Values, Framing, and Citizens' Thoughts about Policy Issues: Effects on Content and Quantity

This study examines how frames invoking a core value shape the content and quantity of citizens' thoughts about a policy issue. An experimental study showed that exposure to a pro-school voucher equality frame increased the probability that participants would invoke equality in their open-ended survey responses. Exposure to an anti-school voucher equality frame produced the same effect, as did exposure to both frames. At the same time, participants who received either frame or both frames provided fewer open-ended responses. Thus, the frames appeared to focus participants' thoughts on one value while reducing the overall extent to which they thought about the issue. In broader terms, value framing may have implications for the nature and quality of public deliberation about policy issues—a point that scholars should keep in mind when considering how to define and study framing effects.     

Effects of Testimonial Inconsistencies and Witness Group Identity on Mock‐Juror Judgments1

We examined the interaction of testimonial consistency and witness group identity on mock jurors' judgments of witness effectiveness, probability that the defendant committed the crime, and verdict. In a 3 × 2 (Witness Group Identity × Testimonial Consistency) between‐groups design, 180 mock jurors heard a trial of a person charged with assault. Although both variables affected judgments, group‐identity effects were weak when testimony was characterized by inconsistencies, and they were stronger when testimony was internally consistent but ambiguous. The judgment patterns were consistent with predictions from Chaiken, Liberman, and Eagly's (1989) heuristic‐systematic processing theory, suggesting that heuristic processing would bias systematic processing when the evidence was not decisive.     

Variation in working memory capacity and cognitive control: goal maintenance and microadjustments of control

Variation in working memory capacity (WMC) and cognitive control was examined in four experiments. In the experiments high- and low-WMC individuals performed a choice reaction time task (Experiment 1), a version of the antisaccade task (Experiment 2), a version of the Stroop task (Experiment 3), and an arrow version of the flanker task (Experiment 4). An examination of response time distributions suggested that high- and low-WMC individuals primarily differed in the slowest responses in each experiment, consistent with the notion that WMC is related to active maintenance abilities. Examination of two indicators of microadjustments of control (posterror slowing and conflict adaptation effects) suggested no differences between high- and low-WMC individuals. Collectively these results suggest that variation in WMC is related to some, but not all, cognitive control operations. The results are interpreted within the executive attention theory of WMC.     

Using confidence ratings to identify a target among foils

Sauer, Brewer, and Weber (2008) advanced a novel procedure for testing eyewitness recognition memory. Rather than providing a single decision (i.e., identifying a lineup member or rejecting the lineup as a whole), participants rated their confidence that each lineup member was the culprit. Classification algorithms determined when patterns of confidence ratings indicated suspect guilt or innocence. Across varied test stimuli, confidence-based classifications equalled or out-performed single decisions. However, Sauer et al.’s classification criteria were designed to optimize performance for the data to which they were applied. If effective classification using confidence ratings requires such idiosyncratic criteria, the applied utility of the confidence procedure is nil. We re-analysed the data from Sauer et al.’s two identification experiments and demonstrated that confidence-based classification performance exceeding that of a traditional lineup task did not depend on uniquely developed classification criteria. Confidence-rating lineups offer a potentially promising alternative to procedures requiring single decisions from witnesses.     

An observation on the spontaneous noticing of prospective memory event-based cues

In event-based prospective memory, current theories make differing predictions as to whether intention-related material can be spontaneously noticed (i.e., noticed without relying on preparatory attentional processes). In 2 experiments, participants formed an intention that was contextually associated to the final phase of the experiment, and lures that overlapped to differing degrees with the features of the intention-related cues were embedded in the initial phase. When participants were outside of the appropriate responding context (i.e., the initial phase), they exhibited slower latencies to lures that exactly matched the features of their intention compared with other types of lures and control words. In addition, on a final remember/know recognition test, participants reported having greater subjective recollection for the occurrence of the exact-match lures. These results suggest that exact-match lures were spontaneously noticed and differentially processed in the absence of any observable preparatory attentional processes. The findings have implications for the theoretical debate over whether preparatory attention must always be relied upon to notice intention-related material.     

