Effects of instruction presentation mode in comparative judgments

In each of two experiments, the comparative instructions in a symbolic comparison task were either varied randomly from trial to trial (mixed blocks) or left constant (pure blocks) within blocks of trials. In the first experiment, every stimulus was compared with every other stimulus. The symbolic distance effect (DE) was enhanced, and the semantic congruity effect (SCE) was significantly larger, when the instructions were randomized than when they were blocked. In a second experiment, each stimulus was paired with only one other stimulus. The SCE was again larger when instructions were randomized than when they were blocked. The enhanced SCE and DE with randomized instructions follow naturally from evidence accrual views of comparative judgments.     

APPLICANT REACTIONS TO PRE-EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION BLANKS: A LEGAL AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVE

The current research investigated applicant reactions derived from common application blanks. Previous work has found applications to be riddled with legally inadvisable items, but limited research has attempted to understand how such items might affect applicants. By using organizational justice theory as a framework, two studies examined applicant reactions from two application blanks: a legally advisable application and a legally problematic application. It was found that applicants completing the legally problematic application had lower perceptions of justice and expressed higher litigation intentions compared to those completing the legally advisable application, especially for those that were rejected without an explanation.

For God (or) country: the hydraulic relation between government instability and belief in religious sources of control

It has been recently proposed that people can flexibly rely on sources of control that are both internal and external to the self to satisfy the need to believe that their world is under control (i.e., that events do not unfold randomly or haphazardly). Consistent with this, past research demonstrates that, when personal control is threatened, people defend external systems of control, such as God and government. This theoretical perspective also suggests that belief in God and support for governmental systems, although seemingly disparate, will exhibit a hydraulic relationship with one another. Using both experimental and longitudinal designs in Eastern and Western cultures, the authors demonstrate that experimental manipulations or naturally occurring events (e.g., electoral instability) that lower faith in one of these external systems (e.g., the government) lead to subsequent increases in faith in the other (e.g., God). In addition, mediation and moderation analyses suggest that specific concerns with order and structure underlie these hydraulic effects. Implications for the psychological, sociocultural, and sociopolitical underpinnings of religious faith, as well as system justification theory, are discussed.     

Response bias,recollection, and familiarity in individuals with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM)

ABSTRACT

The current study focused on individuals with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) and had two main objectives: 1) investigate whether HSAMs have increased recollection performance compared to controls, and 2) investigate whether HSAMs have a reliably different response bias than controls. While previous lab-based recognition tests have shown that HSAMs have normal memory performance, these tests were based on a mixture of both recollection and familiarity. Here, we employed recognition tests specifically designed to separate recollected responses from those based on familiarity. Additionally, we were interested in how HSAMs make their memory decisions. Several studies have shown a great deal of variability between individuals in their response bias. Here, individuals with HSAM and age- matched controls completed a remember/know and a source memory test. HSAMs behaved like controls in both overall and recollection-based memory discrimination. However, HSAMs showed a significantly more liberal response bias, endorsing more items as “old” than controls. These findings contribute to our understanding of how memory processes – especially those related to decision-making – function in those with superior memory abilities and may help elucidate how other (non-HSAM) memory experts make decisions.     

A Tale of Two Traditions in Applied Sport Psychology: The Heyday of Soviet Sport and Wake-Up Calls for North America

