Abstract and concrete self-evaluative goals

Assuming that people often hold the abstract goal of acquiring accurate feedback but recognize that acquiring favorable feedback can make the self-evaluative process more comfortable, the authors posited that low-level construals (of how action is performed) would elicit greater self-enhancement motivation than would high-level construals (of why action is performed). Individuals chronically using low-level construals had greater interest in downward social comparison (DSC) and less interest in negative feedback (NF; Studies 1 and 3). Decreases in temporal distance (which foster low-level construals) also elicited greater interest in DSC and less interest in NF (Studies 2 and 4). The latter effect was explained by participants' aversion to inconvenience (Study 5) and not by approach-avoidance conflict (Study 6). These results suggest that the level of abstraction at which people construe self-evaluative situations can influence their feedback preferences.     

Factors differentiating successful versus unsuccessful malingerers.

Relatively little is known about the processes in which "successful" malingerers engage to avoid detection. This study summarizes the response strategies used by participants (N = 540) instructed to feign a specific mental disorder while completing various self-report instruments designed to detect faking. Postexperiment questionnaires indicated that those who were able to appear symptomatic while avoiding being detected as feigning (n = 60) were more likely to endorse a lower rate of legitimate symptoms, to avoid overly unusual or bizarre items, and to base their responses on their own personal experiences.     

Loneliness and social dissatisfaction in Turkish adolescents

The present study is an investigation of the relationships of sociometric status, gender, and academic achievement to loneliness levels of Turkish adolescents. Participants were 370 secondary school students (186 girls and 184 boys). Data on loneliness and social dissatisfaction levels of students were collected with the Turkish version of S. R. Asher and V. A. Wheeler's (1985) Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Scale. Sociometric data were gathered by using a rating scale and a positive nomination measure devised by S. R. Asher and K. A. Dodge (1986) in which participants were classified into one of four groups (popular, rejected, neglected, and controversial). The scores obtained from these measures were treated by a method similar to that of J. D. Coie, K. A. Dodge, and H. Coppotelli's (1982) standard score approach. Results revealed that sociometric status was significantly related to loneliness and social dissatisfaction as a function of peer relations. Members of the rejected group reported significantly higher levels of loneliness and social dissatisfaction than did members of the controversial, popular, and neglected groups. The controversial group was also significantly different from the popular group in loneliness level. No significant gender differences were found. Results also revealed a significant negative relationship between achievement scores and loneliness, indicating that as the level of loneliness increased, academic achievement decreased.     

Attitudes toward parenting strategies, potential for child abuse, and parental satisfaction of ethnically diverse low-income U.S. mothers

Among a sample of 176 low-income mothers from 3 ethnic groups in the United States, the authors investigated ethnic differences in attitudes toward preferred parenting strategies, or styles; ethnic differences in the potential for child abuse; and the relationship between parenting strategies, the potential for child abuse, and parental satisfaction. They distributed the Maternal Reactions to Child's Deviant Behavior subscale (K. M. Rickard, W. Graziano, & R. Forehand, 1984), a shortened version of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI; J. S. Milner & R. C. Wimberley, 1979), and a Parental Satisfaction Scale (N. P Medora, S. M. Wilson, & J. Larson, 1996) to the participants. The results indicated no significant ethnic differences in preferred parenting styles. Mothers from all 3 ethnic groups ranked praise and reasoning as the 1st and 2nd preferred parenting strategies. There were no ethnic differences in the perceived potential for child abuse. Parental satisfaction was negatively related to 2 of the CAPI subscales--Loneliness and Problems. The parenting strategy reasoning was positively correlated with parental satisfaction.     

The relation between well-being, impostor feelings, and gender role orientation among Canadian university students

A theoretical model of well-being identifies 6 key components that have been examined primarily in older adults (e.g., C. D. Ryff, 1989c, 1991): self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth (C. D. Ryff, 1995; C. D. Ryff & C. L. M. Keyes, 1995; C. D. Ryff & B. Singer, 1996). The authors examined them in a sample of 379 Canadian university students to determine how well-being was correlated with endorsement of stereotypic gender roles and with the impostor phenomenon. The participants completed Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being (Ryff, personal communication, March 1996), the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (P. R. Clance & M. A. O'Toole, 1988), and the Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire (J. T. Spence, R. L. Helmreich, & C. K. Holahan, 1979). The results supported the hypotheses that (a) people with higher scores for expressive traits score higher for well-being stemming from positive relations with others, (b) people with higher scores for instrumental traits score higher for well-being related to feelings of autonomy, (c) people with higher scores for impostor feelings (and lower scores for ability confidence) score lower for self-acceptance and (d) for environmental mastery.     

Behavioral and pharmacological variables affecting risky choice in rats.

The effects of manipulations of response requirement, intertrial interval (ITI), and psychoactive drugs (ethanol, phencyclidine, and d-amphetamine) on lever choice under concurrent fixed-ratio schedules were investigated in rats. Responding on the "certain' lever produced three 45-mg pellets, whereas responding on the "risky" lever produced either 15 pellets (p = .33) or no pellets (p .67). Rats earned all food during the session, which ended after 12 forced trials and 93 choice trials or 90 min, whichever occurred first. When the response requirement was increased from 1 to 16 and the ITI was 20 s, percentage of risky choice was inversely related to fixed-ratio value. When only a single response was required but the ITI was manipulated between 20 and 120 s (with maximum session duration held constant), percentage of risky choice was directly related to length of the ITI. The effects of the drugs were investigated first at an ITI of 20 s, when risky choice was low for most rats, and then at an ITI of 80 s, when risky choice was higher for most rats. Ethanol usually decreased risky choice. Phencyclidine did not usually affect risky choice when the ITI was 20 s but decreased it in half the rats when the ITI was 80 s. For d-amphetamine, the effects appeared to he related to baseline probability of risky choice; that is, low probabilities were increased and high probabilities were decreased. Although increase in risky choice as a function of the ITI is at variance with previous ITI data, it is consistent with foraging data showing that risk aversion decreases as food availability decreases. The pharmacological manipulations showed that drug effects on risky choice may be influenced by the baseline probability of risky choice, just as drug effects can be a function of baseline response rate.     

"It was never that bad": biased recall of grief and long-term adjustment to the death of a spouse

At 6 months following the death of their spouse, 37 participants reported their grief-related symptoms and thoughts, and then, approximately 4.5 years later, they attempted to recall how they felt at the time of the 6-month report. Although participants were far less distressed at recall than initially, they recalled their 6-month grief rather accurately. Participants did however overestimate prior grief-related intrusive ideation. Participant's current level of grief predicted what they recalled slightly better than the actual initial grief. Conversely, what they recalled predicted current levels of grief across various measures. Participants whose grief diminished relatively little over time tended to overestimate prior grief more. The retrospective reappraisal that one's past grief was not severe may indicate effective coping.     

Viewpoint dependence in visual and haptic object recognition

On the whole, people recognize objects best when they see the objects from a familiar view and worse when they see the objects from views that were previously occluded from sight. Unexpectedly, we found haptic object recognition to be viewpoint-specific as well, even though hand movements were unrestricted. This viewpoint dependence was due to the hands preferring the back "view" of the objects. Furthermore, when the sensory modalities (visual vs. haptic) differed between learning an object and recognizing it, recognition performance was best when the objects were rotated back-to-front between learning and recognition. Our data indicate that the visual system recognizes the front view of objects best, whereas the hand recognizes objects best from the back.