Perspective taking, pictures, and the blind

Congenitally blind, late blind, and blindfolded sighted controls attempted a Piagetian perspective-taking (three-mountain) task. Piaget used the term perspective to mean point of view (Piaget & Inhelder, 1967, p. 210), and the present usage does not imply linear perspective. Subjects used raised-line drawings to depict alternative points of view of an array of three geometric solid forms (cube, cone, and ball). They then identified the point of view of raised-line drawings. The effect of visual status on accuracy was nonsignificant for both response measures. Using alternating vision of the array and drawings, sighted subjects in a control condition performed like the congenitally blind. However, congenitally blind individuals did require more time than the other subjects for the perspective-taking task. In an additional experiment, no difference was found between the three groups in the accuracy or speed of tactile shape matching. The results suggest that visual imagery and visual experience are not necessary for tactile perspective taking.     

Eliminating recency with self‐review: the case of auditors' ‘going concern’ judgments

This paper examines the use of self‐review to debias recency. Recency is found in the ‘going concern’ judgments of staff auditors, but is successfully eliminated by the auditor's use of a simple self‐review technique that would be extremely easy to implement in audit practice. Auditors who self‐review are also less inclined to make audit report choices that are inconsistent with their going concern judgments. These results are important because the judgments of staff auditors often determine the type and extent of documentation in audit workpapers and serve as preliminary inputs for senior auditors' judgments and choices. If staff auditors' judgments are affected by recency, the impact of this bias may be impounded in the ultimate judgments and choices of senior auditors. Since biased judgments can expose auditors to significant costs involving extended audit procedures, legal liability and diminished reputation, simple debiasing techniques that reduce this exposure are valuable. The paper also explores some future research needs and other important issues concerning judgment debiasing in applied professional settings. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of general and work-specific measures of core self-evaluations

During the past decade, considerable research attention has been given to core self-evaluations (CSEs). Although this research has found that CSE is related to several important work-related outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, job performance), we believe that researchers’ reliance on general rather than work-specific CSE has resulted in underestimates of the importance of CSE. Based on the literature on frame-of-reference effects in personality assessment, we predict that work-related CSE will yield stronger relationships with work-related criteria than general CSE will and that work-specific CSE will be related to work-specific criteria after general CSE has been controlled. Using two independent samples, we found that when compared with general CSE, work-specific CSE generally failed to yield significantly stronger zero-order relationships with work-related criteria. However, we found several instances in which work-specific CSE predicted incremental variance in work-related criteria after the effects of general CSE were controlled.     

Relationship between mood and blood pressure in the natural environment: an adolescent population

We examined the relation between psychological variables and blood pressure (BP) as 28 adolescents engaged in their customary activities over a 24-hr period in their natural environment. Each subject had previously participated in a laboratory study of cardiovascular reactivity. During the ambulatory monitoring period, subjects monitored mood state, perceptions of the environment, and ambulatory BP at 30-min intervals. Mood ratings and BP were averaged across the waking hours. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity to laboratory stressors was significantly correlated with average SBP in the home environment. Ambulatory SBP was positively associated with worried, hostile, depressed, and tense mood ratings as well as perceptions of the environment as hostile, demanding, and noisy. Ambulatory diastolic blood pressure was correlated with hostile, depressed, and upset mood ratings as well as with hostile and demanding perceptions of the environment. In general, average ambulatory BP appeared to be associated with negative emotions and perceptions of the environment.     

