Interpersonal feedback in everyday life: Empirical studies in Germany and the United States

The present research examines occurrences of interpersonal feedback in everyday life. Drawing upon retrospective self-reports from three student samples in Germany and the US, we investigate why, how, and with what effect such feedback is shared. We found that feedback was common, occurring mostly within stable interpersonal relationships, and that positive feedback was reported to occur more often than negative feedback. Positive and negative feedback was provided to achieve different goals (acknowledgement vs. behavioral change), and feedback senders perceived negative feedback as less successful than positive feedback. Negative feedback was withheld primarily when potential senders perceived it as futile or potentially dangerous to their relationship with the recipient. However, negative feedback that was shared was not seen as particularly harmful in that regard. We discuss potential barriers to feedback effectiveness, whether and how the exchange of interpersonal feedback in everyday life may be promoted, and give recommendations for future research.     

Early modulation of visual input: A study of attentional strategies

Despite agreement among many attentional theories that processing resources are limited and allocated according to task demands, controversy continues about the locus of selectivity. Studies of spatial orientation of attention suggest an early effect. These results, however, can be explained instead by effects of decision processes. The present study avoids this difficulty by directly manipulating attention in a dual-task paradigm and by using SDT to dissociate sensory tuning from criterion shifts. Ten subjects judged whether two lines to the left of fixation were the same or different in length; they also judged two lines presented simultaneously to the right. In a given block of 64 trials, the subject was to allocate 80%, 50%, or 20% of attention to one pair of lines and the rest to the other. On every trial, the subject judged both pairs. Results showed that d' increased from 0.77 with 20% allocation to 1.69 with 80%, indicating that sensitivity is modulated by attentional instructions. These results are predicted quantitatively by Luce's sample-size model.     

A population study of low-rate smokers: quitting history and instability over time.

This study used 1 longitudinal and 2 cross-seconal population surveys to compare stability of low-rate daily smokers (less than 5 cigarettes per day) with other daily smokers and occasional smokers. Few low-rate smokers maintained consumption level; 36% retained smoking status after 20 months, compared with 82% and 44% for regular daily and occasional smokers, respectively. In a dynamic process, established smokers quit smoking and/or modified (decreased or increased) consumption. Low-rate and occasional smokers quit at higher rates than regular daily smokers (odds ratios 3:1) but were replenished by new members, many converted from regular daily smoker. The overall trend is an increasing proportion of low-consumption smokers while smoking prevalence declines. The dynamic process has implications for tobacco control efforts and for addiction theory.