Sneaking in through the back door: How category-based stereotype suppression leads to rebound in feature-based effects

Given the dramatic shifts in societal norms to curb overt stereotyping and prejudice, these biases may leak out in more subtle ways than were apparent in the past. Accordingly, we examined how the suppression of stereotypes might affect post-suppression category-based stereotyping and the more subtle feature-based stereotyping. In support of our proposition, participants in the suppression condition used more feature-based, but less category-based stereotypes in their post-suppression task than participants in the control condition. Furthermore, a relation between post-suppression category-based and feature-based stereotyping existed in the suppression condition such that decreases in category-based stereotyping were associated with increases in feature-based stereotyping. Findings as a whole suggest that norms against the expression of stereotypic biases may ironically lead people to be more vulnerable to biases as a function of within-category features.     

A microprocessor-controlled clinical tromometer

A microprocessor-controlled clinical tromometer has been developed to permit routine monitoring of disease processes where tremor is a principal sign and in behavior studies where tremor may be used to index anxiety, stress, or response to Ethan. Emphasis is placed on the measurement technique and the design and construction of the device. The important role played by the microprocessor in providing for human factoring of the instrument to make it compatible with the clinical setting is examined.     

Differential access to information and anticipated group interaction: impact on individual reasoning

Two studies examined the impact of relative differences in access to information and anticipated group interaction on individual reasoning. On 2 different reasoning tasks (P. C. Wason's [1966] selection task and D. Kahneman & A. Tversky's [1973] lawyer-engineer problem), participants sensing that they knew more in anticipation of group interaction or knew less when not anticipating interaction were less susceptible to typical cognitive biases demonstrated by these tasks. Study 2 also showed that the effect of these social contexts was contingent on the task presentation format. Thus, knowing more in anticipation of group interaction and knowing less when not anticipating group interaction seemingly compensated for task features that enhance suboptimal reasoning strategies. These results illustrate the importance of the social context in which reasoning is situated and are discussed in terms of cognitive tuning, social comparison, and social motivations.     

Historical change of suicide seasonality in the canton of zurich, Switzerland

Current research is yielding an increasingly heterogeneous picture of suicide seasonalities: They seem to depend on methods and, moreover, they seem to have smoothed in recent decades. This work examines the latter issue by comparing suicide seasonalities in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, in the 16 th -18 th centuries, 1901-1920 and 1969-94. The results indicate shifts of peaks and lows on suicide seasonalities over the centuries, with a smoothing of seasonalities toward the 21 th century. The recent period does not show any suicide seasonality at all. The canton of Zurich seems to be ahead of the general trend found in other regions of Switzerland.     

Erroneous Perceptions in Generating Sequences of Random Events1

This paper reports the results of 2 studies that examine the perceptions of individuals attempting to generate random sequences. It was hypothesized that erroneous perceptions dominate probability judgment. The first study demonstrated that subjects verbalized significantly more erroneous than accurate perceptions when generating sequences of random binary events. The second study was designed both to replicate these data and to assess the role of motivation on the frequency of misconceptions. Results showed that the total number of erroneous perceptions again outnumbered accurate perceptions but, motivation did not increase the number of misconceptions. A basic error concerned subjects' inability to consider events as being independent of each other. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed in relation to the psychology of gambling.