Averaging processes in ratings and choices based on numerical information

Ss were presented sets of numbers said to represent sample price information from grocery stores. Ss rated the relative desirability of shopping at each of a series of stores and were also asked to make paired-comparison preference choices. In Experiment I, some sets contained favorable information, some contained unfavorable information, and some contained neutral information added to the favorable or unfavorable information. The addition of neutral information led to a decrease in the polarity of responses. This is consistent with an averaging, but not an adding, formulation of how the information is integrated. In Experiment II, sets of favorable or unfavorable information varied in size and a set-size effect was obtained. The greater the amount of favorable or unfavorable information, the more extreme the response. This was accounted for by assuming that an initial neutral expectancy is averaged with the information presented.     

Discrimination learning as a function of differences in materials: A proposed explanation

The present study affords an explanation for the consistent, but not always statistically significant, pattern showing superior verbal discrimination learning performance for low- as compared to high-frequency words. In a frequency judgment task, it was found that relative to high-frequency words, low-frequency words for which Ss (sixth graders) knew the meanings produced apparent frequency measures consistent with superior verbal discrimination learning, while low-frequency words that were unknown to the children did not. These results, taken together with those based on comparisons of pictures and high-frequency words, lend themselves to a modified Weber’s law interpretation of stimulus material differences in discrimination learning.     

Color and intensity discrimination in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Xenopus laevis</Emphasis> tadpoles

Investigations into the physiology of Xenopus laevis have the potential to greatly accelerate biomedical research, especially concerning neural plasticity and sensory systems, but are limited by the lack of available information on behavioral learning in this species. Here, we attempt to lay the foundations for a behavioral assay in Xenopus that can be used in conjunction with biological manipulations. We tested cohorts of Xenopus tadpoles across four light-mediated active-avoidance experiments, using either wavelength or intensity as the salient discriminative cue. In the wavelength task, we determine a baseline learning rate and characterize retention of learning, identifying active extinction effects as far more potent than the passage of time in the loss of behavior. In the intensity task, we examine the effects of varying differences between the discriminative stimuli on acquisition and extinction and identify a critical range of intensity differences where learning changes. The results of our experiments demonstrate that Xenopus is a tractable model organism for cognitive research and can learn a variety of associative tasks in the laboratory settings. These data reveal new aspects of the Xenopus larval visual processing system and facilitate future research between cognitive methods and biological/chemical manipulations to study mechanisms of brain structure and function.     

Undergraduate Education in Political Psychology

This article describes ways in which political psychology can be incorporated into undergraduate course curricula. The challenges of teaching political psychology to undergraduate students are discussed, and possibilities for the content and structure of undergraduate courses in political psychology are examined in the context of active learning. Suggestions for the development of an undergraduate major in political psychology are offered.     

Remembering the names of unfamiliar animals: keywords as keys to their kingdom

Three experiments were conducted in which the face – name mnemonic technique was applied to learning the names of unfamiliar animals. In all three experiments, mnemonically instructed students outperformed ‘own best method’ controls on animal name‐recognition tests when prompted by the animals' pictures. In addition, mnemonic students remembered more animal names than did controls when they were shown previously unseen variations of the studied animals (Experiments 2 and 3). The present results illustrate the effectiveness of associative mnemonic strategies in facilitating people's memory for unfamiliar pictorial stimuli in both their original and varied representations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Randomization procedures in single‐case intervention research contexts: (Some of) “the rest of the story”

Following up on articles recently published in this journal, the present contribution tells (some of) “the rest of the story” about the value of randomization in single‐case intervention research investigations. Invoking principles of internal, statistical‐conclusion, and external validity, we begin by emphasizing the critical distinction between design randomization and analysis randomization, along with the necessary correspondence between the two. Four different types of single‐case design‐and‐analysis randomization are then discussed. The persistent negative influence of serially dependent single‐case outcome observations is highlighted, accompanied by examples of inappropriate applications of parametric and nonparametric tests that have appeared in the literature. We conclude by presenting valid applications of single‐case randomization procedures in various single‐case intervention contexts, with specific reference to a freely available Excel‐based software package that can be accessed to incorporate the present randomization schemes into a wide variety of single‐case intervention designs and analyses.     

Comparing cognitive fusion and cognitive reappraisal as predictors of college student mental health

Transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral interventions target different cognitive processes to promote mental health, including cognitive fusion and cognitive reappraisal. Determining the relative impact of cognitive fusion and reappraisal on a range of student mental health concerns could help interventions target psychopathological cognitive processes more effectively. Therefore, this study examined the longitudinal impact of cognitive fusion and reappraisal on mental health and functioning outcomes. A series of hierarchical regression models tested the effects of cognitive fusion and reappraisal in a sample of college students (n = 339). When controlling for reappraisal and baseline symptoms, fusion predicted distress, depression, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, hostility, academic distress, and student role problems 1 month later. Reappraisal predicted only student role problems longitudinally when controlling for fusion. These results suggest that cognitive fusion is a stronger predictor than reappraisal for a range of student mental health concerns and may be a particularly important target for improving student mental health.     

A Monte Carlo evaluation of masked visual analysis in response‐guided versus fixed‐criteria multiple‐baseline designs

We developed masked visual analysis (MVA) as a structured complement to traditional visual analysis. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare the effects of computer‐simulated MVA of a four‐case multiple‐baseline (MB) design in which the phase lengths are determined by an ongoing visual analysis (i.e., response‐guided) versus those in which the phase lengths are established a priori (i.e., fixed criteria). We observed an acceptably low probability (less than .05) of false detection of treatment effects. The probability of correctly detecting a true effect frequently exceeded .80 and was higher when: (a) the masked visual analyst extended phases based on an ongoing visual analysis, (b) the effects were larger, (c) the effects were more immediate and abrupt, and (d) the effects of random and extraneous error factors were simpler. Our findings indicate that MVA is a valuable combined methodological and data‐analysis tool for single‐case intervention researchers.     

The evidential status of philosophical intuition

Philosophers have traditionally held that claims about necessities and possibilities are to be evaluated by consulting our philosophical intuitions; that is, those peculiarly compelling deliverances about possibilities that arise from a serious and reflective attempt to conceive of counterexamples to these claims. But many contemporary philosophers, particularly naturalists, argue that intuitions of this sort are unreliable, citing examples of once-intuitive, but now abandoned, philosophical theses, as well as recent psychological studies that seem to establish the general fallibility of intuition.In the first two sections of this paper, I evaluate these arguments, and also the counter-arguments of contemporary defenders of tradition. In the next two sections, I sketch an alternative account of the role of philosophical intuitions that incorporates elements of traditionalism and naturalism - and defend it against other such views. In the final section, however, I discuss intuitions about conscious experience, and acknowledge that my view may not extend comfortably to this case. This may seem unfortunate, since so much contemporary discussion of the epistemology of modality seems motivated by worries about the mind-body problem, and informed by the position one wishes to endorse. But, as I argue, if conscious experience is indeed an exception to the view I suggest in this paper, it is an exception that proves - and can illuminate - the rule.