Visual attention: Race models for selection from multielement displays

Summary A choice model for partial report from briefly exposed visual displays (Bundesen, Shibuya, & Larsen, 1985) is further investigated and related to a general class of selection models called independent race models. The choice model relates performance to the numbers of targets and distractors in the stimulus display by way of the choice axiom. In race models, the selection process is viewed as a race between items in the choice set toward a state of having been processed in that the first items reaching this state are the ones selected. If items are processed independently and processing times are exponentially distributed, selection occurs strictly in accordance with the choice axiom, so the race model is a choice model. The choice model also seems to work as a good approximation for independent race models based on other gamma distributions than the exponential one.     

Depression and pessimism for the future: biased use of statistically relevant information in predictions for self versus others

The cognitive theories of depression emphasize the role of pessimism about the future in the etiology and maintenance of depression. The present research was designed for two reasons: to provide a clear demonstration that depressed individuals' predictions of the likelihood of future outcomes are more pessimistic than those of nondepressed individuals given identical information with which to make forecasts and identical conditions for forecasting, and to test two additional hypotheses regarding possible mechanisms underlying depressives' relative pessimism in forecasting: a social-comparison and a differential attributional-style hypothesis. We used a modification of the cue-use paradigm developed by Ajzen (1977, Experiment 1) and examined depressed and nondepressed people's predictions of the likelihood of future positive and negative outcomes for themselves and for others. The results provided strong support for pessimism on the part of depressed individuals relative to nondepressed individuals in forecasts for both self and others. In addition, whereas nondepressives exhibited a self-enhancing bias in which they overestimated their probability of success and underestimated their probability of failure relative to that of similar others, depressives did not succumb to either positive or negative social comparison biases in prediction. Finally, in line with the attributional-style hypothesis, depressed-nondepressed differences in subjects' cue-use patterns were obtained, especially in forecasts for self. The findings are discussed with respect to the mechanisms underlying predictive optimism and pessimism and the possible functions and implications of these predictive biases.     

PREDICTING GENDER-ROLE ATTITUDES IN ADOLESCENT FEMALES

The contribution of ability, agency, and parental factors to the prediction of gender-role attitudes was investigated in a sample of 409 adolescent females enrolled in a private, college-preparatory high school. Results indicated that ability and agency were predictive of gender-role attitudes, whereas parental factors were not significant contributors. Recommendations for further research examining the etiology of gender-role attitudes are provided given the critical connection between gender-role attitudes and success in occupational and interpersonal areas for young women.     

Innovative Community Services for Rape Victims: An Application of Multiple Case Study Methodology

A qualitative multiple case study design was used to examine communities across the United States that have developed coordinated community-based programs to assist rape victims. Previous studies have suggested that coordinated community programs help victims obtain needed resources and services. This study provided a follow-up examination of how and why these programs are helpful to rape victims. In-depth interviews were conducted with rape victim advocates, rape crisis center directors, police officers, prosecutors, doctors, nurses, and rape survivors from 22 communities with coordinated programs. A comparison sample of 22 communities with fewer coordinated programs was also obtained. Results indicated that the high coordination communities had three types of programs to address sexual assault: coordinated service programs, interagency training programs, and community-level reform groups. Although not all of these programs directly address service delivery for rape victims, they help create a community culture that is more responsive to victims' needs. The research team and participants developed an explanatory model of why these program are effective in addressing rape victims' needs. This model hypothesizes that coordinated programs reflect an understanding of the multiple contexts of service delivery and embody that knowledge in services that are consistent with victims' needs. Narrative data from the interviews with service providers and rape survivors are used to develop and support this model.     

Parallel processing in a multifeature whole-report paradigm

Observers given brief exposures of pairs of colored bars and asked to report both the color and the orientation of each bar showed evidence of stochastic independence between reports of the 4 features (2 colors and 2 orientations). The authors also found virtually perfect stochastic independence between reports of colors and directions of motion of pairwise presented circular disks at each of 3 levels of exposure duration that varied unpredictably from trial to trial. Stimulus triples, rather than pairs, yielded more complex results. However, the findings provide strong evidence that the relevant features of the 2-3 stimuli were identified and localized in parallel across the display.     

Dimensions in appreciation of car interior design

We report two studies in which the interplay between stimulus properties and perceiver characteristics in the appreciation car interiors was investigated. In Experiment 1 three design components, complexity, curvature and innovativeness, which are all thought to affect design appreciation were combined in a fully factorial design. All dimensions were confirmed to affect ratings, and curvature and innovativeness particularly affected the attractiveness ratings. Curved and non‐innovative designs were generally preferred. Moreover, participants who were particularly interested in art were more sensitive to curvature and innovativeness. In Experiment 2 two dimensions of Experiment 1 were replicated using similar stimuli. Moreover, the specific effects of a design knowledge treatment were investigated. Results replicated the preference for curved and non‐innovative (rather classic) designs. The treatment had only small effects, which support a general rather than dimension‐specific effects of cognitive pre‐information. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring voting power for dependent voters through causal models

We construct a new measure of voting power that yields reasonable measurements even if the individual votes are not cast independently. Our measure hinges on probabilities of counterfactuals, such as the probability that the outcome of a collective decision would have been yes, had a voter voted yes rather than no as she did in the real world. The probabilities of such counterfactuals are calculated on the basis of causal information, following the approach by Balke and Pearl. Opinion leaders whose votes have causal influence on other voters’ votes can have significantly more voting power under our measure. But the new measure of voting power is also sensitive to the voting rule. We show that our measure can be regarded as an average treatment effect, we provide examples in which it yields intuitively plausible results and we prove that it reduces to Banzhaf voting power in the limiting case of independent and equiprobable votes.