An asymmetric test of homogeneity of proportions

An asymmetrical test of homogeneity of proportions possesses distinct advantages over a symmetrical test. The symmetric chi square test of homogeneity is widely employed in psychological research. An asymmetrical alternative to the chi square test of homogeneity is proposed and described.     

On the status of unconscious memory: Merikle and Reingold (1991) revisited

Four experiments are reported that reevaluate P. M. Merikle and E. M. Reingold's (1991) demonstration of unconscious memory: the greater sensitivity to familiarity (repetition) of an indirect (implicit) memory task than of a comparable direct (explicit) task. At study, participants named the cued member of a pair of visually presented words. At test, new and uncued study words were presented against a background mask. Participants judged whether each word was old or new (direct task) or whether the contrast between the word and the background was high or low (indirect task). Contrary to the original findings, the sensitivity of the indirect task to familiarity never exceeded that of the direct task. These findings pose a challenge to a key pillar of evidence for unconscious influences of memory.     

Forgivingness, vengeful rumination, and affective traits

Trait forgivingness is the disposition to forgive interpersonal transgressions over time and across situations. We define forgiveness as the replacement of negative unforgiving emotions with positive, other-oriented emotions. Rumination has been suggested as a mediator between forgivingness and emotional outcomes; however, we suggest that different content of rumination leads to different outcomes after transgressions. In four studies of 179, 233, 80, and 66 undergraduate students, trait forgivingness was negatively correlated with trait anger, hostility, neuroticism, fear, and vengeful rumination and was positively correlated with agreeableness, extraversion, and trait empathy. The disposition to ruminate vengefully mediated the relationship between trait forgivingness and (1) anger-related traits and (2) both revenge motivations and state anger following a specific recent transgression, but it did not mediate between forgivingness and (1) fearfulness and (2) avoidance motivations following a specific transgression. Self-hate statements, a proxy for depressive rumination, mediated the relationship between forgivingness and both depression and fearfulness but not the relationship between forgivingness and trait anger. Future research should distinguish the contents of mental rumination following interpersonal transgressions.     

Aging, source memory, and emotion

In 2 experiments we assessed younger and older adults' ability to remember contextual information about an event. Each experiment examined memory for 3 different types of contextual information: (a) perceptual information (e.g., location of an item); (b) conceptual, nonemotional information (e.g., quality of an item); and (c) conceptual, emotional information (e.g., safety of an item). Consistent with a large literature on aging and source memory, younger adults outperformed older adults when the contextual information was perceptual in nature and when it was conceptual, but not emotional. Age differences in source memory were eliminated, however, when participants recalled emotional source information. These findings suggest that emotional information differentially engages older adults, possibly evoking enhanced elaborations and associations. The data are also consistent with a growing literature, suggesting that emotional processing remains stable with age (e.g., Carstensen & Turk-Charles, 1994, 1998; Isaacowitz, Charles, & Carstensen, 2000).     

Accuracy in scientific discourse

Response to Rudmin, F. W. & Ahmadzadeh, V. (2001). Psychometric critique of acculturation psychology: The case of Iranian migrants in Norway.     

Cutting film violence: effects on perceptions, enjoyment, and arousal

The authors investigated the effects of cutting specific graphic scenes of film violence on self-reports of arousal, enjoyability, and perceptions of violence among a sample of U.S. students. In 3 studies, they varied film exposure from 1 1/2 min in the 1st study to a complete motion picture (American vs. British version of same film) in the 3rd. In all 3 studies, the participants rated the cut versions as less violent than the uncut versions. The participants distinguished quite subtle differences in levels of violence, even when the cuts were minor and contextualized within an entire movie. Cutting the movie significantly increased its enjoyability for the women; for the men, there was no significant difference. Cutting violent films made no difference in arousal for the men but substantially lowered self-report levels of arousal for the women.     

Individual differences in reactivity to daily events: examining the roles of stability and level of self-esteem

Unstable self-esteem is thought to reflect fragile and vulnerable feelings of self-worth that are affected by specific positive and negative events. Direct evidence for this contention is lacking, however. To redress this situation, we examined the extent to which level and stability of self-esteem predicted the impact that everyday positive and negative events had on individuals' feelings about themselves. Participants recorded the most positive and most negative event that occurred each day Monday through Thursday for a period of 2 weeks. They then indicated the extent to which each event made them feel better or worse about themselves. As anticipated, negative and positive events had a greater impact on the self-feelings of individuals with unstable as opposed to stable self-esteem (although the effect for positive events was marginal). Additional findings indicated that event qualities (i.e., self-esteem relevance and concerns about social acceptance/rejection) could account for the unstable self-esteem/greater reactivity link for negative events, but not for positive events. Negative, but not positive, events had a greater impact on the self-feelings of individuals with low as compared to high levels of self-esteem. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Acculturation Attitudes and Acculturative Stress of Central American Refugees

Research on acculturation has revealed a variable relationship between acculturation and mental health, which is due to the presence of a number of moderating factors. Some of these factors, namely, modes of acculturation, acculturative experience with the host society, contact with the culture of origin, and individualistic values have been examined in order to understand better the relationship of these factors with acculturative stress. In the present research. Central American refugees (N = 101) who were resettled in Canada completed a questionnaire dealing with their attitudes, behaviours, values, and levels of acculturative stress. Results indicated that different factors are involved in the prediction of psychological and somatic aspects of acculturative stress, with contact with the culture of origin and modes of acculturation being the best predictors.     

Psychological Adaptation of Chinese Sojourners in Canada

Psychological adaptation during acculturation was studied among 68 Chinese sojourners (students and visiting scholars from China and Hong Kong), 28 Chinese immigrant and Chinese-Canadian students, 30 Chinese students and scholars in China, and 33 non-Chinese Canadian students. Each participant completed questionnaires pertaining to various aspects of their lives and personalities, including: health beliefs and behaviours; problems and ways of coping; social contact and acculturation attitudes; psychological and physical health; and subjective adaptation. The Chinese sojourners reported lower English fluency, lower ease of making friendships, more adaptation and communication problems, and lower subjective adaptation than non-Chinese Canadian, or Chinese-Canadian students. The Chinese sojourners experienced less desired and actual contact, more contact incongruity, more separation and less assimilation than Chinese-Canadian students. The Chinese sojourners reacted to their problems with less wishful thinking and self-blame, and more tension reduction, and the seeking of informational support than non-Chinese Canadian students. There were significant differences between groups in health concept and health causation, and believed and utilized health ways. Health causation, and believed and utilised health ways were the most important factors influencing the Chinese sojourners' health status. The Chinese sojourners experienced more problems, but tended to use fewer health ways after-arrival than pre-departure. The Chinese also experienced poorer health, especially poorer psychological health after-arrival than pre-departure. The longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of the Chinese sojourners' Cawte scores supported the U-curve hypothesis.     

Accuracy in social perception: contributions of facial and vocal information

The validity of social perceptions was assessed on the basis of facial or vocal information. Specifically, impressions of stimulus persons' power and warmth were obtained on the basis of either a facial photograph or a voice recording. These were compared with the stimulus persons' self-reports along the same dimensions. Face- and voice-based impressions did predict self-view. The specific facial and vocal characteristics that mediated these links were also considered. Potential mechanisms that may yield the match between self-perceptions and impressions based on nonverbal cues are discussed.