What mediates the impact of response alternatives on frequency reports of mundane behaviors?

Previous research demonstrated that respondents assume that the range of precoded response alternatives reflects the researcher's knowledge of the distribution of opinions or behaviours in the population. This assumption may influence respondents' reports in two ways: respondents may either use the range of the response alternatives as a frame of reference in estimating their own behavioural frequencies, or they may be reluctant to report frequencies that appear extreme in the context of the scale. Three experiments using reports of mundane behaviours, namely watching TV and drinking beer, were conducted to differentiate between the frame of reference and the self-presentation hypothesis. The results of all studies favour the frame of reference hypothesis, and suggest that the impact of response alternatives is the more pronounced the less episodic information about the behaviour is accessible in memory. Specifically, proxy-reports were found to be more affected by the range of response alternatives than self-reports (Experiments 1 and 2), and respondents with dispositionally low access to self-related information were found to be more affected than respondents with dispositionally high access to self-related information (Experiment 3). Implications for questionnaire construction are discussed.     

Reaction to Self-Attributed Victim Responsibility: A Comparative Analysis of Rape Crisis Counselors and Lay Observers1

This research examined observers' reactions to sexual assault victims engaging in different forms of self-attributed responsibility. Theory and research suggests that behavioral responsibility contributes positively to the coping process of victims, whereas characterological responsibility impedes it. For observers in the present study, the expression of either type of self-responsibility by a rape victim resulted in a more negative impression of the victim's emotional well-being and greater attribution of responsibility to the victim in comparison to a victim relying solely on chance explanations. Moreover, this bias was evident among rape crisis counselors as well as lay observers. Discussion considered the implications of such biased perceptions for sexual assault victims and the need for a fuller understanding of the nature of self-attributions of responsibility by victims.     

Priming and communication: Social determinants of information use in judgments of life satisfaction

Two experiments examined the effects of answering a question about a specific component of life satisfaction on respondents' assessment of their overall satisfaction with life. The results suggest that the use of primed information in forming subsequent judgments is determined by Grice's conversational norms. In general, answering the specific question increases the accessibility of information relevant to that question. However, the effect that this has on the general judgment depends on the way in which the two questions are presented. When the two questions are merely placed in sequence without a conversational context, the answer to the subsequent general question is based in part on the primed specific information. As a result, the answer to the general question becomes similar to that for the specific question (i.e. assimilation). However, this does not occur when the two questions are placed in a communication context. Conversational rules dictate that communicators should be informative and should avoid redundancy in their answers. Therefore, when a specific and a general question are perceived as belonging to the same conversational context, the information on which the answer to the specific question was based is disregarded when answering the general one. This attenuates the assimilation effect. The conditions under which these different processes occur are identified and experimentally manipulated, and the implications of these findings for models of information use in judgment are discussed.     

Judgments of relationship satisfaction: Inter- and intraindividual comparisons as a function of questionnaire structure

Two experiments demonstrate that individuals use an interindividual comparison strategy to evaluate a specific life-domain if their attention is drawn to only one aspect of that domain, that has either positive or negative evaluative implications. If their attention is drawn to two aspects with opposite implications, however, an intraindividual strategy, based on the comparison of both aspects, is preferred. Whether one or two aspects bearing on a specific domain are salient is, among other conditions, a function of the number of aspects assessed in a questionnaire. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.     

Gender concept development of preschool-aged children in the United States and Egypt

Thirty-one American and 31 Egyptian children were given the Slaby-Frey Gender Concept Test to measure gender understanding of children from two cultures assumed to differ in level of androgyny. The subject's sex, age, parent's education, and siblings' sex and age were explored in relation to gender concept. A multivariate analysis of variance (Nationality × Sex of Subject) yielded a significant nationality effect. American children had a higher mean score on gender identity than Egyptian children. In addition, a Pearson product-moment correlation revealed significant positive relationships between the age of the subject and two gender constructs, identity and stability. Future research on specific cognitive, developmental, and cultural influences on the gender development of young children was proposed.     

Cognitive accessibility of sex role concepts and attitudes toward political participation: The impact of sexist advertisements

Women who were exposed to advertisements that portrayed women in their traditional role as homemakers reported less favorable attitudes toward political participation than women who were not exposed to advertisements. Exposure to portrayals of women as sex objects, on the other hand, did not affect women's attitudes. In contrast, men reported less favorable attitudes toward political participation after exposure to advertisements that portrayed women as sex objects, but were not affected by portrayals of women as homemakers. Implications for the influence of sex roles on political participation and the impact of sexist advertisements are discussed.     

Free sorting with stimuli clustered in a multidlmensional attribute space

An experiment was conducted to determine whether Ss leam, without knowledge of results or prior familiarization with the prototypes, to sort histoform stimuli generated by three probablistic rules into categories consistent with these mies. Seven Ss were asked to sort 30 stimuli (10 from each schema population) on each trial. No constraints were placed on the number of categories to be used. A statistic was developed to measure consistency between schema-defined categories and subjeet-defined categories. Four of the seven Ss met the leaming criterion, and demonstrated increasing consistency with the schema-defined categories across trials. In general, more categories than necessary were used to classify the stimuli correctly. The results raise several questions about classification strategies used by Ss in perceptual learning tasks with stimuli generated by probabilistic rules, and indicate the need for further research conceming the variables that influence perceptual category formation.     

Salivary output of the alcoholic: Effect of treatment with amitriptyline

In a group of alcoholic patients salivary output was measured before stimulation, during anticipation of tasting lemon juice, and after stimulation with lemon juice. These measures were obtained twice a day (a.m.-p.m.). Either amitriptyline or a placebo had been administered to each patient. The dental-roll technique for measuring salivary output was demonstrated to be reliable over time. In patients who had received the placebo salivary output in anticipation of the taste of lemon juice demonstrated an extinction phenomenon. Amitriptyline inhibited this anticipatory response. No relationship between the subjective symptom of dry mouth and salivary output was found. The results are interpreted as indicating that amitriptyline inhibits welldeveloped conditional anticipatory responses and that the symptom of dry mouth probably occurs predominantly during the hours immediately preceding mealtimes.