The influence of information redundancy upon the use of traits and persons as organizing categories

The following question is addressed: How do multiple, simultaneously present cognitive structures influence the representation and recall of social information? In an empirical study examining both free and cued recall, we found the variable information redundancy to influence both the organization and accuracy of subjects' recollections of trait-related behaviors. Redundancy was defined in terms of the degree of person/trait overlap in a social information ensemble. Some evidence indicated that this effect is attributable to an increase in the discriminability of the organizational structures during encoding. The implications of these findings for understanding the formation of integrated cognitive representations of individuals and the spontaneous use of traits in social information processing are discussed.     

The effects of recency and story content on children's moral judgments

Sixteen stories were read to children at ages 4, 7, and 11 years and to college freshmen (n = 24 per age level) to investigate the effects of recency and specific story content on the development of moral reasoning. The stories consisted of either positive or negative intention and either positive or negative consequence in one of four situations: rule breaking, property damage, property damage with peer interaction, or injury to a person. At each age level, half of the subjects heard the stories with the intention first and the consequence second, and half heard them in the reverse order. Analyses confirmed that in general younger children judged on consequence, whereas older children utilized intention, and that on stories containing intentional injury to a person, the younger child took intention into account. Recency effects were evidenced for both the 4- and 7-year-olds. In the 4-year-old group, however, the recency effects failed to override the salience of negative consequence in contexts of positive intention and negative consequence. This suggests that preschool children may respond primarily to the negative aspect of the story, whether intention or consequence.     

Causal attribution and dispositional inference: Evidence of inconsistent judgments

Two experiments examined whether individuals who ascribe the disparity in the performances of two actors to situational constraints adequately adjust their dispositional inferences to reflect their own perceptions of causality. Using the quiz-game format of L. D. Ross, T. M. Amabile, and J. L. Steinmetz (1977, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 485–494), the effects of the subjects' awareness of the role-determined, self-presentation advantage of the questioner on their dispositional inferences concerning the quiz-game participants are noted. It is hypothesized that subjects who indicated full awareness of the determining force of the situation would nevertheless draw more favorable dispositional inferences about the questioner than about the contestant. The prediction is confirmed. Although the situationally aware subjects rate the questioner and contestant more similarly than do the other subjects, they still rate the questioner higher in knowledge, memory, and education. The results of Experiment 2 indicate that increasing the salience of the subjects' assessment of the situational advantage of the questioner does not eliminate the disparity. It is proposed that the fudamental attribution error represents more a failure to adjust trait inferences for causal attributions than a misperception of causality. Implications concerning the relationship between knowledge of causality and social judgment and the utility of the distinction between “perceived causality” and “higher order causal inferences” are discussed.     

Selecting people randomly

This article considers what justification can be found for selecting randomly and in what circumstances it applies, including that of selecting patients to be treated by a scarce medical procedure. The author demonstrates that balancing the merits of fairness, common good, equal rights, and equal chance as they apply in various situations frequently leads to the conclusion that random selection may not be the most appropriate mode of selection. Broome acknowledges that, in the end, we may be forced to conclude that the only merit of random selection is the political one of guarding against partiality and oppression.     

Variables related to reported learning in brief experiential groups held at professional meetings

Reports of learning from 119 participants of 18 general psychodynamic groups from the 1981 and 1982 annual meetings of the Canadian Group Psychotherapy Association were investigated. Two main learning factors emerged from a factor analysis of participant ratings, learning about oneself in a small group (factor one) and learning how to be an effective leader with professional skills (factor two). Participants reported moderate to considerable learning for both factors even though the stated task of the groups did not emphasize the learning of professional skills. Relationships between several classes of variables (group, leader, demographic) and reported learning were studied. Results that were consistent with several previous investigations were found. The discovery of a participant, sex-difference finding, i.e., greater reported learning by the women, generated a number of questions that may be addressed in future investigations.This article was derived from a paper presented at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Canadian Group Psychotherapy Association, October 27, 1983, Banff, Canada.     

刺激-效应的统一模型

本文通过对某些神经生理学实验结果的分析,从人体感受器官能够经受信号强度的巨大变化出发,建立了反映刺激τ和效应E一般关系的效应方程E=Blog(1+τ)。式中系数B为与效应E同量纲或性质的条件恒量。 值得注意的是,效应方程把心理学领域中许多不相关的经验定律用统一的模型联系起来。例如,从效应方程出发,能够推出实验心理学中的遗忘定律、海曼公式,心理物理学中的费希纳定律、韦伯定律、费瑞—帕特定律和格拉涅-哈帕公式等。 此外,对遗忘定律进行了修正,使其能适用于0≤t<1的时间范围,从而变得较全面。对费希纳定律也作了类似的修正,避免了出现负的感觉,并从不同角度阐述了效应E与感觉S的某些性质。对格拉涅-哈帕公式则作了较前更为合理的解释。 在推导关于闪光融合频率的费瑞-帕特定律时,得出一条影响中枢神经处理信息的速度和精度的规律。 作为这一模型的直接验证,可以从前人所作的一些实验数据分析中得出。本文举的例子为鲎鱼单根神经的实验;在另文里将举出反应时间依赖于刺激强度的另一个实例。     

Scaling of output regularities in free recall: A review

Problems involved in scaling the output regularities observed in free recall are outlined, and assumptions underlying attempted solutions for both categorized and “unrelated” lists are discussed. Several studies that make claims for the superiority of particular measures have indeed demonstrated that it matters which index is selected, but they are shown to provide no justification for preferring one to another. Evidence from simulation studies, however, suggests that a number of measures have “built-in” correlations with theoretically relevant variables such as recall. Some of these biases have proved elusive because their appearance is confined to nonrandom output sequences. The relation between theoretical assumptions and simulation studies is discussed.