Identity without form: Abstract representations of letters

Subjects viewed single letters and orthographically regular pseudowords in a tachistoscope at threshold duration. The pseudowords were either all of one case (upper or lower) or they were of mixed case. Letter identity (“A”) and case judgments were required for one letter on each trial. It was found that letter identity was often reported correctly when case was reported incorrectly, even for letters whose upper- and lowercase forms are physically dissimilar (e.g., G-g). This “case effect” was stronger for letters in pseudowords than for letters presented alone. It held across different type fonts, and it occurred even when the upper-and lowercase letters were of different sizes (gEaT) and when the instructions to the subjects stressed the greater importance of case reports over identity reports. The results are consistent with the view that letter identification is an automatic process, the product of which is an abstract representation containing no information about physical form.     

The Anatomy of Revolutionists

A questionnaire containing 62 items relating to the New Left and 28 items measuring anomia, authoritarianism, and Machiavellianism was given to 153 entering freshmen at Columbia in the fall of 1968. The five factors emerging from a factor analysis of responses to the items were labeled: New Left Philosophy, Revolutionary Tactics, Machiavellian Tactics, Machiavellian Cynicism, and Traditional Moralism. Students who had been politically active prior to coming to college scored higher than the rest of the group on New Left Philosophy, Revolutionary Tactics, and Machiavellian Cynicism, but scored lower on Machiavellian'Tactics and Traditional Moralism. In the spring of 1969, a revised set of items was given to students in introductory psychology classes at Columbia University and New York University. While the findings from these subjects replicated those found with the Columbia freshmen, they showed subtle differences which led to speculations about the radicalization process. Also discussed are the relationships between the nature of political participation and all of the factors, with special emphasis on the discrepancy between Machiavellian Tactics and Cynicism.     

The effects of extrinsic incentive on some qualitative aspects of task performance1

Thirty two subjects of high school age were tested under two experimental conditions on a variety of tasks. Subjects in the extrinsic-incentive condition were promised a reward for their participation in the experiment No mention of reward was made in the no-incentive condition. Consistent with die experimental hypothesis, it was found that subjects in the latter as opposed to the former condition exhibited superiority in creativity of performance and task recall. In addition, they manifested a stronger Zeigarnik effect, and reported greater enjoyment of the experiment The data were discussed in reference to the idea that the degree of intrinsic motivation for a task is determined by the actor's self-attributed cause for its performance     

Feature saliency and recognition memory for schematic faces

Memory for schematic faces was studied using a recognition memory paradigm. Ss indicated whether two faces, separated by delays of 6, 12, or 18 sec, were the same or different. Theoretical interest centered on the effects of component feature saliency on response bias and detectability. The main results were that there were fewer misses and more false alarms on the more salient features. Analysis showed that the main effect of feature saliency was on response bias, not detectability.     

Personality, type A behavior, and coronary heart disease: the role of emotional expression

The nature of the relation between personality factors and coronary heart disease (CHD, the nation's greatest killer) is one of the most important if controversial issues in the field of psychology and health. Although there is still a great deal of conceptual confusion, progress is being made in refining the key components of a predisposition to heart disease. In this article we examine the construct of a coronary-prone personality in the context of the relations among personality, emotional expression, and disease. Special consideration is given to mode of measurement of the Type A behavior pattern--Structural Interview (SI) versus Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS)--and to components and non-Type A correlates of the general coronary-prone construct. Fifty middle-aged men who had had a myocardial infarction were compared with 50 healthy controls in terms of relevant aspects of their psychological functioning. Results indicate that the SI is better than the JAS as a predictor of coronary heart disease (CHD) because of its attention to emotional expressive style. Traditional emphases on hurry sickness in coronary proneness are deemed wholly inadequate. Furthermore, the results indicate that depression, anxiety, or both may relate to CHD independently of and in addition to Type A behavior. Other aspects of personality and social support are also discussed in the context of improving the construct of coronary proneness.