Seek and ye shall find: test results are what you hypothesize they are

Expert clinicians were given batteries of psychodiagnostic test results (Rorschach, TAT, Draw-A-Person, Bender-Gestalt, Wechsler) to analyze. For half, a battery came along with a suggestion that the person suffers from Borderline Personality disorder, and for half, that battery was accompanied by a suggestion that he suffers from Paranoid Personality disorder. In Study 1, the suggestion was made indirectly, through a background story that preceded the test results. In Study 2, the suggestion was made directly, by the instructions given. The experts saw in the tests what they hypothesized to be there. In particular, the target diagnoses were rated higher when they were hypothesized than when they were not. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recalling a floor routine: the effects of skill and age on memory for order

Two studies were conducted to examine gymnasts' memory capabilities in relation to skill level (high and low) and age level (6–8 years and 14–16 years). The first experiment consisted of two trials performed 7 days apart. In the first trial, gymnasts were briefly exposed to a twelve‐element floor routine, and were then required to perform the routine in the same serial order. One week later they were again briefly presented the same sequence, but with the fifth and seventh elements missing. The task was to perform the sequence in order, including the missing elements. The second study involved three trials that were conducted on the same day. A ten‐element sequence was briefly presented on the first trial followed by an immediate test of that sequence. One hour later, participants were asked to perform the sequence again (delayed test). An hour following that, the sequence was again presented with two elements missing. The sequence had to be performed with the missing elements. The results indicate that serial position accuracy of a gymnastic floor routine improves with both age and experience, and that the older experienced gymnasts outperformed all the other gymnasts on all phases of the experiments. These results are interpreted within the Ericsson and Kintsch (1995) theory of Long‐term Working Memory. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Motivating emotional intelligence: A reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) perspective

Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) is generally associated with positive outcomes and can inform clinical and social interventions. We investigated the sub-factors of trait EI: Wellbeing, Self-control, Emotionality, and Sociability, in the context of the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) of motivation. In Study 1, participants (N?=?247) completed Carver and White’s (J Personal Soc Psychol 67:319–333; Carver, White, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67:319–333, 1994) BIS/BAS scales and a measure of trait EI. All EI sub-factors were positively associated with BAS Drive and negatively with BIS. Study 2 (N?=?382) employed a new questionnaire based on revised RST (Corr and Cooper, Psychol Assess 28:1427–1440; Corr, Cooper, Psychological Assessment 28:1427–1440, 2016). All trait EI factors were positively associated with BAS Goal-Drive Persistence and Reward Interest, and negatively with the BIS. Self-control showed negative associations with BAS Impulsivity and was the only factor not to correlate with BAS Reward Reactivity. Results suggest that high trait EI individuals are goal driven, sensitive to reward and lower in avoidance motivation and negative emotion. This motivational basis to trait EI further explicates its structure.     

On some limits of hypothetical thinking

Faced with extreme demands, hypothetical thinking runs the danger of total failure. Paradoxical propositions such as the Liar (“I am lying”) provide an opportunity to test it to its limits, while the Liar's nonparadoxical counterpart, the Truthteller (“I am telling the truth”), provides a useful comparison. Two experiments are reported, one with abstract materials (“If I am a knave then I live in Emerald City”) and one with belief-laden materials (a judge says: “If I am a knave then I enjoy pop music”). In both experiments, conditionals with Truthteller-type antecedents were “collapsed” to responses of conditional probability closely resembling estimates of control items. Liar-type antecedents, in contrast, dramatically weakened belief in conditionals in which they were embedded. The results are discussed in the framework of the theory of hypothetical thinking.     

Disregarding Preliminary Information When Rating Job Applicants' Performance: Mission Impossible?1

Firms allocate considerable resources to test job applicants' skills and to ensure that hiring decisions are nondiscriminatory. Interpreting selection output in light of preliminary information may undermine the impartiality of personnel selection decisions. In this study, human resource managers were presented preliminary information about a candidate's performance and asked to rate him according to a detailed assessment‐center report of his performance. We examined several interventions for reducing reliance on preliminary information: retrieving assessment‐center information, generating a rating model, or both. Participants (N = 167) excluded preliminary information from the interventions, but relied on it when rating the candidate. The documented failure to control for the effects of preliminary information on subsequent judgments can contribute to improved selection procedures.     

Investigating sustained attention ability in the elderly by using two different approaches: Inhibiting ongoing behavior versus responding on rare occasions

Previous studies on sustained attention ability in the elderly produced inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to evaluate sustained attention performance in younger and older individuals by using, in a within-subjects design, two versions of the same task (the sustained attention to response task, SART) in which only in the response mode differed: in a traditionally formatted task (TFT), subjects had to respond to rare targets, and in a Go/No-Go task they had to withhold response to rare targets. Results showed that in the TFT SART only the older group exhibited a vigilance decrement. On the contrary, only young individuals showed a vigilance decrement in the Go/No-Go SART. These results showed that older individuals, who also reported less mind wandering and a higher level of motivation, exhibited preserved sustained attention ability in the Go/No-Go SART, which could be explained by increased engagement of cognitive control mechanisms in this population. The discrepancy in performance depending on the approach used also underlines the need for further studies on the nature of attention failures and their underlying mechanisms.     

Dissociation between the cognitive process and the phenomenological experience of TOT: effect of the anxiolytic drug lorazepam on TOT states

TOT states may be viewed as a temporary and reversible microamnesia. We investigated the effects of lorazepam on TOT states in response to general knowledge questions. The lorazepam participants produced more commission errors and more TOTs following commission errors than the placebo participants (although the rates did not change). The resolution of the TOTs was unimpaired by the drug. Neither feeling-of-knowing accuracy nor recognition were affected by lorazepam. The higher level of incorrect recalls produced by lorazepam participants may be due to the fact that they were more frequently temporarily unable to access a known item. For some of these items, the awareness of the retrieval failure resulted in a commission TOT (phenonemological TOT after a commission error). The resolution of the TOT conflict is discussed in the light of the anxiolytic and anticonflict effects of lorazepam. The data are discussed in terms of contemporary theories of TOTs and the effects that benzodiazepines have on semantic memory.     

Perception of exertion and attention allocation as a function of visual and auditory conditions

AimThe aim of the present study was to test the role of auditory (e.g., music) and visual sensory modalities on perceived levels of exertion and attention processes across a 30% dynamometer-squeezing task. The study explored the dynamics embedded within the automated nature of the association–dissociation shift process.MethodSixty young adults (33 male and 27 female; M_age = 22.21 yrs, SD = 3.49) were recruited to perform a handgrip-squeezing task. They were randomly assigned to 4 groups of 15 participants. After establishing the maximal squeezing value they performed 30% max squeezing-task under one of four assigned condition: full vision and preferred music, full vision and no music, blindfolded and preferred music, and blindfolded and no music until volitional fatigue. Rate of perceived exertion and attention strategies were administered at 30 s intervals.ResultsA set of Repeated Measures ANOVAs indicated an additive effect of visual and auditory cues on the perception of exertion, and the dynamic pattern of attention shift. Participants who were given both forms of sensory information remained in a dissociative strategy for a significantly longer duration than participants in all other conditions.ConclusionsSeveral sensory modalities are required to affect perceived exertion and attention allocation while engaging in demanding workload. External stimuli may serve as mediating agents in diverting attention away from internal and painful stimuli. This distraction may likely contribute to the pleasantness of the exercise experience, ultimately leading to increased exercise participation and reduced dropout rates.