Picture memory: How the action schema affects retention

When an action scene is viewed, an action schema guides the formation of an episodic representation. Within episodic memory, items of high relevance to the theme of the action schema are represented in a prototypical form closely connected to the action theme. In contrast, items of low relevance are represented in detail but their representation is unconnected to that of the action. The action schema is used as a retrieval framework for both recalling and recognizing whether or not an item was depicted in a scene (i.e., item presence), but is not used for recognition of figurative detail (i.e., item appearance). Four experiments confirmed these hypotheses. Children, aged 7- and 9-years, and adults organized pictured scenes around themes from action schemata. The appearance of high relevant items was recognized poorly, while their presence was recalled well. Memory for the presence of high relevant items surpassed that for low relevant items even when recognition of item names was assessed. Conversely, the appearance of low relevant items was recognized accurately, but memory for their presence was difficult to retrieve.     

ATTRIBUTIONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE LIFE SATISFACTIONS OF THE ELDERLY: A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON OF ASIAN AND UNITED STATES SUBJECTS*

A cross-cultural examination of the attributions for the life satisfactions of the elderly was conducted by using a sample of 80 Asian-Indian and 80 United States retired citizens. It was hypothesized that factors of hard work, luck, family ties, religious faith, travel and recreation, personal abilities, money, social status, service to others and friendships would account for differences in the attributions for life-satisfactions of the two cultural groups. Results showed that more Asian than United States subjects reported satisfaction with life. Consistent with predictions, the attributions of the Asian group showed religious faith, service to others, family ties and luck as being very important factors contributing to life satisfaction. By contrast, more United States subjects reported that hard work, personal abilities, travel and recreation, and social status had significantly influenced their life satisfactions. Findings were interpreted in terms of cultural and socio-psychological variables which influence the attributions for life satisfactions.     

Consequence analysis: Its effects on verbal statements about an environmental project

Typically, citizens lack relevant information concerning possible consequences of proposed environmental projects. Despite federal requirements for citizen participation in decisions about proposed roadway projects, no systematic procedures exist for educating citizens as to the possible consequences of such projects. The effects of a consequence analysis procedure on community residents' verbal statements about the favorability of a proposed roadway project were assessed. The consequence analysis procedure involved asking residents to rate the desirability and magnitude of each of 48 possible consequences of the proposed roadway project. Following the intervention, overall ratings of favorability of the project changed for nine of ten residents. Community residents' ratings of the quality of participants' justifications of their position on the roadway issue provided evidence of generalization to this collateral behavior.     

Seat belt usage: A potential target for applied behavior analysis

Results of 1,579 observations of cars entering or exiting campus parking lots showed direct relationships between seat belt wearing and the intrusiveness of the engineering device designed to induce belt usage, and between device intrusiveness and system defeat. For example, all drivers with working interlocks or unlimited buzzer reminders were wearing a seat belt; but 62% of the systems with interlocks or unlimited buzzers had been defeated, and only 15.9% of the drivers in these cars were wearing a seat belt. The normative data indicated marked ineffectiveness of the negative reinforcement contingencies implied by current seat belt inducement systems; but suggested that unlimited buzzer systems would be the optimal system currently available if contingencies were developed to discourage the disconnection and circumvention of such systems. Positive reinforcement strategies are discussed that would be quite feasible for large-scale promotion of seat belt usage.     

Effects of training students to identify the semantic base of prose materials

Feedback and feedback plus points toward a course grade were applied to the attentional behaviors (defined as the ability to identify the semantic base of text passages) of 30 undergraduate students participating in a reading comprehension development program. Correct underlining was increased, extraneous underlining was decreased, and postreading comprehension test scores improved as a result of the procedures. Scores on a standardized test of reading comprehension also increased significantly.     

Beauty Is Only "Name" Deep: The Effect of First-Name On Ratings of Physical Attraction

College students ( n = 197) voted to select a beauty queen from among six photographs equivalent in physical attractiveness, as determined by rankings of 35 students from a separate university. Half the photographs bore a desirable first-name and half were assigned an undesirable first-name. As predicted, firstname had a significant effect on physical attraction: Girls with desirable firstnames received 158 votes to 39 for those with undesirable names. These data were discussed in terms of an additive, rather than an interactive, effect, due to the nature of the task. The strength of these findings was related to the study's ecological validity.     

Group Orientation for Persons on Probation or Parole

The group orientation program described in this article is a systematic attempt to transmit information and initiate a counseling relationship with persons newly placed on probation or parole. The group orientation process reduced tension and allowed reluctant clients to be guided into a helping relationship. Following the group sessions, individual meetings are designed to capitalize on those gains. During one 7-month period, 130 persons went through the group orientation, and 81 of these were subsequently transferred to reduced supervision.     

Emergent two-dimensional patterns in images rotated in depth

Once a person has observed a three-dimensional scene, how accurately can he or she then imagine the appearance of that scene from different viewing angles? In a series of experiments addressed to this question, subjects formed mental images of a set of objects hanging in a clear cylinder and mentally rotated their images as they physically rotated the cylinder by various amounts. They were asked to perform four tasks, each demanding the ability to "see" the two-dimensional patterns that should emerge in their images if the images depicted the new perspective view accurately--(a) Subjects described the two-dimensional geometric shape that the imagined objects formed in an image rotated 90 degrees; (b) they "scanned" horizontally from one imagined object to another in a rotated image; (c) they physically rotated the empty cylinder together with their image until two of the imagined objects were vertically aligned; and (d) they adjusted a marker to line up with a single object in a rotated image. The experimental results converged to suggest that subjects' images accurately displayed the two-dimensional patterns emerging from a rotation in depth. However, the amount by which they rotated their image differed systematically from the amount specified by the experimenter. Results are discussed in the context of a model of the mental representation of physical space that incorporates two types of structures, one representing the three-dimensional layout of a scene, and the other representing the two-dimensional perspective view of the scene from a given vantage point.     

Interviewee perceptions of an organisational careers guidance scheme

A study was carried out during the early stages of the introduction of a career development scheme in a large government department. Information relating to aspects of various careers counselling issues was gathered from staff who had received such counselling and from personnel staff responsible for its provision. The study shows, amongst other things, that the interviewers were perceived to use some counselling skills, that the interviewers claimed they experienced few problems of role conflict, but that the staff tended to identify the interviewers with management. The findings are discussed relation to the appropriateness of interviewing style and to the broader context of how individuals might influence their career development within the opportunities provided by the organisation.     

Effects of stress and retesting on role play tests of social skill

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of stress in performance on role play tests of social skill. Chronic psychiatric patients were tested in a formal videotape studio or in an informal consulting room setting. Motoric and physiological measures were secured. In addition, one-half of the subjects were retested one week later. In contrast to previous studies, results indicated that the assessment was not stressful. The two groups were not different on any measure, and the mean heart rates ranged from only 80 to 84 b.p.m. The effects of retesting were difficult to interpret. There were reductions in motoric indices of anxiety (speech disruptions) but not on physiological indices. Overall, testretest reliability was quite high. The results raise several questions which affect interpretation of many social skills studies in the literature.