Why psychology needs conceptual analysts: Wachtel's “discontents” revisited

Commenting on Wachtel's “Investigation and its Discontents” [Wachtel, P. L. (1980). Investigation and its discontents: Some constraints on progress in psychological research. American Psychologist, 35, 399–408], I agree that lack of support for a career path of conceptual analysis and critique is a serious problem. Psychology requires a strong conceptual component because it is subject to unusual distortions and self-deceptions in theory formation and evidential evaluation due to issues of power, self-esteem, and social ideology. I agree with Wachtel that pressures for quantity of publication are detrimental to scientific quality, but dispute his suggestion that excessive focus on quantity in assessing productivity can be addressed by having tenure and promotion candidates submit only their three best papers. Such reviews must be based on the entire record, so improvements must involve journals’ acceptance standards. Regarding Wachtel's concern about the influence of grants on reviews, I argue that grants should be relevant only to the extent they bear on the candidate's scholarly goals.     

“Consistency” and “contradiction” in the development of gender role characteristics

There is currently an increasing amount of theoretical and empirical work arguing that stereotyped sex role behavior is maladaptive in our culture and that “androgyny” or “sex role transcendence” is a preferred mode of being. The latter, however, seems to require individual inconsistency and self-contradiction in behaviors and attitudes (since the individual is both active and passive, both independent and dependent, etc.). Theories of cognitive consistency maintain that individuals avoid self-contradiction and inconsistency, and therefore that androgyny runs counter to important motivational principles. This article examines this issue in some detail, and concludes that theories of cognitive dissonance and consistency reflect particular socio-cultural conditions rather than universal motivation principles. There is nothing inherently uncomfortable or “inconsistent” about androgyny and sex role transcendence.     

Consonances and controversies: Investigation and its discontents revisited

The author responds to the commentaries of 13 experts on his 1980 American Psychologist article, “Investigation and its discontents: On some constraints on progress in psychological research.” Among the themes addressed are the role of theory in psychological research, the meanings and implications of “productivity” by scholars and researchers, the role of grants, and of money in general, in directing research efforts, and the relation between psychological and neuropsychological research.     

Motivation and learning: Neurophysiological mechanisms in a “model” system

The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying behavioral motivation and associative learning are described in an invertebrate “model” system, the carnivorous marine mollusc Pleurobranchaea. Feeding motivation can be controlled via nutritional history and is represented centrally in the feeding motor network as a change in the balance of synaptic excitation and inhibition at the level of interneurons that initiate feeding behavior, i.e., feeding “command” interneurons. Associative learning, induced by avoidance conditioning of feeding behavior, manifests identically at the level of the command interneurons, but is distinguished from non-associative motivational changes by processes that occur in identified neurons and pathways presynaptic to the command interneurons. Motivation and learning are therefore linked mechanistically by convergent neurophysiological mechanisms at the level of central neurons that initiate behavior.     

An assessment of the potential utility of “scientific jury selection”: A “thought experiment” approach

The efficacy of “scientific jury selection” (the use of social science methodology to aid the jury selection process) has been a subject of considerable contention. Unfortunately, such issues are difficult to address empirically, especially at the level of jury rather than juror decisions. One means of addressing some of these questions is through the use of “thought experiments” or computer simulations that are based not on intuition or conventional wisdom alone but guided by relevant empirical data. This paper reports the outcomes of simulations that explore jury verdict consequences from the use of scientific jury selection to (a) obtain changes in venue, (b) select jurors, and (c) accomplish both of the preceding. The results indicated that the potential effects of scientific jury selection are strongest when the techniques are successful in bringing about changes of venue or more representative jury panels. Somewhat weaker, albeit still consequential, effects were observed in those instances where scientific jury selection techniques are used to select particular jurors. The psychological and legal implications of these results, and the thought experiment approach in general, are discussed.     

Amygdala and “emotional” modulation of the relative use of multiple memory systems

The basolateral amygdala modulates the cognitive and habit memory processes mediated by the hippocampus and caudate nucleus, respectively. The present experiments used a plus-maze task that can be acquired using either hippocampus-dependent “place” learning or caudate-dependent “response” learning to examine whether peripheral or intra-basolateral amygdala injection of anxiogenic drugs would bias rats towards the use of a particular memory system. In Experiment 1, adult male Long–Evans rats were trained to swim from the same start point to an escape platform located in a consistent goal arm, and received pre-training peripheral injections of the α₂-adrenoceptor antagonists yohimbine (2.5 or 5.0 mg/kg), RS 79948-197 (0.05, 0.1, or 0.2 mg/kg), or vehicle. On a drug-free probe trial from a novel start point administered 24 h following acquisition, vehicle treated rats predominantly displayed hippocampus-dependent place learning, whereas rats previously treated with yohimbine (2.5, 5.0 mg/kg) or RS 79948-197 (0.1 mg/kg) predominantly displayed caudate-dependent response learning. In Experiment 2, rats receiving pre-training intra-basolateral amygdala infusions of RS 79948-197 (0.1 μg/0.5 μl) also predominantly displayed response learning on a drug-free probe trial. The findings indicate (1) peripheral injections of anxiogenic drugs can influence the relative use of multiple memory systems in a manner that favors caudate-dependent habit learning over hippocampus-dependent cognitive learning, and (2) intra-basolateral amygdala infusion of anxiogenic drugs is sufficient to produce this modulatory influence of emotional state on the use of multiple memory systems.     

