Objectivism in information utilization: theory and measurement

A self-report scale was constructed and validated that measures individual differences in objectivism--the tendency to base one's judgments and beliefs on empirical information and rational considerations. Validity data showed that, compared to people who score low on the Objectivism Scale, highly objective individuals enjoy thinking more, rely more on observable facts when making decisions, and place less emphasis on subjective and intuitive styles of decision making. Among graduate students in psychology, objectivism correlated positively with ratings of research-oriented careers, but negatively with ratings of mental health careers; also, highly objective students were more critical of nonobjective psychological assessment techniques and placed greater importance on research. Objectivism also predicted preferences for newspaper articles, college course selections, and the criteria respondents use when making decisions.     

Reactions to social vs self-evaluation: Moderating effects of personal and social identity orientations

People differ in the degree to which their identities are based on personal versus social identity characteristics. This experiment tested the hypothesis that people are most concerned about evaluations that are relevant to their salient identity orientation. The Aspects of Identity Questionnaire was used to classify subjects as low or high in personal and social identities. Subjects then anticipated taking a test, believing that their performance would be known by only them, by only a research assistant, by both them and a research assistant, or by no one. Subjects then completed thought-listing and self-report measures of evaluation apprehension. Subjects who scored high in social identity reacted more strongly to the social evaluation than subjects low in social identity. Although subjects high in personal identity were not particularly threatened by private feedback, personal identity seemed to buffer subjects against the threat of social-evaluation. The results are discussed in the context of recent work on private and public aspects of the self.     

Body image,self-esteem,and depression-proneness: Closing the gender gap

Gender differences in body image and related correlates have received increasing attention in recent psychological research. The purposes of the present study were to further examine gender differences in body image and its relationship to depression-proneness and self-esteem. The Body Cathexis Scale, the Depression-Proneness Inventory, the Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale, and a background questionnaire were administered to 176 female and male undergraduates at a small Midwestern college. Responses were analyzed by gender and by participants' perceived and actual weight. Findings were consistent with sociocultural messages, and showed a pervasive preoccupation with weight and appearance for both men and women. The importance of considering weight, environment, and other demographic data when studying body image is discussed.All authors contributed equally. Authorship order was determined by coin toss.We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Laurie Phillips in the data collection for this study.     

Subject variables and reactance to persuasive communications about drugs

The role of three subject variables in the mediation of reactance to pro- and anti-LSD messages was investigated: sex, authoritarianism, and suspiciousness that the purpose of the experiment was to study persuasion. No reactance effect occurred reliably either overall or in any subgroup of subjects for the anti-LSD message which supported the initial views of most subjects (evening-division undergraduates). In the pro-LSD case, reactance effects occurred among highly suspicious male subjects only. It was suggested that reactance could be a responce to perceived threat from the experimenter rather than, or as well as the communicator, and that male and female subjects responded to such threat in accordance with their culturally prescribed roles.     

A Field Study of Conflict in Psychological Exchange: The California Taxpayers' Revolt

The present research applied an exchange analysis to the confrontation between California renters and landlords after the passage of a property tax initiative (Proposition 13). The inability of renters to leave the exchange intensified perceived inequities. As a result, both parties sought solutions to perceived inequities by changing the existing relationship. As predicted, renters and landlords disagreed on the relative importance of exchange inputs and the actions needed to restore equity to their relationship. Relationships examined were consistent with a psychological contract in which renters were blocked from leaving. This interpretation suggests that changes in the intrinsic nature of the psychological contract may be needed to avoid future conflict.     

Grammatical priming of inflected nouns

In normal linguistic usage, the inflected nouns of Sorbo-Croatian are usually preceded by prepositions that help to specify which particular grammatical case is intended and to stress the noun’s function in the sentence. In a lexical decision task, it was demonstrated that lexical decision times to nouns in a grammatical case that demands a preposition were faster when the preposition was appropriate to the case than when it was either inappropriate to the case or a nonsense syllable. This result lends support to the intuition that priming can occur among sentential components.     

Determinants of stability in the perception of subjective contour

The present study constituted an initial experimental effort to examine the fragmentation characteristics of subjective contours within the photopic and upper 5cotopic ranges of illumination. Four stimulus factors known to influence the visibility of subjective contours—target luminance, inducing area size and contrast, and contour orientation—were examined. Results indicated that subjective contours are indeed unstable perceptual phenomena. On the average, fragmentation or fading occurred after only 15 sec of observation, and some farm of stimulus outage was present for 28% of the viewing time of each stimulus. Fragmentation latency was significantly shorter and total time in fragmentation longer for diamond than for square contours, and total time in fragmentation varied inversely with inducing-area size. Fragmentation tendedto occur in whole units rather than in isolated elements, a result reminiscent of the fading of real Contours under impoverished viewing conditions.