A comparison of three measures of the motive to avoid failure:

Individual's motive to avoid failure has typically been assessed by one of three different measures, the Hostile Press scoring system, the Test Anxiety Questionnaire, and Resultant Achievement Motivation. The present research tested the ability of these three measures to predict the two major behavioral criteria of the motive to avoid failure: defensiveness on level of aspiration tasks, and choice of extreme (high or low) probability of success tasks rather than intermediate level of difficulty tasks. Subjects completed the Thematic Apperception Test, which was scored for need for Achievement and the Hostile Press measure of fear of failure. Subjects also completed the Test Anxiety Questionnaire, the Achievement Test Preference Questionnaire, and an anagram level of aspiration task. The results demonstrated that only the Hostile Press measure was significantly related to the two behavioral criteria, and led the authors to conclude that the Hostile Press measure should be used in future assessment of the fear-of-failure motive.     

A thematic coding system for the intimacy motive

A new thematic (TAT) measure of intimacy motivation was developed and cross-validated in four separate arousal studies using three different college populations. A brief sketch of the derived thematic scoring system for intimacy motivation was presented. The goal state of the intimacy motive was defined as experiencing a warm, close, and communicative exchange with another person. In a college sample, subjects scoring high on the intimacy motive were rated by friends and acquaintances as significantly more “warm,” “natural,” “sincere,” “loving,” and “appreciative” and less “dominant,” “outspoken,” and “self-centered” than subjects scoring lower. The results were discussed in terms of the theories of Sullivan on the need for interpersonal intimacy, Maslow on growth motivation and “B-love,” Bakan on communion, and Buber on the I-Thou relation. Differences between the new coding system and the need for Affiliation (n Aff) system for scoring imaginative productions were also suggested.     

Positive perception: A three dimensional model and a scale

Traits and perceptions that predict psychological and physical well-being have been the focus of great interest in Positive Psychology. The paper focused on positive perception (PP) as a case in point. A three dimensional model of PP is proposed. PP represents a general tendency to evaluate positively one’s abilities, one’s past, and human nature. The construction of an 8-item self-report measure of PP, the Positive Perception Scale (PPS), is detailed. Three samples of university students and a national sample of working couples (total N = 796) helped demonstrate various psychometric aspects of the PPS. The studies confirmed the three dimensional model of PP, demonstrated it as both a trait and a state and the PPS as a valid and reliable scale, for both researchers and practitioners.     

Implications for interaction versus effectance as mediators of the similarity-attraction relationship

The rewards of interaction interpretation of the similarity-attraction relationship implies that this relationship should be stronger when similarity has stronger implications for the quality of interaction. In contrast, the reinforcement-affect (D. Byrne & G. L. Clore, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1967, 6(Whole No. 638)) interpretation suggests that similarity should affect attraction most for characteristics that are most “important” to the perceiver. Three experiments tested these predictions. In Experiments 1 and 2, subjects rated eight strangers who were similar or dissimilar with respect to four opinion categories. With item importance held constant, the magnitude of the similarity-attraction relationship was greater for opinion categories with greater implications for interaction. In Experiment 3, item sets were constructed using subjects' own ratings of item importance and of amount of information conveyed about interaction. The magnitude of the similarity-attraction relationship was significantly related to the interaction ratings of item sets, but not to their importance ratings. The meaning of the concept of item “importance”, and the potential of the rewards of interaction formulation for generation of research are discussed.     

A comparison of three simple test theory models

In very simple test theory models such as the Rasch model, a single parameter is used to represent the ability of any examinee or the difficulty of any item. Simple models such as these provide very important points of departure for more detailed modeling when a substantial amount of data are available, and are themselves of real practical value for small or even medium samples. They can also serve a normative role in test design.As an alternative to the Rasch model, or the Rasch model with a correction for guessing, a simple model is introduced which characterizes strength of response in terms of the ratio of ability and difficulty parameters rather than their difference. This model provides a natural account of guessing, and has other useful things to contribute as well. It also offers an alternative to the Rasch model with the usual correction for guessing. The three models are compared in terms of statistical properties and fits to actual data. The goal of the paper is to widen the range of minimal models available to test analysts.This research was supported by grant AP320 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The author is grateful for discussions with M. Abrahamowicz, I. Molenaar, D. Thissen, and H. Wainer.     

