Communicating the reasons for social rejection

Two studies examined the pattern of reasons given for rejecting dates and how they reflect concerns of the rejector. Study One examined retrospective accounts of rejection. Rejectors often reported withholding the reason for rejection from the rejected person. A content analysis of the reasons communicated to rejected persons was performed using Weiner's (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1979, 71, 3–25) attributional dimensions of locus, controllability, and stability. The stated reasons were found to be primarily impersonal, uncontrollable, and unstable. Study Two examined rejectors' willingness to communicate certain types of reasons. The true, privately held reasons for turning down dates were systematically varied as to locus, controllability, and stability. The types of reasons subjects offered to rejected persons were consistent with Study One. Reasons for refusal were less likely to be revealed when they related to the appearance or personality of the rejected person, particularly when the personal reasons were uncontrollable and stable. Rejectors were not as forthright when they controlled the reason for rejection as when they lacked control. The rejectors' actions were interpreted as being self-presentational, reflecting concerns about rejected persons' emotional reactions, expectancies for the future of the relationship, and blame for rejection.     

Warned reaction times of sociopaths

A warned reaction time (RT) task was employed with eight male sociopaths and eight normal male Ss. A warning light appeared at a variable interval preceding a light to which the S responded with a key press. All Ss received both a regular and an irregular series with warning intervals of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 sec. In the regular series, blocks of intervals were presented in an ascending order. In the irregular series each interval followed every other interval equally often. Sociopaths obtained reliably slower RTs than did control Ss, showing a constant decrement across all intervals in the two kinds of series.     

Focus of attention and causal attributions of actors and observers

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that actors' and observers' causal attributions are a function of their focus of attention. In the presence of observer-subjects, actor-subjects made a choice among several art works in a supposed decision-making study. The experiment was a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design with the factors (1) source of attribution (actors, observers); (2) camera (actor videotaped, actor not videotaped); and (3) situational stability (stable, dynamic environment). As predicted by the focus of attention-causal attribution notion, it was found that actors attributed more causality to the situation than observers under normal circumstances, when the camera was not operative, but that videotaping the actor reversed the usual actor-observer pattern such that actors attributed less causality to the situation than did observers. Further, when the environment was stable, actors attributed more causality to the situation in the no camera condition than in the camera condition, while observers attributed less to the situation in the no camera conditions than in the camera conditions. Additionally, both actors and observers attributed more causality to the situation when the environment was dynamic than when the environment was stable.     

Conditioned approach and withdrawal behavior in pigeons: Effects of a novel extraneous stimulus during acquisition and extinction

Three experiments examined the effects of complete removal of reinforcement and of the introduction of a novel stimulus on conditioned approach and withdrawal behavior exhibited by pigeons in an autoshaping paradigm. Experiment 1 indicated that complete omission of food from the experimental situation resulted in the gradual disappearance of both approach and withdrawal behavior in subjects that had received either explicitly paired or explicitly unpaired conditioning. Subsequent presentation of a novel visual stimulus reinstated both approach and withdrawal. Experiment 2 replicated these findings in a within-subjects, discriminative paradigm. In Experiment 3, presenting the novel visual stimulus during acquisition when approach and withdrawal behaviors were asymptotic did not produce significant disruption of performance. These data suggest that removal of reinforcement leads to the disappearance of withdrawal as well as approach performance, and that subsequent presentation of a novel stimulys reinstates whatever behavior was dominant prior to extinction—a finding that seems analogous to results of experiments concerning proactive interference.     

Extent,multiplying, and proportionality rules in children's judgments of area

The study examined children's use of multiplying and proportionality rules in judgments of area. In two experiments children judged the area of rectangles. Seven-year-olds used linear extent as an index of area. Eight- and nine-year-olds replaced the extent rule with the height × width rule. In a third experiment 8-through 11-year-olds were presented with a rectangle and a horizontal line representing the width of a second rectangle. Children were asked to indicate the height that would make the second rectangle equal in area to the first. The correct response was proportional to the product of the ratio of the widths of the two rectangles and the height of the first rectangle. Graphical and statistical analyses indicated that children applied the ratio rule to these judgments. The implications for Piaget's theory of cognitive development were discussed.     

Effect of perceived choice,expected outcome,and observed outcome of an action on the causal attributions of actors

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that actors' causal attributions for success and failure would be affected by the degree of perceived choice they had in taking an action. Actors either were assigned, or selected one of four therapeutic outlines which were expected to have either a positive or a negative effect, and which actually had either a positive or negative outcome on a purportedly phobic person. For negative outcomes, it was predicted that perceived choice would induce a sense of personal responsibility when a positive outcome was expected, and lead actors to attribute more responsibility to themselves as a result. Results supported this prediction. For positive outcomes, however, actors attributed responsibility to themselves regardless of expectancy or choice. Actors were also found to attribute generally more responsibility to themselves for positive than negative outcomes. Results were discussed in terms of self-esteem motivation and the information available to the actor.     

