The power distance reduction hypothesis on a level of reality

An experiment and a replication were conducted, testing the hypothesis that the smaller the actual power distance between a subject and a more powerful other, the stronger the tendency to reduce the power distance between them. Power distance was created by placing the subject in a group of three people plus a supervisor. In the condition of large power distance, the three workers had identical functions. Small power distance was induced by placing the subject at an intermediary power level, above the two workers, but below the supervisor. Two other conditions of small power distance were manipulated in order to assess the effects of the timing of power promotion and the perception of the promotion as caused by the subject's task competence. During the course of the experiment, the supervisor left unexpectedly and the subject had the option of taking over the supervisory role or letting one of his co-workers assume it. In the first experiment, subjects who were at a large power distance chose to replace the supervisor significantly less frequently than subjects in the three small power-distance conditions. The small power-distance conditions did not differ from each other. The replication with two small power-distances conditions produced the same results. Both experiments took place in a natural setting.     

Pavlovian conditioning of drug reactions: Some implications for problems of drug addiction

This paper reviews the classical conditioning of drug reactions, with special emphasis on the relationship of this phenomenon to drug addiction. Several aspects of drug addiction such as drug craving, high relapse tendencies, and the recurrence of withdrawal symptoms are reviewed and interpreted in light of classical conditioning theory and data. A theory is proposed that attempts to account for various aspects of the addictive process. The implications and empirical methods for testing this theory are outlined.     

Mood induction effects upon goal setting and performance in young children

The purpose of the present investigation was to demonstrate that goal setting varies with happy/sad mood-induced states in young children. In turn, on the basis of current Goal Setting Theory, it was predicted that goal level mediates the child's subsequent performance. Young children were assigned randomly to either happy or sad mood induction states, were asked to set their own goals, and then performed the task. In light of the findings, mood state was manipulated effectively in the children, with the following result: A happy mood state produced a significantly higher goal and superior performance than a sad mood state. However, no strong evidence was provided for the notion that goal setting mediated the impact of mood induction upon performance. The developmental implication of these findings are discussed.     

Assessing treatability in mentally disordered offenders: A conceptual and methodological note

The assessment of treatability in mentally disordered offenders has rarely been addressed through empirical research, despite its frequent use in clinical and legal decision-making. We describe four necessary steps for establishing the requisite research base for treatability evaluations: (a) criterion specification, (b) the development of reliable measures, (c) the validation of these measures with treatment outcome data, and (d) the incorporation of environmental and base rate information.     

Five domains of interpersonal competence in peer relationships

In three studies we investigated the utility of distinguishing among different domains of interpersonal competence in college students' peer relationships. In Study 1 we developed a questionnaire to assess five dimensions of competence: initiating relationships, self-disclosure, asserting displeasure with others' actions, providing emotional support, and managing interpersonal conflicts. Initial validation evidence was gathered. We found that self-perceptions of competence varied as a function of sex of subject, sex of interaction partner, and competence domain. In Study 2 we found moderate levels of agreement between ratings of competence by subjects and their roommates. Interpersonal competence scores were also related in predictable ways to subject and roommate reports of masculinity and femininity, social self-esteem, loneliness, and social desirability. In Study 3 we obtained ratings of subjects' competence from their close friends and new acquaintances. Relationship satisfaction among new acquaintances was predicted best by initiation competence, whereas satisfaction in friendships was most strongly related to emotional support competence. The findings provide strong evidence of the usefulness of distinguishing among domains of interpersonal competence.     

Book Reviews

The Psychological Record -     

Development of infant ear asymmetries for speech and music

Groups of 2-, 3-, and 4-month olds were tested for dichotic ear differences in memory-based phonetic and music timbre discriminations. A right-ear advantage for speech and a left-ear advantage (LEA) for music were found in the 3- and 4-month-olds. However, the 2-month-olds showed only the music LEA, with no reliable evidence of memory-based speech discrimination by either hemisphere. Thus, the responses of all groups to speech contrasts were different from those to music contrasts, but the pattern of the response dichotomy in the youngest group deviated from that found in the older infants. It is suggested that the quality or use of lefthemisphere phonetic memory may change between 2 and 3 months, and that the engagement of right-hemisphere specialized memory for musical timbre may precede that for left-hemisphere phonetic memory. Several directions for future research are suggested to determine whether infant short-term memory asymmetries for speech and music are attributable to acoustic factors, to different modes or strategies in perception, or to structural and dynamic properties of natural sound sources.     

Individual differences for sex differences in achievement attributions?

Past research has found a self-defensive bias in males and a self-derogatory bias in female achievement attributions. Dispositional explanations for these differences were examined in the present study. Subjects completed measures of Need for Achievement, Self-Esteem, Fear of Success, Attitudes Toward Women, and Androgyny. They later competed in same- or mixed-sex pairs on an anagram task which was prearranged in difficulty so that one subject clearly defeated his/her partner. Consistent with past research, males were more likely to attribute their outcomes to ability, and less likely to attribute their outcomes to effort and luck, than were females. Achievement motivation was the most consistently successful predictor of these sex differences.     

Transfer of conditioned appetitive stimuli to conditioned aversive excitatory and inhibitory stimuli

The transfer of Pavlovian appetitive stimuli to Pavlovian aversive stimuli was examined in three experiments. In Experiment 1, rats received appetitive (Ap) conditioning designed to establish a flashing-light stimulus as either a CS+, CSo, or CS? for food, or to maintain it as a novel stimulus for US-alone subjects. Then, the stimulus was employed as a signal for weak shock in conditioned-emotional-response (CER) training. Both acquisition and extinction results showed that the ApCS+ facilitated and the ApCS? retarded aversive excitatory conditioning relative to the ApCSo and US-alone controls. Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1 with both a moderate and a severe shock in CER training. In Experiment 3, different groups received the same appetitive conditioning as before, but to a flashing-light stimulus which was then employed as a signal for no shock in CER training. The ApCS? facilitated and the ApCS+ retarded aversive inhibitory conditioning relative to ApCSo and US-alone controls. Collectively, these findings establish that, in Pavlovian conditioning, transfer of an appetitive CS to an aversive excitor or inhibitor is facilitated by maintaining the initial conditioning contingency.