The effect of normative beliefs on anticipated emotions.

In 3 experiments, Ss were asked how they would or should make hypothetical decisions and how they would react emotionally to the options or outcomes. The choices were those in which departures from proposed normative models had previously been found: omission bias, status quo bias, and the person-causation effect. These effects were found in all judgments, including judgments of anticipated emotion. Arguments against the departures affected judgments of anticipated emotion as well as decisions, even though the arguments were entirely directed at the question of what should be done. In all but one study, effects of these arguments on anticipated emotion were as strong as their effects on decisions or normative beliefs. Thus, in many situations, people think that their emotional reactions will fall into line with their normative beliefs. In other situations, some people think that their emotional reactions have a life of their own. It is suggested that both normative beliefs and anticipated emotions affect decisions.     

Social processing errors among paranoid personalities

The present study tested clinical hypotheses about the social processing attributes of paranoid personalities (PP). Eighteen PPs and 18 normal controls (NC) viewed standardized role plays (Dodge, 1986) in which a provocation occurred but the protagonist's intention varied (i.e., ambiguous, accidental, hostile, or prosocial). Subjects identified the intention behind the action and then chose a response to that action (e.g., ignore what he did). The results indicated that PPs and NCs did not differ on intentioncue detection when the intention was clear, but PPs had a significantly higher rate of misreading ambiguous situations. Furthermore, when intentions were ambiguous, PPs were more likely than NCs to identify them as hostile intentions. Finally, PPs' reactions to the vignettes were different from normal controls' when the perceived intention was either prosocial or accidential. PPs were more likely to respond with anger and less likely to ignore the event, compared to NCs. These data provide initial support for clinical notions about the aberrant social processing of paranoid personalities.     

CHILDREN'S THINKING IN BOTSWANA: PIAGET TASKS EXAMINED*

This Piaget replication study was done in Botswana. Six tasks were completed by 554 primary school children from urban, rural, and traditional village environments. Conservation of number, length, mass and weight, seriation and classification exercises were carried out using materials commonly found in the culture. Previous studies by other investigators have compared schooled and unschooled subjects in other African countries, but often unschooled subjects were from rural areas, so the environmental effects could not be isolated. In this study comparisons were made between students in the three environments, between age groups, and between male and female subjects. Urban children completed tasks at an earlier age than those from other environments. In general, the results are similar to findings from other African countries.     

Phonemic-analysis training helps children benefit from spelling-sound rules

It has been frequently suggested that the ability to analyze spoken words into phonemes facilitates children’s learning of spelling-sound rules. This research attempts to demonstrate that link by showing that phonemic-analysis training helps children take advantage of spelling sound rules in learning to read. In two experiments, preschool and kindergarten prereaders participated in an analysis condition and a control condition on each of 4 test days. In the analysis condition, children learned to segment (and in Experiment 2, also to blend) selected spoken syllables. In the control condition, they merely repeated syllables. Children were then introduced to printed items that corresponded to the spoken syllables with which they had worked. The pronunciation of the “related” item could be deduced from those of other printed items in the set; the pronunciation of the “unrelated” item could not be so deduced. Both experiments revealed a significant interaction between condition (analysis vs. control) and item type (related vs. unrelated). In the control condition, children tended to make more errors on the related item than on the unrelated item; in the analysis condition, they tended to make fewer errors on the related item than on the unrelated item. These results suggest a causal link between the ability to analyze spoken syllables and the ability to benefit from spelling-sound relations in reading.     

Effect of inconsistent distinctiveness of artificial semantic features on retrieval speed

A purported universal of language is the generalization of distinctive features, for example, in phonology and semantics, within a language or an individual. This could be due to a tendency either to use or to ignore a feature depending on whether or not it has previously been distinctive. This mechanism is shown to operate in retrieval of well-learned artificial concept names. Several simple models of performance cannot account for this effect. The apparent inefficiency of possible mechanisms which could account for this result suggests that it may reflect a special predisposition.     

