Paranormal belief and susceptibility to the conjunction fallacy

Numerous studies have shown paranormal believers misperceive randomness and are poor at judging probability. Despite the obvious relevance to many types of alleged paranormal phenomena, no one has examined whether believers are more susceptible to the ‘conjunction fallacy’; that is to misperceiving co‐occurring (conjunct) events as being more likely than singular (constituent) events alone. The present study examines believer vs. non‐believer differences in conjunction errors for both paranormal and non‐paranormal events presented as either a probability or a frequency estimation task. As expected, believers made more conjunction errors than non‐believers. This was true for both event types, with both groups making fewer errors for paranormal than for non‐paranormal events. Surprisingly, the response format (probability vs. frequency) had little impact. Results are discussed in relation to paranormal believers' susceptibility to the conjunction fallacy and more generally, to their propensity for probabilistic reasoning biases. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visual and nonvisual information disambiguate surfaces specified by motion parallax

Motion parallax has been shown to be an effective and unamhiguous:source of information about the structure of three-dimensional (3-D) surfaces, both when an observer makes lateral movementswith respect to a stationary surface and when the surface translates with respect to a stationary observer (Rogers & Graham, 1979). When the same pattern of relative motions among parts of the simulated surface is presented to a stationary observer on an unmoving monitor, the perceived corrugations are unstable with respect to the direction of the peaks and troughs. The lack of ambiguity in the original demonstrations could be due to the presence of (1) non-visual information (proprioceptive and vestibular signals) produced when the observer moves or tracks a moving surface, andlor (2) additional optic flow information available in the whole array. To distinguish between these two possibilities, we measured perceived ambiguity in simulated 3-D surfaces in situations where either nonvisual information or one of four kinds of visual information was present. Both visual and nonvisual information were effective in disambiguating the direction of depth within the simulated surface. Real perspective shape transformations affecting the elements of the display were most effective in disambiguating the display.     

Diversion of mentally disordered offenders: A legitimate role for clinicians?

Consultations to the courts often extend beyond criminal competencies and may include implicit statements regarding the diversion of mentally disordered offenders to treatment facilities. Arguments for diversion are based on humanitarian interests and treatment needs. Arguments opposing diversion recommendations emphasize (a) the variability of opinions regarding treatability, (b) the lack of sufficient outcome data, and (c) the potential for negative consequences in offering unsolicited opinions on diversion. Initial data from 271 pretrial evaluations underscore the range in psychiatric use of diversion recommendations, although inpatient referrals in particular appear to be based on clinical status.     

Problems with the slosson intelligence test for preschool children

The Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) was administered to 92 preschool children. Because of the considerably above average performance of the group on the SIT, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale was administered to a sample of the group and the results compared to the results on the SIT. The differences between the two sets of scores was highly significant, and as a result the SIT appears to over estimate the performance of average preschool children.     

Dropping out of parent training

The purpose of the present study was to determine the dropout rate when parents are taught to modify their children's problem behavior. Eight journals were examined for parent-training studies. Forty-five studies were found but only 22 of these reported dropout data. Studies were examined for dropout rate and in order to determine if the point in therapy at which dropout occurred was specified. The overall dropout rate was 28% and most studies specified when the dropout occurred. Finally, variables that are critical to dropping out when parent training is undertaken are presented and recommendations are made for future research.     

Parental interrater reliability as a function of situational specificity and familiarity of target child

Child behavior ratings were made by 17 mothers and fathers of the same child. Agreement was computed for each parent pair under the following experimental conditions: (1) Ratings of their own child's behavior in general (CBC); (2) ratings of own child based on observations of him/her in a videotaped sample; (3) ratings of an unknown child based on observations of him/her in a videotaped sample; and (4) ratings of the videotaped sample of own child and unknown child using a one minute time-sampling procedure. Parents achieved higher rates of agreement (X=.81) than have previously been reported. Increasing the specificity of the behavior being rated did not significantly affect agreement. Those parent pairs who agreed the most did not necessarily spend a large amount of time in the same kind of situations with their child. Agreement was significantly greater when parents rated their own children's videotaped behavior sample as opposed to that of an unknown child.     

Sex differences in the educational and occupational aspirations of rural youth

Rural girls (N = 926) and boys (N = 861) in grades 10, 11, and 12 answered questions concerning educational and occupational aspirations. The young women showed significantly higher educational aspiration, the same or higher occupational aspiration, and equal ranges of job choice. The results are discussed with respect to previous findings, and to status attainment models.     

Fear-Arousing and Empathy-Arousing Appeals to Help: The Pathos of Persuasion

An experiment tested the proposition that the components of a fear appeal which persuade us to protect ourselves are the Same components that persuade us to protect others. The results confirmed this hypothesis for the two components examined: noxiousness of the threatened danger and efficacy of coping response. Films showing noxious scenes of industrial whaling and films showing a pro-environmental action organization successfully saving whales from whalers strengthened intentions to help this endangered animal species. Taken together, available data indicate that fear appeals can persuade us to protect ourselves, other people, and even infrahuman animals. The social psychological paradigm used to investigate attitude change was merged with a paradigm employed to examine prosocial behavior. As predicted, an empathy-arousing appeal facilitated attitude change. Three implications for promoting ecological actions were discussed. First, empathy-arousing appeals can be applied to mass media campaigns. Second, the concept of response-efficacy in persuasive appeals can be extended from direct, individual action to activity requiring the mediation of social organizations. Finally, pro-environmental campaigns can be effective when the potential beneficiaries are not the ones shown, but who symbolize the many others in the same plight.