Getting a grip on drinking behavior: training working memory to reduce alcohol abuse

Alcohol abuse disrupts core executive functions, including working memory (WM)--the ability to maintain and manipulate goal-relevant information. When executive functions like WM are weakened, drinking behavior gets out of control and is guided more strongly by automatic impulses. This study investigated whether training WM restores control over drinking behavior. Forty-eight problem drinkers performed WM training tasks or control tasks during 25 sessions over at least 25 days. Before and after training, we measured WM and drinking behavior. Training WM improved WM and reduced alcohol intake for more than 1 month after the training. Further, the indirect effect of training on alcohol use through improved WM was moderated by participants' levels of automatic impulses: Increased WM reduced alcohol consumption in participants with relatively strong automatic preferences for alcohol. These findings are consistent with the theoretical framework and demonstrate that training WM may be an effective strategy to reduce alcohol use by increasing control over automatic impulses to drink alcohol.     

Global social identity and global cooperation

This research examined the question of whether the psychology of social identity can motivate cooperation in the context of a global collective. Our data came from a multinational study of choice behavior in a multilevel public-goods dilemma conducted among samples drawn from the general populations of the United States, Italy, Russia, Argentina, South Africa, and Iran. Results demonstrate that an inclusive social identification with the world community is a meaningful psychological construct that plays a role in motivating cooperation that transcends parochial interests. Self-reported identification with the world as a whole predicts behavioral contributions to a global public good beyond what is predicted from expectations about what other people are likely to contribute. Furthermore, global social identification is conceptually distinct from general attitudes about global issues, and has unique effects on cooperative behavior.     

Awareness and Preferences Regarding <Emphasis Type="Italic">BRCA1/2</Emphasis> Genetic Counseling and Testing Among Latinas and Non-Latina White Women at Increased Risk for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

This study was an investigation of awareness, cognitions, and psychosocial and educational needs related to genetic counseling and testing among Latinas and non-Latina whites at increased risk for having a BRCA1/2 mutation. Sixty-three Latina and eighty-four non-Latina white women completed telephone surveys employing a mixture of quantitative and qualitative questions assessing awareness, benefits, risks, barriers, and genetic counseling communication preferences regarding BRCA1/2 testing. Among participants who had not previously had genetic counseling/testing, 56.9% of Latinas (29/51) and 34.8% of non-Latina white participants (24/69) were unaware of the availability of BRCA1/2 testing. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, Latina ethnicity was the only statistically significant independent factor associated with lack of awareness (OR = 0.42; 95% CI = 0.19–0.35). No appreciable differences were noted between ethnic groups regarding perceived benefits of BRCA1/2 testing or desired genetic counseling topics. These findings underscore the importance of increasing awareness of cancer genetic counseling and genetic testing among both Latina and non-Latina white populations.     

On the role of imagery in event-based prospective memory

The role of imagery in encoding event-based prospective memories has yet to be fully clarified. Herein, it is argued that imagery augments a cue-to-context association that supports event-based prospective memory performance. By this account, imagery encoding not only improves prospective memory performance but also reduces interference to intention-related information that occurs outside of context. In the current study, when lure words occurred outside of the appropriate responding context, the use of imagery encoding strategies resulted in less interference when compared with a standard event-based intention condition. This difference was eliminated when participants were not given a specific context to associate their intention (i.e., lures occurred within the appropriate responding context). These results support a cue-to-context association account of how imagery operates in certain event-based prospective memory tasks.     

A sex difference in effect of prior experience on object-mediated problem-solving in gibbons

Understanding the functionally relevant properties of objects is likely facilitated by learning with a critical role for past experience. However, current evidence is conflicting regarding the effect of prior object exposure on acquisition of object manipulation skills. This may be due to the influence of life history variables on the capacity to benefit from such experience. This study assessed effect of task-relevant object exposure on object-mediated problem-solving in 22 gibbons using a raking-in task. Despite not using tools habitually, 14 gibbons spontaneously used a rake to obtain a reward. Having prior experience with the rake in an unrewarded context did not improve learning efficiency in males. However, females benefitted significantly from the opportunity to interact with the rake before testing, with reduced latencies to solution compared to those with no previous exposure. These results reflect potential sex differences in approach to novelty that moderate the possible benefits of prior experience. Due to their relatively high energetic requirements, reproductively active females may be highly motivated to explore potential resources; however, increased investment in developing offspring could make them more guarded in their investigations. Previous exposure that allows females to learn of an object’s neutrality can offset this cautious exploration.