Menatal addition: A test of three verification models

Three explanations of adults’ mental addition performance, a counting-based model, a direct-access model with a backup counting procedure, and a network retrieval model, were tested. Whereas important predictions of the two counting models were not upheld, reaction times (RTs) to simple addition problems were consistent with the network retrieval model. RT both increased with problem size and was progressively attenuated to false stimuli as the split (numerical difference between the false and correct sums increased. For large problems, the extreme level of split (13) yielded an RT advantage for false over true problems, suggestive of a global evaluation process operating in parallel with retrieval. RTs to the more complex addition problems in Experiment 2 exhibited a similar pattern of significance and, in regression analyses, demonstrated that complex addition (e.g., 14+12=26) involves retrieval of the simple addition components (4+2=6). The network retrieval/decision model is discussed in terms of its fit to the present data, and predictions concerning priming facilitation and inhibition are specified. The similarities between mental arithmetic results and the areas of semantic memory and mental comparisons indicate both the usefulness of the network approach to mental arithmetic and the usefulness of mental arithmetic to cognitive psychology.     

Spatial frequencies in short-term memory for faces: A test of three frequency-dependent hypotheses

Spatial frequency manipulations have been shown to have significant utility in ascertaining the various types of information that might be important in object identification and recognition tasks. This utility suggests that, given some mapping between ranges of spatial frequencies and different types of psychological information, it should be possible to examine the roles of these different types of psychological information by way of spatial frequency manipulations. One potential problem, however, is that there is no well-specified, unambiguous mapping between the distinctions in the frequency domain and the distinctions in the informational domain. Three experiments provide tests of three general hypotheses regarding the ways in which different spatial frequencies might map to different information in facial perception and memory tasks: (1) the low-frequency dominance hypothesis, which proposes that low-frequency information should be superior (to high-frequency information) as a cue to perception and memory; (2) the distinct informational roles hypothesis, which holds that high spatial frequencies should carry featural information while low spatial frequencies should carry information about the configuration of those features; and (3) the task-dependent information hypothesis, which suggests that high-frequency information should be best suited to discrimination tasks while low-frequency information should be best suited for recognition tasks. Results generally contradict the first two of these hypotheses, while providing support for the third. Implications with regard to the various issues related to the mapping between spatial frequencies and the informational content of faces, as well as the need to consider important interactions among perceptual and memory processes, are discussed.     

Serial learning in rats: A test of three hypotheses

Findings obtained by providing rats with a single fixed series of events, A-B-C-…, often are equally compatible with three alternative serial learning interpretations: that the signal for items is (A) their position in the series (position view), (B) the prior item of the series (chaining view), and (C) one, two, or more prior items of the series (sequential view). By employing a novel procedure of supplying rats with two different series, rather than a single series, it was possible to choose between the three alternatives. Employing 10 and 0, 0.045 g, Noyes pellets as items, rats in both runway experiments reported here received a three trial series, either a 10-0-10 series or a 0-0-10 series. In Experiment 1, the other series was a single 0 pellet trial (along with 10-0-10) or a single 10 pellet trial (along with 0-0-10). In Experiment 2, the other series was either 0-0 (along with 10-0-10) or 10-0 (along with 0-0-10). Considering both experiments, findings were consistent with the sequential view but not with either the position view or the chaining view. The possibility was suggested that, under some other experimental conditions, particularly those not employing reward events as items, greater control over discriminative responding might be exercised by position cues than by item cues.     

Coping patterns of in vitro fertilization nurse coordinators: Strategies for combating low outcome effectance

Abstract

Data were gathered concerning coping strategies that nurse coordinators working in the field of in vitro fertilization would use to meet typical work-related stressors. Causality orientation—or tendency to perceive oneself as autonomous, controlled or helpless—was also measured. It was hypothesized that nurses using problem-focused/disengaged strategies, such as thinking about therapeutic successes or trying not to dwell on stressors, and who were high in autonomy, would be most effective in coping with situations where control over outcomes is limited. Statistical analyses revealed a group of nurses following the coping pattern described in the hypothesis. These individuals reported less work-related stress than other nurse coordinators.     

