The limits of anchoring

Anchoring and adjustment is a pervasive bias in which decision makers are influenced by random or uninformative numbers or starting points. As a means of understanding this effect, we explore two limits on anchoring. In Experiments 1 and 2, implausibly extreme anchors had a proportionally smaller effect than anchors close to the expected value of the lotteries evaluated. In Experiments 2 and 3, anchoring occurred only if the anchor and preference judgment were expressed on the same scale. Incompatible anchors and response modes resulted in no anchoring bias. A confirmatory search mechanism is proposed to account for these results.     

A note on stability in force applied to control a repetitive task with the legs

The forces applied to pedals during cycling were collected every 40 ms from approximately 29,000 movement repetitions. Intra-cycle mean values of force and its variability were significantly correlated, supporting Schmidt's impulse variability theory of within-movement activities of the legs. In addition, as mean forces approached peak values, coefficients of variation decreased. From averages taken minute by minute, intra-cycle forces were seen to rise or fall in concert, implying that the pattern as a whole constituted a significant neuro-muscular unit of control.     

Teachers' and mothers' academic achievement expectations for learning disabled children

The present study investigated teachers and mothers academic achievement expectations for learning disabled and normally achieving grade 3 children. Both groups had similar WISC-R mean Full Scale IQ scores, ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. It was found that teachers and mothers had significantly lower academic expectations for learning disabled children. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of positive affective development for learning disabled children and the need for more encouraging attitudes on the part of teachers and parents.     

Mothers' speech to their 1-year-old infants in home and laboratory settings

The speech of mothers and their 1-year-old infants was compared in the home and in the laboratory playroom. The home and laboratory settings were similar for measuring the number of actual words that infants spoke and were similar for measuring the complexity of the mother's speech, including the number of different words, the type-token ratio, and the length of the utterances. Infants vocalized at similar rates in the two settings, but mothers spoke at a faster rate in the laboratory playroom. The usefulness of a preliminary warm-up period was supported by the finding that for the second half of the sessions, mothers slowed their rate of speech and increased the complexity of their speech.     

Decision biases in intertemporal choice and choice under uncertainty: Testing a common account

Two experiments were performed to test a psychophysical account of parallels between biases in risky choice and intertemporal choice. Experiment 1 demonstrated the common difference effect in intertemporal choice and the common ratio effect in risky choice. As was predicted, these two biases were uncorrelated with each other, although each was correlated across monetary/health domains. This result is consistent with the supposition that these two biases result from psychophysical properties of two different dimensions (time and probability, respectively). Experiment 2 examined the magnitude effect in intertemporal choice and the peanuts effect in risky choice. These two biases were correlated with each other but were uncorrelated across monetary/health domains. This result is consistent with the supposition that these two biases result from psychophysical properties of the same dimension (utility of money or health).     

Borderline Personality Disorder and Deliberate Self‐Harm: Does Experiential Avoidance Play a Role?

The theory that borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with experiential avoidance, and that experiential avoidance mediates the association between BPD and deliberate, nonsuicidal self-harm was examined. Female inmate participants (N = 105) were given structured diagnostic assessments of BPD, as well as several measures of experiential avoidance. There was a high lifetime prevalence of past self-harm (47.6%). Higher dimensional scores representing BPD severity were associated with higher self-harm frequency and greater experiential avoidance. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that experiential avoidance did not mediate the association between BPD and self-harm, although thought suppression was associated with self-harm frequency.