Threshold adjustment in response to asymmetric loss functions: The case of auditors’ “substantial doubt” thresholds

Thresholds play a critical role in linking judgments and choices. One way they do so is by dividing a continuous judgment variable, such as probability, into two regions that imply different choices and actions, such as operate/do not operate, admit/do not admit, or invest/do not invest. We examine this link by focusing on the tendency of professional decision makers to adjust their thresholds when the risks associated with negative decision outcomes are elevated. We report two studies involving experienced auditors that investigate thresholds in a “going-concern” setting. In this setting, the auditor assesses the probability that a business firm will be unable to continue in existence for the coming year; if that probability exceeds a “substantial doubt” threshold (also assessed by the auditor), the auditor is required to disclose the relevant information in the firm’s annual report to the public. Our studies use two experimental cases based on actual business firms that differ in their objective likelihoods of not continuing as going concerns. We derive the auditors’ substantial doubt thresholds from the relationship between their probability assessments and their disclosure choices, unlike all prior research which has simply asked auditors to state the probability they believe represents substantial doubt. We find that auditors’ derived thresholds are adjusted downward for the more problematic firm, a result that we attribute to the asymmetric loss functions inherent in going-concern settings. The second study has some of the auditors directly provide their substantial doubt thresholds (SDTs). The downward adjustment is again found for derived thresholds but not for elicited thresholds, suggesting that the method of capturing thresholds may be an important issue in understanding judgment and choice.     

Identifying components of type-A behaviour: “toxic” and “non-toxic” achieving

Measures of the Type-A behaviour pattern (TABP) have generally failed to distinguish between different components of the construct, some of which may not constitute risk factors at all. Based on the responses of a total of 632 subjects, the present paper reports on the development of student and working adult questionnaires which comprise discrete and unambiguous indices of “toxic” and “non-toxic” behaviour. Both components reflect high achievement motivation, but in the toxic scale this is compounded by hostile competitiveness and impatience. The scales were related in predictable ways to other relevant indices of personality, and while the toxic factor was significantly associated with deterioration in health status during adaptation, the non-toxic factor conferred a protective effect.     

Heart rate variability and respiratory concomitants of visual and nonvisual “imagery” and cognitive style

Attention to visual and nonvisual imagery, elicited by an imagery questionnaire, was studied using both within and between subjects analyses of cardiac and respiratory parameters. Visual imagery was accompanied by more regular interbeat heart rate (HR) and shorter, more stable respiratory cycles than nonvisual imagery. “Visually-oriented” thinkers (visualizers), identified by a word association test, manifested less overall variability in HR than “verbally-oriented” thinkers (verbalizers), as well as less variable HR and respiratory period during visual imagery. Visual and nonvisual imagery differed in HR variability for verbalizers and in respiration period for visualizers. The results are discussed in terms of the concepts of attention deployment, “mental load”, cerebral asymmetry, and stylistic personality differences in cognitive functioning.     

The contribution of “cool” and “hot” components of decision-making in adolescence: Implications for developmental psychopathology

Impairments in either “cool” or “hot” processes may represent two pathways to deficient decision-making. Whereas cool processes are associated with cognitive and rational decisions, hot processes are associated with emotional, affective, and visceral processes. In this study, 168 boys were administered a card-playing task at ages 13 and 14 years to assess response perseveration. This task was designed to initially reward playing and gradually associate playing with punishment. Measures of subjective ordering (cool processes) and neuroticism (hot processes) at age 13 years were used to examine how these individual characteristics relate to perseveration over time. A decrease in perseveration from age 13 to 14 was associated with cool processes whereas hot processes were associated with response perseveration only over time. A complementary but simultaneous assessment of cool and hot processes, such as neuropsychological and personality tests, could facilitate treatment planning of children with behavioral problems.     

