The emergence and reduction of bias in letters of recommendation

Despite the widespread use of letters of recommendation (LORs) in selection systems, research has largely failed to consider the potential emergence of bias in interpretations of LORs. The present study fills this void by examining both race and gender bias in evaluations of LORs and assessing the efficacy of elaboration as a strategy for reducing such bias. Undergraduate students (n = 423) rated four LORs that varied with regard to applicant race and gender. Results suggest that bias does exist in evaluations of LORs, but that requiring raters to expand on their evaluations (i.e., elaborate) reduces this bias. Implications include elaboration as a strategy organizations can implement to reduce bias from emerging when relying on LORs as a selection tool.     

Measuring Empathy in Couples: Validity and Reliability of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Couples

Aboriginally probably equivalent, following divergent acculturative patterns, the perceptual and cognitive techniques of the Chiricahua and Mescalero Apaches differed. Today, half of Apache children (the learners) adjust to ordinary expectations in grammar school: their Rorschach patterns resemble those of aged Chiricahuas; half (the nonlearners) fail to adjust: their responses are those of the less-acculturated Mescaleros:

It was hypothesized that the learners would have identified with the techniques of the more-acculturated Chiricahuas. Adults influential in the early lives of the children were tested. The hypothesis as stated was not verified. What was consistent in the responses of learner influentials was a more balanced approach to Rorschach stimuli than was shown by nonlearner influentials.     

The Strategic Unity of Heidegger's The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics

This paper unifies the disparate analyses in Heidegger's lecture course, The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Finitude, Solitude, in a single therapeutic and philosophical project. By taking seriously the text's claim to lead us towards authenticity, I show how Heidegger's analysis of boredom works together with his comparative analysis of man and animal to diagnose and lead us out of our contemporary complacency about being. This reading puts both analyses in a new light, reveals the hidden strategic unity of the lecture course, and brings out the therapeutic dimension of Heidegger's phenomenology.     

Asymmetric binding in serial memory for verbal and spatial information

As the number of studies showing that items can be retained as bound representations in memory increases, researchers are beginning to investigate how the different features are bound together. In the present study, we examined the relative importances of the verbal and spatial features in serial memory for visual stimuli. Participants were asked to memorize the order of series of letters presented visually in different locations on the computer screen. The results showed that manipulating the phonological similarity of the letters affected recall of their spatial locations, but that increasing the complexity of the spatial pattern had no effect on recall of the letters. This finding was observed in both order reconstruction (Exps. 1 and 2) and probe serial recall (Exps. 3 and 4), suggesting that verbal–spatial binding in serial memory for visual information is asymmetric.     

Individual, Peer, and Family Factors Influencing Urban African American Adolescents’ Responses to Problem Dating Situations

A clear understanding of factors influencing adolescents’ responses to problem dating situations is needed to guide efforts to promote healthy dating relationships and address issues such as emotional distress, conflict, and violence in dating contexts. This study used qualitative methods guided by a socio-ecological model to identify factors at the individual-level and those within adolescents’ peer and family relationships that influenced their use of specific strategies (active, avoidant, support-seeking, or aggressive) in response to problem dating situations. Interviews were conducted with 38 African American middle and high school students in an urban public school system. Participants identified nine themes that would make it easier for them to engage in their best response strategies to deal with problem dating situations. These included four individual-level factors (e.g., individual characteristics and adolescents’ confidence in their ability to address dating problems), three peer factors (e.g., supportive advice from peers), and two family factors (e.g., support, advice, and messages about dating relationships from family members). Nine themes were identified that would make it harder for adolescents to engage in these responses including three individual-level factors (e.g., difficulty in regulating anger, anxiety, and sadness in dealing with dating problems), four peer factors (e.g., peer instigated conflict among dating partners), and two family factors (e.g., family involvement in adolescents’ dating relationships). The results inform prevention efforts that focus on promoting healthy dating relationships during adolescence.     

Social identity threat and consumer preferences

Although marketers often link brands with an aspect of consumer social identity, the current research demonstrates that such brand-identity linkages may sometimes have negative consequences. Consumers motivated to protect and maintain feelings of individual self-worth alter their product evaluations and choices to avoid a threatened aspect of their own social identity. Whereas those low in collective self-esteem (CSE) tend to exhibit such identity avoidance effects, those high in CSE maintain associations with an identity-linked brand even when that social identity is threatened. Moreover, when the consumer feels positively about the self via self-affirmation, the effect among low CSE consumers is mitigated. Finally, it is demonstrated that differences in the use of identity as a resource underlie the effects.     

Lack of impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease on an object-based negative priming task

12 nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease (M age = 67.3) and 12 normal control participants were administered an object-based attention task that enabled examination of both negative and positive priming. Unlike previous studies in which spatial-based attention tasks were used, results of the present study indicated that the patients displayed negative and positive priming not different from those shown by controls. These results suggest that certain object-based attentional processes may not be impaired in patients with Parkinson's disease.     

Operant behavior in the great horned owl

An apparatus and method successful in producing free operant behavior in a Great Homed Owl are described. Key pecking responses were reinforced with balls of ground beef. Some sample data are shown.