Metamemories of memory researchers

In the present study, a metamemory questionnaire was completed by three groups of individuals: memory research psychologists who attended a small international convention on everyday memory processes in the aged, academic psychologists with a limited knowledge of the memory literature, and nonpsychologist college professors. There was little evidence that memory psychologists reported using strategies to remember things that were different from the strategies of other academics. The most used and most recommended technique for remembering was to write things down, followed by general internal mnemonic systems such as organization and rehearsal. The least used and least recommended strategies for all three groups were formal mnemonic systems, such as the peg-word system or the method of loci.     

Obtaining meaningful results from Fourier deconvolution of reaction time data

The technique of Fourier deconvolution is a powerful tool for testing distributional predictions of stage models of reaction time. However, direct application of Fourier theory to reaction time data has sometimes produced disappointing results. This article reviews Fourier transform theory as it applies to the problem of deconvolving a component of the reaction time distribution. Problems encountered in deconvolution are shown to be due to the presence of noise in the Fourier transforms of the sampled distributions, which is amplified by the operation of deconvolution. A variety of filtering techniques for the removal of noise are discussed, including window functions, adaptive kernel smoothing, and optimal Wiener filtering. The best results were obtained using a window function whose pass band was determined empirically from the power spectrum of the deconvolved distribution. These findings are discussed in relation to other, nontrigonometric approaches to the problem of deconvolution.     

Defeat-induced hypoalgesia in the rat: effects of conditioned odors, naltrexone, and extinction

In Experiment 1, male rats were either defeated as a colony intruder by alpha conspecifics or had no defeat experience, and 24 hr later they were given a paw injection of formalin prior to observational tests with or without alpha-colony odors. The combination of defeat and tests with these odors produced conditioned hypoalgesia (i.e., a suppression in paw licking) and freezing. In Experiment 2, defeated rats were given either an injection of naltrexone or saline prior to defeat and 24 hr later prior to testing. An injection of naltrexone prior to defeat increased freezing during defeat and later testing. In contrast, naltrexone during testing did not affect freezing but significantly reduced hypoalgesia. In Experiment 3, a 12-hr exposure session with alpha-colony odors extinguished hypoalgesia in previously defeated rats. These findings are discussed in terms of associative, opioid/nonopioid, and adaptive evolutionary processes.     

“Single white male looking for thin,very attractive...”

Sociocultural pressures on women to be thin and physically attractive assume many forms today. When these external pressures are combined with the excessive demands many women already place on themselves in these areas, chronic dieting, and ultimately binge eating, often result (Agras & Kirkley, 1986; Hsu, 1989). The present study investigated the extent to which single women currently were receiving the message that physical attractiveness in general, and weight in particular, were crucial factors in being selected as a dating partner. A total of 283 male and 231 female personal ads from a singles' magazine were examined. Twenty-eight categories were created to label the qualities designated as desirable in a partner. As predicted, physical attractiveness was the characteristic most frequently sought by males (56.9%). Significantly fewer females (26.4%) required this in a prospective partner. Furthermore, requests for a thin partner were made by significantly more males (33.6%) than females (2.2%). Sex differences also were detected for the quality sought most often by females: interpersonal understanding. The results demonstrated that males still attributed greater importance to physical attractiveness and thinness than did females when selecting a date. Possible explanations for these different emphases were offered, and features that distinguished the “physical attractiveness” seekers from others were explored. The link with today's high rate of eating disorders among women was reappraised.     

Validity of the Sheltered Care Environment Scale: rejoinder to Lemke and Moos (1990)

In a previous article, based on open-ended interviews with residents of 1 facility, questions were raised about the construct validity of 3 of the 7 subscales of the Sheltered Care Environment Scale. Lemke and Moos (1990) criticized the sampling of a single facility as having an inappropriate focus on individual differences. Their criticisms are addressed, and a dialectic approach is recommended for use in qualitative analyses for construction and validation of quantitative measures of geriatric residential settings.     

Distinguishing between social reinforcement and social elicitation

The theoretical, procedural, analytic, and interpretive components of Poulson's (1983, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 36, 471–489) study were considered in an effort to clarify the distinction between social reinforcement and social elicitation. Contrary to Poulson's contention, DRO was not, and cannot by definition be, a control for reinforcement. More importantly, the speciestypical, social nature of the infant probably reflects the collaborative influence of elicitation and reinforcement. By carefully unravelling these two interacting processes, future conditioning studies might specially enhance our knowledge of early social development.     

Low accuracy in judgments of others' psychological well-being as seen from a phenomenological perspective

The generally low degree of agreement between self-ratings on personality traits and ratings by others may be interpreted from the viewpoint that self-reports reflect people's experience of themselves but not necessarily their behaviors. A detailed analysis of self and other ratings on subjective well-being as a central dimension of human experience is consistent with this phenomenological view. Ratings of well-being were not significantly correlated with rated behaviors either in self-ratings or in ratings by others. Screening subjects in terms of avowed consistency and observability on a trait did not improve self-other agreement for well-being, nor did it replicate the individual trait effects reported by Kenrick and Stringfield (1980). Judgments by others were found to have poor interjudge reliability and to reflect biases associated with projection of own well-being and a halo effect organized around the subject's perceived friendliness or likability. It was demonstrated that pooling the judgments of several observers should not and does not lead to accurate prediction of the phenomenal personality, and that accuracy may generally depend on the level of self-disclosure.     

Setting limits on children's behavior: The differential effects of controlling vs. informational styles on intrinsic motivation and creativity

The imposition of external constraints on an activity has frequently been shown to undermine intrinsic motivation. Given that limits must often be set upon peoples' activities, especially in parenting and education, the present study addressed the question of whether limits can be set without undermining intrinsic motivation for the activity being limited. Using cognitive evaluation theory, contrasting limit setting styles of either a controlling or informational nature, or no limits, were placed upon forty-four first- and second-grade children engaged in a painting activity. The intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, creativity, and quality of artistic production were expected to be decreased by controlling limits relative to informational and no-limits, which were not expected to differ from each other. The results provided substantial support for these predictions, suggesting that limits can be set without undermining intrinsic motivation if they are informational in nature. Support was also found for the consensual assessment of creativity method recently developed by Amabile (1982a). Results of the study are discussed along with the general relation between creativity and intrinsic motivation.