A rate measure of the relative aversiveness of signalled vs unsignalled shock

Five rats were trained on a two-component multiple schedule with each component consisting of a two-link chain schedule. Differential response suppression in the initial links of the chain schedules was used as a measure of the relative aversiveness of events introduced into the subsequent terminal links. When unsignalled shock was scheduled in one terminal link and signalled shock in the other (in addition to equal numbers of food reinforcers), responding was suppressed to a greater degree in the initial link preceding the unsignalled-shock condition. Reversing the terminal-link positions of unsignalled shock and signalled shock led to a reversal of the differential response suppression in the initial links. These results confirm previous findings that signalled shock is less aversive than unsignalled shock and extend the generality of this phenomenon from choice measures to rate measures of aversiveness.     

Perceptual dependence: Evidence for an internal threshold

Ss were asked to make two forced-choice discriminations on each trial: in Experiment I, they had to tell on which side of the display a latter pair appeared and whether or not its members were identical; in Experiment II, to say where the pair appeared and whether it consisted of Xs or Os; in Experiment III, to say where a letter appeared and whether it rhymed with E; and in Experiment IV, to say whether a letter pair was presented and whether it was a word. In Experiment III, and for some Ss in Experiment I, the second discrimination was dependent on the first; that is, when the S was wrong on the first, he performed at chance level on the second. In Experiment IV, when Ss indicated that nothing was presented (with confidence), they performed at chance level on the recognition task; thus, recognition was dependent upon some information about the detection task. It is argued that perceptual dependence implies that a threshold state, a state in which the S has no information, exists for the dependent discrimination. One explanation of dependence assumes mediation of the dependent discrimination by a processing stage which succeeds stages mediating the other task.     

Why women fail/succeed in ministry: Psychological factors

A study was made of the most and least successful women minister graduates of Christian Theological Seminary since 1959. Significant differences were found in several scales of the CTMM, the ACL and the MMPI. These indicated, for example, higher intelligence, a better self-image, more openness to feelings and to general human faults plus alternative viewpoints, more leadership ability and ability to take charge of their own lives, for the more successful women. Implications for helpful interventions were discussed.Dr. Cardwell is Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling and Director of the Pastoral Counseling Service at Christian Theological Seminary, 1000 West 42nd Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46208.     

Type and frequency of praise as determinants of favorability of self-image: an experiment in a field setting

An experiment was conducted in a skills training center with a sample of 28 Black female trainees The effects of variations in type (person- vs. achievement-oriented) and frequency (75% vs. 25%) of praise were ascertained on favorableness of selfimage and task performance. It was found that, in general, lower frequencies of praise produced more positive self-evaluations than high frequencies of praise, and that person-oriented praise was more effective than achievement-oriented praise in enhancing self-evaluation A significant interaction found for “myself as male friends see me” demonstrated that (a) at a 75 percent frequency of reinforcement, person-oriented praise was significantly more effective than performance-oriented praise, and (b) performance-focused praise delivered at a 25 percent frequency enhanced subjects' self-image significantly more than performance-oriented praise given at a 75 percent level. No significant effects were found for the accuracy-type tasks (work recognition, visual perceptiveness) On the task which involved a simple, speeded response (manual dexterity) there were significant effects (a) achievement-oriented praise was more effective than person-oriented praise, (b) a significant interaction between type and frequency of praise occurred, indicating that performance-oriented praise is most effective when given at a 25 percent level     

Taste,odor, and tactile discrimination before and after smoking

Differential sensitivity was measured before and after smoking a cigarette by seven smokers, using six non-smokers as controls. Stimuli consisted of the tastes of sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid, caffeine, and quinine hydrochloride; the odors of vanillin and 2-butanone; and the viscosity produced by a carrageenan gum. No significant jnds were observed between smokers and non-smokers, nor before vs after smoking. Therefore, the data supported neither longterm nor short-term influences of cigarette smoking. Practice effects were noted among the control group, as more correct responses were obtained on the second than on the first set of solutions in most of the test stimuli.