Discerning the role of optimism in persuasion: the valence-enhancement hypothesis

The valence-enhancement hypothesis argues that because of their active coping strategies, optimists are especially likely to elaborate on valenced information that is of high personal relevance. The hypothesis predicts that as a result, optimists will be more persuaded by personally relevant positive messages and less persuaded by personally relevant negative messages than pessimists. It also predicts that when the message is not personally relevant, optimism and persuasion will not be related in this manner. The results of 3 studies support these predictions and supply evidence against several alternative hypotheses. The possibility that the observed effects are not due to optimism but to the confounding influence of 7 additional variables is also addressed and ruled out. Implications are discussed.     

A test of the reward-value hypothesis

Rats retain source memory (memory for the origin of information) over a retention interval of at least 1 week, whereas their spatial working memory (radial maze locations) decays within approximately 1 day. We have argued that different forgetting functions dissociate memory systems. However, the two tasks, in our previous work, used different reward values. The source memory task used multiple pellets of a preferred food flavor (chocolate), whereas the spatial working memory task provided access to a single pellet of standard chow-flavored food at each location. Thus, according to the reward-value hypothesis, enhanced performance in the source memory task stems from enhanced encoding/memory of a preferred reward. We tested the reward-value hypothesis by using a standard 8-arm radial maze task to compare spatial working memory accuracy of rats rewarded with either multiple chocolate or chow pellets at each location using a between-subjects design. The reward-value hypothesis predicts superior accuracy for high-valued rewards. We documented equivalent spatial memory accuracy for high- and low-value rewards. Importantly, a 24-h retention interval produced equivalent spatial working memory accuracy for both flavors. These data are inconsistent with the reward-value hypothesis and suggest that reward value does not explain our earlier findings that source memory survives unusually long retention intervals.     

A negative test of the drive-reduction hypothesis

A major deduction of the drive-reduction hypothesis of reinforcement was tested. A light which follows the termination of a shock coincides with a condition of drive or need reduction. If drive reduction is a sufficient condition for reinforcement, then the light should become a secondary reinforcing agent by virtue of its association with the drive-reduction event. If it becomes a secondary reinforcing agent, it should be able to reinforce an instrumental act.

This sequence of deductions was tested by placing rats in a stock, giving them a brief shock upon the termination of which a light was flashed for one second. After sixty such pairings, subjects were then placed in a Skinner box under operant test conditions; when they pressed the bar a light flashed on.

Animals subjected to this training programme were compared for rate of bar pressing with animals subjected to a variety of control conditions. No significant differences were found among the groups, and it was concluded that in so far as the deductions from drive-reduction theory were correct, the theory was not substantiated. The paper concludes with a discussion of various problems which might limit the interpretation of the experimental results.     

A strong test of the dual-mode hypothesis

One account of facial cognition, the dual-mode hypothesis, maintains that there are two sources of information in a human face, featural and configural, and that these sources are processed simultaneously and independently of one another. According to the hypothesis, the processing and identification of upright faces relies primarily on configural information, and this information is disrupted to such an extent upon inversion as to result in a reliance on featural information for identifying inverted faces (e.g., Searcy & Bartlett, 1996). When considered in terms of the general characteristics of human information processing, the foundational assumptions of the dual-mode hypothesis are as follows: Facial information processing is accomplished by a parallel self-terminating architecture with unlimited capacity to supercapacity and a preservation of independence between the rates of processing of featural and configural information. Although a number of studies have provided evidence consistent with the dual-mode hypothesis, until now there have been no direct tests of the foundational assumptions of the hypothesis. The present study provides that direct test, providing strong support for three of the assumptions (parallel self-terminating processing with unlimited capacity to supercapacity) while contradicting a fourth (independence in rates).     

Thought confidence as a determinant of persuasion: the self-validation hypothesis

Previous research in the domain of attitude change has described 2 primary dimensions of thinking that impact persuasion processes and outcomes: the extent (amount) of thinking and the direction (valence) of issue-relevant thought. The authors examined the possibility that another, more meta-cognitive aspect of thinking is also important-the degree of confidence people have in their own thoughts. Four studies test the notion that thought confidence affects the extent of persuasion. When positive thoughts dominate in response to a message, increasing confidence in those thoughts increases persuasion, but when negative thoughts dominate, increasing confidence decreases persuasion. In addition, using self-reported and manipulated thought confidence in separate studies, the authors provide evidence that the magnitude of the attitude-thought relationship depends on the confidence people have in their thoughts. Finally, the authors also show that these self-validation effects are most likely in situations that foster high amounts of information processing activity.     

A laboratory test of the constant risk hypothesis

It has been repeatedly suggested that subjects aim at maintaining a constant error probability in many variants of self-paced performance and that they adjust their behaviour so as to keep their risks relatively constant. This constant risk hypothesis is investigated in a simple computer-controlled addition task it which subjects manipulated exercise difficulty as a function of their own calculation proficiency and the allotted solution time. Error probability proved to be unrelated to level of skill and to amount of allotted computation time, but to depend onuncertainty with respect to exercise difficulty.     

