FREE RECALL OF REPEATED WORDS AS A FUNCTION OF INTRALIST VARIABILITY

von W right J. M. Free recall of repeated words as a function of intralist variability. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1972, 13 , 39–42.—Five "critical" words were repeated 4 times each in constant positions within lists of 80 items. The number of different filler words, and the order of the repeated filler words, was varied between lists. In free recall tests total recall was approximately constant, but the recall of the critical words was significantly better the greater the variation in the intralist context of these words, especially the greater the number of different filler words. The results are interpreted in terms of the encoding variability hypothesis.     

A NOTE ON INTEROCULAR TRANSFER AND THE COLOUR OF VISUAL AFTER-IMAGES

Following monocular fixation of a red stimulus figure on a grey background, a projection field having the same colour as the stimulus figure was viewed either with ( a ) the stimulated eye, or ( b ) the non-stimulated eye. In case ( a ) the after-image appeared grey on a red background, but in case ( b ) green or blue, on a red background. In the latter case the brightness and to some extent the hue of the after-image varied when the amount of light coming to the originally stimulated eye varied. The data are in agreement with the assumption that after-images are primarily retinal.     

ON THE ONTOGENETIC DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL CRITERIA

Changes in the dimensionality of the moral criteria, i.e. of those aspects of an action-sequence to which a person pays attention when judging how good/bad (nice/naughty) the agent is, were studied with 7-, 10-, and 13-year-old girls and adult subjects. Action sequences varying in respect to potential moral criteria were presented as cartoons. A proximity setting technique and Kruskal's (1964) method of analysis were used. In the younger age groups a remorse-spite-dimension was obtained, the motive criterion becoming more dominant and differentiated with age. Methodological problems are discussed.     

Meinungsänderung durch eigenes Handeln Die Rückwirkung einstellungskonträrer Agitation

Zusammenfassung Zur Klärung der Frage, ob und unter welchen Umständen einstellungskonträre Agitation auf den Agitator zurückwirkt, wurden Gruppen- und Einzelversuche durchgeführt. Als Versuchspersonen dienten insgesamt 409 männliche und weibliche Oberschüler und Studenten. In allen Versuchen mußten die Versuchspersonen Reden erfinden und halten. Die Messung der Meinungsänderung und einiger hypothetischer Variablen wurde mit Fragebogen vorgenommen, zum Teil wurden nach den Versuchen Interviews durchgeführt.Wir erhielten folgende Hauptergebnisse: Erfinden und Vortragen von Argumenten für einen zudiktierten Standpunkt führen, unabhängig voneinander und von der im Vortrag enthaltenen Argumentation, zu einer Meinungsänderung. Ihre Richtung und ihr Ausmaß sind außerdem abhängig vom Verhältnis der zudiktierten Stellungnahme zu anderen, bereits vorhandenen psychischen Inhalten — starke Verankerung der ursprünglichen Meinung führt zur Meinungsänderung im Gegensinne der Agitation (Bumerang-Effekt) — sowie vom Grad der Willentlichkeit der Handlung: bereits die Entscheidung, einen einstellungskonträren Standpunkt nach außen zu vertreten, kann zu einer Meinungsänderung führen. Das Lernen der Argumente, die Bewertung der eigenen Leistung, des Versuchs und Versuchsleiters sowie Eigenschaften eines Themas für sich erweisen sich nicht als alleinige Bedingungen der Meinungsänderung.Diese und andere, weniger wichtige Ergebnisse werden diskutiert. Die Theorie der kognitiven Dissonanz wird als beste einheitliche Erklärungsgrundlage der empirischen Befunde angesehen.

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Summary Experiments with groups and single persons were conducted to test the effect of persuasive behaviour on the communicator. 409 male and female high-school and university students served as subjects. In all experiments the subjects had to invent and verbalize speeches contradicting their own opinion. Opinion change and some hypothetical variables were measured by questionnaires, the sessions were partially followed by interviews.Main results: Inventing or speaking of arguments in favour of an appointed opinion lead, independently of each other and of the informational content of the arguments, to opinion change the direction and magnitude of which are, in addition, dependent on the relation of the argument to previously existent mental contents (if the original opinion is strongly anchored, the persuasive behaviour results in a boomerang effect), as well as the degree of volition of the subject's persuasive behaviour. (Already the decision to defend a point of view contrary to one's own may lead to opinion change). Learning of arguments and evaluation of own achievement, of the experiment and the experimenter as well as the qualities of a topic in itself cannot be shown to be the only conditions of opinion change.These and other, less important results are discussed; the theory of cognitive dissonance is considered the best uniform explanation of these empirical results.

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Diese Arbeit wurde von der philosophischen Fakultät der Ludwig Maximilians-Universität in München als Dissertation angenommen.Die referierten Versuche wurden durch das Yale Communication and Attitude Change Programme und die Gesellschaftder Freunde der Wirtschaftshochschule Mannheim e.V. finanziell gefördert. Der Verfasser dankt den genannten Institutionen für ihre Unterstützung.     

Validity of the DSM-III-R personality disorder Clusters

This study assessed the validity of the DSM-III-R personality disorder clusters (i.e., odd-eccentric, dramatic-emotional-erratic, and anxious-fearful) by examining the relationships between self-report measures that tap the core features shared by disorders from each cluster and Cluster scores established via a semistructured interview in a sample of 57 outpatients. Results indicated a high degree of correlation among the DSM-III-R personality disorder Cluster scores. In addition, a series of regression analyses revealed that self-report scores did not account for a significant amount of variance in their respective Cluster scores over and above that accounted for by other self-report measures and other Cluster scores. These results suggest that the current DSM-III-R cluster classification scheme may not be appropriate, and it is recommended that a more empirically justifiable classification of the personality disorders be adopted in DSM-IV.     

Order effects in belief updating with consistent and inconsistent evidence

The current study tests for the presence of differential order effects in evaluation tasks with consistent and inconsistent evidence as predicted by the Hogarth and Einhorn (1992) belief-adjustment model. The results, based on both between-subjects and within-subjects experiments, demonstrate that there were significant recency effects with inconsistent evidence as predicted, larger recency effects when the inconsistent evidence was farther apart in subjective value as predicted, and significant recency effects even when subjects were given training designed to both help them understand the task as completely as possible and to be better able to assess the pieces of evidence. By including a within-subjects design, we were able to demonstrate that the difference in subjective value between two pieces of evidence is the primary factor influencing the magnitude of the recency effect, regardless of whether the evidence is consistent or inconsistent. This latter finding is unique and contrary to previous research and theory.     

Linguistic Phenomena and Language Selection in the REM Dreams of German-English Bilinguals

Sixteen German-English bilinguals were studied in a sleep laboratory for four nonconsecutive nights each. Half were native English speakers living in Zürich, and half native German speakers living in Atlanta. Presleep thought samples were solicited each evening and REM dream reports each night; subjects judged the waking appropriateness of their imagined speech and language phenomena, and also identified waking sources of their dream imagery, the following mornings. Incidences of dreaming and of speech therein generally were similar to those of monolinguals. Whether sessions were conducted in German (two nights) or English (two nights) did directly influence language selection in subjects' dreams. Judged appropriateness of language selection to imagined events was very high for thought samples, and high for REM dreams. Sources for thought samples were generally consonant with the language dominant at study site; for REM dreams this relationship was considerably weaker. Judged waking appropriateness to imagined situations was more strongly related to language selection than was the language reference of the supposed sources of those situations.