Personal Intervention Preferences for Alleviating Mild Depression

The findings of a study to identify personal preferences for alleviating mild depression are presented. Preferences were classified into four treatment modalities: affective, behavioral, cognitive, and eclectic. The affective category received significantly more preferences than did the other three. Preferences were found to be related to sex and occupational level, but not to age.     

Self-evaluation maintenance and the perception of friends and strangers

A self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model was used to make predictions about the positivity of perception of the performance of friends and strangers. The model predicts that when the target of perception is close (i.e., a friend) the target's performance should be perceived more positively on dimensions of low personal relevance (to the perceiver) and less positively on dimensions of high personal relevance. If the target is psychologically distant (i.e., a stranger), this tendency should be attenuated. Thirty-four female subjects were given positive and negative feedback on a social sensitivity and an esthetic judgment task. One task had greater relevance for some subjects and the other task had greater relevance for the remaining subjects. Subjects rated their perception of a friend's and a stranger's performance on these tasks. The patterning of positivity in perception conformed to the pattern predicted by the SEM model. Subjects' awareness of their behavior as well as individual differences in self-esteem and repression-sensitization were also examined and discussed.     

A microcomputer-based modulator for simulating insect songs and the response of crickets to an artificial calling song

A maching language program for the 6502 KIM-1 microcomputer to produce a pulsed output for modulating a signal generator is described. The pattern of modulation is easily controlled to produce chirps, trills, and pauses as components of artificial insect songs. In the laboratory, increased locomotory activity of male and female field crickets (Teleogryllus commodus) is induced by an artificial calling song. In the field, crickets of both sexes are attracted to pitfall traps from which the song is broadcast.     

On the detection of stepwise changes in a constant signal level

A stepwise change in the frequency of a continuous pure tone is taken as an element signal. The detectability of a single step is compared with the detectability of a pattern composed of two such steps in order to determine the ways in which the steps interact and how these interactions depend upon the time interval between the steps. It is shown that two positive steps separated by D msec interact by summation (d’ for two steps being greater than d’ for a single step) and that this summation is 100% even when D=100 msec. The extent of summation decreases as D is increased beyond 100 msec, leveling off at about 40% when D is near 1,000 msec. A positive step followed by a negative step (an increment) presents a more complex picture. When D=0 msec, the pattern is the null signal, and, of course, the two steps subtract completely. As D is increased, the extent of subtraction decreases, becoming zero when D is about 400 msec. Increasing D beyond 400 msec results in summation, reaching about 40% when D=2,000 msec. For D less than about 1,000 msec, the sign of the second step in a two-step signal is important: two steps of like sign summate, and two steps of unlike sign subtract. However, when the two steps are separated by about 2,000 msec, the sign of the second step is irrelevant: summation occurs, and the extent, about 40%, is the same for two steps of like sign and two steps of unlike sign. A brief theoretical discussion stresses the extant need for an information-processing theory of signal detection.     

Studies of mood and humor appreciation

A total of 189 students in two studies rated jokes on funniness and several other scales after rating their own mood on the Nowlis-Green Mood Adjective Check List. Subjects in Experiment 1 gave a second and third set of mood ratings after their joke-funniness ratings. Three mood factors—surgency, elation, and vigor—reliably predicted joke appreciation in both studies. More tentative evidence linked humor appreciation to concentration, social affection, excitement, freedom, and (lack of) fatigue, but humor appeared independent of aggression, anxiety, tension, and inhibition. Relationships among joke-scale ratings were highly similar for subjects reporting relatively positive moods and those reporting more negative moods. Results were discussed with reference to several humor theories.The authors would like to thank Carol Pierce, Marguerite Ponder, and Ron Fox for their help with this research.     

Sex roles and nonverbal communication skills

As a step toward understanding sex differences in nonverbal decoding and encoding abilities, the hypothesis that sex-role variables are related to these communication abilities was tested. An analysis was undertaken of 11 studies on the relationship of encoding and decoding abilities to sex roles, including several masculinity and femininity scales, a measure of attitudes toward women, and a questionnaire on sex roles in the home. Although the relationships of the masculinity and femininity measures to decoding were generally weak, more masculine people tended to be better decoders. Patterns also emerged showing that the magnitude of the correlations varied with age group, sex, sex-role scale, and channel of communication. In addition, among women, those who were more liberated according to several indices were better decoders, at least of a woman stimulus person. Differences between the sexes in encoding and decoding abilities were unaffected by partialling out the masculinity and femininity measures. A hypothesis concerning the adaptive uses of nonverbal sensitivity is advanced, as well as a hypothesis concerning overall sex differences in nonverbal communication skills.Part of this research was conducted while the authors held National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships, and was supported by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Award to the first author and by a grant from the Biomedical Research Support Program, National Institutes of Health, to The Johns Hopkins University. This paper could not have been prepared without the generosity of several colleagues and students who made their unpublished results available. These people are (alphabetically): Bella M. DePaulo, Karen I. Fischer, Judith Harackiewicz, Leonard A. Kusnitz, Carol J. Mills, James G. Simmons, Ann L. Weber, and Miron Zuckerman. In addition, Bert F. Green, Jr., Bella M. DePaulo, and Marylee C. Taylor provided many appreciated suggestions and criticisms on an earlier draft.     

Women and Weight: Gendered Messages on Magazine Covers

In this content analysis, the covers of 21popular women's and men's magazines were examined forgendered messages related to bodily appearance. Magazinecovers were divided according to gender of readers and each cover was reviewed using a checklistdesigned to analyze visual images and text as well asthe placement of each on the covers. Analyses showedthat 78% of the covers of the women's magazinescontained a message regarding bodily appearance, whereasnone of the covers of the men's magazines did so.Twenty-five percent of the women's magazine coverscontained conflicting messages regarding weightloss and dietary habits.In addition, the positioning ofweight-related messages on the covers often implied thatlosing weight may lead to a better life. Men's magazinesfocus on providing entertainment and expanding knowledge, hobbies, and activities; women'smagazines continue to focus on improving one's life bychanging one's appearance.     

Distortions in Eyewitnesses' Recollections: Can the Postidentification-Feedback Effect Be Moderated?

Giving eyewitnesses confirming feedback after they make a lineup identification (e.g., "Good. You identified the actual suspect.") inflates not only their recollections of how confident they were at the time of the identification, but also other testimony-relevant judgments, such as how good their view was, how much attention they paid during witnessing, and how quickly they identified the suspect. We replicated this postidentification-feedback effect with eyewitnesses who had made false identifications (N = 156), adding critical conditions in which after the identification but prior to the feedback, some eyewitnesses were given instructions to privately think about their confidence, their view, and other matters. Other eyewitnesses were given the same thought instructions subsequent to the feedback manipulation. Prior thought served to mitigate the effects of feedback, but subsequent thought did not. In addition, even without feedback, privately thinking about confidence had some confidence-inflating properties of its own.