Patient preferences for physician persuasion strategies

This study investigated patient preferences for various types of physician persuasion strategies. Four types of persuasion strategies were utilized which involved combination of high and low levels of affectivity and information. In addition, patient variables, receiver apprehension and health beliefs were introduced to predict preference choices by patients. Results indicated that patients are influenced in their decision-making (preferences) by the type of persuasive strategy employed. Further, patients with different characteristics and predispositions prefer different persuasive strategies. The results of this study suggest that the success of physician persuasiveness is dependent upon the type of strategy used and the type of patient being persuaded.     

Explanation and the Language of Thought

In this paper we argue that the insistence by Fodor et. al. that the Language of Thought hypothesis must be true rests on mistakes about the kinds of explanations that must be provided of cognitive phenomena. After examining the canonical arguments for the LOT, we identify a weak version of the LOT hypothesis which we think accounts for some of the intuitions that there must be a LOT.We then consider what kinds of explanation cognitive phenomena require, and conclude that three main confusions lead to the invalid inference of the truth of a stronger LOT hypothesis from the weak and trivial version. These confusions concern the relationship between syntax and semantics, the nature of higher-level causation in cognitive science, and differing roles of explanations invoking intrinsic structures of minds on the one hand, and aetiological or evolutionary accounts of their properties on the other.We are indebted to Frank Jackson, Philip Pettit, Huw Price, and Kim Sterelny for their generous and useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and to discussions with Martin Davies on these and related issues.     

MacLab: A Macintosh system for psychology labs

MacLab, a program that turns the Apple Macintosh into a psychology laboratory tool, is described. MacLab combines intelligent editors, a millisecond timer, MacPaint pictures, and the ease of use of the Macintosh user interface to create a system with which experimental psychologists can quickly create and run powerful experiments with no need of any knowledge of programming.     

Intimacy Motivation and Subjective Mental Health in a Nationwide Sample

Over 1,200 adults in a representative nationwide sample were administered the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and an unstructured interview which produced 25 measures of subjective mental health and ultimately six factor scores: unhappiness, lack of gratification, strain, feelings of vulnerability, lack of self-confidence, and uncertainty. The TATs were scored for intimacy motivation (McAdams, 1980)--a recurrent preference or readiness for experiences of warm, close, and communicative interaction with others. Controlling for age, education, and their interaction, high intimacy motivation in women was associated with greater happiness and gratification, whereas in men it was associated with lack of strain and lack of uncertainty. Women high in intimacy motivation who were living alone reported lower levels of gratification and more uncertainty in their lives than other women. Intimacy motivation also declined significantly over the life span for women, but not for men. Finally, demographic effects on intimacy motivation were examined. Controlling for age, education, and their interaction, professional men (e.g., doctors, lawyers, and teachers) scored higher on intimacy motivation than did men in other occupational categories, while among women the occupational groups with highest intimacy motivation were service workers and craftspersons.     

Workplace justice outcomes as a function of adversaries' gender composition: A field assessment

There is extensive documentation that the sex of organizational members may bias a wide variety of managerial decisions and workplace outcomes. While such effects have been persuasively demonstrated, the sex context of these effects has received little attention. It is argued here that it is not merely the sex of the actor, but the nature of the dyadic match (male/male; female/female; male/female; female/male) that is a critical influence on outcomes. This hypothesis is strongly supported by gross differences in workplace justice outcomes based on the dyadic composition of the actors involved in dispute proceedings (n=369) in a field setting. These results are tempered, however, inasmuch as analysis also indicates differences in the severity of disputed issues across these dyadic compositions.     

Extraversion-introversion and heat-stress tolerance

Ten Ss were tested under heat-stress conditions, during which their physiological stress was measured. Before commencement of the experiment, the Ss' level of extraversion was measured, as well as the meaning they assigned to the situation and the subjective probability of success they gave themselves. It was found that extraverts assigned significantly more positive meaning to the heat-stress situation than introverts, and they tended to estimate their probability of success as higher than did the introverts. However, extraverts tended to suffer from higher physiological stress than introverts, where the main cause for that seemed to be their higher expectations resulting from the positive meaning assigned by them to the heat-stress situation.     

Stabilized images: The search for pattern elements

In a series of four experiments, the fragmentation of stabilized lines and angles viewed in different orientations was studied. With high inter-O agreement, it was possible to demonstrate reliable differences among patterns, with resistance to fading being a function of both pattern and orientation. The results were discussed in terms of possible supraretinal stages of pattern analysis.     

Bilateral spatial summation of cooling of symmetrical sites

The possibility of spatial summation of conducted ??Ts (temperature decrements from the adapted skin temperature) was tested when the ??Ts were presented simultaneously and individually at symmetrical sites on either side of the body. The use of a signal detection rating method yielded data that indicate that spatial summation is complete (area and intensity trade reciprocally) for ??s near threshold and at clearly suprathreshold intensities of stimulation is invariant of the adapted skin temperature (AT), and the intensity of stimulation within the range of stimuli used (from as little as ?0.05?C to as much as ?1.25?C). In view of the characteristics ascribed to the thermosensory apparatus in humans, it is postulated that spatial summation occurs in the central nervous system.     

BEHAVE—An automated data analysis system for observed events

This paper first defines the context of automated data analysis systems and then mentions approaches to analysis of data by systems of this type. It then briefly describes the BEHAVE data structure and proceeds to a discussion of the BEHAVE data analysis package which provides the user with summary information concerning organization of data.     

Factors affecting the acquisition and elimination of children's donating behavior

Thirty-five 6- to 10-year-old children with initial low rates of donating to help a peer either simply received a fine for each failure to donate (n = 7) or also were informed of the contingency between the fine and failure to donate (n = 28). Explanation of the contingency was necessary to increase children's donation rates. Donations continued at high rates during a gradual, unannounced removal of the fine contingency, but decreased when children were informed that fines were no longer in effect, particularly for children who had failed to donate at least once during training and had actually been fined. Overall, addition of a distraction or an inequity procedure did not reduce donating below rate reductions due to the announced extinction procedure alone.