The role of attribution in the experience of crowding

The theory that the subjective experience of crowding results from an attribution of arousal process was examined. Specifically, it was predicted that subjects who were aroused by having their personal space violated would experience less crowding if they were led to believe that some other environmental factor was responsible for the arousal. Groups of subjects were placed in a room in which their personal space was either violated or not violated. Some subjects were told that either an arousing or a relaxing subliminal noise would be played into the room. (Actually there was no noise.) Other subjects were told nothing about subliminal noise. The subjects worked on a number of tasks and were then asked to report how crowded they felt. The noise manipulation had no effect on subjects' performance nor on feelings of crowdedness when their personal space was not being violated. However, when there was a violation of personal space, subjects who felt the noise would arouse them reported being less crowded and performed better than subjects in the relaxing noise or no explanation conditions. It was suggested that subjects attributed their arousal to the “arousing noise” and hence felt less crowded.     

Observer recorder error as affected by different tasks and different expectancy inducements

Four experiments were designed to investigate the effects of systematic observer/recorder error on experimental results where experimenters had been induced to expect certain results. In the first experiment, experimenters were induced to expect certain outcomes for three different tasks. No observer error nor experimenter-effects were observed. Postexperimental interviews indicated some suspiciousness as well as failure to understand the hypotheses on the part of experimenters. In the second experiment expectancies were induced in observers who did not act as experimenters. No observer effects were noted, and again postexperimental interviews indicated manipulation failure. In the third experiment experimenters were asked to attempt to influence subjects' responses. Three tasks were used, but in two of these tasks observer error was controlled rather than measured. No differences in subjects' responses were noted for any of the measures. However, significant observer/recorder error was noted for both male and female experimenters in the task where such error was measurable. In the fourth experiment experimenters were again asked to influence subjects' responses. For the two tasks used observer error was measured. A predicted Task × Observer Error Interaction was obtained. Again, no differences in subjects' responses were noted.     

Evidence for a three-factor theory of emotions

Two studies provided evidence that three independent and bipolar dimensions, pleasure-displeasure, degree of arousal, and dominance-submissiveness, are both necessary and sufficient to adequately define emotional states. In one study with 200 subjects, 42 verbal-report emotion scales were explored in regression analyses as functions of the three dimensions plus a measure of acquiescence bias. Multiple correlation coefficients showed that almost all of the reliable variance in the 42 scales had been accounted for. The specific definitions provided by these equations were replicated in a second study that employed 300 subjects' ratings of 151 emotion-denoting terms on semantic differential-type scales.     

Role played self-disclosure as a function of liking and knowing

Subjects identified persons from their own lives whom they liked and knew to varying degrees. At a later session, subjects role-played a self-disclosing conversation with each identified person. Verbal behavior was recorded and analyzed with respect to the personalness of disclosure. Analysis of variance results for both self-report and observational measures show significant effects for liking and knowing on personal, but not impersonal, self-disclosure. The pattern of results over all dependent measures indicates that liking has a more specific effect on personal disclosure than does knowing, but that liking and knowing do not differ in relative control over impersonal disclosure. A correlational analysis involving subjects' perceptions of the experimental situation and the dependent disclosure measures supported this interpretation.     

The executive control of mnemonic activity

The present study focused on the executive monitoring of a rehearsal strategy by sixth (11 years 5 months), tenth (15 years 8 months), and twelfth (17 years 9 months) graders and adults (27 years 4 months). The results showed that all of the adults spontaneously adopted an “optimal” strategy and generalized it to a second task. However, none of the sixth graders and only two tenth and three twelfth graders did so. All of the school subjects subsequently trained to rehearse, maintained the strategy without prompting, and showed evidence of transfer. In comparison to adults, the trained subjects' generalized routines became more similar to the adults' as grade increased. This study supports the notion that efficient executive functioning includes the case where continued use of a mnemonic routine is a reasonable response to an objective change in an information-processing task.     

Locus of control,historical context,and black physical self-perception

Effects of locus of control on physical self-perception of black men were examined in 1968 and 1975. Externally oriented subjects were hypothesized to perceive themselves to be more Negro in appearance than they were judged to be by observers. The hypothesis was tested by comparing the subjects' own appearance judgments with the mean judgment of three observers on a scale of 15 faces which changed incrementally from Negro to Caucasian. The hypothesis was contradicted in the 1968 study and supported in the 1975 study. These discrepant results were interpreted in terms in historical events at the time of data collection.     

