Culture and the economy

In a sample of 18 industrialized nations, measures of national character did not improve the power of socioeconomic variables in predicting unemployment rates.     

A field study of two measures of work motivation for predicting leader's transformational behaviors

Relationships between motivation and transformational leadership were examined in this study. 56 leaders and 234 followers from a variety of organizations were sampled. Leaders were administered the Motivation Sources Inventory and the Job Choice Decision-making Exercise, while followers reported leaders' behaviors using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-rater version). Scores on the Motivation Sources Inventory subscales subsequently correlated with the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire subscales of inspirational motivation, idealized influence (behavior), and individualized consideration (range, r = .13 to .23). There were no significant correlations among any of the Job Choice Decision-making Exercise subscales with any of the variables measured.     

Eye Movements and Lexical Access in Spoken-Language Comprehension: Evaluating a Linking Hypothesis between Fixations and Linguistic Processing

A growing number of researchers in the sentence processing community are using eye movements to address issues in spoken language comprehension. Experiments using this paradigm have shown that visually presented referential information, including properties of referents relevant to specific actions, influences even the earliest moments of syntactic processing. Methodological concerns about task-specific strategies and the linking hypothesis between eye movements and linguistic processing are identified and discussed. These concerns are addressed in a review of recent studies of spoken word recognition which introduce and evaluate a detailed linking hypothesis between eye movements and lexical access. The results provide evidence about the time course of lexical activation that resolves some important theoretical issues in spoken-word recognition. They also demonstrate that fixations are sensitive to properties of the normal language-processing system that cannot be attributed to task-specific strategies.     

On associations between computers and restaurants: Rapid learning of new associations on a conceptual implicit memory test

A novel event-based conceptual implicit memory test was designed to tap the development of new associations between objects and ad hoc categories. At study, participants were presented with a plausible story that linked an incongruous object (computer) with an ad hoc category (restaurant). At test, participants judged whether a given object was typically found in a restaurant. In Experiment 1, judgment time was significantly slower for the incongruous object (computer) when the story had previously linked the computer to the restaurant, relative to when it had not. Experiment 2 replicated this effect and ruled out the alternative interpretation that this interference effect was attributable to a general slowing of responses to all studied items. Unlike in prior studies, this demonstration of associative priming cannot be attributed to perceptual priming or to test awareness in memory-intact participants. The paradigm therefore offers a unique opportunity to study single-trial conceptual learning in memory-intact and memory-impaired populations.     

The categorical perception of colors and facial expressions: The effect of verbal interference

A series of five experiments examined the categorical perception previously found for color and facial expressions. Using a two-alternative forced-choice recognition memory paradigm, it was found that verbal interference selectively removed the defining feature of categorical perception. Under verbal interference, there was no longer the greater accuracy normally observed for cross-category judgments relative to within-category judgments. The advantage for cross-category comparisons in memory appeared to derive from verbal coding both at encoding and at storage. It thus appears that while both visual and verbal codes may be employed in the recognition memory for colors and facial expressions, subjects only made use of verbal coding when demonstrating categorical perception.     

Partner Violence, Social Support, and Distress Among Inner-City African American Women

This study examined the role of social support in the partner violence–psychological distress relation in a sample of African American women seeking medical care at a large, urban hospital (n = 138). Results from bivariate correlational analyses revealed that partner violence was related to lower perceived social support and greater psychological distress, and lower social support was related to more distress. Furthermore, findings based on path analysis indicated that low levels of social support helped account for battered women's increased distress. Findings point to the need for service providers to screen for partner violence in nontraditional sites, such as hospital emergency rooms, and to address the role of social support resources in preventive interventions with African American battered women.     

Neuromotor profiles: what are they and what can we learn from them?

Eye movements, alternating movements, rapid pointing movements, and various tremors were measured on patients with Parkinson's disease (n = 21), on Cree subjects exposed to methylmercury (n = 36), and on healthy control subjects (n = 30). Neuromotor profiles were created according to thirty characteristics extracted from test results of four subgroups matched for age and composed of six subjects each. Z scores were calculated with respect to the mean and standard deviation of the control group for each of the 30 characteristics. The subgroup with the lower methylmercury blood level had larger z scores than the control subgroup and with a few positive values above one standard deviation. The subgroup with the higher methylmercury blood level had several z scores above two standard deviations. Interestingly, the abnormal values for the subgroup with Parkinson's disease were mostly limited to static tremor recorded with no visual feedback and reached up to 5 standard deviations. These results indicate that neuromotor profiles can be used to summarize information extracted from different neuromotor tests and to differentiate neurological conditions.     

Joint comment on "when does duration matter in judgment and decision making?" (Ariely & Loewenstein, 2000)

Recent research has demonstrated that people care about the temporal relationships within a sequence of experiences. There is considerable evidence that people pay particular attention to the way experiences improve or deteriorate over time and to their maximum (peak) and final values. D. Kahneman and coauthors suggested in earlier articles that people ignore or severely underweight duration (which they referred to as duration neglect). In the preceding article, D. Ariely and G. Loewenstein (2000) challenged the generalizability of these findings and their normative implications. In the current commentary, D. Ariely, D. Kahneman, and G. Loewenstein jointly examine the issue to provide a better understanding of what they feel they have learned from this literature and to discuss the remaining open questions.     

The effects of averaging subjective probability estimates between and within judges

The average probability estimate of J > 1 judges is generally better than its components. Two studies test 3 predictions regarding averaging that follow from theorems based on a cognitive model of the judges and idealizations of the judgment situation. Prediction 1 is that the average of conditionally pairwise independent estimates will be highly diagnostic, and Prediction 2 is that the average of dependent estimates (differing only by independent error terms) may be well calibrated. Prediction 3 contrasts between- and within-subject averaging. Results demonstrate the predictions' robustness by showing the extent to which they hold as the information conditions depart from the ideal and as J increases. Practical consequences are that (a) substantial improvement can be obtained with as few as 2-6 judges and (b) the decision maker can estimate the nature of the expected improvement by considering the information conditions.     

Theory-Driven Interventions in Psychoneuroimmunology and HIV-1 Infection

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is a rapidly evolving multidisciplinary field founded on the premise that psychosocial factors, the central nervous system, and the immune system are intimately linked. Following publication of scientific evidence supporting this link, a number of animal and human studies have been published, both inside and outside the area of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. These studies support the existence of bidirectional feedback mechanisms operating between the brain and the immune system. To date, however, there is no all-encompassing model that predicts individual differences in the relationship among psychosocial factors, immunologic measures, and clinical disease progression in HIV type 1 (HIV-1) infection. This variability in human response has been explained by a number of cofactors (host as well as environmental) that appear to accelerate the course of the disease. Since psychosocial factors are highly amenable to behavioral interventions, several models for intervention research have been proposed to evaluate whether such interventions can enhance immune functioning, thereby curtailing disease progression. Examination of these interventions in the context of PNI and HIV-1 infection, however, is rather limited. Therefore, researchers and clinicians must not only consider conceptualizations and paradigms in this area of research, but also focus on empirically testable, theory-driven models that allow for the unique characteristics of individual patients.