The validity of verbal protocols

The reactivity of a "think aloud" verbal protocol and the veridicality of different retrospective protocols were tested over four dissimilar tasks. Generating a concurrent protocol altered accuracy in two tasks, simple addition and a choice between two gambles, and generally prolonged response times. Such reactivity partially qualifies the dominant theory of protocol generation (Ericsson & Simon, 1984). Retrospective protocols yielded substantial forgetting or fabrication in all tasks, supporting the consensus on the nonveridicality of these methods. It is concluded that protocol validity should be based on an empirical check rather than on theory-based assurances.     

Type A behaviour and psychological androgyny among Greek college students

Research conducted primarily in the United States suggests that the combination of Type A behaviour, high instrumentality, and low expressiveness may place individuals at relatively high risk for coronary-artery and heart disease. The present research investigates the trans-societal generalizability of the structure, reliability, relationships among, and distributional characteristics of these measures for 117 college students in Athens, Greece. As hypothesized, the Greek students were significantly less instrumental and less expressive than the American students, and scored significantly higher on the measure of Type A. Although there were significant mean differences between these samples, the results suggest that many of the interscale relationships are comparable, supporting an etic (universal) interpretation of the findings. Nevertheless, the results suggested several emic (unique) characteristics of these measures and their interrelationships.     

Inconsistent communication: A simplified method for selecting messages

In examining the family's role in the development and perpetuation of disordered behavior, studies of inconsistent communication have focused on the frequency and impact of such communications in disturbed versus non-disturbed groups. For these and other lines of study, current methods for defining and selecting inconsistent messages are extremely time-consuming, and as a result, large-scale efforts have been discouraged. To address this problem, the current study attempted to develop and evaluate an efficient procedure for selecting inconsistent communications which would be comparable to the standard method. Most important, it was found that raters are capable of accurately judging affect in a particular channel when presented with several channels simultaneously, and as such, it is unnecessary to artificially separate channels when affect ratings are to be obtained. Future research should be facilitated by the method developed in the current study.     

Perioral somatosensory determinants of nursing behavior in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Prior to assuming the upright crouching posture over their pups during nursing bouts, lactating rats typically engage in several oral behaviors, including nuzzling, licking and rearranging pups. By acutely depriving dams of various aspects of perioral stimulation from pups (with anesthesia of the mystacial pads or of the tongue, with mouth suturing, or with muzzling), we found the following: (1) Distal stimulation from pups maintains proximity-seeking behavior, but is insufficient to stimulate nursing behavior. (2) Lack of tongue feedback decreases pup licking and hastens the onset of crouching. (3) Snout, but not tongue, contact with pups is required for hovering over them. (4) The position of the dam while hovering over her litter enables the pups to gain access to her ventrum, thereby provoking her upright, crouching posture. (5) Older pups are capable of bypassing the dam's perioral attentions and stimulating crouching directly by burrowing under the dam's ventrum.     

Overt integrity tests versus personality-based measures of delinquency: An empirical comparison

This study examined the ability of both an overt integrity test and a personality-based measure of delinquency to predict on-the-job theft and counterproductivity. A heterogeneous sample of 105 employees anonymously completed both tests and a criterion checklist that included a 9-item theft subscale and a 12-item counterproductivity subscale. Results indicated that the overt integrity test was a superior predictor of both on-the-job theft and drug abuse compared to the personality-based measure. The overt integrity test was also a slightly better predictor of general counterproductivity. These findings and their implications are discussed.     

Automated data collection using bar code

Using bar code technology to automate data collection provides a rapid and reliable alternative to paper-and-pencil tracking or keyboard entry into pocket or laptop computer. An array of bar code symbols is printed on a data menu, with a unique symbol corresponding to each possible observation. Bar code symbols are scanned using hand-held readers, which record the event, log the observation time, and store data for transfer to a personal computer. Advantages of the bar code monitoring system include: (1) ease of use by staff with minimal technical training, (2) reduced data entry errors and increased entry speed, (3) reliable portable operation, and (4) low-cost hardware. While the bar code system described here is used for behavioral monitoring in a residential treatment setting for the developmentally disabled, with minimal modification this system can be adapted for use in a wide variety of research and clinical applications.     

Developmental levels of processing in metaphor interpretation

We outline a theory of metaphor interpretation. The theory posits varying levels of semantic processing and formalizes them in terms of kinds of semantic-mapping operators that transform properties of the metaphoric vehicle (i.e., predicate) into properties of the metaphoric topic (i.e., subject). We used cognitive-developmental theory to estimate the mental-processing complexity of the various mapping operators, and thereby to predict the timing of their emergence in childhood, and to construct a measure of the metaphoric-processing levels. Metaphor interpretations collected from children (aged 6-12 years) and adults were coded and scored according to the processing levels. In two separate developmental studies, processing score increased with age in a predictable way. Growth in a mental-attentional resource accounted for much of the developmental variance in metaphor interpretation. Possible moderating effects of knowledge and context are discussed.     

Effects of Salience of Consciousness-Raising Information on Perceptions of Acquaintance versus Stranger Rape

In the present study the effects of salience of consciousness-raising information on the perception of acquaintance vs. stranger rape were focused on. One half of the subjects were exposed to information which emphasized the inappropriateness of sexual inequality (salient condition), while the other half were exposed to no such information (nonsalient condition). Subsequently, subjects read a passage which depicted an acquaintance rape or a stranger rape. The results indicated that those subjects in the salient condition perceived the victim more favorable and reported a lesser likelihood to commit rape (male subjects) than those in the nonsalient condition. Additionally, those in the stranger rape condition perceived the victim more favorably and reported a lesser likelihood of committing rape (male subjects) than those in the acquaintance rape condition. Finally, there was a significant interaction between salience and type of rape. To amplify, when subjects read the stranger rape passage, perceptions did not vary as a function of salience. On the other hand, when subjects read the acquaintance rape passage, those in the salient condition perceived the victim more favoraby and reported a lesser likelihood of committing rape than those in the nonsalient condition.     

Image Attributions and Smoking Intentions Among Seventh Grade Students

Previous research has indicated that adolescents who intend to smoke differ from those who do not intend to smoke in the imagery they associate with smoking. The present study examined relationships among self-image, ideal self-image, image of smokers in general and image of models in cigarette ads for seventh-grade students. The strongest finding was a positive correspondence of smokers image to self-image in predicting intention to smoke cigarettes. This correspondence between smokers image and self-image derived from a relative depression of self-image in combination with a relative elevation of smokers image for youth who were more likely to report intentions to smoke. There was also a trend for the ideal self-image of youth with greater intentions to smoke to be similarly depressed. It is suggested that when both self-concept and aspirations for self-improvement are diminished, smoking may seem particularly desirable as a means of enhancing identity.     

Patients' perceptions of treatment for kidney failure: The impact of personal experience on population predictions

Estimates of the probability of various outcomes associated with treatment for kidney failure were made by chronic dialysis patients, dialysis patients awaiting transplant, successful transplant patients, and unsuccessful transplant patients back on dialysis. The latter two groups can be considered a natural experiment testing the impact of personal experience on population predictions. Consistent with the law of small numbers and the availability heuristic, successful transplant patients gave higher estimates of the population success rate for transplantation than unsuccessful transplant patients gave.