An analysis of generative representation systems

Three ideas are basic to generative theory: (a) Subjects are assumed to attend to the relations among stimuli, extracting the transformations relating pairs of stimuli; (b) the set of abstracted transformations is decomposed or reduced to an elementary set of generators; (c) subjects use the elementary generators as the basis for judging similarity. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate these ideas with an experiment in which subjects were asked to rate the similarity between stimulus pairs. The stimulus materials consisted of the permutations of a 4-item pattern with the properties of a dihedral group which insured the existence of sets of elementary transformations. Three analytic techniques were used to determine the generator set of transformations abstracted by subjects. The first analysis consisted of a monotonic regression between dissimilarity ratings and the number of elementary generators of a given permutation. The residual variance of this monotone regression, suitably normalized, was used as a quantitative goodness-of-fit measure. For the stochastic analysis, cumulative distributions of dissimilarity ratings were obtained for permutations requiring one, two, or three generators. The idea was that permutations requiring fewer generators should be associated with distributions of lower dissimilarity values (higher similarity scores) as compared to permutations predicted to be transformationally more complex. The final analysis, a multidimensional scaling of dissimilarity ratings, converted subjects' ratings into spatial structures to determine whether individual subjects' ratings exhibited the predicted spatial arrangement. The monotone regression and stochastic analyses abstracted similar generator sets for individual subjects, some of which provided perfect fits to the data. Although the scaling analysis yielded similar estimates of generators, for some subjects, transformations with the same number of generators yielded unequal “cognitive” distances resulting in some-what deformed spatial structures for these subjects. It was concluded that the results generally supported a generative model as an approximation to subjects' representations of interstimulus relationships.     

Stiffness control after fast goal-directed arm movements

Mechanical parameters of the effector system directly after the termination of fast goal-directed arm movements were studied.Subjects were asked to move their hand as fast as possible to a target the instant the target was presented. Only movements of the subjects' forearms were allowed. They were also instructed not to react actively to forces applied suddenly to their forearm after the movement. As a result of such a force pulse the arm moved to a new position. The apparent stiffness, i.e. the quotient of the applied force and the resultant change of position, was measured. This stiffness is a measure for the resistance of the forearm to externally applied mechanical disturbances.It was found that after the arm has reached the target the apparent stiffness decreases as a function of time. This is an agreement with the declining amplitude of the electromyographic activity of the muscles that effect the movement.Arguments are given to support the hypothesis that this apparent stiffness control is part of the motor programme for movements of the forearm, i.e. the stiffness is planned together with the movement.     

Self-directed attention and the comparison of self with standards

Several theorists have assumed that self-directed attention causes a comparison between one's present behavior or state and whatever is salient and relevant as a standard of comparison. Indirect evidence bearing on this assumption was gathered in a series of four studies by monitoring subjects' tendencies to access concrete information needed to make such behavior-standard comparisons. Self-focus was varied in two of these studies by experimental manipulations: a mirrored surface, and a live observer. In the other two studies, self-focus was operationalized in terms of subjects' dispositional tendencies to direct attention to themselves (self-consciousness). Consistent with expectations, in Experiments 1 and 2, self-directed attention led to increased frequency of referring to drawings of geometric figures when attempting to reproduce them. In Experiments 3 and 4, self-focused attention increased subjects' tendencies to seek out information about ostensible performance norms reflecting the behavior of other subjects, also as predicted.     

Ambiguity of acceptance,social desirability,and dating choice

Male subjects differing in social desirability (likableness, physical attractiveness) chose a date from an array of females of three levels of physical attractiveness. Choices were made under two conditions: one where acceptance was assured regardless of whom subject chose; the other where acceptance was left ambiguous. The findings were as follows: (a) subjects selected a more physically attractive female when assured of acceptance than when acceptance was left ambiguous; (b) subjects estimated that highly physically attractive females were less likely to accept them as a date than were either moderately physically attractive or physically unattractive females; (c) subjects' self-ratings of their likableness were not related to the physical attractiveness of their choices under either choice condition nor to their estimates of their chances that the females would accept them as a date; and (d) subjects' self-evaluated physical attractiveness, although unrelated to the physical attractiveness of the subjects' choices, did relate to subjects' estimates of their chances of acceptance. Highly physically attractive subjects estimated their chances of acceptance as better than did subjects who considered themselves low in physical attractiveness. The implications of the findings for the “matching hypothesis” are discussed.     

Turning observers into actors: Differential causal attributions as a function of “empathy”

After being instructed either to “empathize with the actor” or to “picture the events clearly,” two groups of observers read a story describing an actor's behavior, and then gave free-response explanations of that behavior, and rated the importance of personal and situational causal factors. The hypothesis that causal attributions of empathizing observers would be less personal and more situational than those of nonempathizing observers received strong support, both from subjects' free responses and from their scale ratings. These findings provide evidence for an information-processing explanation of actor/observer attributional differences. Some practical applications of increasing the situationality of observers' causal attributions are discussed. The results also suggest a novel operational definition of “empathy”; and are interpreted as evidence for the effectiveness of “interpersonal simulations”.     

