Reference frames in mental rotation

Four experiments are reported that investigate whether images or reference frames are transformed during a mental rotation task. In all experiments a display of four identical letters (P1) was presented at either +90 degrees or -90 degrees from upright, and subjects had to decide whether the letters were normal or mirror-image reflections. A single letter (P2) was then presented 100 ms later in a variable orientation with the same task instructions. Reaction times to P2 were assessed to determine whether an image of P2 was rotated to upright or whether an internal reference frame was rotated into congruence with P2 from the orientation of P1. The results as a whole suggest that transformations of P2 can be initiated either relative to upright or relative to the orientation of P1. They further indicate that the probability of using each reference orientation can be changed by procedural variations. The findings are most parsimoniously interpreted as suggesting that mental rotation involves the transformation of reference frames rather than the transformation of template-like representations.     

Detection of conscious deception using the Child Abuse Potential Inventory lie scale

Two studies were conducted to provide data on the construct validity of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory lie scale. In Study One, 187 male and female undergraduate students were administered either the Child Abuse Potential Inventory, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, or the Unlikely Virtues Scale. Three instructional sets were provided: respond honestly, distort responses in a positive manner, and distort responses in a negative manner. Each scale successfully discriminated between subjects in the honest and faking good conditions. Only the Marlowe-Crowne scale discriminated subjects in the faking bad condition through their low scores. No gender differences were observed as a function of instructional set or test employed. In Study Two, 31 male and female parents were given the CAP-Inventory under the same instructional sets provided in Study One. The findings for the parent group, the population the CAP-Inventory was designed to be employed with, replicated the results found in Study One.     

A factor analysis of the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory using an alcoholic population

The present study reports a factor analysis of the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory using 103 alcoholic men. Kirton in 1976 and we in an unpublished work in 1986 noted identical factor structures when responses from nonalcoholic populations to the inventory were factor analyzed. Recent reviews regarding personality characteristics of alcoholics suggest characteristics similar to the adaption-innovation concepts of Kirton. This factor analysis for an alcoholic sample supports the validity of the inventory as a measure of problem-solving style of alcoholics.     

Some effects of sex-linked clothing and gender schema on the stereotyping of infants

Two predictions were evaluated: first, that given minimal information about an infant, individuals would use sex-related cues (i.e., clothing) to categorize, evaluate, and make attributions about the infant, and second, that gender schematic individuals would be more likely than gender aschematic individuals to use such sex-related cues. On the basis of the Bem Sex Role Inventory, American college students were classified as either gender schematic (masculine or feminine) or gender aschematic (undifferentiated or androgynous). The students categorized, evaluated, and made trait attributions about an infant dressed in male, female, or ambiguous clothing. Both gender schematic and gender aschematic individuals relied on sex-related cues in their perceptions of the infant.     

The role of primary prevention in mental health services: A review and critique

Community psychology in the West has had a growing impact on mental health service provision. One facet of this development has been the advocacy of an increased focus on the primary prevention of mental illness. This paper reviews both theoretical and practical work in this area in order to assess the current role and relevance of primary preventive interventions. There is a discussion of primary prevention's historical and theoretical contexts, of its conceptualisations and definitions, of criticisms of its relevance and efficacy, and of examples of its practice. It is argued that primary prevention is inappropriately marginalised in current service provision and that there is a need to engage in the long-term planning and evaluation of primary preventive interventions in order to facilitate their fuller incorporation into national and local policies on mental health.     

Concurrent-schedule performance in dairy cows: persistent undermatching.

Performance of dairy cows responding under concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules of food delivery was examined, with results analyzed in terms of the generalized matching equation. In Experiment 1, bias measures indicated that crushed barley was preferred over meatmeal when these foods were available under the alternative schedules. For whole-session data, substantial undermatching of response and time-allocation ratios to obtained reinforcement ratios was evident. Postreinforcement pause time ratios approximately matched obtained reinforcement rates. Subtracting these times from total time-allocation values yielded net time-allocation ratios that undermatched obtained reinforcement ratios to a greater degree than did whole-session time-allocation ratios. In Experiment 2, substantial undermatching was evident when the same foods (hay for 2 cows, crushed barley for 2 others) were available under the alternative schedules. Food-related activities and other defined behavior not related to food were quantified by direct observation, and were found to occupy a substantial proportion (roughly 40% to 80%) of experimental sessions. Subtracting the time spent in these activities from the time allocated to each component schedule did not reduce the degree of undermatching obtained. Across all conditions in both experiments, slopes of regression lines relating behavioral outputs to environmental inputs characteristically were below 0.6, which agrees with prior findings and suggests that, contrary to suggestions in the literature, undermatching in dairy cows is not the result of using different foods under alternative schedules or differential pausing under those schedules.     

Beyond Fairness: The Criterion Problem in Research on Dispute Intervention1

Recent research has demonstrated that parties to a dispute attend to, and make evaluations of, the procedures that are used to resolve disputes. A central focus of this research has been on procedural and distributive fairness. Two studies were conducted in an attempt to identify criteria used by parties to organizational disputes to choose and evaluate dispute resolution procedures. Sixteen criteria were identified, including fairness. In a third study, these criteria were also found to be relevant to police officers involved in crisis intervention. Discussion focuses on the implication of these findings for theories of dispute resolution, for general issues in the psychology of fairness, and for practical concerns.