Trying harder may disrupt cue utilisation

Abstract

Cue depreciation refers to an inhibitory effect in fragment cueing induced by revealing a fragment gradually rather than all at once. Thus far, the effect has been observed only with test words that have been primed in some way. In Experiments 1 and 2 of the present study, even with equal priming for all words, inhibition arises with low-frequency words defined as “challenging” but not with high-frequency words defined as “easy”, and with “remember” instructions (explicit memory task) but not with “complete with any word” instructions (implicit memory task). In Experiments 3 and 4, inhibition arises with unprimed words when subjects believe discovery of such words to be correlated with intelligence or to afford more points. Cue depreciation thus appears to be influenced, rather than by priming per se, by the importance attached to the completion of fragments and “trying harder”.     

The Acquaintance Predicament of a Rape Victim1

The acquaintance predicament of a rape victim was examined in six experiments with between-subjects designs with samples drawn from the undergraduate student population of the University of Bombay. The experiments used rape vignettes for the manipulation of all independent variables except subject's sex and were done in three pairs such that each pair had the same independent variables and first dependent measure, namely, recommended years of imprisonment for the rapist. The second dependent measure was attributed victim's fault in the first experiment and perceived likelihood of rape in the second experiment of each pair. The first pair of experiments had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (acquainted vs. unacquainted rapist) × 3 (rapist's status: manager, stenotypist, or watchman) × 2 (complaint vs. no complaint by victim) design, with the rape victim being described as a stenotypist. The second pair of experiments differed from the first pair in only one respect, with victim's marital status (married vs. divorced victim) replacing the independent variable of complaint of the first pair. The third pair of experiments had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (physically hurt vs. not hurt victim) × 5 (rapist's relationship with victim: husband, fiance, friend, acquaintance, or stranger) design. Female subjects, as compared to male subjects, recommended longer imprisonment for the rapist, attributed less fault to the victim, and perceived greater likelihood of rape. The victim was attributed less fault in case of stranger rape versus acquaintance rape and also less fault in the complaint versus the no complaint condition. Longer imprisonment was recommended for the rapist when the victim was physically hurt rather than not hurt.     

Turkish Adolescents’ Interpretations of Psychological and Behavioral Control: Relation with Adjustment Problems and Moderating Factors

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Few studies have focused on adolescents’ interpretations of parental control in a non-Western context. This study examines the intervening role of...     

The Frequency of Prayer,Meditation and Holistic Interventions in Addictions Treatment: A National Survey

This study examines the prevalence of endorsing the twelve step approach and the use of prayer, meditation, and holistic techniques in a national sample of 139 substance abuse treatment centers. Ninety one percent of the programs endorsed a twelve step orientation. Twenty six percent of the programs actively used prayer and 58% used meditation as a component of treatment. Thirty three percent of the programs used some form of a self-designated holistic technique. There was a divergent range of techniques that were used by programs, falling into four broad categories: (1) nutrition, exercise, relaxation and physical health; (2) recreation and adventure-based activities; (3) religious and spiritual practices; and (4) the use of specific therapy modalities.     

Revelation effect in metamemory

Test items are more likely to be judged as previously studied if they need to be discovered before the recognition decision. In the present experiments, this revelation effect was extended to metamemory judgments. Participants studied word pairs and then tried to recall the second word of each pair when given the first word as a cue. In Experiment 1, a fragment of the target was either gradually increased in size or held constant, and in Experiment 2, sometimes an anagram of the cue was given instead of the cue itself. Thus, for some items, there was a revelation task before a recall attempt. If recall failed, the participants gave feeling-of-knowing (FOK) ratings. In both experiments, the participants gave higher FOK ratings after a revelation task, even though the items that these FOKs referred to remained unrecalled. Analyses showed a criterion shift but no differences in sensitivity.     

Substance Abuse in Middle Eastern Adolescents Living in Two Different Countries: Spiritual,Cultural, Family and Personal Factors

It is estimated that the percentage of students using illicit substances by sixth grade has tripled over the last decade not only in developed countries but in developing countries as well probably due to the transition to a more Western society. Although much has been done to understand the mechanisms underlying substance abuse, few studies have been conducted with minority ethnic and religious groups such as Middle Eastern Youth. The primary goal of this study was to determine whether there are differences in factors contributing to substance abuse in adolescents from Lebanon versus the USA and to decipher the role of spirituality, religion, and culture among other factors that may influence substance abuse. A correlational cross-sectional design was used with adolescents living in two different countries: Los Angeles, California and Beirut, Lebanon. Muslim adolescents had significantly less rates of alcohol and substance use than Christians in both Lebanon and Los Angeles. More years lived in the USA increases the likelihood of abuse for both Muslims and Christians. Attachment to God and family was negatively associated with substance abuse. These results among others facilitate a better understanding of the influence of culture, religion, family and personal factors on substance abuse. Culturally sensitive interventions could benefit from the findings of this pilot study.     

Feeling-of-knowing for songs and instrumental music

We explored the differences between metamemory judgments for titles as well as for melodies of instrumental music and those for songs with lyrics. Participants were given melody or title cues and asked to provide the corresponding titles or melodies or feeling of knowing (FOK) ratings. FOK ratings were higher but less accurate for titles with melody cues than vice versa, but only in instrumental music, replicating previous findings. In a series of seven experiments, we ruled out style, instrumentation, and strategy differences as explanations for this asymmetry. A mediating role of lyrics between the title and the melody in songs was also ruled out. What emerged as the main explanation was the degree of familiarity with the musical pieces, which was manipulated either episodically or semantically, and within this context, lyrics appeared to serve as an additional source of familiarity. Results are discussed using the Interactive Theory of how FOK judgments are made.