Polarization as a function of meaning and consequences

Studied the effect of meaning and consequences on shifts toward extreme judgments (polarization) as a result of group discussion. Since it was hypothesized that high levels of both meaning and consequences would activate pressures to conform to the appropriate cultural norm, greater polarization was predicted under those conditions. Consequences were varied by asking subjects how willing they were to participate in another actual (high consequences) or hypothetical (low consequences) experiment. Meaning was varied by information that the proposed experiment would have high or low social and scientific significance. Sixty male college students discussed their preferences in three-person groups. Prediscussion, consensus, and postdiscussion scores were obtained; the critical polarization scores were computed on the basis of individual's movement away from the prediscussion mean of their group. Partial support for the hypotheses is provided by a cross-over interaction (p < .05) in changes from the prediscussion to consensus scores, which indicate greater polarization in the high-meaning, low-consequence condition, and in the low-meaning, high-consequence condition. The results are discussed with respect to their implications for research in which subjects do not expect real consequences to follow from their statements of opinion.     

Effects of group variance and advocated position on conformity1

A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design was used to test the influence of amount of group variance, direction of advocated shift, and judgmental instruction sets on conforming responses The hypothesis predicted an interaction where conformity was maximized, with less variance under empirical validation instructions and with more variance under social validation instructions Subjects were preselected for neutral opinions on three items, which were subsequently used as experimental items Social influence was induced by making the responses of four other subjects available on each trial These responses were dispersed with either greater or lesser amounts of variance and either agreed or disagreed with the statement Instructions indicating that expert evaluation was available provided empirical validation instructions, while alternate instructions indicating lack of standardized norms provided social validation instructions Subjects changed opinions significantly more when the group advocated agreement than when it advocated disagreement on the issue The major hypothesis was partially supported by the data Responses on a postexperimental item indicated preferences for less variance under empirical instructions sets but preference for greater variance under social instructions sets The conformity results suggested that the predicted interaction may occur only if the situational context is favorable, as when the group advocates agreement on an issue     

Are children any more logical than monkeys on the five-term series problem?

Six-year-old children were tested on several versions of the five-term transitivity problem as used by B. O. McGonigle and M. Chalmers (1977, Nature (London), 267, 694–696) with squirrel monkeys as subjects. Both binary and triadic versions of the tests were administered in both verbal and nonverbal modes to help determine whether or not any major procedural differences between the monkey version and that used conventionally in research with children might account for the monkey's apparently nonlogical solution of the problem. The main result is that children showed very similar response profiles to that of monkeys in all the conditions used. In addition, “labeling”, direct seriation, and “association” post-tests suggest that nonlogical strategies can underwrite ostensibly impeccable transitive “reasoning” in child as well as monkey.     

Some Psychological and Social Attitude Correlates of Northern Ireland University Students' Contact with the Civil Disturbances

Northern Ireland university students' contact with the Northern Ireland civil disturbances was examined with regard to five dimensions: Friends' Contact; Bomb Contact; Confrontation or Riot Contact; Harassment; and Property Damage. Confrontation and Bomb contact dimensions were further investigated in terms of their personality, social attitude, and alcohol use correlates. Since analyses of variance did not differentiate Protestants and Roman Catholics in terms of intelligence, socioeconomic status, age, location of residence (rural-urban), or religious homogeneity of peer group with regard to these two contact dimensions, these two groups were combined in stepwise discriminant analyses. The discriminant analyses suggested that, for both genders, contact with the "troubles" may be conceptualized in terms of a positive feedback loop involving social dissatisfaction and helplessness combining with previous contacts to produce future contacts. Further, having been in a bombing appeared to subdue males, but to produce pro-social aggression in females. The sample consisted of 65 males and 133 females.     

Tachistoscopic applications of Micro Experimental Laboratory (MEL) used with IBM PC compatibles: Stimulus and response timing issues

IBM PCs and compatibles are increasingly used in psychological research for tachistoscopic tasks, which require precise control of timing of stimulus durations and accurate measurement of response latencies. The application of MEL in such research is discussed; several precautions which influence stimulus timing are noted, and some data on measurement error with keypress responses are presented.     

Employees High in Personal Intelligence Differ From Their Colleagues in Workplace Perceptions and Behavior

Personal intelligence (PI) involves the ability to recognize, reason, and use information about personality to understand oneself and other people. Employees in two studies (Ns = 394, 482) completed the Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI; e.g., Mayer, Panter, & Caruso, 2017a) and assessments of workplace perception and behavior. Higher PI was associated with higher perceived workplace support and lower counterproductive work behavior. These relationships continued to hold after controlling for other key variables. The results indicate the TOPI, although still in research trials, shows promise as a screening device for selecting employees and targeting individuals for training.     

Factors affecting self-referral to counselling services in the workplace: a qualitative study

The benefits of psychological support in the workplace (also known as workplace counselling) are well documented. Most large organisations in the UK have staff counselling schemes. However, it is unclear what, if any, factors affect employee decisions to use such schemes. This study has used a qualitative methodology to explore the reasons that make employees use workplace counselling. Eleven employees of a university in the north of England who had used the staff counselling service of their employer took part in the study. The employer had two schemes available: an internal staff counselling service and an external Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). A semi-structured interview was used with each participant and grounded theory techniques were used to analyse the interviews. The analysis resulted in the construction of a model of psychological help-seeking in the workplace. The main findings indicate that most participants were motivated to use their employer's counselling service by their prior positive experiences of similar or other type of mental health services. Other encouraging factors were: recommendation of service by others, a supportive environment and trust in the confidential ethos of the service. Conversely, negative preconceptions of psychological help-seeking and a perception of the employing environment as unsafe were shown to have been discouraging factors. The study concludes with suggestions for practice and for further research.     

Lexical learning in bilingual adults: the relative importance of short-term memory for serial order and phonological knowledge

Studies of monolingual speakers have shown a strong association between lexical learning and short-term memory (STM) capacity, especially STM for serial order information. At the same time, studies of bilingual speakers suggest that phonological knowledge is the main factor that drives lexical learning. This study tested these two hypotheses simultaneously in participants with variable levels of English-French bilingual proficiency. A word-nonword paired-associate learning task was administered, with nonwords obeying French phonotactic patterns. French phonological knowledge was estimated by a composite French proficiency score summarizing productive and receptive French vocabulary knowledge as well as quantitative and qualitative measures of French exposure. STM measures maximized retention of order information (serial order reconstruction) or retention of phonological item information (single nonword delayed repetition). The French proficiency score and the serial order STM measure independently predicted performance on the paired-associate learning task. These results highlight the conjoined role of phonological knowledge and serial order STM in lexical learning. Importantly, serial order STM remains a strong predictor of lexical learning, even for bilingual individuals who have broad phonological knowledge.     

Narcissistic Subtypes and Contingent Self‐Esteem: Do All Narcissists Base Their Self‐Esteem on the Same Domains?

ABSTRACT It has been suggested that there are two forms of narcissism: a grandiose subtype and a vulnerable subtype. Although these forms of narcissism share certain similarities, it is believed that these subtypes may differ in the domains upon which their self-esteem is based. To explore this possibility, the present study examined the associations between these narcissistic subtypes and domain-specific contingencies of self-worth. The results show that vulnerable narcissism was positively associated with contingencies of self-worth across a variety of domains. In contrast, the associations between grandiose narcissism and domain-specific contingencies of self-worth were more complex and included both positive and negative relationships. These results provide additional support for the distinction between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism by showing that the domains of contingent self-esteem associated with grandiose narcissism may be more limited in scope than those associated with vulnerable narcissism.