Confidence in expectations: A test of the triangle hypothesis

Kelley and Stahelski's (1970) triangle hypothesis states that competitors hold homogeneous views of others by assuming that most others are competitive, whereas cooperators or pro-social people hold more heterogeneous views by assuming that others are either cooperative or competitive. To evaluate the triangle hypothesis, this study examines differences between pro-socials, individualists, and competitors not only in their expectations about others' choice behaviour, but also in the confidence with which such expectations are held. It was found that pro-social subjects expected more cooperation than individualists and competitors. More importantly, as predicted on the basis of the triangle hypothesis, pro-socials were less confident about their expectations than competitors, with individualists holding intermediate levels of confidence.     

A cross-cultural test of the personality integration hypothesis1

This study attempted to validate the psychological integration hypothesis by comparing the levels of psychological functioning of individuals from four cultural groups on three dimensions of personality. The personality attributes investigated were field-dependence/independence cognitive style, tolerance of ambiguity (an affective style variable) and machiavellianism (an index of stylistic orientation in interpersonal relationships). Subjects were 218 first-level supervisors from five industrial plants in Auckland, New Zealand. Comparisons of mean group scores on each personality variable showed that a similar rank order among the groups held for each personality variable. It was also found that, for the sample as a whole, there were positive intercorrelations between the personality variables. The symmetrical rank ordering of the groups on the personality variables was considered to indicate that members of each group had attained relatively similar levels of psychological development on each personality attribute. The relatively low levels of intercorrelations between the personality variables were held to indicate that they were measuring separate areas of psychological functioning.     

A test of the regulatory fit hypothesis in perceptual classification learning

This article builds a bridge between research on regulatory focus in motivation and classification learning. It tests the hypothesis that a fit between the situational regulatory focus and the reward structure of the task leads to greater cognitive flexibility than does a mismatch between situational focus and the reward structure and that the fit between the regulatory-focus-induced processing characteristics and the nature of the environment influences performance. In Experiment 1, we used a classification task for which cognitive flexibility should be advantageous and examined both gains (Experiment 1A) and losses (Experiment 1B) reward structures. In Experiments 2 and 3, we used a classification task for which cognitive flexibility should be disadvantageous. In Experiment 2, we used a gains reward structure, and in Experiment 3, we used a losses reward structure. As was predicted, when cognitive flexibility was advantageous, the participants in a regulatory fit showed faster learning and more quickly shifted toward the optimal response strategy. Also as was predicted, when cognitive flexibility was disadvantageous, the participants in a regulatory mismatch showed faster learning and more quickly shifted toward the optimal response strategy. Implications for current theories of motivation and classification learning are discussed.     

Hostility in fantasy: A further test of the hypoglycemia-aggression hypothesis

In a recent investigation carried out among the Qolla Indians of Peru, Bolton (1973a) tested the hypothesis that hypoglycemia tends to produce high levels of individual aggressiveness. Glycemic condition was determined by the readings on a 4-hour glucose tolerance test performed on a sample of 54 adult males. Key informants then ranked these subjects on overt aggressiveness. A correlational analysis of the data supported the hypothesis that moderately hypoglycemic subjects would be more aggressive than the normoglycemic subjects. The present paper responds to questions raised about this study and describes the results of an additional test of the hypoglycemia-aggression hypothesis. The dependent variable in this follow-up study is fantasy aggression. Aggression scores were derived from Sentence Completion Test protocols for the same sample of subjects used in the first study. The results indicate a significant correlation between glycemic condition and aggression scores (Biserial, 0.57), thus providing further confirmation of the hypoglycemia-aggression hypothesis.     

Alcohol and aggression: A test of the affect-arousal hypothesis

Forty-eight male social drinkers participated in a study designed to test the interaction between prevailing mood and alcohol on aggressive behavior in a 2 × 3 factorial design. Half of the subjects underwent a positive mood-induction procedure, while the other half underwent a negative mood-induction procedure. Within each of these conditions, one-third of the subjects received 1.32 ml/kg of 95% ethanol, one-third received placebo drinks, and the rest remained sober. Aggression was measured using a modified version of the Buss aggression machine. Results indicated that subjects receiving alcohol were significantly more aggressive than placebo or sober subjects. The mood-induction procedure, while significantly altering affect, did not affect aggressive responding. These findings are discussed with respect to levels of blood-alcohol and alcohol-aggression theories.     

A test of the tau-dot hypothesis of braking control in the real world

A controlled experiment used instrumented vehicles in a real-world driving task to compare D. N. Lee's (1976) tau-dot hypothesis of braking control with an alternative based on the direct estimation and control of ideal deceleration (T. Yates, M. Harris, & P. Rock, 2004). Drivers braked to stop as closely as possible to a visual target from different starting speeds and times-to-contact. The data provided little support for the tau-dot hypothesis, and analysis suggested that braking in the real world is better explained by a direct deceleration strategy.