The effects on speeded classification of implicit and explicit instructions regarding redundant dimensions

Two experiments were run in which speed of sorting decks of stimulus cards was measured. Stimuli were constructed from two dichotomous dimensions, used either alone or perfectly correlated. The lack of evidence for a selective serial processing (SSP) strategy (in which S sorts by his most preferred dimension whenever the dimensions are correlated) in a similar study by Garner and Felfoldy (1970) was thought to be due to Ss’ failure to notice that the dimensions were correlated, and thus that SSP would be effective. Ss in the present experiment therefore received either implicit instructions concerning the existence of the correlated deck (by seeing only decks in which there were just two different stimuli), or explicit instructions that on some trials the two dimensions would be correlated and S could sort by any means he preferred. When dimensions of size of circle and angle of diameter were of unequal discriminability, implicit instructions produced partial use of the SSP strategy, while explicit instructions produced nearly total use of SSP by all Ss. When the Munsell dimensions of value and chroma were varied in two separate color chips and were equally discriminable on the average, evidence for a small amount of SSP was found in both the implicit and explicit conditions. With neither pair of dimensions did implicit or explicit instructions regarding the correlated task produce integration of information.     

Cognition and Self-Control: Cognitive Control of Painful Sensory Input

Eighty Ss were first tested for base-level response to a pain-producing stimulus and then were re-tested on the same pain stimulus after receiving 1 of 8 experimental treatments. The 8 treatments were arranged in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design: presence or absence of hypnotic induction procedure; presence or absence of instructions for anesthesia; and presence or absence of demands for honest reports. Neither the hypnotic-induction procedure nor the demands for honesty affected the Ss'reports of the degree of pain experienced. The anesthesia instructions--"think of the hand as numb and insensitive as if it were a piece of rubber..."--produced an equal degree of pain reduction in hypnotic and non-hypnotic Ss and in Ss who were and those who were not exposed to demands for honesty. The results indicate that (a) Ss' reports of pain are less affected by demands for honesty and are more closely related to their actual experiences than has been previously assumed and (b) instructions which direct Ss to exercise cognitive control over painful sensory input are effective (with or without 'hypnosis') in reducing the experience of pain.     

Cognition and self-control: Cognitive control of painful sensory input

Eighty Ss were first tested for base-level response to a pain-producing stimulus and then were re-tested on the same pain stimulus after receiving 1 of 8 experimental treatments. The 8 treatments were arranged in a 2×2×2 factorial design: presence or absence of hypnotic induction procedure; presence or absence of instructions for anesthesia; and presence or absence of demands for honest reports. Neither the hypnotic-induction procedure nor the demands for honesty affected the Ss’ reports of the degree of pain experienced. The anesthesia instructions—“think of the hand as numb and insensitive as if it were a piece of rubber...”— produced an equal degree of pain reduction in hypnotic and non-hypnotic Ss and in Ss who were and those who were not exposed to demands for honesty. The results indicate that (a) Ss’ reports of pain are less affected by demands for honesty and are more closely related to their actual experiences than has been previously assumed and (b) instructions which direct Ss to exercise cognitive control over painful sensory input are effective (with or without ‘hypnosis’) in reducing the experience of pain.     

The influence of success and failure experiences on perceptual whole-part preferences

Summary Changes in perceptual part-whole preferences as a function of experienced success and experienced failure were investigated. All Ss went through one testing session in which their perceptual preference was established. Forty-two Ss of the experimental group went through two additional testing sessions, one in which success and another in which failure experiences were induced. Parallel sets of a Two-Alternative Perception Test were used after each session to measure part or whole preferences. The Ss of the control group were administered the three sets of the perception test at intervals of one week, with situations kept constant. Results of a three-way analysis of variance (p<0.0001) supported the hypotheses of success situations favoring whole perceptions and of failure situations favoring part perceptions. Highly significant correlations (p<0.01) were found between the three testing sessions of the Ss in the control group, indicating stability of perceptual part-whole preferences over time, with situations held constant.This article was based, in parts, on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, New School for Social Research. The author would like to express her appreciation to Mary Henle, chairman of the dissertation committee.     

