Quasi-statistical inference in rating behavior I. Preliminary investigations

Bem and Allen (1974) have suggested that trait consistency-ratings can function as a moderator variable, with regard to the cross-situational validity of trait position-ratings. The present study attempts to consider the relationship between these two types of self-ratings. A model of “man the quasi-statistician” was proposed which yields the predictions that (a) consistency-ratings will vary positively with the polarization-estimate from position-ratings and (b) the extent of correlation will be a function of the degree of polarization associated with a given class of trait.In two experiments, position-ratings and consistency-ratings were obtained over a series of dimensions. The predictions were confirmed in both studies. In addition, Experiment II provided evidence for a correspondence between intuitive and formal estimates of central tendency polarization, although this was not the case for dispersion. The results were discussed as bearing on the model and as relating to the findings of Bem and Allen (1974).     

The variability of client,therapist and clinic in psychotherapy outcomes: A three-level hierarchical model

This article investigates the percentage of variance in psychotherapy outcomes explained by the case-mix variables for individual cases, by the therapist (therapist effects), and what additional variance is explained by the clinic with which the therapist is affiliated. While there has been substantial recent research regarding therapist effects, very little has been published regarding clinic-level effects after controlling for therapist effects. The study utilised the largest sample reported to date, using data from 28 clinics with a minimum of 2,000 cases in a clinical range of severity of symptoms with pre-post change scores on an outcome questionnaire. Only cases treated by a therapist with at least 30 cases were included. These selection criteria resulted in a case count of 156,258 clients treated by 874 therapists located at 28 clinics. After controlling for differences in case mix using diagnosis and intake score (severity of symptoms), the resulting analyses indicated that 5.21% of the variance in treatment outcome was explained by the therapist, while another 1.13% of the variance was associated with the clinic. Findings are discussed with implications for practice and policy.     

Permitting immoral behaviour: A generalized compensation belief hypothesis

When are we more likely to permit immoral behaviours? The current research examined a generalized compensation belief hypothesis that individuals, as observers, would morally tolerate and accept someone paying forward unfair treatment to an innocent person as a means to compensate for the perpetrator's previously experienced mistreatment. Across five experiments (N = 1107) based on economic games (Studies 1–4) and diverse real-life scenarios (Study 5), we showed that participants, as observing third parties, were more likely to morally permit and engage in the same negative act once they knew about previous maltreatment of the perpetrator. This belief occurred even when the content of received and paid-forward maltreatment was non-identical (Study 2), when the negative treatment was received from a non-human target (Study 3) and when the maltreatment was intangible (e.g. material loss) or relational (e.g. social exclusion; Study 5). Perceived required compensation mediated the effect of previous maltreatment on moral permission (Studies 4 and 5). The results consistently suggest that people's moral permission of immoral behaviours is influenced by perpetrator's previous mistreatment, contributing to a better understanding of the nature and nuances of our sense of fairness and contextualized moral judgement.     

A method for increasing the reinforcement magnitude of intracranial stimulation

Schedules of intermittent brain-stimulation reinforcement have been shown to maintain performances when a reinforcement is defined as several response-produced, brief trains of stimulation. The present experiments show that the number of response-produced trains permitted per reinforcement is a variable analogous to amount or magnitude of reinforcement in the conventional food-reinforcement experiment. Systematic effects were obtained when that variable was manipulated within a multiple schedule and also on variable-interval schedules programmed concurrently.     

Brain stimulation as a reinforcer: intermittent schedules

Rats with chronically implanted, bipolar electrodes in the septal and medial forebrain bundle areas, in addition to the region of the mammillary bodies of the posterior hypothalamus, were trained to press a permanently mounted lever in order to produce a second, retractable lever. Rewarding brain stimulation was programmed on the retractable lever; following completion of the programmed number of CRF response-stimulations, that lever was retracted from the box. Responding on the permanent lever could reintroduce the retractable lever. Fixed interval, fixed ratio, DRL, and variable interval schedules were programmed on the permanent lever in the range of schedule parameters often used with conventional reinforcers. Typical effects are described, and it is concluded that there are no striking differences between brain-stimulation reinforcement and the conventional reinforcers.     

Gender role identity from an ego developmental perspective

This study, designed to respond to current limitations in gender role identity measurement, presents a conceptual and empirical approach to gender role identity that relies on ego developmental theory. To begin the process of construct validation of this approach to gender role identity, gender role identity was examined in relation to ego development, gender, and marital status. Gender role identity was measured via an interview adapted from Waterman and by the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Ego development was assessed via Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development. The sample consisted of 107 young adult men and women, married and single. In support of construct validity, the gender role interview was found to be correlated with the ego development measure. In support of discriminant validity, different patterns of correlates by gender were found between the gender role interview and the Bem Sex Role Inventory.     

Individual differences in preschool children's knowledge of superordinate categories

The present study assesses intensional knowledge of superordinate categories in preschool children. This assessment is part of a larger programmatic research effort aimed at the development of a cognitive preschool screening test to detect learning problems prior to their manifestation in school failure. Necessary prerequisites for including intensional superordinate category knowledge as a potential component of this screening test are addressed: (a) Are there substantial variations in this knowledge across preschool children? (b) Can the knowledge be measured reliably using game-like picture tasks? (c) Do individual differences in this knowledge relate to the child's current level of intellectual functioning? An underlying assumption for the development of this screening test is that assessing gradually emerging abstract knowledge that develops through active, ongoing processing is more likely to predict learning problems than assessing knowledge that develops through rote associative learning. Consistent with this approach was the prediction that one component of intension, knowledge of differences, would be a better predictor of current functioning than knowledge of similarities. The data support this contention. Although both knowledge of similarities and differences was stable within an individual, variable among individuals and highly correlated with each other, only knowledge of differences related to the child's concurrent level of intellectual functioning.     

Stress, health and illness: four challenges for the future

The concept of stress has a long and perhaps foundational history in health psychology. However, it is also not without its detractors, who point out imprecise and simplistic use of the concept. Four challenges for stress research in health psychology delineate the nuanced and contextualised future. First, 'stress' can be located in the environment, in appraisal or in response (e.g., emotions or physiology). Careful conceptualisation and assessment can differentiate among these locales, as well as reveal interactions among them. Second, coping refers to the transaction between stress and the affected person. Understanding exactly why coping moderates the effects of stress is a major challenge for coping research. Third, stress happens to different people with different personalities and temperaments and at different stages of their lives. People may even be different from themselves at different life stages. These individual differences can impact all manner of stress and coping. Fourth, stress is dynamic. Minor events come and go, and major events create a cascade of changes in the individual's life. Understanding how stress, coping and health change over time within individuals (i.e., in a multi-level framework) will be a major advance for the field.