The role of “dark personalities” (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy), Big Five personality factors, and ideology in explaining prejudice

The so-called Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) represent correlated subclinical personality traits capturing “dark personalities”. How might darker personalities contribute to prejudice? In the present study (n = 197), these dark personality variables correlated positively with outgroup threat perceptions and anti-immigrant prejudice. A proposed two-stage structural equation model, assuming indirect personality effects (Dark Personality, Big Five) on prejudice through ideology and group threat perceptions, fit the data well. Specifically, a latent Dark Personality factor predicted social dominance orientation, whereas (low) Openness to Experience predicted right-wing authoritarianism; these ideological variables each predicted prejudice directly and indirectly through heightened intergroup threat. The authors recommend that personality models of prejudice incorporate both normal-range and subclinical personality predictors, in addition to ideological and social psychological mediators.     

A reappraisal of the relationship between span memory and intelligence via “best evidence synthesis”

This paper examines the relationship between span memory [e.g., immediate memory, short-term memory (STM), simple span] and general ability (g) though a reanalysis of two data sets [Christal, R. E. (1959). Factor analytic study of visual memory. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 72 (13, Whole No. 466); Kelley, H.P. (1964). Memory abilities: A factor analysis. Psychometric Monographs, No. 11]. Because of their large sample sizes and the multiple measures used to identify each construct, the Christal and Kelley studies were examined within a “best evidence synthesis” framework. Modern structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to examine the relationship between immediate memory and g. Results indicated that in both studies, the relationship between immediate memory and g was quite substantial (.71 and .83), and that this relationship was essentially reduced by half when the common content variance of the tests was accounted for (e.g., verbal, spatial, numerical). Results are discussed within the context of recent research examining the relationship between working memory (WM) and g.     

Context, categorization, and recall: The “change-of-standard” effect

A psycholinguistically based conception of the relation among context, categorization, and memory is tested by examining what happens to people's memory of an object when the object is initially categorized in terms of the context in which it appears, but, when the object is later recalled, this context is no longer salient. Subjects read about the sentencing decisions of a target trial judge in the context of other trial judges who consistently gave either higher sentences or lower sentences than the target judge. As predicted, subjects tended to categorize the target judge as “lenient” in the former, harsh context condition, and as “harsh” in the latter, lenient context condition. A week later, subjects read about the sentencing decisions of some additional judges, and then recalled the sentencing decisions of the target judge they had read about the week before. Across the two sessions, either a harsh, moderate, or lenient category norm for judges' sentencing decisions was established by having subjects read about decisions that involved either high, medium, or low sentences, respectively. The results indicated that subjects recalled the target judge's decisions by interpreting their prior categorization of his behavior in terms of the category norm established across the two sessions rather than the original context. Thus, subjects who were exposed to the same target in the same circumstances, and initially categorized the target in the same way, nevertheless remembered his behavior differently if their category norm was different at the moment of recall. Other types of “change of standard” and their implications for human judgment and memory are discussed.     

Generativity and Erikson's “belief in the species”

Generativity is the concern for guiding and promoting the next generation through such creative behavior as parenting, teaching, mentoring, leading, and generating products and outcomes that benefit others. Erikson (1963) has argued that in order to be generative in adulthood, people must have a fundamental “belief in the species” or a faith that human progress is possible and worth working toward. The present study focuses on hope and trust concerning the self and others (Erikson's “belief in the species”). In addition, however, the study examines the relation between generativity and personality traits, in this case, dominance, leadership, self-absorption, and nurturance. A sample of 70 adults was administered (1) a series of self-report questionnaires converging on Erikson's idea of belief in the species, (2) a self-report scale assessing generativity, (3) measures of personality traits, and (4) two open-ended measures of generativity requiring subjects to describe life commitments and creative endeavors. The results provide modest support for Erikson's claim of a link between belief in the species and generativity, with significant positive correlations obtained (1) between self-report generativity and two measures of belief in species and (2) between generativity assessed through life commitments and one measure of belief in the species. In addition, the personality trait of nurturance was positively related to all three generativity measures. Problems and issues in the assessment of generativity are discussed.     

Pedagogy of Play

“Pedagogy of play” focuses on the educational value of this field of experience, by claiming that play characterizes the two fundamental guidelines which are at the basis of education; the spontaneous and natural direction on the one side, and the intentional one on the other side. It is commonly assumed that pedagogy of play concerns only the latter of the two above-mentioned aspects of education, that is to say the design and management of playing experiences and materials with clear educational goals; instead, this discipline critically analyzes the whole playing experience, therefore trying to grasp its potentialities, its material conditions, and its overall meanings in the making of the subject. Moving from some considerations about the discovery of play as an emblematic index of the “discovery of childhood” at the beginning of Modern Age (Ariès, 1960), the first part of this essay underlines three aspects: the first concerns the investment on play as an educational device (from Locke to Montessori, up to Children’s Museums), pointing out the shift from the classic principle of ludendo docere to the modern ludendo discere. The second aspect focuses on the retrieval of the natural dimension of play, which finds in Rousseau its main source; the third takes into consideration toys and their identity both as pedagogical devices and as media. In the second part of the essay, the focus is on free play and its educational value, which is here interpreted especially as the first field of experience for children’s “political education”. The final remarks include some speculations the relationship between play and daily life, suggesting the idea that “life-long playing” could be defined as a meaningful aspect of long-life education.     

