Self-expectancies and reactions to evaluations of personal performance

A field study tested whether college students' reactions to evaluations of their performance on an important examination were based primarily on self-consistency or self-enhancement needs. All students (N= 166) completed two questionnaires, one a week before and the other a week after the examination. The first questionnaire measured general self-expectancies (self-esteem), as well as expectancies specific to the upcoming examination. The second questionnaire measured six separate phases of the students' reactions to their performance evaluations (cf. Shrauger, 1975), each phase being primarily cognitive or affective in nature. The results showed a strong general preference for positive rather than negative performance evaluations among the students, regardless of their self-expectancies. Self-enhancement effects emerged more clearly than did self-consistency effects, and most effects of both types tended to involve general rather than specific self-expectancies. Finally, there was some support for Shrauger's claim that cognitive reactions to performance evaluations are influenced by self-consistency needs, whereas affective reactions are influenced by self-enhancement needs.     

A high-risk method for studying psychosocial antecedents of chronic pain: the prospective investigation of herpes zoster.

Although patients with chronic pain are often psychologically distressed, it has been difficult to determine whether this distress is an antecedent of chronic pain or whether it is caused by the experience of living with chronic pain. The aim of this investigation was to develop a method that would allow individuals who are at risk for the development of chronic pain to be studied before their pain has become chronic. Patients with acute herpes zoster were assessed with demographic, medical, pain, and psychosocial measures. Pain was assessed in follow-up interviews at 6 weeks and 3, 5, 8, and 12 months after these initial assessments. There were no significant differences between patients who developed short-term herpes zoster pain and patients who did not develop short-term pain for any of the measures at the initial assessment, except for one measure of pain intensity. Patients who developed chronic herpes zoster pain, however, had significantly greater pain intensity, higher state and trait anxiety, greater depression, lower life satisfaction, and greater disease conviction at the initial assessment than patients who did not develop chronic pain. In discriminant analyses, disease conviction, pain intensity, and state anxiety each made a unique contribution to discriminating patients who did and who did not develop chronic pain. This study demonstrates the feasibility of investigating psychosocial antecedents of the development of chronic pain by prospectively examining the longitudinal course of herpes zoster.     

Acute angles and the poggendorff illusion

Burns and Pritchard's (1971) explanation of the Poggendorff illusion is criticized. An experiment was designed to determine whether the acute angle plays any role in the perception of the illusion. The results showed that (i) an inducing line which crossed a test-line was highly effective in altering the apparent orientation of the test line, (ii) an inducing line forming an acute angle with a test-line had a small effect in changing the apparent orientation of the test-line, and (iii) an acute angle which formed part of the Poggendorff configuration produced an effect opposite to that predicted by the view that acute angles are perceptually enlarged.     

Stereotype threat and group differences in test performance: a question of measurement invariance

Studies into the effects of stereotype threat (ST) on test performance have shed new light on race and sex differences in achievement and intelligence test scores. In this article, the authors relate ST theory to the psychometric concept of measurement invariance and show that ST effects may be viewed as a source of measurement bias. As such, ST effects are detectable by means of multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. This enables research into the generalizability of ST effects to real-life or high-stakes testing. The modeling approach is described in detail and applied to 3 experiments in which the amount of ST for minorities and women was manipulated. Results indicate that ST results in measurement bias of intelligence and mathematics tests.     

Accreditation,Credentialing, Professionalization: The Role of Specialties

This article provides an overview of standards development, accreditation, and credentialing with particular attention to specialties. There is much to celebrate with regard to progress and successes. On the other hand, even a cursory review of the history of counseling and its current status leaves questions begging for answers. A number of unresolved issues are considered, and the pros and cons of specialties in the professionalization of counseling are presented.     

Reactions to Feedback about Performance: A Test of Three Competing Models1

Reactions to an important college exam were used to test enhancement, consistency, and stability contingent theory. Before the exam, students completed a measure of level and stability of self-esteem. After the exam, cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to the feedback were taken. Enhancement theory predicts that persons low in self-esteem have a strong need to think and feel better about themselves. Thus, they should indicate more acceptance of success and more rejection of failure than persons high in self-esteem. Consistency theory asserts that people avoid inconsistency because it is psychologically uncomfortable. This model predicts that high self-esteem persons should accept success more than lows, who in turn should be more accepting of failure than highs. Finally, the stability contingent theory highlights the importance of stability of self-esteem as a moderator of self-motives. This model predicts that enhancement effects should occur for persons with unstable self-esteem, whereas consistency effects should occur for those with stable self-esteem. Our data provide no support for the stability contingent theory. Support for the other two models depended upon the type of feedback that was assessed: Cognitive reactions to feedback supported consistency theory, whereas affective reactions supported enhancement theory.     

Effects of left-hand preference on postinjury measures of distal motor ability

The relationship of preinjury left-hand dominance for motor performance to postinjury distal motor skills following penetrating brain wounds in patients without overt hemiplegia was examined. We studied 13 controls, 13 right-hemisphere brain-damaged patients, and 11 left-hemisphere brain-damaged patients on motor tasks measuring reaction time, strength, and coordination. Our results indicated that no persistent deficits were seen on distal motor tasks in left-handed adults who suffered a penetrating brain wound. These findings are compatible with the relative sparing of persistent neuropsychological deficits in left-handers following brain damage.     

The effect of presenting multiple images on prospective and retrospective person memory for missing children

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sometimes present multiple images of the same child on missing-child posters. In the present research, we examined the effect of including multiple pictures of missing children on posters in the context of both prospective and retrospective person memory. Improvements in both prospective person memory and retrospective person memory were obtained in the multiple-image condition. Additionally, in retrospective person memory, participants who were presented with multiple-image posters showed an increased tendency to indicate that a child was previously seen regardless of whether the child actually was previously seen. We discuss these findings as well as policy implications of these results.