This paper is the second of two essays designed to acquaint English-speaking readers with the work of Avksenty Tcezarevich Puni (1898–1986), one of the fathers of Russian sport psychology. In our previous essay “The Russian origins of sport psychology: a translation of an early work of A. Tc. Puni” (Ryba, Stambulova, & Wrisberg, 2005 Ryba, T. V., Stambulova, N. B. and Wrisberg, C. A. 2005. The Russian origins of sport psychology: A translation of an early work of A. Tc. Puni. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 17: 157–169. [CSA][Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), we discussed Puni's innovative ideas of psychological preparation of athletes based on his classic paper “Psychological preparation of athletes for a competition” that was published in 1963. In that essay, we grounded Puni's pioneering work within the specific socio-political and historical context of his era by providing a brief overview of his life (including extensive explanatory footnotes) in pre- and post-Socialist Revolution Russia. In this paper, we attempt to further historicize the work of Puni on the psychological preparation of athletes by discussing his ground-breaking model of Psychological Preparation for a Competition (PPC) and contrasting that work with the activity of sport psychology consultants taking place in North America during the same time period (i.e., 1960s and 1970s). In a concluding section, we will discuss some of the lessons sport psychology consultants have learned in the decades since Puni developed his model and suggest some ways future models might expand on Puni's view of the provision of psychological assistance for athletes.     

The relationship between competitive anxiety and imagery use

Abstract

Imagery has been proposed to be an effective strategy for controlling levels of competitive anxiety, but little b known about how imagery functions to achieve this. This study explored the relationship between imagery use. imagery ability. competitive anxiety and performance. Fifty-seven Junior North American Roller Skating Championship competitors completed the revised Movement Imagery Questionnaire (MIQ-R), the Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ), and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory—2 (CSAI-2). Results from stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed visual imagery ability and motivational arousal imagery to be predictors of cognitive state anxiety. Visual imagery ability also predicted somatic state anxiety. while motivational mastery imagery was a predictor of self-confidence. With respect to the relationship between imagery use and imagery ability, high imagery ability was associated with higher imagery use. Finally, self-confidence and kinesthetic imagery ability scores correctly classified a majority of the subjects as medalists versus non-medalists. These results suggest that imagery can be used to help control competitive anxiety levels and enhance self-confidence.     

Repetition and Lag Effects in Movement Recognition

Whether repetition and lag improve the recognition of movement patterns was investigated. Recognition memory was tested for one repetition, two-repetitions massed, and two-repetitions distributed with movement patterns repeated at lags of 3, 5, 7, and 13. Recognition performance was examined both immediately afterwards and following a 48 hour delay. Both repetition and lag effects failed to be demonstrated, providing some support for the claim that memory is unaffected by repetition at a constant level of processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972). There was, as expected, a significant decrease in recognition memory following the retention interval, but this appeared unrelated to repetition or lag.     

External Validity of the New Devereux Adolescent Behavior Rating Scales

The discriminant and concurrent validity of the five new scales for the Devereux Adolescent Behavior Rating Scale (DAB) was explored using a heterogeneous sample of psychiatric and substance abuse patients. Consistent with predictions, the substance abuse patients scored higher on the Acting Out Behaviors (AOB) and Heterosexual Interests (HI) scales, and psychiatric patients scored higher on the Psychotic Behaviors scale. Gender differences also were found, including boys being rated higher on Acting Out Behaviors, and girls higher on Heterosexual Interests. The new DAB scales demonstrated sufficient concurrent validity using a thorough record review and a parent rating scale (the Child Behavior Checklist [CBCL]). The Neurotic/Dependent Behaviors scale (NDB) showed a consistent relationship with substance abuse and several other measures of more externalizing behaviors, in addition to the predicted relationships with anxious, tense, and dependent behaviors. The Withdrawn/Timid Behaviors scale (WTB) proved to be a purer measure of internalizing behaviors in both sexes.     

Overinclusive Thinking and Schizophrenia

The empirical literature relating to the schizophrenic thought disorder of overinclusive thinking is reviewed with special consideration to its measurement, the variables related to over-inclusive thought patterns, its relationship to other psychopathological groups, and the conditions under which schizophrenic conceptual performance is either facilitated or impaired. While a number of criticisms and suggestions are included in summary statements following each main section of the paper, it is suggested that future research stress conditions which improve rather than inhibit schizophrenic performance. Some studies in related areas are presented to illustrate the ability of schizophrenics to overcome their “psychological deficit”.