On Becoming What We Might Have Been: Counterfactual Thinking and Self-efficacy

Three experiments examined the hypothesis that, in the aftermath of a performance event, upward counterfactuals reinforce feelings of self-efficacy toward similar future events, whereas downward counterfactuals decrease feelings of self-efficacy. Using a scenario methodology, the first two experiments confirmed this hypothesis: upward counterfactual thinking enhanced feelings of self-efficacy relative to downward counterfactual thinking. In a third experiment, conducted in a more real-world context, upward counterfactuals again led to greater feelings of self-efficacy than downward counterfactuals. However, there were important limiting conditions: the effect of counterfactual thinking on self-efficacy was more or less pronounced depending on both situational and dispositional factors. Whereas the pattern of results provided little support for a self-protection explanation for these limiting conditions, the results were consistent with a depth of processing explanation.     

A case of blurred vision: Stereotyping in career information illustrations

In this paper two studies are described which examine racial and sex role stereotyping in career information illustrations. In Study 1 over 2000 illustrations, from sources including the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) and The Encyclopedia of Careers, were analyzed according to seven dimensions. In Study 2 a follow-up analysis was done comparing illustrations in the original OOH with a revised edition. Findings are discussed from the perspective of practical implications for vocational counselors.     

Reliability and Validity of the Thai “Global Person Generated Index”, an Individualised Measure of Quality of Life

The “Global Person Generated Index” (GPGI) is an individualised measure of global quality of life (QoL). Individualised measures have been used within a health context, however until recently have been rarely used to explore global QoL. This paper establishes the GPGI’s validity and reliability in Thailand. Data were collected from participants in two sites in Northeast Thailand. Participants completed the Thai GPGI, the “Satisfaction with Life Scale”(SWLS), a modified “Positive and Negative Affect Scale” (PANAS) and provided demographic data. 81 participants provided data at T1. 70 participants completed data for test-retest (two week interval) reliability comparisons. Test-retest reliability correlation was 0.678 (p < 0.001) for participants reporting no change in QoL. GPGI correlated moderately with SWLS (0.381, p < 0.01) and PANAS scales (0.291 and −0.378, both p < 0.01), indicating validity. GPGI scores were related to health and correlated to a moderate degree with income (0.379, p < 0.05). GPGI scores did not show the expected differences in scores based on gender, although this may be owing to cultural issues. Areas nominated as important to QoL included family, money, house, health and employment, which mirrors items on other QoL scales and previous work with individualised measures. The Thai GPGI is reliable for group comparisons and valid. The difficulties of designing cross-cultural construct validity hypotheses are acknowledged. Areas nominated as important to QoL were diverse and largely asset based. The GPGI is recommended for use to explore global QoL and potentially useful for needs assessment and exploration of response shift.     

Self‐reference and group membership: evidence for a group‐reference effect

Two experiments were designed to explore whether encoding information in reference to a group would facilitate the later recall of that information to the same extent as encoding with reference to the self. In both experiments, participants encoded adjectives with reference to the self, semantic properties, or a group and were subsequently given a surprise‐free recall test. In Experiment 1 (N = 37), the participants' university served as the reference group. In Experiment 2 (N=41), the participants' family served as the reference group. In both experiments, self‐reference resulted in better recall than semantic processing, replicating the typical self‐reference effect (SRE). More importantly, strong evidence for a group‐reference effect (GRE) was found in that group‐reference resulted in better recall than semantic processing and in fact facilitated recall to the same extent as self‐referencing. The existing explanations (schemas, organization, elaboration, mental cueing, and evaluation) for the SRE were compared with regard to their viability in accounting for the GRE patterns. We discuss additional features that may be important in the explanation of the SRE and suggest future directions for research on group‐referencing. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Remembering the good, forgetting the bad: intentional forgetting of emotional material in depression

The authors examined intentional forgetting of negative material in depression. Participants were instructed to not think about emotional nouns that they had learned to associate with a neutral cue word. The authors provided participants with multiple occasions to suppress the unwanted words. Overall, depressed participants successfully forgot negative words. Moreover, the authors obtained a clear practice effect. However, forgetting came at a cost: Compared with the nondepressed participants and with the depressed participants who were instructed to forget positive words, depressed participants who were instructed to forget negative words showed significantly worse recall of the baseline words. These results indicate that training depressed individuals in intentional forgetting could prove to be an effective strategy to counteract automatic ruminative tendencies and mood-congruent biases.     

Tone of postcards in increasing survey response rates

This study assessed differences in response rates to a series of three-wave mail surveys when amiable or insistently worded postcards were the third wave of the mailing. Three studies were conducted; one with a sample of 600 health commissioners, one with a sample of 680 vascular nurses, and one with 600 elementary school secretaries. The combined response rates for the first and second wave mailings were 65.8%, 67.6%, and 62.4%, respectively. A total of 308 amiable and 308 insistent postcards were sent randomly to nonrespondents as the third wave mailing. Overall, there were 41 amiable and 52 insistent postcards returned, not significantly different by chi-square test. However, a separate chi-square test for one of the three studies, the nurses' study, did find a significant difference in favor of the insistently worded postcards.