Effects of context-induced processing operations on semantic information acquired from discourse

Effects of context on processes involved in understanding discourse were investigated. An experimental context designed to directly affect discourse processing by inducing subjects to generate inferences involving text content was compared to a context in which subjects simply listened to and recalled the content of a text. The extent of inferential discourse processing was estimated from derived semantic information in subjects' text recalls. The experimental context produced effects on inferred and other derived information in subjects' text recalls which were predicted from a constructive model of discourse processing. Also consistent with this model, the amount of derived information increased with repeated exposures to the text. In a third condition, subjects repeatedly listened to the text in the experimental context, but only recalled it once on the last trial. The context produced very substantial effects on proportions of derived information under this condition. Context effects were still present one week later.     

Aphasic adults' understanding of complex adverbial sentences

Twelve aphasics with relatively preserved auditory comprehension were tested for their understanding of four adverbial sentence types expressing the temporal order of events. The relative effects of order of mention, adverbial choice, and adverbial clause placement on subjects' comprehension were investigated. Only adverbial choice was significant with aphasics producing more errors of temporal order on after than before sentences. Subjects' error patterns were not similar to those of children acquiring language. The results are discussed with respect to the theory of lexical marking and the regression hypothesis.     

Children's and adults' integration of information about noise and interest levels in their judgments about learning

This study examined developmental changes in the understanding of distractibility. It focused on how information about both interest level and noise level are used to form judgments of how many items a hypothetical child would learn. A total of 112 subjects from grades K, 2, and 5 and college age used a rating scale to judge the amount of learning in situations generated by a factorial combining of three levels of interest and three levels of surrounding noise. Children at all ages, even kindergarteners, used both noise and interest information in making their judgments. Interest level influenced judgments much more than noise level at all ages, but this imbalance waned somewhat with increasing age. The rules for combining noise and interest were more complex at the older ages. The discussion focused on interpretations of the subjects' belief that interest level heavily influences attentiveness.     

Verbal accounts and attributions of social motives

The effects of verbal accounts offered by a threatener on targets' subsequent attributions of the threatener's social motives was studied. Following a standardized interaction in a Prisoner's Dilemma game the subjects' opponent offered one of three accounts for using threats: cooperative intent, establishment of transrelational equity, or ignorance. In a fourth condition the confederate offered no account for his actions. Attributions were assessed by having subjects rate each of four responses representative of the social motives of cooperation, competition, apathy, and deceit in five different situations. It was found that the type of account had specific attributional effects. A cooperative account led to a correspondent inference of a cooperative disposition, a transrelational equity account was apparently perceived as illegitimate and led to an attribution of a deceitful motive, and an excuse of ignorance was linked with apathy.     

Cognitive restructuring treatment: A controlled trial with anxious patients

Cognitive restructuring, modified systematic desensitization and a combined treatment (cognitive behaviour modification) were compared with a no-treatment control group, using a simple randomized design. Twenty seven general anxiety out-patients selected from the hospital waiting list were used as subjects. Assessments were made at the beginning and end of treatment, and at follow-up 1 month later. The assessments included two subjective anxiety measures, the Zung self-rating anxiety scale and fear thermometer scores, a behavioural anxiety measure, a measure of cognitive anxiety as estimated by a diary recording of thinking time, fear survey schedule scores and I/E scores.Cognitive behaviour modification was found to be a superior form of treatment, relative to the no-treatment control and the other active treatment groups as assessed by FSS intensity score. The cognitive behaviour modification group showed greater improvement than the cognitive restructuring group on the diary anxiety scores. The results also demonstrated a relationship between outcome and initial severity of condition. The higher the subjects' initial scores on neurotic symptoms and subjective anxiety level, the greater the degree of positive change after treatment. Moreover, subjects with high levels of internal control prior to treatment responded most to therapy.     

An investigation of racial differences on vocational variables among college women

This study used a sample of black and white college women matched on Duncan's (1961) socioeconomic indicator ratings to explore possible racial differences on vocationally relevant variables. There were no differences between the groups on age or educational level. The distribution of the parents' occupations by Holland type and the distribution of the subjects by their VPI type appeared to be quite similar. There were no significant differences based on: the relationship of the parents' occupational types to the subjects' VPIs: the relationship between the subjects' VPI types and their occupational choice or college major; the estimated likelihood of reaching the career goal; satisfaction with career choice or college major; and scores on two recent scales designed to measure vocational indecision. While no differences were found on the number of possible factors listed that might impede career goals, the distribution of the most important of these factors indicated there were differences between the two groups. These findings are discussed relative to their implications for interpreting previous research and carrying out future studies.