A case study of three theories of learned helplessness: The role of test importance

The current study tests three alternative explanations (learned helplessness, cognitive interference, and egotism) for poor performance following unsolvable problems. In Experiment 1, subjects were exposed to no feedback or to failure in unsolvable problems and were further divided according to the importance of a test task (unstipulated, low, and high importance). In Experiment 2, during the training phase subjects were exposed to either no feedback, failure, or failure plus explicit hypothesis instructions. Then, subjects in each group received either low or high test-importance instructions. Results bring support to the cognitive interference explanation of performance deficits. Exposure to unsolvable problems was found to impair performance in a high importance task, but not in a low importance task. Such a deleterious effect of prior failure and high importance instructions was reversed by discouraging people from engaging in state-oriented actions. The theoretical implications of the findings were discussed.     

Superstitious responding and frequency matching in the positive bias and gambler’s fallacy effects

Three studies showed that success in predicting outcomes of a random binary series was associated with the positive bias effect, whereas failure was associated with the gambler’s fallacy effect. Moreover, success increased confidence and failure decreased it. Although explicit instructions that the source generated random output increased the likelihood of predicting an alternation in the series, these instructions had no effect on the relationships between success and the positive bias effect, and failure and the gambler’s fallacy effect. Importantly, intuitions about the randomness or nonrandomness of the source, assessed immediately prior to each trial, did not influence this interaction. These results suggest that people used a win-stay strategy, but that sensitivity to run length counteracted the corresponding lose-shift tendency. The data support a memory-based explanation of the gambler’s fallacy effect, consistent with the account from local representativeness, but the positive bias effect may be an instance of human superstitious responding.     

Attraktivitätsänderung der Aufgabe nach Mißerfolg. Kognitive Dissonanztheorie versus Leistungsmotivationstheorie

Zusammenfassung Nach der kognitiven Dissonanztheorie steigt die Attraktivität einer Aufgabe nach Mißerfolg, wenn die Vp die Aufgabe zuvor selbst gewählt und nicht zugewiesen bekommen hatte. Nach der Leistungsmotivationstheorie ist die Attraktivitätsänderung abhängig von einer durch den Mißerfolg verursachten Verringerung der erlebten Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit in Wechselwirkung mit der Ausprägung des überdauernden Leistungsmotivs der Vp. Ändert sich die Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit in Richtung auf eine Höhe von 30–40%, so steigt die Attraktivität der Aufgabe für erfolgszuversichtlich motivierte Vpn und fällt ab für mißerfolgsängstlich motivierte Vpn.In einem 2×2-Versuchsplan wurde Wahl oder Zuweisung der Aufgabe mit vorwiegendem Erfolgsmotiv der Vp kombiniert. Aus einer selbsthergestellten Attraktivitätsrangfolge von 9 verschiedenen Aufgaben wählt die Vp zwischen der 5. und 6. Aufgabe eine zur Bearbeitung aus oder erhält eine der beiden fest zugewiesen. Nach Mißerfolg stellt die Vp eine erneute Attraktivitätsrangfolge der Aufgaben her.Die innerhalb und zwischen den vier Bedingungskombinationen erhaltenen Ergebnisse entsprechen zu einem größeren Teil der Leistungsmotivationstheorie als der Dissonanztheorie. In der Bedingungskombination, für die beide Theorien gegensätzliche Voraussagen machen (Wahl-Mißerfolgsmotivierte), fallen die Befunde zugunsten der Leistungsmotivationstheorie aus. Diese Theorie zeigt jedoch Schwächen in der Voraussage von Attraktivitätsänderungen unter Zuweisungsbedingungen. Die Dissonanztheorie versagt bei den Mißerfolgsmotivierten. Verbesserungen der Theoriebildung und der experimentellen Prüfung werden erörtert.

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Change in attractiveness of task after failure. Cognitive dissonance theory versus achievement motivation theory

Summary According to cognitive dissonance theory, the attractiveness of a task increases after failure only when the S has chosen the task but not when it is assigned to him. Achievement motivation theory, on the other hand, states that change in attractiveness depends on a reduction in perceived probability of success, caused by failure. In addition, probabilitiy of success also interacts with the dispositional characteristics of the S's achievement motive. If probability of success increases toward a value of 30–40 per cent, then the attractiveness of the task increases for hope of success Ss but decreases for fear of failure Ss.Choice or assignment of task was combined with predominantely hope of success or fear of failure Ss in a 2×2 experimental design. The S first ranked nine different tasks in their order of attractiveness. While some Ss could further choose to work on either the fifth or sixth ranking task, other Ss were assigned either one of these tasks. A second ranking of attractiveness was obtained after a failure experience.The results, both within and between the four experimental conditions, support mainly the predictions of achievement motivation theory rather than cognitive dissonance theory. In the condition in which opposing predictions can be derived from the two theories (i.e., when choice is offered to fear of failure Ss), the results clearly favor achievement motivation theory. However, this theory is less adequate in predicting changes in task attractiveness under task assignment conditions. Dissonance theory appears to be unable to predict the behavior of the fear of failure Ss. Implications for changes in the theories and further empirial tests are discussed.

