Selective influence through conditional independence

Let each of several (generally interdependent) random vectors, taken separately, be influenced by a particular set of external factors. Under what kind of the joint dependence of these vectors on the union of these factor sets can one say that each vector is selectively influenced by “its own” factor set? The answer proposed and elaborated in this paper is: One can say this if and only if one can find a factor-independent random vector given whose value the vectors in question are conditionally independent, with their conditional distributions selectively influenced by the corresponding factor sets. Equivalently, the random vectors should be representable as deterministic functions of “their” factor sets and of some mutually independent and factor-independent random variables, some of which may be shared by several of the functions.     

Children's working-memory processes: a response-timing analysis

Recall response durations were used to clarify processing in working-memory tasks. Experiment 1 examined children's performance in reading span, a task in which sentences were processed and the final word of each sentence was retained for subsequent recall. Experiment 2 examined the development of listening-, counting-, and digit-span task performance. Responses were much longer in the reading-and listening-span tasks than in the other span tasks, suggesting that participants in sentence-based span tasks take time to retrieve the semantic or linguistic structure as cues to recall of the sentence-final words. Response durations in working-memory tasks helped to predict academic skill and achievement, largely separate from the contributions of the memory spans themselves. Response durations thus are important in the interpretation of span task performance.     

Cultural meanings of nature: an analysis of contemporary motion pictures

To evaluate current cultural meanings of nature, the authors asked 65 undergraduate students to "list 3 movies in which nature was an important aspect of the film." They also were asked to specify the natural element that stood out to them and describe "how it related to the overall theme of the movie." Two independent groups of raters skilled in interpretive analysis developed thematic meanings from these responses. Following this, in a 2nd study, a different group of participants rated the 18 most frequently mentioned natural elements on thematic scales derived from the initial interpretive analysis. Participants in the 1st study mentioned 33 different movies at least twice and 5 themes that captured the meaning of nature in these films. Correlational results derived from the 2nd study indicated that rating scales reflecting these 5 themes formed 2 distinct groups; the first group described settings in which nature is experienced as adversarial and plays a significant role in dramatic action, and the second group defined settings in which nature is viewed either as a place of refuge or simply as a locale in which ongoing narrative action occurs. The general conclusion reached in both studies concerns the often noted but not always appreciated fact that movies--similar to everyday events and actions--always take place in specific settings and that neither life events nor dramatic narratives can be understood apart from specific settings.     

What predicts adjustment among law students? A longitudinal panel study

Although at the time of this article's publication, many anecdotes and cross-sectional studies had reported that law students experience significant distress during their 1st year, few researchers had controlled for prelaw school status (e.g., M. Garrison, B. Tomko, & I. Yip, 1996; L. Guinier, M. Fine, J. Balin, A. Bartow, & D. L. Stachel, 1994), and only a single group of researchers had explored a psychosocial factor that predicted these changes. The present authors tested 3 sets of potential predictors of adjustment: sources of stress, coping strategies, and relationship factors. The present data replicated declines in students' psychological health, physical health, and attitudes toward law over the 1st year of school. That result supports the generalizability and currency of previous studies. In contrast to other researchers, the present authors found few gender differences. Less relationship happiness, less emotional support, and use of less active coping tactics at the beginning of the year predicted poorer outcomes at the end of the year. Strain from academic pressures, lack of personal time, and social isolation were correlated with poorer outcomes.     

Inferring the mental processes of other minds

In 4 experiments, the authors examined how several variables influence the quality and quantity of information that people use to make judgments about other people. The results showed that when possible, participants consistently responded appropriately to variables that influenced information that they used to make inferences about other minds. The results also suggested that under circumstances with no opportunity to contrast behavior in different situations, people might not be sensitive to the quality and quantity of information present. The authors interpreted results to mean that under most circumstances, people make inferences in a way that efficiently uses information about the causes of behavior.     

Sex differences in recall of real or nonsense words

Women perform better than men on tests of verbal memory, but the nature of this advantage has not been precisely established. To examine whether phonemic memory is a factor in the female advantage, we presented, along with other verbal memory tasks, one containing nonsense words. Overall, there was the expected female advantage. However, an examination of the individual tests showed female superiority in recall of the real words but not the nonsense words.     

Gender Stereotypes in Japanese Television Advertisements

The aim of this study was to reveal gender portrayal types in Japanese television advertisements through content analysis. Five hundred and thirty-one adult main characters were coded for sex, age, ethnic background, credibility, role, place, dress, background, persuasion type, camera work, camera angle, product type, target, and sex of voice-over. Five types were found by performing quick cluster analysis: beautiful and wise housewives, young ladies attracting people's attention, young celebrities, middle- and old-aged people enjoying private time, and middle-aged worker bee. The first three were mainly women and the latter two were mainly men. The results indicate that in Japanese television advertisements men and women are portrayed differently, and the differences correspond with traditional gender stereotypes.     

Patients' versus informants' reports of personality disorders in predicting 7 1/2-year outcome in outpatients with depressive disorders

Concordance between patients' and informants' reports of personality disorders (PDs) is low, raising the questions of which source provides more valid data and whether both contribute unique information. This study compared patients' and informants' reports of PDs in predicting outcome in a 7 1/2-year follow-up of 85 depressed outpatients. Patients and informants were independently evaluated using structured interviews; outcome was assessed using structured interviews with patients. Both patients' and informants' reports of PD diagnoses and dimensional scores independently predicted depression symptoms and global functioning at follow-up. However, only informants' reports made a unique contribution to predicting social adjustment. This finding indicates that both patients and informants provide unique information on Axis II psychopathology and argues for the use of both sources in the assessment of PDs.     

Incremental validity and the assessment of psychopathology in adults

Results from studies on incremental validity are described for (a) interviews, (b) personality inventories, (c) projective techniques, and (d) brief self-rated and clinician-rated measures. In some of the studies (clinical judgment studies), psychologists were given increasing amounts of information. In other studies (statistical prediction studies), increasing amounts of assessment information were entered into a statistical prediction rule. Although relatively little research has been conducted on incremental validity, results that have been obtained tend to favor the use of interviews, personality inventories (e.g., the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2; J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R., Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989), and brief self-rated measures (e.g., the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, S. Reiss, R. A. Peterson, D. M. Gursky, & R. M. McNally, 1986). Results are generally less encouraging for projective techniques.