Cognitive and projective measures of differentiation and their relationship to empathy

The present investigation compared cognitive and projective methods of assessing “differentiation,” Witkin's Embedded Figures Test (EFT) and Blatt's Concept of the Object Scale (COS), and reexamined expectations concerning the relationship between level of differentiation and capacity for empathy. Whether lesser or greater differentiation would promote empathy was of specific interest. Two forms of empathy were investigated, an “affective” form assessed by the Mehrabian Empathy Scale and a “cognitive” form assessed by the Hogan Empathy Scale. Expected sex differences in differentiation and empathy were also investigated. Results demonstrated consonance between COS and EFT measures of differentiation within the male sample only (p < .05). Individuals classified by EFT as relatively less differentiated (“field dependent”) produced more part object responses (p < .02) and those classified as more differentiated (“field independent”) showed a trend toward more whole object responses (p < .10) on the COS. Associations between measures of differentiation and empathy reached significance or showed trends in the male group only. Men with relatively lesser differentiation on the EFT (“field dependent”) showed greater “affective empathy” (p < .10) and men with greater differentiation on the COS showed greater “cognitive” empathy (p < .05). Women demonstrated higher levels of “affective” empathy than men (p < .001).     

Change and continuity in early spatial development: claiming the “radical middle”

Debate over change and continuity in cognitive development has revolved around questions of qualitative transitions versus quantitative and incremental improvement. Piaget’s stage theory is the best-known example of a change/qualitative transition approach, while both nativism and empiricism have, for very different reasons, taken a continuity/quantitative increment stance. Recent proposals have, however, attempted to transcend this stark dichotomy, in a move that can be termed claiming the “radical middle.” This paper presents two examples of developmental analyses in spatial development. These two transitions are characterizable as either qualitative or quantitative, but are best thought of as both. A position of this kind allows for much more precise answers to practical questions about issues such as sensitive periods than would otherwise be possible.     

The K-factor: Individual differences in life history strategy

Until recently, variations in life history strategy were studied exclusively at the species level. Although this domain of study has been extended to examine systematic differences in life history strategy among various human ethnic groupings, more recent evolutionary theories of human development and related behavioral genetic work imply substantial within-group individual variation in life history strategy. We constructed a latent variable model identifying a single common factor, denoted as K, which underlies a variety of otherwise disparate life history parameters. This “K-Factor” loaded 0.36 on childhood attachment to the biological father, −0.36 on childhood attachment to any non-biological father figure, 0.38 on adult romantic partner attachment, −0.51 on mating effort, −0.58 on Machiavellianism, and −0.41 on risk propensity. The bivariate correlations of the K-factor with higher-order personality factors were statistically significant, −0.24 with “Big Neuroticism” and −0.67 with “Big Psychoticism”, and approached significance, correlating 0.12, with “Big Extraversion”. The K-factor appears to be an underappreciated individual difference variable of major importance to human development.     

Lack of correlation between digit ratio (2D:4D) and Baron-Cohen’s “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test, empathy, systemising, and autism-spectrum quotients in a general population sample

The second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) is sexually differentiated and is a likely biomarker for the organisational (permanent) effects of prenatal testosterone on the human brain. Recent research has highlighted a possible role of prenatal testosterone levels in both the etiology of autism-spectrum disorders and in sex and individual differences in cognitive styles of the normal mind (Baron-Cohen’s Extreme Male Brain Theory of Autism and Empathising/Systemising Theory). Importantly, autistic children present lower (hypermasculinised) 2D:4D than healthy controls. Based on these accounts, we investigated the relation of 2D:4D with Baron-Cohen’s measures of empathising (“Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test, RMET; Empathy Quotient, EQ), systemising (Systemising Quotient, SQ), and autistic-like traits (Autism-Spectrum Quotient, AQ) in the general population (N = 423 Austrian adults). Whereas sex differences into the expected direction and of expected size were obtained for all variables and internal scale consistencies tallied to retrievable reference values, 2D:4D was unrelated to RMET, EQ, SQ, and AQ scores. Candidate explanations for this lack of correlation might be possible developmental timing differences in the expression of 2D:4D and empathising/systemising, qualitative (as opposed to quantitative) functional differences between the normal and the autistic mind, or the suboptimal psychometric properties of the measures.