     

The computer as experimenter in social psychological research

The effects of familiarity and exposure paradigm on evaluative meaning were investigated in four experiments involving 161 Ss. A DEC PDP-10 computer linked to a VB10-C display screen for 1/0 assigned Ss to condition, presented instructions, tested Ss’ understanding of the instructions, generated and displayed stimuli in various frequencies, and obtained evaluative ratings of the stimuli. Problems encountered, Ss’ reactions, and current and possible use of the computer in social psychological research are discussed.     

Neutral vs ego-orienting instructions: Effects on judgments of magnitude estimation

Three experiments were performed to examine the relative constancy of the exponent in the psychophysical power law under varying motivating conditions. The method of magnitude estimation was used to obtain judgments of apparent tactual roughness or of apparent area size of squares. Patterns of the qualitative observations of the three Es and of the various exponents for the six groups of Ss indicated that neutral instructions and “ego-orienting” instructions, which were perceived as unbelievable coming from an equal fellow student, both yielded exponents identical to those reported in the literature. Believable ego-orienting instructions given by an E of clearly perceived higher social status produced a statistically significantly lower exponent than neutral. Intermediate conditions, wherein Ss apparently disbelieved both types of instructions, but assumed that the superior-status E was “analyzing” them, yielded exponents of intermediate size. Results and supplementary trend analyses are discussed as possible, highly sensitive indicators of motivational impacts on sensory judgments.     

Instructional Effects on Word Association Commonality in High and Low “Schizophrenic” College Students

In an attempt to assess the ability of normal Ss to give uncommon word associations and of “schizophrenic” Ss to give common ones, the effects of three types of instruction on the word association performance of 144 college students were measured. All Ss, including those with valid MMPI profiles suggestive of schizophrenia were able to increase their response commonality under instructions to give the word “most people” would give, and to decrease their commonality under instructions to give a word “no one else” would give, relative to the free association condition. Though Ss with high MMPI Schizophrenia scores produced more original associations under all conditions, there was an apparent floor effect on the production of popular responses under the “no one else” instructions.     

Imagery and sentence mediators in verbal discrimination learning

The effect of instructions to use imagery and sentence strategies in verbal discrimination learning (VDL) was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment I, both imaging to and constructing a sentence for the correct item of each pair facilitated VDL relative to an uninstructed control condition. Incorporating both words of the pair into a compound image or compound sentence had no effect, a result that was replicated in Experiment It. Of the two compound instructions, only compound sentences consistently facilitated associative recall of the VDL pairs, suggesting that compound imagery instructions were not always adhered to by the Ss.     

Memory for modality of presentation: Within-modality discrimination

Two experiments demonstrated that Ss are capable of making within-modality memory discriminations in both visual and auditory modalities. In Experiment I Ss studied mixed lists of pictures and labels representing common objects and were subsequently required to judge whether the original presentation was pictorial or verbal The high level of performance achieved on this task was unaffected by degree of categorical relatedness of items within method of presentation or by instructions to produce visual images when items were presented verbally. In Experiment II Ss demonstrated the ability to remember whether a sentence was originally presented by a male or a female speaker. Some strategies by which within-modality discrimination in memory might be accomplished are discussed.     

Joint Influence of Prior Beliefs and Current Situational Information on Stable and Unstable Attributions

Abstract

The present study was designed to assess the joint effects of situational information and the individual's attributional style on the choice and consequences of a stable or unstable attribution for failure. Israeli undergraduates were divided according to their attributional style for negative events into stable, undefined, and unstable attributors and were exposed to no-feedback or failure conditions in which they received instructions encouraging them to attribute failure to stable or unstable causes. Results indicate that the choice of a stable or unstable attribution for failure was influenced mainly by situational cues and that the individual's attributional style contributed to subsequent expectancies and the quality of performance following failure.     