Androgyny,sex-typing,and the perception of masculinity-femininity in handwritings

Sex-typed and androgynous subjects rated the similarity of handwritings on masculinity-femininity and also rated the writings on an absolute scale of masculinity-femininity. The variances of sex-typed subjects' ratings were significantly higher than those of androgynous subjects, indicating that sex-typed subjects differentiated more along the dimension. Sex-typed subjects also agreed more highly with other raters and among themselves than did androgynous subjects. Multidimensional scaling of similarity ratings—using nonmetric multidimensional scaling (Kruskal, 1964; Shepard, 1962), and INDSCAL (Carroll & Chang, 1970)—showed interpretable dimensions along which subjects perceived masculinity-femininity. Further scaling solutions indicated again that sex-typed subjects differentiated more strongly along the dimension of masculinity-femininity and weighted the dimension more highly in making their similarity ratings. The data supported the hypothesis that subjects who monitor their own behavior on a given dimension are more sensitive to cues in others relating to that dimension.     

Effects of perception versus imagery on later recognition of visual patterns.

Three experiments were conducted to determine the role of imagery in aiding memory for visual information and to compare its effectiveness relative to direct perception. Subjects engaged in orienting tasks in which they had to decide whether the second of two sequentially presented meaningless patterns was a part of the first. They later received unexpected recognition tests for the original drawings. Increasing the interval between patterns by adding an extra post-stimulus period for imaginal processing improved later recognition scores. Experiments comparing continued perception with an equal blank interval suggested that periods of direct perception and of imagery are about equally effective in promoting memory. The results are discussed in the frame work of Craik and Lockhart (1972) with regard to type I and type II processing, and in the light of Neisser's (1967) view on imagery and perception.     

The naive perception of masculinity-femininity on the basis of expressive cues

Groups of naive judges rated 18 videotaped stimulus persons on masculinity, femininity, “dominance, assertiveness,” and “compassion, sensitivity to others.” Stimulus persons were broken down by sex and sex-typing—half were male, half female—and within sexes one third were classified as masculine, feminine, and androgynous on the basis of their scores on the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Two experiments are reported in which groups of judges rate stimulus persons on the basis of such different expressive information as videotaped pictures and recorded voices, videotaped pictures alone, videotaped bodies, videotaped heads, recorded voices, and still photos. The results showed: (1) Judges reliably rated masculinity-femininity from largely expressive cues: (2) judgments of masculinity-femininity were not predominantly determined by judgments of sex role-related traits: (3) the naive judgment of masculinity-femininity significantly corresponded to stimulus subjects' assessed sex roles; (4) stimulus subjects (particulary males) showed a consistent display of masculinity-femininity across expressive channels; and (5) judges used different expressive cues in judging masculinity-femininity in males and females. These results are related to broader questions concerning the relation between expressive behavior and personality.     

Some conditions for the dissociation of consummatory and instrumental behavior in rats

To investigate whether consummatory and instrumental behavior depend upon different motivational factors, rats were trained to press a bar for saccharin solution, then given various treatments designed to reduce the palatability of saccharin, and finally tested for bar-pressing in extinction and for free intake of saccharin. Prefeeding with dextrose, prefeeding with saccharin, and association of saccharin with injections of lithium chloride all reduced intake of saccharin compared to control treatments, but only prefeeding with dextrose also reduced barpressing in extinction. Thus, performance of an instrumental response may depend upon need for food rather than appetite for it.     

Population states and eigenstructure: A simplifying view of Markov learning models

The structure of a Markov learning model can often be appreciably simplified by analyzing the eigenstructure (eigenvectors and eigenvalues) of its transition operator, and by focusing on population states representing distributions of individuals rather than on subject states representing individuals. This view often produces considerably simpler “reduced” models, which are equivalent to the originals in that they make identical predictions. We apply these reduced representations to determine the number of estimable parameters a model supports and to answer questions of model identifiability: when two models are mathematically equivalent and when they are likely to predict observations in practice distinguishable on the basis of limited data.     

Immediate and delayed reinforcers for flavor preferences in rats

When rats received, on alternate days, one flavored saccharin solution for 5 min and a differently-flavored saccharin solution for 60 min, they showed no consistent preference between the flavors. On the other hand, when they received one flavor in a concentrated saccharin solution and a different flavor in a dilute one, they preferred the first flavor in tests with saccharin concentration held constant; also, rats learned to prefer a flavor immediately followed by a concentrated saccharin solution to one followed by nothing. They showed no consistent preference, however, between a flavor followed 30 min later by a concentrated saccharin solution and one followed by nothing; but they learned to prefer a flavor followed 30 min later by a dextrose solution to one followed by nothing. In other words, consummatory responding did not reinforce flavor preference, sweet taste did so with immediate but not delayed reinforcement, and nutrition did so even with delayed reinforcement.     

