Category-Based and Feature-Based Cognitive Processes: The Role of Unfavorable Information1

Recent research on selection decisions suggests that favorable features (e.g., attractive physical features or positively-evaluated personality traits) can enhance ratings of applicant suitability, but little research has examined the impact of unfavorable features. Theories of person perception distinguish between two information processing strategies: category-based and feature-based. We predicted that unfavorable features would influence selection decisions only when raters used feature-based processing strategies. Results suggest that applicant features' prototypicality and favorability can compensate for one another, with applicants' negative features resulting in a disadvantage only when the applicant is perceived as nonprototypical.     

Aiding the parolee adjustment process: A systemic perspective on assessment

Addressing the mental health needs of inmates and parolees is a complex process. The authors have found a family systems approach useful in conceptualizing the complexities of the adjustment process faced by parolees. The inmate/parolee is embedded in a number of complex systems that present difficulties related to boundary maintenance, hierarchy struggles, and family-of-origin loyalties. The authors suggest crucial areas for assessment and some common dysfunctional systems dynamics that are encountered.     

Fallout from government-sponsored radiation research.

On December 28, 1993, Energy Secretary Hazel R. O'Leary publicly appealed to both the executive and legislative branches of the United States Government to consider compensation for individuals who were harmed by their exposure to ionizing radiation while enrolled in government-sponsored studies conducted between 1940 and the early 1970s. The call for compensation was issued three weeks after Secretary O'Leary disclosed that radiation experiments involving humans, sometimes without their consent, had occurred under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), a forerunner of the Department of Energy (DOE). Secretary O'Leary directed her department to investigate the nature and extent of the experiments, report on their medical and ethical acceptability, and locate the research subjects or their families.     

Invariants,specifiers, cues: An investigation of locus equations as information for place of articulation

This experiment explored the information for place of articulation provided bylocus equations— equations for a line relating the second formant (F2) of a vowel at midpoint toF2 of the formant at consonant-vowel (CV) syllable onset. Locus equations cue place indirectly by quantifying directly the degree of coarticulatory overlap (coarticulation resistance) between consonant and vowel. Coarticulation resistance is correlated with place, The experiment tested predictions that when coarticulation resistance varies due to properties of the consonant other than place of articulation (in particular due to manner of articulation), locus equations would not accurately reflect consonantal place of articulation. These predictions were confirmed. In addition, discriminant analyses, using locus equation variables as classifiers, were generally unsuccessful in classifying a set of consonants representing six different places of articulation. I conclude that locus equations are unlikely to provide useful place information to listeners.     

An evaluation of the long-term outcomes of small-group work for counsellor development

A questionnaire was designed which enquired into the long-term professional applications and outcomes of Rogerian small-group and Tavistock Group Dynamics training. The 92 respondents were graduates of either a Master's degree or a Diploma in Human Relations or Counselling Studies in a university course where a 'small-group' module was a compulsory element of the taught course. Respondents were drawn from graduates of these one-year full-time or two-year part-time courses over a 21-year period. All respondents were involved either directly in professional or voluntary counselling, in the application of counselling skills in their work, or in training in counselling and counselling skills at work. The respondents reported no loss of learning gains over time: ascribed the application of many specific counselling skills to the small-group training process; reported on the affective component of the learning process; and provided only minimal evidence of forms of psychological damage which could be directly ascribed to the experience. These outcomes have to be considered in the light of the relatively low response rate of 33% and the difficulties in monitoring the precise behaviour of the facilitators in the groups.     

Gender Differences in Pointing Accuracy in Computer-Simulated 3D Mazes

Gender differences in pointing accuracy incomputer-simulated mazes were studied as a function ofmaze complexity and training effects. College students(primarily White) were led through mazes with different numbers of turns; at the end of each maze, theywere asked to indicate the direction of the maze origin(starting point). Pointing accuracy declined with numberof turns, but men were consistently more accurate than women by about 20°,regardless of maze complexity. Training participants totrack the relative position of the maze origin whilemoving through the maze produced equivalent benefits inpointing accuracy for both women and men. Thus, althoughpointing accuracy of men remained higher than that ofwomen, the results suggest that pointing performance canbe modified by experience.     

Just Say No: Japanese and American Styles of Refusing Unwanted Sexual Advances1

To determine whether cultural and gender differences in directness of communication are reflected in styles of refusing unwanted sexual advances, we surveyed American college students and Japanese international college students about direct and indirect ways of saying “no” in dating relationships. While both American and Japanese students said they would rather use indirect refusal tactics than direct ones, Americans rated direct strategies as more likely to be effective than did Japanese participants. Further, American students interpreted direct strategies as clearer refusals than indirect strategies, whereas Japanese respondents did not make this distinction. Men and women responded similarly in both cultural groups, so the findings point primarily to possible cultural differences in the meaning of direct refusals of sexual advances.     

Internal Validity of the Disruptive Behavior Disorder Symptoms: Implications from Parent Ratings for a Dimensional Approach to Symptom Validity

A dimensional approach was used to evaluate the internal validity of the DSM-III-R ADHD-inattention, ADHD-hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms (i.e., whether a symptom has a stronger correlation with its own dimension than the other three). Parents rated 4,019 children between the ages of 2 and 19 on these symptoms. The results showed that 5 of the 6 inattention symptoms, 3 of the 4 hyperactivity symptoms, 1 of the 4 impulsivity symptoms, 6 of the 9 oppositional defiant disorder symptoms, and 8 of the 11 CD symptoms had significant internal validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) found support for inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant, and conduct disorder dimensions. Multiple-group CFA also found support for factor pattern and loading invariance across gender. The implications of these results as well as the merits of the dimensional approach to symptom validity are discussed in the context of the DSM-IV changes in ADHD, ODD, and CD.     

EFFECTS OF HIGH-PROBABILITY REQUESTS ON THE ACQUISITION AND GENERALIZATION OF RESPONSES TO REQUESTS IN YOUNG CHILDREN WITH BEHAVIOR DISORDERS

The failure to respond to requests in young children often is maintained by the reactions of the adults that encounter this behavior. This failure to respond to requests has been identified as a primary reason for the children's exclusion from community, social, and instructional opportunities. Numerous interventions that target the failure to respond have consisted of punishment and reinforcement procedures. More recently, antecedent interventions have focused on changing the context in which a request is delivered. In the current study, high-probability requests were provided as an antecedent to delivering a low-probability request. The requests were delivered by multiple trainers in an attempt to produce generalized appropriate responding to adults who did not use the high-probability sequence. Results showed an immediate increase in appropriate responding in 2 children when the intervention was delivered. In addition, when the intervention was implemented by more than one adult, spontaneous increases in responding also were observed toward adults who had never implemented the request sequence. Improvements in responding to requests were maintained after the intervention was discontinued.