A comparison of six methods for assessing the importance of perceived consequences in behavioral decisions: Applications from attitude research

Six different approaches to measuring the importance of perceived consequences in behavioral decisions were compared: (1) an elicitation approach, (2) a subjective probability model, (3) Jacoby's behavioral process technology, (4) a Bayesian model, (5) a direct rating approach, and (6) a correlational approach. The convergence among the methods was evaluated for two different decision topics: (1) emphasizing a career relative to marriage, and (2) use of birth control pills. Results indicated that the six approaches yielded estimates of importance that were, by and large, unrelated to each other.     

The opponent-process theory of motivation: VIII. Quantitative and qualitative manipulations of food both modulate adjunctive behavior

The present studies extend the opponent-process theory of acquired motivation to the schedule-induced polydipsia paradigm and more generally to adjunctive behavior. The theory suggests that manipulations of the quality and the size of the pellet presented on an intermittent schedule should be important modulators of polydipsia. In Experiment 1, presenting animals with preferred, less preferred, or least preferred food pellets on a fixed-time 120-sec schedule resulted in progressively lower levels of water intake. In Experiment 2, the quality and size of the pellet were manipulated factorially. These variables were found to interact in the control of both the development and maintenance of schedule-induced drinking. Thus, predictions from the opponent-process theory were supported by these findings.     

Attitudes and behavior: An information integration perspective

The relationship between attitudes, beliefs, and behavior was investigated in the context of a behavioral alternative model of attitudes and Anderson's information integration theory. Forty teenagers indicated their attitudes toward using each of seven methods of birth control. The attitudes were used to predict self-reports of contraceptive behavior. Functional measurement methodology was applied to understand the informational bases of the attitudes. In general, the data were supportive of the theoretical framework.     

An integration of shifts toward risk and caution in gambling situations

Findings have been reported and replicated indicating group-induced caution at the racetrack and group-induced risk in blackjack gambling. The present research examined the effects of two consistent differences between the blackjack and racetrack situations: (a) the amount of money available to groups versus individuals; and (b) the number of bets made in the postbaseline session. It was found that group-induced caution can occur in the blackjack setting if groups have larger stakes than individuals, as was the case in the racetrack studies, and that this effect disappears over trials, due to group versus individual differences established in the previous blackjack studies. Since current explanations of choice shifts cannot account for the observed trial effects, it was suggested that traditional choice-dilemma material, on which these explanations are largely based, be examined for such effects. Implications of the possible outcomes of such an examination for current group polarization theory were discussed.     

Is social comparison irrelevant for producing choice shifts?

After 15 years of research on group induced shifts in individual choice, two hypotheses, social comparison (involving image maintenance) and persuasive arguments (involving attitude change), have emerged as the leading explanatory contenders. Burnstein and his associates have recently reported a series of studies that they feel clearly establish the persuasive arguments hypothesis as the best explanation for the shifts. The present paper takes issue with their conclusion. A study is presented that supports a social comparison interpretation of one of the experiments reported in Burnstein and Vinokur (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1973, 9, 123–137). In addition, a critical analysis of several other key studies reported by Burnstein and his associates yields the conclusion that neither hypothesis completely accounts for the available data. Rather, both image maintenance and attitude change processes may operate in a complementary manner, with persuasive arguments facilitating the shifts motivated by social comparison. Parallels are drawn between the factors that affect choice shifts and those that affect conformity behavior.     

Generalized and lateralized effects of concurrent verbal rehearsal upon performance of sequential movements of the fingers by the left and right hands.

College student subjects performed a sequential typing task requiring bilaterally synchronized movements (Experiment 1) or unilaterally synchronized movements (Experiment 2) singly, and concurrently with silent and vocal rehearsal of verbal lists varying in redundancy. Rehearsal interfered with bilaterally synchronized movements more when the right hand was leading the sequence than when the left hand led, and with movements of the right more than the left hand in unilaterally synchronized movements. Results are interpreted in terms of intrahemispheric and general capacity competition between the concurrent performances.     

Effects of directiveness of instructions and surveillance on the production and persistence of children's donations

All subjects earned tokens for correct size judgments and observed a model who had previously earned tokens at the same task donate some of her earnings. Children were subsequently given an opportunity to donate some of their tokens to children at another school. The opportunity to give occurred in presence (surveillance) or absence of the experimenter and after being presented with either directive (you must give) or permissive (you can give if you want to) instructions. Directive instructions and surveillance both produced greater initial giving for all children. In a second session with no modeling, no surveillance, and no further instructions, earlier directive instructions also produced greater persistence of giving for all children. Permissive instructions produced greater reductions in giving over time for boys than for girls. The present findings suggest that directive instructions produce greater initial giving and that donating persists better under these more explicit conditions.     

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.     

Semantic organization in the young child: Evidence for the development of semantic feature systems

In two experiments, 5-, 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children and college students were presented on each trial with a sentence followed by a probe word. Their task was to indicate whether the probe was in the sentence or not. Of primary interest were the false recognitions and the correct latencies that occurred when the probe word was a synonym or antonym of one of the words in the sentence (Experiment I) or when the probe was a subordinate, superordinate, part, or whole (Experiment II). The younger children were more affected by synonymy than antonymy, although the older children and adults were not. At all ages, the categorical relationships caused more recognition confusion than the partwhole relationships. Subjects were more affected when the probe was a superordinate than when it was a subordinate, and somewhat more affected when the probe was the whole than when it was the part. These results suggest that children as young as 5 years of age have well-organized conceptual systems based on shared meaning components.