Variability and sequential effects in magnitude production and estimation of auditory intensity

Magnitude production and estimation data from the same subjects are analyzed in three ways. The coefficient of variation of the ratio of successive responses Inumbers in estimation, SPL in production) are compared; both exhibit, as a function of stimulus difference, the V-shaped pattern previously found in estimation data. A multiple regression of responses on the stimulus and on these events of the previous trial exhibit similar patterns, although the effects of the previous trial in production are somewhat less. The correlation between successive responses, averaged over constant stimulus differences, are very large for small differences and about zero for large ones. These somewhat surprisng results for production are examined from the point of view of an intensity attention band hypothesis.     

DAPs of black and white juvenile incarcerates

Two groups of male juvenile incarcerates were separated on the basis of race, matched in terms of age, recidivism, and intelligence test scores, and given a human figure drawing task. Figures drawn were male and female. The drawings were scored on 14 emotional indicators. The results of the present study offer little consistent or conclusive support for the hypothesis that differences influenced by race can be found in the projective drawings of black and white subjects. The commonly held impressions that there are more incidences of neurotic or psychotic features in the projective tests of black subjects and that the projective drawings of black subjects are generally inferior to the projective drawings of white subjects were not supported by the present study.     

Acceptance and need for approval as moderators of self-esteem and satisfaction with a romantic relationship or closest friendship

According to predictions of self-esteem theorists, the association between self-esteem and satisfaction with a relationship will be negative under perceptions of high acceptance and positive under perceptions of low acceptance; consistency theorists make the opposite prediction. The author primarily sought to test those predictions. By completing 4 measures, 88 female and 62 male students described their main current romantic relationship (defined as being in love and physically intimate), and 54 female and 32 male students described their relationship with their closest friend. Results supported only the self-esteem predictions for the romantic relationship. Contrary to this perspective, need for approval did not mediate this effect. In addition, self-esteem was significantly and positively correlated with satisfaction with the romantic relationship under high but not low need for approval.     

Empirical evaluation of a model of global psychophysical judgments: III. A form for the psychophysical function and intensity filtering

In part I, a concept of ratio estimation is defined and it is shown that if such estimates depend only upon the physical ratio of the signal to the reference signal, the psychophysical function must be a power function. Assuming the same exponents for each component, an invariance condition, equivalent to a sum of power functions, is studied empirically for binaural loudness. It is fully or partially sustained for 19 of 22 respondents. Since failures may be attributable to different exponents in the two ears, the ratio of the two exponents is estimated but that fails to explain the failures. Other possible explanations are suggested. In part II, an intensity filtering model is presented, accounting for the phenomenon where monaural loudness matches show a bias depending on the matching ear. We show (a) that the existence of such a bias does not alter the prior experimental results; and (b) assuming the power function, that five respondents attenuate the opposite ear and two enhance it.     

Helping as a function of feeling state and nature of the helping behavior

The proposition that positive feelings increase helping because they increase the perception of personal power implies that if the person prefers not to help, positive feelings would decrease helping. This was tested in an experiment that varied feelings and pleasantness of the helping task. False meter feedback was used to manipulate feelings, and an indirect check on the manipulation showed that it was effective in varying feelings. As expected from the notion that positive feelings allow the person to feel free to refuse to help, there was an interaction between feelings and pleasantness of the helping task; positive feelings produced less helping than neutral or negative feelings when the helping task was unpleasant.This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.