Seeing is believing: how participants in different subcultures judge people's credulity

We presented a scenario in which a protagonist saw an object in Location A but later heard a message saying it was in Location B. Participants judged where the protagonist believed the object was. In one condition, participants had additional information that the message was true. Those from an individualistic subculture tended to judge that the protagonist believed the message when they (the participants) knew it was true but disbelieved the message when they had no additional information. In contrast, participants from a collectivist subculture tended to judge that the protagonist believed the message in both circumstances. The results suggest that culture is related with subtle aspects of understanding the mind and especially how people evaluate messages. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of social context,source fairness,and perceived self‐source similarity on social influence: a self‐categorisation analysis

Based upon a self‐categorisation analysis of social influence (Turner, 1991), we predicted that individuals who self‐categorise with the source of a communication would align their own private attitudes more closely with the source when that source was distributively fair rather than unfair in an intragroup context. We expected this pattern to reverse in an intergroup context when the unfairness was ingroup favouring. These expectations were confirmed in a laboratory experiment (N=101). The data suggest that neither source similarity nor source fairness serve simply as persuasion cues to which individuals thoughtlessly conform. We argue, instead that, once self‐categorised, individuals: (1) actively attend to an ingroup member's behaviours and the context in which they occur, and (2) are influenced only by a source who provides some form of social identity enhancement, either by being fair in an intragroup context (Lind & Tyler, 1988) or ingroup favouring in an intergroup context (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of imprinting and isolation on aggressive responses in chicks

The importance of isolation and imprinting as separate factors influencing early aggressive responses in chicks (Gallus gallus) was studied in two separate experiments. In addition the effect of the presence or absence of the imprinting stimulus in the test situation was examined in Experiment 1. Neither imprinting per se, nor the presence of the imprinting stimulus significantly affected aggressiveness. Rearing conditions (isolation vs social rearing) did, however, influence aggressive responses. Isolated chicks were significantly more aggressive than socially reared buds. The adaptedness of selective aggression in socially (naturally) reared chicks, as well as the indiscriminant aggressiveness caused by social deprivation is discussed.     

Evaluation of an evolutionary model of self-preservation and self-destruction.

According to deCatanzaro's mathematical model of self-preservation and self-destruction, staying alive actually may reduce inclusive fitness for an individual who is low in reproductive potential and, at the same time, poses such a burden to close kin that it costs them opportunities for reproduction. Predictions generated from this model were tested using 175 university students as subjects and variables constructed from a 164-item questionnaire. The criterion variables were separate measures of depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation and behavior. The predictor variables derived from the model were separate measures of reproductive potential of the individual, the individual's perceived benefit or cost to kin, and reproductive potential of the individual's kin. As predicted, there were negative and significant bivariate correlations between each of the model-generated predictor variables and one or more of the criterion variables. Multiple regression analyses showed that benefit to kin was the best predictor of both depression and hopelessness. Discriminant analysis showed that reproductive potential of kin significantly differentiated suicide attempters from nonattempters. Overall, our results support and extend deCatanzaro's model and empirical findings.     

Leisure activities,caregiving demands and catecholamine levels in dementia caregivers

This study examined whether satisfaction from leisure activities moderates the relationship between caregiving demands (i.e., hours per day spent caring for a spouse with dementia) and resting levels of the catecholamines norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EPI). Spousal caregivers (n?=?107; mean age?=?73.95?±?8.12 years) were assessed in home for plasma levels of NE and EPI, amount of care provided, and leisure satisfaction. Regression was used to determine whether leisure satisfaction moderated the relationship between hours providing care per day and catecholamine levels. A significant interaction was found between hours caregiving and leisure satisfaction for NE, but not for EPI. Post hoc regressions were conducted for both NE and EPI. At low leisure satisfaction, time spent caring for a spouse was positively associated with plasma NE (β?=?0.41; p?=?0.005) and EPI (β?=?0.44; p?=?0.003). In contrast, at high levels of satisfaction, time caregiving was not significantly associated with plasma NE (β?=?–0.08; p?=?0.57) or EPI (β?=?0.23; p?=?0.12). These findings suggest that leisure satisfaction may protect caregivers from increases in catecholamines, which have been implicated in cardiovascular risk. Further support for these findings may impact psychological treatments for distressed caregivers.     

The Research Use of Projective Techniques: A Seventeen Year Survey

The past 17 volumes (from 1947 to 1064) of the Journal of Projective Techniques and Personality Assessment were surveyed with regard to the degree of research usage of the various projective techniques. The most commonly used techniques in research have remained quite unchanged over the past 17 years, i.e., the Rorschach, the thematic tests, human figure drawings, and sentence completions. An analysis and comparison of the first five years covered by the survey with the last five years suggests that the Szondi, the Mosaic, Finger Painting Analysis, and the Make-A-Picture show relative decline in research usage; the Blacky, the Holtzman Inkblots, and the Hand Test appear to be increasing. The correlation between the degree of clinical usage reported by Sundberg (1961) and the degree of research usage found in this study was .60, suggesting a high relationship between the two measures. However, it was suggested that an increase or decline in the research usage of an instrument may precede a corresponding increase or decline in its clinical usage.