Psychophysical scaling of stimulus similarity in 3-month-old infants and adults

The ability of 3-month-old infants to discriminate novel components of a prefamiliarized stimulus was assessed using an operant paradigm. Subjects were familiarized with the standard stimulus (five-component mobile) in three daily conditioning sessions and then were exposed to a comparison mobile containing from zero to four novel components substituted for familiar elements at the outset of a fourth daily session. Although a reliable reduction in mean number of footkicks was found only when an extreme number of components was substituted, log-log plots of infant response as a function of degree of novelty indicated that discriminability was described by a power function. Adult judgments of the similarity between the standard mobile and each degree of novelty were also described by a power function, suggesting a common basis may underlie the perception of similarity in the two groups. The finding of a power function for infant response to visual novelty is consistent with reports of similar discriminability functions in infant olfaction and audition. However, duration of visual fixation increased nondifferentially to all test stimuli, irrespective of degree of novelty. The latter finding is inconsistent with predictions arising from the visual attention literature.     

Why Causation Need Not Follow from Statistical Association: Boundary Conditions for the Evaluation of Generative and Preventive Causal Powers

In experimental design, a tacit principle is that to test whether a candidate cause c (i.e., a manipulation) prevents an effect e, e must occur at least some of the time without the introduction of c. This principle is the preventive analogue of the explicit principle of avoiding a ceiling effect in tests of whether c produces e. Psychological models of causal inference that adopt either the covariation approach or the power approach, among their other problems, fail to explain these principles. The present article reports an experiment that demonstrates the operation of these principles in untutored reasoning. The results support an explanation of these principles according to the power PC theory, a theory that integrates the previous approaches to overcome the problems that cripple each.     

ASSESSING AND PROGRAMMING GENERALIZED BEHAVIORAL REDUCTION ACROSS MULTIPLE STIMULUS PARAMETERS

Generalization across three stimulus parameters was examined for 5 individuals whose self-injurious behavior was maintained by escape from task demands. Prior to treatment, three stimulus parameters (therapist, setting, and demands) were systematically varied across baseline sessions. These variables were held constant during treatment, which consisted of escape extinction. When treatment was completed, three novel stimulus parameters were probed. If the rate of self-injury was high during this probe, treatment was reimplemented with one new stimulus parameter (the other two were the same as in the original treatment condition). Following this second treatment, another probe with three novel stimuli was conducted. If the rate of self-injury was again high, treatment was implemented again while a second stimulus parameter was changed. This sequence continued until generalization was observed across the three parameters. Results showed idiosyncratic differences in generalization. The behavior of 2 subjects showed complete generalization during the first novel probe. A 3rd subject's behavior showed generalization following treatment across two stimulus parameters (setting and therapist). The behavior of the 2 remaining subjects showed a complete lack of generalization across the three parameters; both subjects required training for novelty by randomly varying the stimulus parameters for a substantial number of sessions.     

Effects of Refutational Messages,Thought Provocation,and Decision Deadlines on Signing to Donate Organs1

Across three experiments college students were given refutational messages or other treatments encouraging signing drivers' licenses to donate bodily organs in case of accidental death. An attitudinal measure (willingness to sign) predicted observed signing behavior, but relatively weakly. A measure of behavioral expectation to sign or not to sign predicted more strongly. A discussion with family was encouraged, the impact of that discussion also predicted signing but less strongly so. In Study 1 groups given a refutational message signed at no greater rates than a group given a control message. In Study 2 a refutational message group and a group asked to think about donating for 2 min signed at higher rates than a true control group. In Study 3 groups asked to decide whether or not to sign by a certain date and time signed at a higher rate than a refutational message group as in earlier studies. These procedures are recommended for organ donation signing campaigns.     

‘Earwitness’ voice recognition: Factors affecting accuracy and impact on jurors

Two studies were conducted examining voice recognition testimony and its impact on jurors. In the first experiment, subjects listened to a tape recording of a brief sales pitch. After a retention interval of either 0, 7 or 14 days, subjects were unexpectedly asked to pick the salesperson's voice out of a five-voice taped lineup. Retention interval did not have a significant effect on hit rates or false alarms. Accuracy and pre-lineup confidence were not significantly correlated, although accuracy was related to post-lineup willingness to testify. In the second experiment, undergraduate subjects were asked to read a summary of a trial, describing a situation similar to that studied in experiment 1; the independent variables were the presence of an earwitness, the gender and confidence of the earwitness, and the retention interval. Only the presence of an earwitness had a significant main effect upon mock jurors' verdicts. However, there was a significant interaction between witness confidence and witness gender when an earwitness identification was presented.     

Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences in Precollege Women: Prevalence and Risk Factors

The authors of this study examined the prevalence of nonconsensual sexual experiences in dating situations among a sample of 330 incoming female college students. Results indicated that 38.5% of women reported experiencing at least one form of sexual victimization in dating, ranging from unwanted sexual contact to rape. Victimization was related to history of childhood sexual abuse as well as previous consensual sexual activity. Discussion focuses on the need for education and prevention programs during the secondary school years and counseling assistance for college-age victims.     

The American image of beauty: Media representations of hair color for four decades

The present archival study examined the depiction of women's beauty in our society with respect to hair color, especially blondeness. Raters reliably categorized the hair color of cover models for two women's magazines (Ladies Home Journal and Vogue) and for Playboy magazine centerfolds from the 1950s through the 1980s. These media images from 750 observations were compared among magazines, among decades, and in relation to the proportion of blondes in a normative sample of adult White women. Results revealed that the percentage of blondes in each magazine exceeded the base rate of blondes in the norm group. Blondes were more prevalent in Playboy centerfolds than in the women's magazines. Although temporal patterns varied from magazine to magazine, the average proportion of blondes was lowest in the 1960s and highest in the 1970s. The study's findings have numerous implications for social issues and research regarding the psychology of physical appearance.The authors wish to thank Jill Grant for her assistance in conducting this research.     

Shaping EU Attitudes Through Identity Leadership: Investigating Pro-EU and EU-Skeptic Identity Narratives

The European Union (EU) faces many challenges. Chief among them are (1) the growing electoral appeal of EU-skeptic parties, (2) the prevalence of negative narratives about the EU, and (3) frequent marginalization of government leaders openly advocating EU membership. It is hence unsurprising that the EU attitude literature focuses heavily on ways in which leaders undermine (rather than bolster) confidence in the EU. The aim of this conceptual article is to fill this void and to shine a spotlight on how leaders seek to restore confidence in the EU. Rather than to merely describe what pro-EU leaders say in public, we propose a conceptual model that combines older EU attitude research (into “nested” social identities and perceived identity compatibility), with more recent social psychology research (into “identity mobilization” and “identity leadership”). By combining insights from both fields, our framework enables us to gain a deeper understanding of why certain pro-EU narratives can be expected to “take hold” and instill faith in the EU among the public at large. The discussion focuses on the implications for EU leadership.     

Editorial synthesis for 2 in 2023 a collaboration between IARR's two journals: Recognizing the need for greater inclusivity in relationship science

The idea for this special issue came from the current Editors of the Journal for Social and Personal Relationships and Personal Relationships, who wanted to forge a collaboration between the International Association for Relationship Research's two journals. The timing of such collaboration came at a time when issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion were being brought to light in science, broadly defined. Stemming from such discussions, for this special issue, we asked 10 sets of authors to apply an intersectional lens—grounded in Crenshaw's (1989, 1991) definition of intersectionality and drawing from questions posed by Cole (2009)—in their systematic review of literature from the past 20 years (1992–2022) and to answer these three questions: (1) from whose vantage point is the research being conducted, (2) what types of questions are valued, and (3) who is included in the research vs. who is being left out/whose voices are missing. Reviews for the special issue include these topics: (a) affectionate communication, health, and relationships, (b) romantic relationship maintenance behaviors, (c) relationship maintenance among military couples, (d) relational sacrifices, (e) LGBTQ-inclusive research, (f) stress, support, and coping for romantic couples, (g) daily stress and romantic relationship quality, (h) infidelity, (i) relationship dissolution, and (j) the longitudinal study of romantic close relationships. Across the reviews, authors noted many of the same patterns; most studies included samples from the United States, wherein participants identified as White, heterosexual, and/or female; however, military samples were dominated by men. The methods employed were largely quantitative, cross-sectional, and/or with data coming from surveys. Observations during the review process included the role of positionality as well as greater knowledge gained about the critical framework of intersectionality, specifically acknowledging that elements of diversity in sampling methods are not an application of intersectionality; rather, intersectionality places central focus on (a) how multiply marginalized social identities have been historically oppressed and (b) how systems of power, oppression, and privilege construct, reproduce, and sustain those multiply marginalized social identities. Recommendations for future relationship science are presented, specifically in how our fields can benefit from learning from the lens of intersectionality.     

Using video modeling to teach a domestic skill with an embedded social skill to adults with severe mental retardation

We assessed whether three adults with severe mental retardation would acquire a domestic skill (making coffee) with an embedded social skill (serving coffee to and sitting down beside a peer) via video modeling procedures. Training was conducted in a classroom in the participants' day treatment setting. The intervention consisted of (i) watching a video of an adult with a developmental disability making coffee and initiating a social interaction with a peer; and (ii) receiving verbal praise for each step of the task that was performed correctly. All three participants mastered the task and demonstrated generalization across settings, stimuli, and people. Two participants performed with 100% accuracy on maintenance probes conducted 1 month following mastery, and one participant did so following booster training. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.