Confirmation bias in a simulated research environment: An experimental study of scientific inference

Numerous authors (e.g., Popper, 1959) argue that scientists should try to falsify rather than confirm theories. However, recent empirical work (Wason and Johnson-Laird, 1972) suggests the existence of a confirmation bias, at least on abstract problems. Using a more realistic, computer controlled environment modeled after a real research setting, subjects in this study first formulated hypotheses about the laws governing events occurring in the environment. They then chose between pairs of environments in which they could: (I) make observations which would probably confirm these hypotheses, or (2) test alternative hypotheses. Strong evidence for a confirmation bias involving failure to choose environments allowing tests of alternative hypotheses was found. However, when subjects did obtain explicit falsifying information, they used this information to reject incorrect hypotheses.     

Current Concerns and Electrodermal Reactivity: Responses to Words and Thoughts

ABSTRACT Previous research has found that subjects rate words that are closely related to their current concerns as affectively more arousing than other words. This investigation inquires whether a similar relationship occurs when arousal is measured electrodermally, and whether nonspecific (spontaneous) electrodermal activity is associated with self-generated thoughts about current concerns. In the first experiment, subjects listened to audiotaped sequences of three-word clusters associated with previously measured own current concerns or with concerns of others. Mean skin conductance responses were significantly larger for clusters related to subjects' own concerns than for those related to others' concerns, although many subjects contributing to this effect showed some awareness of the hypothesis. In the second experiment, thoughts that accompanied nonspecific skin conductance responses received significantly higher self-ratings for concern-relatedness and arousal than thoughts that occurred during electrodermal inactivity. In Experiment 3, they were rated higher for current-concern content and anxiety and lower for mental imagery and dormant-concern content than thoughts during electrodermal inactivity.     

TREATING CHRONIC FOOD REFUSAL IN YOUNG CHILDREN: HOME-BASED PARENT TRAINING

We evaluated the effects of a behavioral parent training program on parent and child feeding-related behaviors in the home. We trained mothers to initiate regular offerings of previously rejected (target) foods and to provide contingent attention (i.e., specific prompts, positive reinforcement) to increase their child's acceptance of nonpreferred foods. For 1 subject, we also directed training at increasing self-eating. Results of a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across 3 mother-child dyads demonstrated that, with training, all mothers increased offerings of target foods and use of specific prompts, and 2 mothers increased levels of positive attention. In turn, children increased their acceptance of target foods and self-eating, thus demonstrating the functional effects of parent training on in-home mealtimes. Temporary increases in food refusals occurred when treatment was initiated but declined as treatment continued. We discuss the results in terms of the potential benefits and limitations of a home-based treatment model.     

Faith development and Teresa'sInterior Castle

James Fowler's model of faith development is compared with the course of development described by St. Teresa of Avila in her classic work,Interior Castle. Both Teresa and Fowler drew their models from the study of individual lives. The paper first presents a brief summary of Fowler's model, then goes through the different levels of development described by St. Teresa, comparing each of them with corresponding stages in Fowler's model. The paper concludes that, though these models were developed in different cultures, centuries apart, they appear to describe a similar course of religious or spiritual unfolding.This paper is a revised version of one originally delivered to Division 36, Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues, at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.References to Teresa'sInterior Castle in this paper are given by section (Mansions) and chapter within section so that the passages can be found in any translation.     

Conceptual metaphors are not automatically accessed during idiom comprehension

Do conceptual analogies motivate idiom use and comprehension in discourse? For example, a story in which a person is described asfuming would be analogically consistent with an idiom such asblew her top, but inconsistent with an idiom such asbite his head off. Earlier work by Nayak and Gibbs(1990) had suggested that people use such analogical information during idiom comprehension. We replicated their findings inan idiom choice task, suggesting that people can indeed make use of such knowledge. However, when reading times were used to assess idiom comprehensibility, no effects of analogical consistency were found. We conclude that conceptual analogies play little, if any, role in idiom comprehension unless people have the time (and motivation) to make considered judgments.     

Attribution processes in mother-adolescent conflict

Attributions reported by 115 mothers and 122 adolescents were examined as they related to family conflict. Subjects completed measures of parent-adolescent conflict (Issues Checklist, Conflict Behavior Questionnaire) and the Mother-Adolescent Attribution Questionnaire. The results revealed that parent-adolescent conflict correlated with mothers' and teenagers' negative attributions. Specifically, self-reported conflict was positively correlated with mothers' and teenagers' beliefs that one another's negative behavior was intentional, selfishly motivated, and blameworthy.     

Distinguishing instrumental and hostile aggression: Does it make a difference?

An analogue task of instrumental and hostile aggression during a competitive game, modified to minimize overlap between aggressive responses, was evaluated in 8- to 14-year-old clinically referred boys (n=33). Postgame interviews indicated that the hostile response, an aversive noise, was perceived by over 80% of subjects as hostile and not instrumental. In contrast, the instrumental response, blocking the opponent's game, was perceived about equally as having instrumental and hostile functions. The hostile aggressive response was uniquely correlated with continuous performance task impulsive commission errors (r=51), which supported the theoretical relation of hostile aggression to poor impulse control. These results suggest that instrumental and hostile aggression can be distinguished and when precisely defined are distinct in theoretically important ways.The authors are grateful to Mary Milnamow, Susan Panichelli, Nancy Benzal, Elissa Batshaw, and Nancy Stone for assistance in data collection. This research was supported in part by an NIMH First Award MH4682 to the first author and support from NICHD Mental Retardation Research Center Core Center Grant DH26979, and by NIMH grants MH40364 and M00590 awarded to the second author. Preliminary data were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research in Child Adolescent Psychopathology, Costa Mesa, California, January 1990.     

Father and mother contributions to family functioning when the child has a mental delay

Less is known about the father's than the mother's role in family adaptation to children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships of both father and mother use of coping strategies and perceptions of the child with measures of family functioning style. Subjects were 26 families of 30-month-old children with a mental delay and a comparison group of 26 families of same-aged children with no delay. Functioning style for study families showed a balance of cohesion and adaptability; comparison families were more chaotically flexible on the adaptability scale. Mothers and fathers agreed on family functioning style. Study parents made the greatest use of external coping strategies, while in both groups mothers used more external and fathers more internal coping strategies. Relationships between coping and family functioning varied by parent and by group. Results suggest the need for further exploration of the separate needs of fathers and mothers in maintaining balanced family functioning.     

Effects of Goal Choice,Strategy Choice,and Feedback Source on Goal Acceptance,Performance and Subsequent Goals1

This study examined the effects of goal choice, strategy choice, and feedback source on goal acceptance, performance, and future self-set goals. The results were partially consistent with earlier work by Earley and Kanfer (1985) in that goal and strategy choice interacted to affect initial performance and goal acceptance. However, the nature of the performance interaction was not as expected. Results pertaining to future goals and subsequent performance suggested that goal choice was an important determinant of future goals and that feedback, goal choice, and strategy choice interacted to influence subsequent performance. Contrary to expectations, feedback source did not exert a main effect on subsequent performance, goal setting, or perceptions of feedback acceptance and usefulness. Discussion centered on the differential impact of choice on perceptual and behavioral variables and the failure of self-feedback to significantly affect subsequent goals and performance.