Ageism and death: effects of mortality salience and perceived similarity to elders on reactions to elderly people

The present research investigated the hypotheses that elderly people can be reminders of our mortality and that concerns about our own mortality can therefore instigate ageism. In Study 1, college-age participants who saw photos of two elderly people subsequently showed more death accessibility than participants who saw photos of only younger people. In Study 2, making mortality salient for participants increased distancing from the average elderly person and decreased perceptions that the average elderly person possesses favorable attitudes. Mortality salience did not affect ratings of teenagers. In Study 3, these mortality salience effects were moderated by prior reported similarity to elderly people. Distancing from, and derogation of, elderly people after mortality salience occurred only in participants who, weeks before the study, rated their personalities as relatively similar to the average elderly person's. Discussion addresses distinguishing ageism from other forms of prejudice, as well as possibilities for reducing ageism.     

Multiple time scales in serial production of force: a tutorial on power spectral analysis of motor variability

We present a tutorial on a power spectral approach to variability in serial motor performance, describing as a case study two experiments on the form of the variance in two force production tasks. In Experiment 1 we examine grip force and load force in repetitive unimanual pulling; in Experiment 2, we describe repetitive bimanual pressing. In both experiments log-log plots of power spectral density of peak force of the responses in each stream against frequency (i.e. periodicity or repetition cycle defined with respect to the ordered succession of responses) were approximately linear with negative slopes which varied systematically with test conditions. We propose the two response streams in each experiment are associated with different levels of sustained attention and state a simple model involving summation of moving average processes on multiple time scales as a qualitative account of the changes in 1/f slope.     

Technological aids to promote basic developmental achievements by children with multiple disabilities: evaluation of two cases

Technological aids such as microswitches may be critical to foster learning and development in children with multiple disabilities. In study I, a child with minimal motor behavior was provided with a microswitch for chin movements to assess whether he could learn to use these movements to activate environmental stimuli. In study II, a child with dystonic (difficult-to-control) behavior was provided with microswitches for two motor responses and two vocal utterances. We wanted to assess whether he could use both types of responses effectively (varying within each pair, consistent with choice performance). The results were highly encouraging with both children. In study I, there was a significant increase in the childs responding, suggesting learning and contingency awareness. In study II, there was a significant increase in responding as well as response variation that suggested choice behavior. The importance of microswitch devices in promoting new learning/developmental objectives and improving quality of life is discussed.     

Effects of task factors on selection by color in the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task

In five experiments, we examined task factors influencing selection by color in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task. Participants were required to respond to the presence or case of a target letter presented within an RSVP sequence, and they were cued as to the color in which that target was most likely to occur. The first two experiments explored the effect of task difficulty. It was found that a change from the discrimination of upper- versus lowercase targets to the detection of an exact shape had no influence on the color-cuing effect. In contrast, increasing letter set discriminability and decreasing color discriminability reduced the color-cuing effect considerably, although they did not eliminate it. In the third and fourth experiments, the frequency of valid trials was reduced, removing the incentive to use the color information. Again, a small benefit remained, indicating partially automatic and strategic color-processing components. Finally, the fifth experiment showed that an increase in perceptual load had no influence on the color-cuing effect. Together, these five experiments provide further evidence of the robustness of direct selection by color.     

Simple reaction time and statistical facilitation: a parallel grains model

A race-like model is developed to account for various phenomena arising in simple reaction time (RT) tasks. Within the model, each stimulus is represented by a number of grains of information or activation processed in parallel. The stimulus is detected when a criterion number of activated grains reaches a decision center. Using the concept of statistical facilitation, the model accounts for many classical effects on mean simple RT, including those of stimulus area, stimulus intensity, stimulus duration, criterion manipulations, redundant stimuli, and the dissociation between intensity effects on simple RTs and temporal order judgments. The model is also consistent with distributional properties of simple RTs.     

ERP correlates of form and rhyme letter tasks in impaired reading children: a critical evaluation.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were obtained from 15 electrode sites in six average and six impaired reading children, 12 years of age, during visual letter discrimination tasks. Subjects responded to target letters with an enclosed area in the form task and to letters that rhymed with "e" in the rhyme task. Response accuracy was similar between the groups. Reaction time was relatively longer for the impaired group during the rhyme task. At lateral sites, condition differences were evident as greater negative shifts in the rhyme task than the form at 170 and 470 ms as well as a delayed late positivity for the rhyme. In terms of reading ability, the average readers' ERPs were more negative than those of the impaired group at 270 and 450 ms. Inter-hemispheric variations were also seen between the groups, with the average readers more negative than the impaired readers at right hemisphere sites. Contrary to expectations, group differences in the ERP did not vary substantially as a function of condition, and task demands were evaluated in view of these findings.     

Evidence that projection of a feared trait can serve a defensive function

Two experiments tested the notion that allowing people to project a feared trait onto another individual would facilitate denial of the trait. In Study 1, participants were given feedback that they were high or low in repressed anger and were allowed to rate an ambiguous target on anger or not. Participants who received high (vs. low) anger feedback rated the target especially high on anger. In addition, participants who received high anger feedback and who were allowed to project their anger had the lowest anger accessibility on a word completion exercise. Study 2 replicated these basic findings using a different trait dimension (dishonesty) and a direct measure of denial (self-attributions of dishonesty). Specifically, in Study 2, participants who received high dishonesty feedback and who were allowed to project dishonesty reported having an especially low level of dishonesty. Discussion focused on the relationship between classic projection and other forms of psychological defense.     

Connecting terror management and dissonance theory: Evidence that mortality salience increases the preference for supporting information after decisions

From the perspective of terror management theory, reminders of mortality should intensify the desire to pursue cognitive consistency. The authors investigated this notion with regard to dissonance theory starting from the finding of research on "selective exposure to information" that after having made a decision, people prefer consonant over dissonant information. The authors found that following mortality salience, people indeed showed an increased preference for information that supported their decision compared to information conflicting with it. However, this only occurred with regard to a worldview-relevant decision case. For a fictitious decision scenario, mortality salience did not affect information seeking. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Play it safe or go for the gold? A terror management perspective on self-enhancement and self-protective motives in risky decision making

Terror management theory (TMT) posits that bolstering self-esteem buffers mortality concerns; accordingly, in past research, heightening mortality salience (MS) increases self-enhancement. However, risky self-esteem-relevant decisions often present a choice between enhancing self-esteem by striving for excellence and protecting self-esteem by avoiding potential failure. Which strategy is preferred under MS? Combining TMT with insights from Steele, Spencer, and Lynch's (1993) resource model, the authors hypothesized and found that MS leads high, but not low, self-esteem participants faced with a risky decision to pursue opportunities for excellence despite substantial risk of failure (Studies 1 and 2); in Study 3, using a more impactful decision, this effect was replicated and it was furthermore found that mortality-salient low-self-esteem participants become more risk-averse. Furthermore, in Study 2, a self-affirmation prime, previously shown to reduce MS-induced defenses, eliminated the self-enhancement effect among high-self-esteem participants. Implications for understanding self-esteem, TMT, and risky decision making are briefly discussed.