Automaticity and eyewitness accuracy: a 10- to 12-second rule for distinguishing accurate from inaccurate positive identifications

Eyewitness researchers have shown that witnesses accurately choosing the culprit out of a lineup reach their decisions more quickly than those erroneously choosing an innocent individual. However, this research is silent regarding how quickly or slowly witnesses must be, in absolute terms, to indicate that they are accurate or inaccurate. Across 4 studies, the authors discovered that a time boundary of roughly 10 to 12 s best differentiated accurate from inaccurate positive identifications. Witnesses making their identification faster than 10 to 12 s were nearly 90% accurate; those taking longer were roughly 50% accurate. This finding is consistent with previous research showing that accurate witnesses are more likely than inaccurate witnesses to reach their decisions automatically, that is, quickly, without conscious thought or effort.     

On the bias of Huffcutt and Arthur's (1995) procedure for identifying outliers in the meta-analysis of correlations

This study documents how the use of A. I. Huffcutt & W. A. Arthur's (1995) sample adjusted meta-analytic deviancy (SAMD) statistic for identifying outliers in correlational meta-analyses results in inaccuracies in mean r. Monte Carlo simulations found that use of the SAMD resulted in the overidentification of small relative to large correlations as outliers. Furthermore, this tendency to overidentify small correlations was found to increase as the magnitude of the population correlation increased and resulted in mean rs that overestimated the population correlation. The implications for meta-analysts are discussed, and 2 possible solutions are offered.     

Self-monitoring personality at work: a meta-analytic investigation of construct validity

The validity of self-monitoring personality in organizational settings was examined. Meta-analyses were conducted (136 samples; total N = 23,191) investigating the relationship between self-monitoring personality and work-related variables, as well as the reliability of various self-monitoring measures. Results suggest that self-monitoring has relevance for understanding many organizational concerns, including job performance and leadership emergence. Sample-weighted mean differences favoring male respondents were also noted, suggesting that the sex-related effects for self-monitoring may partially explain noted disparities between men and women at higher organizational levels (i.e., the glass ceiling). Theory building and additional research are needed to better understand the construct-related inferences about self-monitoring personality, especially in terms of the performance, leadership, and attitudes of those at top organizational levels.     

Unskilled and unaware--but why? A reply to Krueger and Mueller (2002)

J. Kruger and D. Dunning (1999) argued that the unskilled suffer a dual burden: Not only do they perform poorly, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. J. Krueger and R. A. Mueller (2002) replicated these basic findings but interpreted them differently. They concluded that a combination of the better-than-average (BTA) effect and a regression artifact better explains why the unskilled are unaware. The authors of the present article respectfully disagree with this proposal and suggest that any interpretation of J. Krueger and R. A. Mueller's results is hampered because those authors used unreliable tests and inappropriate measures of relevant mediating variables. Additionally, a regression-BTA account cannot explain the experimental data reported in J. Kruger and D. Dunning or a reanalysis following the procedure suggested by J. Krueger and R. A. Mueller.     

The natural history of gambling and drinking problems among casino employees

From an eligible population of 9,943 casino employees, 6,067 volunteered to participate in this study. Of this sample, 1,176 provided data at 3 observation points approximately 12 months apart. Using the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; H. R. Lesieur & S. B. Blume, 1987) and the CAGE (J. A. Ewing, 1984) questionnaire, the authors prospectively examined the prevalence and patterns of alcohol and gambling problems among those employees. Among the casino employees with gambling and drinking problems, a segment displayed the capacity to diminish those problems even when the difficulties had reached disordered levels. The authors also examined the comorbidity of gambling and drinking as well as the relationships among changes in SOGS scores and CAGE scores and changes in demographic and biological variables. The women were more likely to decrease their problem-drinking scores, but not their gambling scores, when compared with the men. In addition, 2 key variables (i.e., disabling depression and dissatisfaction with one's personal life) emerged as predictors of transitions to healthier levels of disordered gambling. The authors cautiously suggest, in light of the results taken together, that more fluctuation is associated with gambling and drinking problems than previously thought and that the conventional wisdom about disordered gambling as "always progressive" needs reconsideration.     

Contextual control of equivalence-based transformation of functions

The transformation of functions refers to the untrained acquisition of stimulus functions among members of stimulus equivalence classes or relational frames. Although it is widely assumed that contextual control over the transformation of fuctions must exist, this has not yet been conclusively demonstrated in laboratory studies. Four experiments are reported in which (a) stimulus equivalence classes were established, (b) a conditional stimulus function was trained for one member of each of the classes, and (c) multiple-exemplar procedures were used to train and test for contextual control over the transformation of the stimulus function within the classes and to assess whether it generalized to new equivalence classes. Although a significant amount of training was required, the procedures ultimately resulted in the contextual control of function transformation for 9 of 10 participants and generalized contextual control for 4 of 5 participants.     

Theory development should begin (but not end) with good empirical fits: a comment on Roberts and Pashler (2000)

S. Roberts and H. Pashler (2000) argued against using goodness of fit as evidence to support theories. The authors agree with their suggestions for how to go beyond good fits but disagree with their starting point. In this comment, the authors argue that good fits are part and parcel of theory development, that they are part and parcel of the processes suggested by S. Roberts and H. Pashler, and that they must be the starting point (though far from the ending point) in theoretical development. The authors discuss historical examples of scientific theory development, recent examples of psychological theory development, and development of a particular theory (social contagion theory; J. L. Rodgers & D. C. Rowe, 1993) that S. Roberts and H. Pashler criticized.     

Dissociation of explicit and implicit timing in repetitive tapping and drawing movements

Four experiments explored the hypothesis that temporal processes may be represented and controlled explicitly or implicitly. Tasks hypothesized to require explicit timing were duration discrimination, tapping, and intermittent circle drawing. In contrast, it was hypothesized that timing control during continuous circle drawing does not rely on an explicit temporal representation; rather, temporal control is an emergent property of other control processes (i.e., timing is controlled implicitly). Temporal consistency on the tapping and intermittent drawing tasks was related, and performance on both of these tasks was correlated with temporal acuity on an auditory duration discrimination task. However, timing variability of these 3 tasks was not correlated with timing variability of continuous circle drawing. These results support the hypothesized distinction between explicit and implicit temporal representations.     

Feature-specific perceptual processing dissociates action from recognition

Does visual processing differ for action and recognition? To address this question, the authors capitalized on research showing that color is preferred over binocular disparity in the ventral (recognition) stream, whereas disparity is preferred over color in the dorsal (action) stream. Participants searched for oblique targets among vertical distractors in displays defined only by color or disparity. Action-task participants stamped the target with a handheld block, whereas recognition-task participants lifted the block through a target-compatible gap. Analyses of reaction time and time-varying hand orientation showed that disparity and color displays were processed equally efficiently during action, but disparity was processed less efficiently than color during recognition. The results suggest that visual processing differs for action and recognition.