Paradoxical Sadness

Three experiments were conducted to examine the theoretical prediction that the intensity of sadness is determined not only by the instigating event but also by factors that impede or deter the function or purpose of sadness. In the first two experiments, participants were asked to read a story designed to induce sadness, and were then given a $1, $2, or $3 gift. In both, reported sadness was higher for persons receiving a $2 gift than for those receiving either a $1 or $3 gift. However, the increase in sadness from the $1 to $2 group failed to reach an acceptable level of significance. In the second experiment, as expected, a $1 gift produced less sadness than did the story by itself, and as in the first experiment, a $2 gift resulted in more sadness than either a $1 or $3 gift. The third experiment replicated the $1 and $2 conditions and obtained a highly reliable effect; sadness was greater among those who received the $2 gift. Measures of positive affect suggested that participants experienced either sadness or positive feelings, not both.     

Gender Role of Male Therapists in Both Professional and Personal Life

This study's purpose was to extend the distantresearch on gender roles. The specific objective was tobetter understand the gender role of male psychologists.It was hypothesized that male psychologists would exhibit an androgynous gender role.Gender role styles in professional work and in thepersonal realm were assessed. Questionnaire packets weremailed to 300 male clinical psychologists affiliated with the American Psychological Associationacross six regions within the United States. Sixty ofthe 61 participants reported being Caucasian and 1reported being Native American. Being that the sample was that of practicing psychologists, all withdoctorate degrees, the social class is presumed to be atleast upper middle class. The packets contained ademographics questionnaire and two Personal Attributes Questionnaires. Results suggest that malepsychologists do exhibit an androgynous gender role inboth professional and personal realms. A great deal ofthe prior literature indicates that androgynoustherapists have more adaptive communication skills and arebetter at assessing and treating their clients. Thisresult is therefore advantageous to therapeuticoutcomes.     

Argument Quality and Cultural Difference

Central to argumentation theory is a concern with normativity. Argumentation theorists are concerned, among other things, with explaining why some arguments are good (or at least better than others) in the sense that a given argument provides reasons for embracing its conclusion which are such that a fair- minded appraisal of the argument yields the judgment that the conclusion ought to be accepted -- is worthy of acceptance -- by all who so appraise it.This conception of argument quality presupposes that the goodness of arguments is characterizable in terms of features of the argument itself. It makes no reference either to the attributes of the persons appraising the argument and judging its normative force, or to the context in which that appraisal is carried out. But recent work by a wide range of philosophers, argumentation theorists, and social theorists rejects such an abstract, impersonal notion of argument goodness. Instead, these theorists insist upon taking seriously, in the evaluation of arguments, the features of the evaluators themselves. In particular, such theorists emphasize the importance of cultural difference in argument appraisal. Often locating themselves under the banner of multiculturalism, they argue that the quality of an argument depends upon culturally-specific beliefs, values, and presuppositions; that an argument may be of high quality in one cultural context but of low quality in another. Consequently, they contend, no abstract, impersonal characterization of argument quality can succeed.In this paper I consider this multiculturalist approach to argument quality. I argue that while there is much merit in the general multiculturalist perspective, the multiculturalist argument against impersonal conceptions of argument quality fails. It fails for several reasons detailed below; most fundamentally, it fails because it itself presupposes just the kind of impersonal account of argument quality it seeks to reject. I call this presupposition that of transcultural normative reach. I identify this presupposition in the multiculturalist argument, and show how it undercuts the multiculturalist challenge to abstract, impersonal, transcultural conceptions of argument quality. I conclude with an evaluation of the strengths, and weaknesses, of the multiculturalist challenge to such conceptions of argument quality.     

The voice of confidence: Paralinguistic cues and audience evaluation

A standard speaker read linguistically confident and doubtful texts in a confident or doubtful voice. A computer-based acoustic analysis of the four tapes showed that paralinguistic confidence was expressed by increased loudness of voice, rapid rate of speech, and infrequent, short pauses. Under some conditions, higher pitch levels and greater pitch and energy fluctuations in the voice were related to paralinguistic confidence. In a 2 × 2 design, observers perceived and used these cues to attribute confidence and related personality traits to the speaker. Both text and voice cues are related to confidence ratings; in addition, the two types of cue are related to differing personality attributes.     

Response probability and response latency to threshold electrocutaneous stimuli

A comparison was made between two measures of somatosensory sensitivity, response probability, and reaction time to electrocutaneous constant current pulses of 350-microsec duration. The psychometric functions are steeper than those obtained for other sensory modalities. Similarly, the reaction-time/intensity functions are also steeper than those obtained in other modalities, i.e., larger decreases in reaction time as a function of small increases in stimulus intensity. Ss exposed to a broad stimulus range, including high intensities, yield psychometric and reaction time functions displaced into a higher intensity region than when they are exposed to a narrow low-intensity range of stimuli. The data are discussed in terms of a decision-theory model of reaction time.     

Extending Holland's theory to adult women

The potential of Holland's theory for use in the vocational guidance of adult women depends in part on more validity data with regard to the conceptual meaningfulness of the constructs. This study reports the findings of a correlative analysis between scores on Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI), which measures the six “styles”, and selected scales on four criterion tests predicted in advance to be related to the VPI. The findings for this sample of adult women indicate strong evidence for the validity of the Intellectual, Conventional and Enterprising “styles”, but questions are raised with regard to the meaningfulness of the Realistic, Social, and Artistic types.     

Determinants of the perception of choice

Two experiments were conducted to investigate possible determinants of perceived choice. The first experiment employed an observer paradigm and the second employed an actor paradigm. The results of both studies provided evidence for the hypotheses that perceived choice will be greater when there is a small difference in attractiveness between outcome alternatives than when there is a large difference and under conditions of low certainty about the attractiveness of each outcome alternative than under conditions of high certainty. Also, the results of both studies provided some evidence for the hypothesis that the effect of the relative difference in attractiveness upon perceived choice will be greater under conditions of low certainty than under conditions of high certainty. The hypothesis that perceived choice will be less when there is no difference in attractiveness between outcome alternatives than when there is a small difference was not supported by the results of the first experiment but was supported by the results of the second experiment. The hypothesis that perceived choice will be greater the more time a person takes to select an action from possible actions was supported by results of the first experiment but not by those of the second experiment. The results for the relative difference and certainty variables were discussed in terms of a theoretical analysis of perceived choice.