An ethnic bias in scientific citations

Recent experimental findings of subtle forms of prejudice prompted this search for a similar phenomenon outside the laboratory. In Study 1, with a sample of more than 12 000 citations by North American social scientists, names of both citing and cited authors were classified as Jewish, non Jewish, or other Author's name category was associated with 41 per cent greater odds of citing an author from the same name category Study 2 included over 17 000 citations from a much narrower research domain (prejudice research), and found a similar (40 per cent) surplus in odds of citing an author of the author's own ethnic name category. Further analyses failed to support two hypotheses — differential assortment of researchers by ethnicity to research topics, and selective citation of acquaintances' works — that were plausible alternatives to the hypothesis that the observed citation discrimination revealed implicit (unconsciously operating) prejudicial attitudes. Given the sociopolitically liberal reputation of social scientists (and of prejudice researchers especially), it seems unlikely that the observed bias in citations reflected conscious prejudicial attitudes.     

The limits of anchoring

Anchoring and adjustment is a pervasive bias in which decision makers are influenced by random or uninformative numbers or starting points. As a means of understanding this effect, we explore two limits on anchoring. In Experiments 1 and 2, implausibly extreme anchors had a proportionally smaller effect than anchors close to the expected value of the lotteries evaluated. In Experiments 2 and 3, anchoring occurred only if the anchor and preference judgment were expressed on the same scale. Incompatible anchors and response modes resulted in no anchoring bias. A confirmatory search mechanism is proposed to account for these results.     

Job stress in university,corporate, and military personnel

The Job Stress Survey (JSS) was administered to large samples of university and corporate employees and senior military personnel. Differences in the perceived severity, frequency of occurrence, and overall level of occupational stress were evaluated for individuals working in these settings. Gender differences in job stress and the factor structure of the JSS were also evaluated. Two occupational stress factors were identified, Job Pressure and Organizational Support, which were remarkably stable for males and females and for individuals working in university, corporate, and military settings. Corporate employees reported higher levels of perceived severity of job stress than the other groups, whereas military personnel reported that they more frequently experienced almost all of the job stress events. No overall differences were found for the three groups in the JSS Job Stress Index.     

LOTTERIES AND THE TIME HORIZON

Abstract— People chose between hypothetical alternatives of (a) a million-dollar lottery prize and (b) a much smaller but certain amount of money When probabilities of winning the lottery were above about 1/100,000, subjects avoided risk, for example, a 1/100,000 probability of the million-dollar prize was chosen about as often as $700 for sure But at probabilities below 1/100,000, subjects sought risk, for example, a 1/1,000,000 probability of the million-dollar prize was chosen about as often as $9 for sure This crossover from risk aversion to risk seeking is predicted by Mazur's (1987) hyperbolic delay discount function with probability expressed as average delay due to strings of losses followed by a win, together with a time horizon limiting subjective delay     

Contingent color aftereffects: Reassessing old conclusions

Although there is considerable evidence supporting an associative interpretation of contingent color aftereffects, there are data that appear inconsistent with this interpretation. New findings from seven experiments are presented indicating that, contrary to earlier claims, contingent color aftereffects are observed after induction with (1) single orthogonal black bars on colored backgrounds, (2) geometric forms, and (3) two orthogonal grids of the same color. The results of these experiments are relevant to an associative interpretation of contingent color aftereffects, as well as to assessing alternative interpretations of the phenomenon.     

Qoheleth and the Existential Legacy of the Holocaust

This article explores thematic parallels between the book of Ecclesiastes and the reflections and memories of Holocaust survivors. The three themes touched on find expression in the post-World War II existentialist literature which sought to respond to the incomprehensibility of the Holocaust: the role of extreme circumstances, (confrontation with) absurdity, and (particularly in relation to the legacy of the Holocaust) the individual struggle with, or against, death and fate. It is existentialist philosophy, then, that provides the categories for the comparison.
Although one cannot (indeed, should not) presume an experiential likeness between Qoheleth's narrative and the real suffering of Holocaust victims, Qoheleth's observations and lamentation about the absurdity of his own experience resonate a great deal with the (remembered) experience of the Holocaust's survivors.     

The Efficacy of the General Aptitude Test Battery in Allocating Prisoners to Work and Trade Training Courses

Ninety trainees at Deerbolt Borstal, County Durham, were randomly assigned to four groups for placement on trade training courses and work. The first group was assigned on the basis of the General Aptitude Test Battery and a brief interview about their interests; the second group on the basis of the General Aptitude Test Battery; the third group on the interview about their interests; whilst the fourth group was assigned randomly to existing vacancies. A 16-week follow-up showed significant differences across the groups in terms of successfully completing placements, the General Aptitude Test Battery being the crucial factor in allocating individuals successfully. Ratings of trainee performance from supervisors taken after two weeks did not, however, show significant differences across the groups.     

Effects of the menstrual cycle on vibrotactile sensitivity

Psychophysical thresholds for the detection of vibration delivered to the thenar eminence of the right hands of young males and females were measured every other day for 30–34 days. The frequency of the vibratory stimulus was either 15 or 250 Hz. The sinusoidal stimuli applied through a 3.0-cm² contactor were 700 msec in duration and had rise-fall times of 25 msec. Stimulus amplitude was measured with a calibrated accelerometer mounted on the moving element of the vibrator. Data were plotted as a function of successive days in the menstrual cycle. Thresholds for detecting the 15-Hz stimulus did not change significantly, whereas thresholds for detecting the 250-Hz stimulus varied significantly over the menstrual cycle. The 250-Hz threshold became progressively lower as subjects approached the onset of menstruation. After the onset of menstruation, the 250-Hz threshold gradually increased, reaching a maximum value approximately 12 or 13 days later. Soon after the 12th or 13th day of the cycle, the threshold again began to decline and continued to decline until the onset of the next menstrual cycle. The thresholds of women taking birth control pills did not change systematically over the testing period.     

Social-cognitive and cognitive correlates of depression in children

The present investigation examined depression and its social-cognitive and cognitive correlates in a sample of 108 elementary school children: 36 children in each of grades 1, 4, and 8. Children were classified as depressed and nondepressed according to their scores on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Depression appeared stable over a 3-week time interval. Depressed children reported a higher number of masking symptoms, were rated as more depressed by their teachers, and perceived their family environment to be more distressed. As posited, when compared to nondepressed children, depressed children have lower self-esteem, a more depressive attributional style, and more self-control deficits. Further, they have impaired performance on some cognitive tasks (block design, coding digit span) but not all (vocabulary). The prediction that depression would be manifested differently in first-, fourth-, and eighth-graders was not supported.This research was supported by a grant from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. We would like to specifically acknowledge the help of Dr. Wayne Holtzman, director of the Hogg Foundation.     

The similarities between cognitive dissonance and guilt: Confession as a relief of dissonance

It is proposed that dissonance is similar to the feeling of guilt. If they are in fact analogous, and confession relieves guilt, then one implication is that confession would relieve dissonance. This experiment tested this prediction using a standard induced compliance paradigm. Forty-five undergraduate subjects were assigned to either a no-choice condition, a choice-confession condition, or a choice-no-confession condition. The results indicate that confession does relieve dissonance. Further, as predicted, a negative correlation was found between attitudinal shift and guilt. The implications of the findings concerning the mechanisms of confession are discussed.