Effects of initial success or failure in a stressful or relaxed environment on subsequent task performance

Forty male and 40 female undergraduate subjects worked on anagram problems in either a stressful or a relaxed environment after having experienced either success or failure on a similar task. Internal arousal, which was expected to be minimal following success in a relaxed setting and maximal following failure in the stressful environment, was assumed to bear an inverted U-shaped relation to performance. Consistent with the implications of these assumptions, achievement in a stressful setting was lower following initial failure than following initial success, while initial failure in a relaxed environment facilitated subsequent performance. The interpretation of these results was supported by the effects of the experimental variables on indirect measures of arousal as well as by the relationship between direct measures of arousal and task performance. In addition, the achievement of female subjects tended to be facilitated by failure while the performance of males was consistently debilitated by it.     

Self-control and choice in humans: Effects of video game playing as a positive reinforcer

Participants chose between reinforcement schedules differing in delay of reinforcement (interval between a choice response and onset of a video game) and/or amount of reinforcement (duration of access to the game). Experiment 1 showed that immediate reinforcement was preferred to delayed reinforcement with amount of reinforcement held constant, and a large reinforcer was preferred to a small reinforcer when both were obtainable immediately. Imposing a delay before the large reinforcer produced a preference for the immediate, small reinforcer in 40% of participants. This suggested a limited degree of “impulsivity.” In Experiment 2, unequal delays were extended by equal intervals, the amounts being kept equal. Preference for the shorter delay decreased, an effect that presumably makes possible the “preference reversal” phenomenon in studies of self-control. Overall, the results demonstrate that video game playing can produce useful, systematic data when used as a positive reinforcer for choice behavior in humans.     

Motivational determinants of coalition formation

Coalition preferences of 300 male and female subjects were ascertained under varying motivational conditions. Two of the experimental conditions repeated the typical three-person coalition paradigm, with a monetary reward (extrinsic motivation) offered for the winning of a luck-determined game. In a third condition, skill rather than luck influenced the outcome and no monetary reward was given for winning (intrinsic motivation). Two additional conditions examined coalition preferences in a mixed-motive situation, with either a small or a large monetary reward offered for winning a skill-related game. In the extrinsic motivation condition, the low and the medium resource persons typically desired to coalesce, contrary to the wishes of the excluded, high resource player. In contrast, the coalition between the low and the medium resource persons also was preferred by the high resource player in the intrinsic motivation condition. Coalition conflict was intermediate in the mixed-motive conditions. In sum, it was demonstrated that coalition formation and interpersonal conflict are dependent upon the motivational determinants of group activity.     

The effects of mutual concern on joint welfare

Previous studies attempting to assess the impact of concern for an opponent bargainer's welfare (orientation) upon the integrativeness of the agreements reached have produced differing conclusions. The design of an earlier experiment by Kelley and Schenitzki was replicated using a different negotiation method and task. Participants took the role of either the buyer or the seller in a two-party negotiation. Bargainers received instructions emphasizing either a Team Orientation (i.e., concern for mutual profit) or an Individualistic Orientation (i.e., concern for only one's own profit) and bargained under either a Free Communication or a Restricted Communication condition. The Team Orientation produced more integrative agreements (i.e., higher joint outcomes) than the Individualistic Orientation, regardless of the communication condition. Process data suggested that distinct processes may promote the development of integrative solutions in the two communication conditions.     

Effects of density,activity, and personality on environmental preferences

The effects of room density, type of ongoing activity (party vs studying), and a personality variable (“personal space” or the distance which subjects place between themselves and others) on room liking were investigated. Results supported the prediction that type of activity is an important determinant of whether a high or low density setting is preferred. Evidence was also presented that a mediator between activity type and density preference is whether the presence of other people facilitates or inhibits the individual's goals in the setting. Personality factors also influence density preferences: Close standing Ss preferred a high to a low density setting; far standing Ss showed an opposite preference pattern, but only in the party condition. Correlations between Ss' personal space scores and several background and personality variables are also presented.     

Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception

The idea that global structuring of a visual scene precedes analysis of local features is suggested, discussed, and tested. In the first two experiments subjects were asked to respond to an auditorily presented name of a letter while looking at a visual stimulus that consisted of a large character (the global level) made out of small characters (the local level). The subjects' auditory discrimination responses were subject to interference only by the global level and not by the local one. In Experiment 3 subjects were presented with large characters made out of small ones, and they had to recognize either just the large characters or just the small ones. Whereas the identity of the small characters had no effect on recognition of the large ones, global cues which conflicted with the local ones did inhibit the responses to the local level. In Experiment 4 subjects were asked to judge whether pairs of simple patterns of geometrical forms which were presented for a brief duration were the same or different. The patterns within a pair could differ either at the global or at the local level. It was found that global differences were detected more often than local differences.     

Mirror,mirror on the wall … Comments on the chimeric face task used by Roszkowski and Snelbecker (1982)

A critique is presented of the chimeric face task used as a measure of cerebral laterality by M. J. Roszkowski and G. E. Snelbecker (1982, Brain and Cognition, 1, 404–409). Problems arise because the faces used are not true mirror images of each other, but in fact differ in facial details. Data are presented to illustrate that the earlier results are not caused by cerebral laterality but by the fact that the two drawings are not equally happy—even when placed in the same left-right orientation.