Exclusion,intergroup hostility,and religious fundamentalism

The goal of the present study was to examine whether exclusion leads to increased intergroup hostility and stronger fundamentalist religious beliefs. Using Cyberball, we examined how adolescents from different ethnic groups in the Netherlands (of Moroccan, Turkish, and Dutch descent with either Muslim, Christian, or secular beliefs) responded to being included or excluded by ethnic in- and outgroup members. We expected that exclusion by ethnic outgroup members would represent a categorization threat and would result in greater hostility. We hypothesized that exclusion by ethnic ingroup members would represent an acceptance threat and would result in responses that reduce uncertainty and increase one's chances of being accepted by others (e.g., a stronger endorsement of fundamentalist religious beliefs). The results revealed that among all ethnic groups, exclusion by ethnic outgroup members led to more hostility toward the co-players and the co-players' ethnic group than exclusion by ethnic ingroup members. This was mediated by the extent to which people attributed their exclusion to the racist attitudes of their co-players. Among Muslims and Christians, exclusion by ethnic ingroup members led to more support for fundamentalist beliefs. We discuss the theoretical extension that these results provide, and practical issues raised regarding the consequences that may occur through the marginalization of religious and ethnic groups.     

Some Notes on the Census of Religious Bodies, 1926

In line with previous results that challenge the traditional primacy of warmth over competence in outgroup perception, we propose to bridge elements from stereotype content model and social identity theory: Perceivers will use the competence and warmth dimensions differentially when interpreting higher or lower status outgroup members' behavior. We test the hypothesis that the dimension that is less favorable for the outgroup and more favorable for the ingroup will be used. In particular, we investigate whether the warmth dimension would better predict the interpretation of higher status outgroup members' behavior than the competence dimension, whereas the competence dimension would better predict the interpretation of lower status outgroup members' behavior than the warmth dimension. Two studies separately test these effects. Results suggest the existence of a motivated bias in interpreting outgroup members' behavior, especially when there is ingroup identification.     

Recall of 9/11/01 as an Indicator of Cognitive Functioning in the Elderly

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the recall of a highly salient remote event, the terrorist attack in New York City on 9/11/01, and general cognitive functioning in the elderly. A heterogeneous group (n = 93) of persons ≥65 years of age (M = 76.5, SD = 6.4), from both community and hospital settings, were asked to describe as much as they could remember about the events of 9/11/01 in New York City. The number of correct factual details, affective or emotional responses, and incorrect details were recorded. Ten multiple choice questions were then administered to assess recognition of the 9/11 events (M = 9.1 items correct, SD = 1.2). The mini mental state exam (MMSE) was also administered (M = 26.3, SD = 3.4). Participants generated a mean of 4.8 (SD = 3) correct factual details about 9/11, 1.1 affective/emotional responses (SD = 1.1), and 0.22 incorrect recollections (SD = 0.46). Significant correlations (p &;lt; .01) were found between correct details recalled and the MMSE (0.42), education (0.37), and age (?0.31). A significant negative correlation (p &;lt; .01) was found between incorrect details recalled and MMSE scores (?0.38). Female participants generated significantly more affective responses than males (M = 1.3 vs. 0.51; p &;lt; .001) but recall of correct details was equivalent. The recall of 9/11 events, approximately 18 months after the incident, appears related to general mental status, education, and age. Responses to this question may be helpful in assessing the mental status of the elderly. In addition, now that objective memory data has been established, recall of this event by other samples of seniors can be monitored over time to determine the cognitive processes related to the storage and retrieval of this unique and tragic event.     

Developmental Approaches to Artistic Giftedness

Two studies done from constructivist perspectives were considered for their complementarity in understanding the development of gifted young artists. Study 1 used Case's (1992) neo-Piagetian theory as a framework and investigated the developmental progression in ability to represent spatial relations in children aged 4,6,8, and I0 years. Children identified as gifted demonstrated some advancement in their use of perspective but were distinguished primarily by their elaborate and novel representations of space. An age-related progression in acquisition of ability to render perspective supports a general factor in development, whereas abilities unique to the artistic domain support the relevance of including domain-specific characteristics in developmental models of giftedness. Study 2 was done primarily from a structuralist perspective but also incorporated a postformal perspective on the problem-finding and problem-solving behaviors of young artists aged I3 to 18 years. There was support for age-related domain-general aspects of thought with discipline-specific skills in making multiple comparisons in proportional relations and coordinating multiple perspectives. This finding may be an extension of young children's intrastage elaboration of the spatial structures available to them.