Criteria‐based content analysis of true and suggested accounts of events

Worldwide, the criteria‐based content analysis (CBCA) is probably the most widely used veracity assessment technique for discriminating between accounts of true and fabricated events. In this study, two experiments examined the effectiveness of the CBCA for discriminating between accounts of true events and suggested events believed to be true. In Experiment 1, CBCA‐trained judges evaluated participants' accounts of true and suggestively planted childhood events. In Experiment 2, judges analysed accounts of recent events that were experimentally manipulated to be a (a) true experience, (b) false experience believed to be true and (c) deliberately fabricated experience. In both experiments CBCA scores were significantly higher for accounts of true events than suggested events. However, this difference was not significant for participants classified as experiencing ‘full’ memories for the suggested event. Self‐report memory measures supported the findings of the CBCA analyses. Taken together these results suggest that the CBCA discriminative power is greatly constrained. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of wording on the understanding and use of uncertainty information in a threshold forecasting decision

Many believe that information about small chances of severe weather would be useful to the general public for precautionary action. What is the best way to explain this kind of information to a non‐expert audience? The studies reported here investigated effects of framing (negative vs. positive), format (frequency vs. probability), likelihood (low vs. high) and compatibility (task‐match) on interpretation of verbal expressions of forecast uncertainty and on subsequent forecasting decisions. The crucial factor was the match between the verbal expression and the overall task goal. Errors increased when there was a mismatch between the expression (e.g. winds less than 20 knots) and the task (e.g. post an advisory when winds will exceed 20 knots). However, framing and format had little impact. We conclude that consideration of user expectations arising from the overall task goal is crucial in explaining uncertainty information to a naïve audience. Global expectations overpower other potential effects. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What coping tells about personality

In this study, 123 participants (non‐psychology students) who responded to an interpersonal stress situation staged in the laboratory were judged by unacquainted observers in terms of the Big Five dimensions, intelligence and social attractiveness. Coping behaviour appeared to predict personality impressions in a way that mirrors the relations between personality and coping observed in previous research: Overall, higher levels of Extraversion (E), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C) and Openness to experience (O) (as well as intelligence and social attractiveness) were predicted by problem‐focussed behaviour and cognitive restructuring, whereas higher levels of Neuroticism (N) were predicted by withdrawal/passivity. The interpersonal impact of the particular coping reactions, as indicated by a positive personality impression, were largely inconsistent with their impact on affect following the stress induction. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Better safe than sorry: Precautionary reasoning and implied dominance in risky decisions

In four studies, student and nonstudent participants evaluated the possible outcomes of binary decisions involving health, safety, and environmental risks (e.g., whether to issue a dam‐failure evacuation order). Many participants indicated that false positives (e.g., evacuation, but no dam failure) were better than true negatives (e.g., no evacuation and no dam failure), thereby implying that the more protective action dominated the less protective action. A common rationale for this response pattern was the precautionary maxim “better safe than sorry.” Participants apparently evaluated outcomes partly on the basis of the decisions that might lead to them, in conflict with consequentialist decision models. Consistent with this explanation, the prevalence of implied dominance decreased substantially when the emphasis on decisions was reduced. These results demonstrate that an initial preference for a decision alternative can alter the evaluation of possible consequences of both the preferred alternative and a competing alternative, suggesting positive feedback loops that reinforce the initial preference. The rationality of considering the decision itself as an attribute of possible outcomes is discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The listener's temperament and perceived tempo and loudness of music

The relationship between the listener's temperament and perceived magnitude of tempo and loudness of music was studied using the techniques of magnitude production, magnitude estimation scaling and cross‐modal matching. Four piano pieces were presented at several levels of tempo and loudness. In Study 1, participants adjusted tempo and loudness of music to their subjective level of comfort. In Study 2, participants estimated these parameters on a numerical scale and matched the length of a line segment to the estimates of these musical features. The results showed significant correlations of selected aspects of perceived tempo with perseveration and endurance as well as of selected aspects of perceived loudness with endurance and emotional reactivity. Perceived tempo and loudness, as measured by magnitude production and cross‐modal matching tasks, do not seem to systematically correlate with the six formal characteristics of behaviour distinguished in the most recent version of the Regulative Theory of Temperament (RTT). Additionally, there is some evidence that they are selectively associated with reactivity and activity, the dimensions of a previous version of the RTT. The study extends the methodology of research on music preferences and the stimulatory value of music. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Family Functioning and Self-Differentiation: A Cross-Cultural Examination

This study examined the degree to which self-differentiation as related to family functioning is valued differently by Korean and European-American university students. The main findings confirm that the level of family functioning reported by European Americans is greater than for their Korean counterpart; family functioning is associated with differentiation measures (total score, emotional reactivity, and emotional cutoff) to a different extent across the two groups; and controlling for the effect of family functioning, the added contribution of a country variable explained further variance in self-differentiation. The importance of addressing the issue of similarities and differences between cultures in the assessment and treatment of individuals with problems related to their families of origin is discussed.     

Evaluating a dual‐process model of risk: affect and cognition as determinants of risky choice

In three studies we addressed the impact of perceived risk and negative affect on risky choice. In Study 1, we tested a model that included both perceived risk and negative affect as predictors of risky choice. Study 2 and Study 3 replicated these findings and examined the impact of affective versus cognitive processing modes. In all the three studies, both perceived risk and negative affect were shown to be significant predictors of risky choice. Furthermore, Study 2 and Study 3 showed that an affective processing mode strengthened the relation between negative affect and risky choice and that a cognitive processing mode strengthened the relation between perceived risk and risky choice. Together, these findings show support for the idea of a dual‐process model of risky choice. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

信息呈现方式与学习者的个性特征对多媒体环境下学习效果的影响

采用两个实验:实验一以陈述性知识为学习内容,实验二以程序性知识为学习内容,在这两种情况下,分别用组间设计探讨信息呈现方式对不同认知风格和空间能力的学习者在多媒体环境下学习效果的影响。结果表明:(1)认知风格对陈述性知识在多媒体环境下的学习效果产生影响,而选择的多媒体信息呈现方式和被试的空间能力则对其不产生影响;(2)对于程序性知识的保持,多媒体信息呈现方式和被试认知风格都会对学习效果产生影响,被试空间能力则不会产生影响,而且被试不同的认知风格在不同的多媒体信息呈现方式上会产生不同的影响;(3)对程序性知识的迁移,多媒体信息呈现方式、被试认知风格和空间能力都会对多媒体环境下的学习效果产生影响,而且被试不同的认知风格和空间能力在不同的多媒体信息呈现方式上都会产生不同的影响。