Lexical ambiguity, semantic context, and visual word recognition.

Some alternative hypotheses about the recognition of ambiguous words are considered. According to the selective-access hypothesis, prior semantic context biases people to access one meaning of an ambiguous word rather than another in lexical memory during recognition. In contrast, the nonselectiveaccess hypothesis states that all meanings of the word are accessed regardless of the context. We tested certain versions of these hypotheses by having students decide whether selected strings of letters were English words. The stimuli included test sequnces of three words in which the second word had two distinct possible meanings, whereas the first and third words were related to these meanings in various ways. When the first and third words were related to the same meaning of the ambiguous second word (e.g., SAVE-BANK-MONEY), the reaction time to recognize the third word decreased. But when the first and third words were related to different meanings of the second word (e.g., RIVER-BANK-MONEY), the reaction time for the third word was not reliably different from a control sequence with unrelated words. These and other data favor the selective-access hypothesis. Selective access to lexical memory is discussed in relation to models of word recognition.     

Classification and differentiation of bladder and bowel related anxieties: A socio-cognitive exploration

Current Psychology - The current study aimed to explore the validity of a single, self-report measure for bladder and bowel anxieties (Bladder and Bowel Anxiety Grouping Item; BABAGI), using two...     

Commitment to organizational change: extension of a three-component model

Three studies were conducted to test the application of a three-component model of workplace commitment (J. P. Meyer & N. J. Allen, 1991: J. P. Meyer & L. Herscovitch, 2001) in the context of employee commitment to organizational change. Study 1, conducted with 224 university students, provided preliminary evidence for the validity of newly developed Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to Change Scales. Studies 2 and 3, conducted with hospital nurses (N = 157 and 108, respectively), provided further support for the validity of the three Commitment to Change Scales, and demonstrated that (a) commitment to a change is a better predictor of behavioral support for a change than is organizational commitment, (b) affective and normative commitment to a change are associated with higher levels of support than is continuance commitment, and (c) the components of commitment combine to predict behavior.     

A replication of Rorschach and MMPI-2 convergent validity

We replicated prior research on Rorschach and MMPI-2 convergent validity by testing 8 hypotheses in a new sample of patients. We also extended prior research by developing criteria to include more patients and by applying the same procedures to 2 self-report tests: the MMPI-2 and the MCMI-II. Results supported our hypotheses and paralleled the prior findings. Furthermore, 3 different tests for methodological artifacts could not account for the results. Thus, the convergence of Rorschach and MMPI-2 constructs seems to be partially a function of how patients interact with the tests. When patients approach each test with a similar style, conceptually aligned constructs tend to correlate. Although this result is less robust, when patients approach each test in an opposing manner, conceptually aligned constructs tend to be negatively correlated. When test interaction styles are ignored, MMPI-2 and Rorschach constructs tend to be uncorrelated, unless a sample just happens to possess a correlation between Rorschach and MMPI-2 stylistic variables. Remaining ambiguities and suggestions for further advances are discussed.     

Contents Volume 29 2000

Volume Contents

Contents Volume 29 2000