Sexism and beautyism effects in selection as a function of self-monitoring level of decision maker

The authors, in two experiments, investigated the influence of the sex and attractiveness of applicants for male and female sex-typed jobs on selection decisions made by low and high self-monitors. In both experiments, attractiveness and the congruence between applicants' sex and the sex type of the job influenced selection decisions. In addition, high self-monitors were more influenced by attractiveness and sex of the applicant when hiring for sex-typed jobs than low self-monitors, but this difference in hiring pattern was not evident when the job was gender neutral. Results indicate that job applicants may encounter different employment opportunities as a function of their sex, their physical attractiveness, the sex type of the job, and the self-monitoring level of the decision maker. Implications of results are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.     

The effects of predictive ability information,locus of control,and decision maker involvement on decision aid reliance

This study examines several factors that influence decision makers' willingness to rely on mechanical decision aids. The first experiment examined the effects of predictive ability information and locus of control on decision aid reliance. The results indicate that decision makers were more likely to rely on a decision aid when its predictive validity was not disclosed. Further, decision makers with an external locus of control relied more on the decision aid than those with an internal locus of control. The second experiment expanded upon this result to examine the interactive effects of decision maker involvement and locus of control. The results suggest that involving decision makers in the aid's development enhanced reliance. However, decision makers with an internal locus of control were more strongly influenced by this form of involvement (in terms of increasing their reliance on the decision aid) than decision makers with an external locus of control. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The aging decision maker: cognitive aging and the adaptive selection of decision strategies

Are older adults' decision abilities fundamentally compromised by age-related cognitive decline? Or can they adaptively select decision strategies? One study (N = 163) investigated the impact of cognitive aging on the ability to select decision strategies as a function of environment structure. Participants made decisions in either an environment that favored the use of information-intensive strategies or one favoring the use of simple, information-frugal strategies. Older adults tended to (a) look up less information and take longer to process it and (b) use simpler, less cognitively demanding strategies. In accordance with the idea that age-related cognitive decline leads to reliance on simpler strategies, measures of fluid intelligence explained age-related differences in information search and strategy selection. Nevertheless, both young and older adults seem to be equally adapted decision makers in that they adjust their information search and strategy selection as a function of environment structure, suggesting that the aging decision maker is an adaptive one.     

ePsych: Interactive demonstrations and experiments in psychology

ePsych (http://epsych.msstate.edu), a new Web site currently under active development, is intended to teach students about the discipline of psychology. The site presumes little prior knowledge about the field and so may be used in introductory classes, but it incorporates sufficient depth of coverage to be useful in more advanced classes as well. Numerous interactive and dynamic elements are incorporated into various modules, orientations, and guidebooks. These elements include Java-based experiments and demonstrations, video clips, and animated diagrams. Rapid access to all material is provided through a layer-based navigation system that allows users to visit various “Worlds of the Mind.” Active learning is encouraged, by challenging students with puzzles and problems and by providing the opportunity to “dig deeper” to learn more about the phenomena at hand.     

Software timing of events in cognitive psychology experiments

Real-time systems for controlling cognitive psychology experiments typically use hardware clocks. However, systems using software clocks have comparable reliability, accuracy, and resolution, and the advantages of lower cost and hardware simplicity. Four types of software clocks are described and evaluated. Problems in implementing software clock systems are described, along with their solutions. Software clock routines for Apple II series microcomputers are presented.     

Applications of multiprogramming software to real-time experiments in psychology

Multiprogramming operating systems are often advertised as solving the problem of competition among independent tasks operating on the same computer system. In real-time laboratories, multiprogramming systems are much more valuable for their ability to manage the relationships among asynchronous, cooperating tasks that are part of a single experiment. This cooperation allows the programming of paradigms that would otherwise require the use of faster and more expensive hardware. Examples are given from several languages and operating systems, including the small, home-built PSYCLE system and the commercially available VORTEX II system.     

Demonstration experiments in perception and cognitive psychology for the Macintosh computer

A package of programs demonstrating psychology experiments widely cited in perception and cognitive psychology textbooks is described. The programs are suitable for laboratory research projects and in-class demonstrations. An attractive feature of the programs is that they have provisions for changing experimental parameters to allow students to design different experiments from the original programs. Iconic memory, memory scanning (using the additive factors approach), lexical decision, target detection, speeded classification, picture recognition/picture memory, and the Phi phenomenon can be demonstrated.     

Using PsyScope for demonstrations and student-designed experiments in cognitive psychology courses

We describe a plan for integrating an experimental control language, PsyScope, into under-graduate laboratory exercises of perceptual and cognitive experiments on Macintosh computers. PsyScope is a powerful and versatile system with which students can modify standard research paradigms and execute experiments of their own design, thus facilitating student-initiated independent research. Data are summarized with a general-purpose program, PsySquash, for import into Statview or SuperAnova for further analysis. This system provides an effective means of implementing student projects.     

