Extraversion: A “Hidden” Personality Factor in Coping?

Recent evidence suggests a larger role for personality determinants of the coping response than has been traditionally held. In the two studies presented here, we examined the influence of personality on the use of social support and other coping strategies in samples of undergraduate students. The first study surveyed a range of coping responses to naturally occurring stressors and found that Extraversion was related to social support seeking, optimism (identified as germane to coping in prior research) was related to problem solving, and both dispositions were negatively related to avoidance. The second study used an experimental approach and multiple personality measures to correct for possible methodological problems in the first. Extraversion again proved to be associated with help seeking; moreover, this relationship accounted for that of another disposition, self-esteem—a construct considered crucial in the literature. The utility of personality variables, particularly Extraversion, in predicting and explaining the choice of a coping strategy is discussed.     

Are All Hostility Scales Alike? Factor Structure and Covariation Among Measures of Hostility1

Few studies have examined the correlational and structural relationships between measures of hostility that may predict coronary heart disease. Using data from a population-based study (N= 2,682), we examined the factor structure among the five subscales from Siegel's (1986) Multi-dimensional Anger Inventory, the three subscales from Spielberger et al.'s (1985) anger expression scales, a Cook-Medley (Cook & Madley, 1954) hostility subscale that measures cynicism, and items measuring hostility from four scales that assess Type A behavior. Eight separate factors were identified: hostile anger expression, perceived control over the expression of one's anger, frequency of anger, ease of anger provocation, brooding, hostile outlook, cynicism, and sullenness. These results suggest that the structure of hostility measures is more complex than previous factor analyses have suggested. Our findings point to the dangers in assuming that a factor structure can be generalized beyond the data on which it is based to provide theoretical statements about psychological structure. The new scales appear to be valid because they correlate with demographic variables and indicators of social support in the expected directions.     

Attachement,solitude et détresse psychologique chez des jeunes adultes

La présente étude vise à examiner la nature des liens entre les styles d'attachement (sécurisant, anxieux/ambivalent et évitant), la solitude et la détresse psychologique (dépression, anxiété, agressivité et problèmes cognitifs) chez des jeunes adultes. L'échantillon se compose de 407 étudiants de niveau collégial dont l'âge moyen se situe à 18 ans. Les sujets doivent répondre à deux questionnaires d'évaluation du style d'attachement, à l'échelle de solitude UCLA, ainsi qu'à l'index de symptômes psychiatriques. Les résultats laissent voir que les individus ayant un style d'attachement sécurisant rapportent moins de symptômes de dépression et de sentiments de solitude que les sujets des styles anxieux/ambivalent et évitant. De même, ils vivent moins d'anxiété, d'agressivité et de problèmes cognitifs que les individus du style anxieux/ambivalent. Par ailleurs, les individus du style d'attachement anxieux/ambivalent sont plus déprimés, anxieux et agressifs que les individus du style évitant. Par contre, aucune différence significative ne ressort entre les sujets des styles d'attachement anxieux/ambivalent et évitant sur le plan des problèmes cognitifs et de la solitude. Des analyses de régression multiple montrent que l'attachement anxieux/ambivalent et la solitude expliquent un pourcentage significatif de la variance associée à la détresse psychologique. Enfin, il ressort que la solitude joue un rôle modérateur dans la relation unissant l'attachement non sécurisant et les problèmes de nature cognitive, alors qu'elle joue un rôle médiateur dans la relation entre l'attachement sécurisant, la dépression et l'anxiété.     

Decision strategies and visual-field asymmetries in same-different judgments of word meaning

The accuracy with which observers judged whether two words belonged to the same semantic category was determined from a detection-theoretic analysis ofsame-different judgments. In Experiment 1, one word was presented centrally and the other word in either the left visual field (LVF) or the right visual field (RVF); in Experiment 2, both words were presented to either the LVF or the RVF. In order to obtain receiver-operating characteristics (ROCs) of performance, observers were asked to rate their confidence that the two words belonged to the same semantic category. Two models of the decision strategy were fitted to the obtained characteristics: a differencing model, in which the decision variable was the difference between the two observations; and an optimal model, in which each observation was judged in relation to a criterion. In both experiments, the optimal model provided a better fit than the differencing model to the obtained characteristics. Maximum-likelihood estimates of both the criterion-free parameter,d′, and the area under the operating characteristic,p(A), were greater for words presented in the RVF than for those presented in the LVF.     