浅析美国染指科索沃战争的动机

科索沃战争是由科索沃危机引发的,科索沃问题是南斯拉夫国内民族矛盾积累的结果,是典型的冷战后以西方国家“民主”之风点燃的热点之一,近年来对世界格局产生了重大的影响。美国发动对科索沃的入侵,充分暴露了美国在科索沃战争中的深层意图。     

Regulatory focus and message framing: A test of three accounts

A review of previous literature shows that there are at least three ways in which regulatory focus may be related to message framing. Specifically, persuasion might be enhanced when there is a match between a person’s regulatory focus and (a) the outcome focus of the message (i.e., gain vs. loss anchor); (b) the overall valence of the message (i.e., positive vs. negative valence); and (c) the type of benefit or harm emphasized (i.e., achievement vs. security). In an effort to explicitly compare and contrast these three possibilities, and to determine whether the results depend on the way regulatory focus is measured, we used a 2 (outcome focus) by 2 (overall valence) by 2 (type of benefit or harm emphasized) within-subjects factorial design and three commonly employed measures of regulatory focus to test the three accounts. The findings were most consistent with the hypothesis that the perceived persuasiveness of a message is increased when there is a match between a person’s chronic regulatory focus and the overall valence of the message.     

The motive to avoid success: A further examination

Horner's (1968) “fear of success” study was replicated and expanded. One hundred seventy-seven high school (HS) and college students wrote stories in response to the following cues: “After first-term finals, John (Anne) finds himself (herself) at the top of his (her) medical-school class.” Results indicated similarity of response of HS men, HS women, and college men, all of whom expressed more fear of success imagery in response to the Anne cue than to the John cue. College women did not conform to this pattern.     

A high implicit affiliation motive does not always make you happy: A corresponding explicit motive and corresponding behavior are further needed

Satisfaction of the implicit affiliation motive is known to be positively related to emotional well-being, whereas the frustration of the implicit affiliation motive leads to impairment of well-being. In the present research we specified two conditions that are responsible for the satisfaction and frustration of the implicit motive. Referring to research on the congruence of implicit and explicit motives, we assumed that a corresponding explicit affiliation motive leads to satisfaction of the implicit motive. Corresponding affiliation behavior constitutes the second condition. Three studies confirmed the hypothesis that both conditions must be fulfilled in order to positively connect the implicit affiliation motive to emotional well-being. Participants with high implicit and explicit affiliation motives and who additionally showed a large amount of affiliation behavior reported the lowest negative affectivity and the highest life satisfaction compared to participants who lacked one of the conditions.

Ambiguous-cue learning in preschool children: A test of the dimensional characteristics of task stimuli

Sixteen preschool children were administered a two-choice discrimination problem consisting of three stimulus compounds: the consistently rewarded stimulus, the consistently nonrewarded stimulus, and the ambiguous stimulus which was nonrewarded when paired with the positive, but rewarded when paired with the negative. When both pair of stimuli, positive-ambiguous and negative-ambiguous, were presented together the subject was required either to choose or to avoid the ambiguous stimulus depending upon the stimulus with which it was paired. In Experiment 1, when each of three stimuli (positive, negative, ambiguous) varied along one nonspatial cue dimension (color), performance was better on negative-ambiguous trials than positive-ambiguous trials. In Experiment 2, when the positive and negative stimuli varied along three nonspatial cue dimensions (colors and form) and the ambiguous stimulus varied along one of these dimensions (color), superior positive-ambiguous over negative-ambiguous performance was obtained. These findings complement those reported for other subjects and confirm Berch's (D. B. Berch, Learning and Motivation, 1974, 5, 135–148) predictions regarding use of differential numbers of cue dimensions.     

Existential motive underlying cosmetic surgery: A terror management analysis

Why do people consider cosmetic surgery? Based on the terror management theory, the present research identifies an existential motive: Through cosmetic surgery, people can symbolically defend against their death anxiety. A correlational study and an experiment showed that death terror, whether operationalized as individual differences in fear of death or experimentally manipulated mortality salience, was associated with stronger acceptance of cosmetic surgery. This association was absent among participants who did not consider physical appearance important, and weaker among those who were satisfied about their appearance. Also, this association was particularly strong among those with high explicit self‐esteem. This concurs with the recent theoretical development about the role of self‐esteem in symbolic defenses against death terror.