Bringing history to life: simulating landmark experiments in psychology

The course in history of psychology can be challenging for students, many of whom enter it with little background in history and faced with unfamiliar names and concepts. The sheer volume of material can encourage passive memorization unless efforts are made to increase student involvement. As part of a trend toward experiential history, historians of science have begun to supplement their lectures with demonstrations of classic physics experiments as a way to bring the history of science to life. Here, the authors report on computer simulations of five landmark experiments from early experimental psychology in the areas of reaction time, span of attention, and apparent motion. The simulations are designed not only to permit hands-on replication of historically important results but also to reproduce the experimental procedures closely enough that students can gain a feel for the nature of early research and the psychological processes being studied.     

Mask maker, mask maker: The black gay subject in 1970s popular culture

Black gay artists have created a sustained body of literature that has served as a springboard for their creative and intellectual energies. In the 1980s and 1990s, black gay male textuality blossomed. The result is a minor literature establishing a black gay male sensibility and a distinctly Afro-Gay perspective. The political and poetic influence of these works is demonstrated visually in Looking For Langston by Isaac Julien, in Tongues Untied by the late Marlon Riggs, and to a lesser extent, Paris is Burning by Jennie Livingston. These documentaries seek to further a strategy of black gay representation. This essay explores the historical precedents for such outpouring. By situating pre-1980s representations of black gay men, I examine images of the black gay subject in the popular literature and culture of the 1970s, especially in one of the most popular works of the decade, Victor Dodson’s book, Black and Gay. I will also mention the ways in which contemporary writers, poets, film artists, and theater and performance ensembles such as Pomo Afro Homo allow black gay men to perform satirical roles that signify upon those earlier characterizations, images, and depictions, which seek to further marginalize them and, through performance, exhaust those contradictory conditions, silence often misnamed.     

The Hawthorne experiments and the introduction of Jean Piaget in American industrial psychology, 1929-1932

The Hawthorne interview program between 1929 and 1932 was one of the most significant industrial studies in the United States. The Hawthorne researchers applied Jean Piaget's clinical method in their extensive interviews with tens of thousands of workers. Chiefly responsible for the program's methodology was Elton Mayo, an Australian who saw interviewing as a means to promote social cooperation. Previous discussions of the Hawthorne experiments have ignored the influence of Piaget in the social sciences. This article provides an account of Mayo's and the Hawthorne researchers' efforts to fuse Piaget's innovation with burgeoning American industrial psychology. The endeavor was not an isolated event but rather drew on the theories and practice of Janet-Piaget psychology, on the support of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, and on the discourse among social scientists about Piaget's work.     

A microcomputer interface for control of real-time experiments in cognitive psychology

A microcomputer system for real-time control of experiments in cognitive psychology is described. The microcomputer serves as an interface that allows a remote timesharing computer to control the timed display of textual material on CRTs and collect response times accurate to 1 msec. It can control two CRT subject stations presenting the same or different experiments and control other devices such as slide projectors and tape recorders. It is argued that such special-purpose microcomputer interfaces provide a real-time laboratory with significantly less effort than does the more traditional laboratory minicomputer.     

Projects in experimental psychology: Software for several classical perception experiments

Projects in Experimental Psychology (Sorkin, 1997) is a Windows-based series of nine classical perception experiments. It is primarily designed for laboratory use in perception and related courses. The program is generally simple to use and exploits the “point-and-click” features of Windows quite well. It complements, rather than competes with, Levy and Ransdell’s (1998) Laboratory in Cognition and Perception, which is more suitable for courses in memory. Projects can be extremely useful in laboratory courses in perception and cognition, although the number and range of studies may presently be too limited to be the exclusive source of data in these courses. Although instructors proficient with experiment generators such as MEL (Schneider, 1998) or ERTS (Beringer, 1992) may opt to design their own experiments, this is an excellent alternative for those who lack the time or the background to do so.     

ARTIST: A computer system for creating and running psychology experiments

A flexible computer system for research and teaching experiments in psychology is described. Special features of the system include (1) separate phases for the generation and running of experiments, (2) facilities to control presentation of stimuli according to any factorial design, and (3) different modes of operation depending on the prior knowledge of the users. The system is evaluated both in terms of the range of experiments that can be performed and in terms of the time and effort required to create new experiments or modify old ones. General principles for designing interactive systems are discussed in the light of experiences with this particular system.     

Dynamical evolutionary psychology: individual decision rules and emergent social norms

A new theory integrating evolutionary and dynamical approaches is proposed. Following evolutionary models, psychological mechanisms are conceived as conditional decision rules designed to address fundamental problems confronted by human ancestors, with qualitatively different decision rules serving different problem domains and individual differences in decision rules as a function of adaptive and random variation. Following dynamical models, decision mechanisms within individuals are assumed to unfold in dynamic interplay with decision mechanisms of others in social networks. Decision mechanisms in different domains have different dynamic outcomes and lead to different sociospatial geometries. Three series of simulations examining trade-offs in cooperation and mating decisions illustratehow individual decision mechanisms and group dynamics mutually constrain one another, and offer insights about gene-culture interactions.