Sex and achievement domain: Cognitive patterns of success and failure

Subjects (N=439) were asked to write an account of an achievement of failure, and to describe it in terms of locus of standards (internal-external), conceptual focus (process-impact), and initial expectations for success (or failure). Additionally, accounts were classified on the basis of achievement domain (personal, interpersonal, mastery). Analyses of variance [2 (sex)×3 (domain)] for each cognitive measure revealed few sex differences. However, cognitive responses did vary as a function of achievement domain. Main effects for domain were observed under success instructions for locus of control (p<.0002) and under failure instructions for locus of control (p<.05), conceptual focus (p<.05), and expectations (p<.06). Interaction effects of sex and achievement domain were observed on locus of standards for success (p<.0002) and initial expectations preceding failure (p<.025), indicating that women were more responsive to domain differences than were men. Discriminant analyses indicated that cognitions were more readily patterned in terms of achievement domain than sex. Elaboration and incorporation of the concept of domain in cognitive models of achievement is suggested.     

Recognition and recall by children and adults as a function of variations in memory encoding instructions

In four experiments Ss were instructed to learn a set of 40 words by producing implicit associative responses to each item (association instructions), by repeating items over and over (repetition instruction), or by using their own devices (neutral instructions). Experiment I showed that recognition memory (RM) accuracy was greatest under association instructions for adults and children and least under repetition instructions for children. The implications of these results for a frequency theory analysis for RM were discussed. Experiments II, III, and IV examined free recall (FR) as a function of encoding instructions at short (1 min) and long (either 90 min or 24 h) retention intervals. FR was worst under repetition instructions, with little overall difference between the association and neutral conditions. However, in Experiments III and IV, using school children, the neutral condition exceeded the others in FR after 90 min but not after 1 min.     

The interaction of response complexity and instructional set

This study investigated the interaction of experimental instructions and response complexity in an attempt to provide a possible explanation for some of the equivocalness in the programming time literature. Response complexity was manipulated by varying the accuracy required of subjects striking circular targets in a simple reaction time paradigm. Subjects were tested on two days, one week apart, during which experimental instructions emphasized either leaving the start position as soon as possible (initiation emphasis) or completing the response with a rapid but smooth movement (form emphasis). Subjects had shorter reaction times but longer movement times when they performed under initiation-emphasis instructions rather than under form-emphasis instructions. Furthermore, in contrast to form-emphasis conditions, there was no effect of response complexity on reaction time in conditions of initiation emphasis. It appears that subtle changes in experimental instructions can lead to very different patterns of reaction time and movement time data. These findings highlight the need for caution in preparing subject instructions in response programming experiments.     

Increasing contextual pressures to breach posthypnotic amnesia

The study investigated conditions that produce strong social pressures on posthypnotically amnesic Ss to remember more before being given the cue to remove amnesia. Highly susceptible Ss who passed posthypnotic amnesia were classified as voluntary or involuntary (having high or low control over recall). Test Ss were serially subjected to 3 pressure situations before being given the cue to lift amnesia: (a) instructions to be honest, (b) lie detection, and (c) a replay of a video of the session. Control Ss sat for the same amount of time and were only asked if they could remember anything else while the experimental Ss received the pressure recalls. All but 1 S breached in the experimental condition. Only the voluntary Ss breached in the control condition. Results are discussed as they relate to breaching amnesia and the voluntary dimension.     

The encoding of ignored information

An experiment was conducted to study the dimensions of encoding of verbal material in short-term memory as a function of other demands placed on Ss attention. Eighty Ss shadowed one of two simultaneous lists, under instructions to remember the shadowed or the nonshadowed list, A single recognition probe followed each shadowing trial. Ss judged whether the probed item was (1) identical to, (2) a rhyme of, or (3) a synonym of one of the to be remembered items. Results indicated that acoustic information was encoded from all inputs, regardless of the focus of attention. Evidence for semantic encoding, however, was limited to those conditions in which retention of shadowed material was required. The data were interpreted as contradicting “late selection” theories of attention, which propose that all inputs are analyzed for meaning prior to the focusing of attention.     

Human sensory dominance

Human Ss matched an auditory and a visual stimulus for subjective magnitude. Then each stimulus was used as a cue in a reaction time task. On occasions when both stimuli were presented simultaneously, Ss’ responding was seen to be dominated by the visual stimulus. Of further interest was the finding that on some occasions of simultaneous light-tone presentation Ss were unaware that the tone had been presented. This apparent prepotency of the visual over the auditory stimulus was seen to persist across a variety of experimental conditions, which included giving Ss verbal instructions to respond to the tone when both stimuli were presented simultaneously.