Stimulus-independent thought depends on central executive resources

Stimulus-independent thoughts (SITs) are streams of thoughts and images unrelated to immediate sensory input. Four experiments examined the contribution of aspects of working memory to production of SITs. In Experiments 1 and 2, interventions that were targeted on, respectively, phonological and visuospatial components of working memory both interfered with production of SITs, but there was evidence that these tasks also made demands on central executive resources. Experiments 3 and 4 specifically examined the hypothesis that production of SITs and control of nonproceduralized tasks both depend on central executive resources, and so should show mutual interference. In Experiment 3, prior practice on pursuit rotor and memory tasks reduced the interference with SITs from concurrent task performance. In Experiment 4, randomness within a task involving random-number generation was less when SITs were being produced concurrently than it was when they were not. The results suggest that production of SITs depends on central executive resources.     

On the Relation between Representational and Processing Models of Asyntactic Comprehension

Most accounts of asyntactic comprehension fall along a spectrum from pure representational accounts to pure processing accounts. The double dependency hypothesis of Mauner, Fromkin, and Cornell (1993) is an example of the former, while the SYNCHRON model of Haarman and Kolk (1991; see also Kolk, this volume) is an example of the latter. This paper attempts to demonstrate some of the ways that these two approaches interact. We introduce GENCHRON, a computer model based on Haarman and Kolk′s SYNCHRON. GENCHRON is a parser subject to the kinds of processing deficits examined in Haarman and Kolk (1991). We present a simple grammar which leads GENCHRON to produce the kinds of semantic representations which Mauner, Fromkin, and Cornell (1993) propose for asyntactic comprehenders.     

The current environment for medical decision making: Alternative efficiency concepts and decision motivation

Health services delivery is rapidly changing in the U.S. and along with it the incentives and motives for making decisions about the use of services. This paper discusses the economic criteria for making good decisions from both individual and social perspectives. The position is taken that individual criteria for decision-making efficiency in health services is quite different from social efficiency criteria but the two perspectives can be viewed as complementary. These criteria are used to examine current developments in health services, including aggressively competitive managed care. The analysis concludes that current directions may be in conflict with both social and individual efficiency. Alternative public policies are required to alter motives and incentives such that decisions better meet the complementary efficiency criteria.Originally prepared for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Atlanta, Georgia, February 17, 1995, as part of the symposium Cognitive Interpersonal, and Societal Influences on Medical Decision Making (A. M. Isen and B. S. Moore, Chairs).     

Book reviews

Science as Salvation: a Modern Myth and its Meaning, Mary Midgley, 1994. London, Routledge x +256pp., Hb 04 15062713, £35; Pb 04 15107733, £8.99

Philosophical Naturalism, David Papineau, 1993 Oxford, Basil Blackwell xii +219pp., Hb 0631189025, £40; Pb 0631189033, £14.99

F. H. Bradley, Writings on Logic and Metaphysics, James W. Allard & Guy Stock (Eds), 1994. Oxford, Clarendon Press xv+357pp, Hb 0–198–24445–2, £40.00; Pb 0–198–24438‐X, £14.95

Invariance and Heuristics: Essays in Honour of Heinz Post, Steven French & Harmke Kamminga (Eds), 1993 Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 148 Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

Beyond Reason: Essays on the Philosophy of Paul Feyerabend, GONZALO MUNÉVAR (Ed.), 1991. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers xxi + 535pp., hb, ISBN 0–7923–1272–4, £104.20

World Changes: Thomas Kuhn and the Nature of Science, Paul Horwich (Ed.), 1993. Cambridge, MA, Bradford Books/MIT Press vi + 356pp., pb, ISBN 0262581388, £14.95

Realism Rescued: How Scientific Progress is Possible, Jerold L. Aronson, Rom Harré & Eileen Cornell Way, 1994 London, Duckworth vii +213pp., Hb 0715624768, £30.00

Scientific Nihilism: On the Loss and Recovery of Physical Explanation, Daniel Athearn, 1994. State University of New York Press, Albany ix + 387pp., Hb ISBN 0–7914–1807–3, £52

Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology, William Lane Craig & Quentin Smith, 1993. Oxford, Clarendon Press x +342pp., Hb 0198263481, £35; Pb 019826383X, £13.95