument for screening large populations of potential treatment subjects prior to behavior avoidance tests (BATs; e.g. Bernstein and Nietzel, 1973). The utility of the FSS for this purpose is largely dependent upon its ability accurately to predict avoidance behavior in the presence of specific fear targets (Hersen, 1973) but. unfortunately, correlations between self-reported fear intensity on the FSS and overt behavior during BATs usually range from low to moderate (Lang, 1968; Schroeder and Craine, 1971). There is evidence that this disparity between FSS reports of fear and subsequent avoidance behavior are due in part to the operation of situational and contextual variables within the BAT which affect overt responses (Bernstein, 1973). and it seems reasonable to suspect that procedural variations in the self-assessment situation (e.g. method of test administration, instructions regarding the nature and purpose of testing, test form. and physical/interpersonal context) could modify FSS responses in a similar fashion. While research on projective and other assessment instruments has clearly established the influence of such variables on test responses (e.g. Azrin, Holz and Goldiamond, 1961; Henry and Rotter, 1956; Page and Yates, 1975). it is presently unknown to what extent ‘impression management’ strategies (Braginsky, Grosse and Ring, 1966) based upon cues in the testing situation bias verbal reports of fear. Preliminary investigation of this problem was undertaken in the present experiment by directly manipulating (a) the degree to which subjects could be identified with and held ‘accountable’ for their reported levels of fear and (b) the amount of information provided about the probable consequences of their responses.     

Effects of prior destructive behavior, anonymity, and group presence on deindividuation and aggression.

Three of Zimbardo's deindividuation input variables (group presence, anonymity, and arousal) were manipulated in laboratory experiment, and their effects on aggression and deindividuation were measured. Only arousal produced a significant increase in aggression (p less than .05), while group presence produced a significant decrease in aggression (p less than .01). Anonymity had no significant effect on subjects' aggressiveness. Deindividuation per se was measured on a postsession questionnaire that assessed subjects' memory for their own aggressive behavior, self-consciousness, concern for social evaluation, and memory for central and peripheral cues. Only arousal condition participants showed deindividuation changes, but a factor analysis revealed that the deindividuation changes did not comprise a unified factor. Also it did not appear that the internal changes caused aggressive behavior, since the correlation between the two was low.     

Ethical issues in the research and practice of applied developmental psychology

Within the last decade, applied developmental psychology (ADP) has emerged as a new subspecialization within traditional graduate programs in developmental psychology. Current definitions of ADP range from a primarily research-oriented discipline to a superordinate discipline under which clinical, educational, and school psychology organize applications of the developmental data base. This work draws upon several common themes to arrive at a broad definition of ADP. We outline reasons for developmental psychology's entrance into the “decade of applied research,” the broad spectrum of activities currently characterizing ADP, and training programs proposed to prepare students for these activities. The extension of developmental psychology into applied areas requires attention to the ethical issues encountered across the full spectrum of ADP activities. We present a perspective of ethical issues whose framework is predominantly applied developmental psychology. Our approach focuses on ethical concerns associated with both knowledge generation and knowledge application. In so doing, we raise issues concerning the need for applied developmentalists to address questions concerning the impact of planned methods on development in normal and atypical populations, consultation to institutions and public policy makers, competencies required to conduct developmental education programs, and utilization of developmental assessment techniques.     

Ethical and legal aspects in teaching students of medicine

Due to the rapid advances in medical technology, medical students are now being faced with increasingly complex and unparalleled ethical and practical dilemmas during their training. The new and future challenges of high-tech medicine demand improvements in current medical education, not only by meeting the needs of students through humanized training programs, but also by involving them in finding solutions to the ethical and legal quandaries they encounter. Today’s students of medical universities must acquire knowledge and understanding of the ethical and legal issues relevant to the practice of medicine, and we have to do everything possible to introduce these students to the current discussions on more or less controversial ethical and legal topics. Although final answers may not be found, the very discussion, argumentation, and awakening of students’ interest should become an essential part of the core curriculum of every doctor. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an international conference, “The Ethics of Intellectual Property Rights and Patents,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 23–24 April, 2004. The author is a student and member of the Senate Committee on Teaching.     

Felt dispensability in groups of coactors: The effects of shared responsibility and explicit anonymity on cognitive effort

The study reported here tests the effects of explicit anonymity and shared responsibility on cognitive effort. In Experiment 1, ninety-nine undergraduate students participated in a multiattribute judgment task, and math models of their judgments were constructed. Results showed that students who believed the responsibility for the judgment task was shared by 15 others used less complex judgment strategies than single judges or judges working in pairs. Results also showed that the effect of explicit anonymity on cognitive effort was quite small. In Experiment 2, students performed the job evaluation task and responded to questionnaire items measuring attitudes toward the task. Responses to these items showed that students who shared responsibility for the judgment task with 15 others felt more dispensable than students working alone or students working in pairs. Together these data show that feelings of dispensability can be the primary cause of social loafing in some situations and that feeling necessary can motivate effort in spite of anonymity.     

The differential effects of acute marital distress on emotional,physiological and immune functions in maritally distressed men and women

Abstract

We examined the impact of acute marital conflict on emotion, cardiovascular arousal, and immune function in men and women. Subjects were 10 heterosexual, distressed couples, who panicipated in exchange for marital therapy. Each couple participated in a 40 minute conflict induction regarding an area of difficulty in their relationship. During this induction, blood pressure and heart rate were monitored and blood samples were drawn pre- and post-induction for analysis of immune change. Women responded to the experimental induction with significantly greater increases in depression and hostility, and with significantly greater increases in SBP than men. Women also responded to the acute marital distress with slight decreases in lymphocyte proliferative response to PHA, while men displayed an increase in PHA response. The sex by time interaction was significant Change in PHA was associated with change in hostility and SBP.     

Secret ambitions and public performances: The effects of anonymity on reward allocations made by men and women

The degree of equality or equity in reward allocations made by men and women is explored in three studies. Study 1 was a classroom survey which was administered after the members had completed a series of team assignments. When asked to indicate anonymously whether they would share some points with team members who had earned fewer, the men more often said yes and the women no, contradicting the patterns found in much of the literature. Studies 2 and 3 examined the hypothesis that under public conditions men and women would behave as tradition and the previous literature suggest, allocating rewards equitably and equally, respectively. In private, however, they would reverse themselves, each preferring the otherwise forbidden option. The results confirmed the prediction: when anticipating disclosure of their decisions, men chose to divide credits equitably and women equally between themselves and a less deserving partner, but when assured of anonymity, men chose more equal and women more equitable allocations. The results are discussed in light of both childhood socialization and adult constraints on sex role performances.     

Effects of personality and loss of anonymity on aggression: a reevaluation of deindividuation.

Zimbardo's deindividuation hypothesis was reexamined by individuating some subjects. Twelve four-person groups administered shock to a confederate in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design with two levels of social individuation (subjects' level of anonymity to group members), two levels of nonsocial individuation (subjects' opportunity to give identifying information to the experimenter on a word association test) and two levels of individual differences. It was found that subjects, who individuated themselves by giving information to the experimenter on the word association test showed more, not less, antisocial behavior. Furthermore, this increased antisocial behavior was exhibited only by externally oriented subjects: those with an external locus of control and a low mysticism score. Some of those more antisocial subjects were also more likely to report feeling like they stood out from the group. It was concluded that antisocial behavior in this paradigm may thus be a response to experimenter demand felt most strongly when subjects felt most identifiable.