The relationship between collective self-esteem and self-construal in Japan and Canada.

The study examined the relationship between various facets of collective self-esteem (R. Luhtanen & J. Crocker, 1992) and independent and interdependent self-construals (H. R. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991) among students in Japan and Canada. The results suggested that individuals with highly interdependent self-construals regarded social group memberships as self-defining, regardless of culture. Individuals with independent self-construals judged their groups positively and felt they were worthy members of their groups and that others evaluated their groups positively. Canadians who evaluated their social groups favorably may be members of groups that permitted them to be independent. In contrast, individuals in Japan who judged their groups favorably may be members of groups that promoted interdependence in addition to independence.     

Vulnerability factors in depression: The facets of sociotropy and autonomy

Sociotropy-autonomy (Beck, 1983) describes a set of personality dimensions that relate to an individual's vulnerability to depression. Two recently developed scales, the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale (Clark & Beck, 1991) and the Personal Style Inventory (Robinset al., 1994), have been developed in order to assess these personality dimensions. Typically, these measures are used in isolation and little published information is available concerning their interrelationship. The present study examined the relationship between the two scales and specified the various factors that emerge when the items of the two scales are integrated. Six hundred fifty-two participants responded to the Personal Style Inventory (Robinset al, 1994) and the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale (Clark & Beck, 1991). A factor analysis on all of the items of the two scales revealed a five-factor structure (two sociotropy, two autonomy, and one achievement factor). The relationships among depression, the five derived factors, and the original scales developed by Clark and Beck (1991) and Robinset al. (1994) were critically examined. The results are discussed in the context of vulnerability to depression.     

A microprocessor-based real-time BASIC laboratory: A pulse motor-controlled visual stimulator

Using the Commodore PET as a random pulse generator, an inexpensive visual stimulator for psychophysical experiments can easily be made at low cost. The PIA interface that connects the external experimental devices is easily accessed by PEEKing and POKEing its registers with BASIC. Using pulse motors, two independent stimulator wheels, having 24 different color filters and a 2.4 log (.1 log unit steps) unit range light attenuator, are controlled by a randomized string of pulses via a PIA port, and the responses of the observer as well as the stimulus parameters are automatically written onto the cassette memory for further data analysis.     

Retributive justice, restorative justice, and forgiveness: An experimental psychophysiology analysis

This experiment assessed the emotional self-reports and physiology of justice outcomes and forgiveness responses to a common crime, using a three Justice (retributive, restorative, no justice) × 2 Forgiveness (forgiveness, none) repeated-measures design. Participants (27 males, 29 females) imagined their residence was burglarized, followed by six counterbalanced justice-forgiveness outcomes. Imagery of justice—especially restorative—and forgiveness each reduced unforgiving motivations and negative emotion (anger, fear), and increased prosocial and positive emotion (empathy, gratitude). Imagery of granting forgiveness (versus not) was associated with less heart rate reactivity and better recovery; less negative emotion expression at the brow (corrugator EMG); and less aroused expression at the eye (lower orbicularis oculi EMG when justice was absent). When forgiveness was not imagined, justice-physiology effects emerged: signs of cardiovascular stress (rate pressure products) were lower for retributive versus no justice; and sympathetic nervous system responding (skin conductance) was calmer for restorative versus retributive justice.     

A static geometrical illusion contributes largely to the footsteps illusion

When a black and a white rectangle drifts across a stationary striped background with constant velocity, the rectangles appear to alternately speed up and slow down. Anstis (2001, Perception 30 785-794; 2004, Vision Research 44 2171-2178) suggested that this 'footsteps' illusion is due to confusion between contrast and velocity signaling in the motion detectors of the human visual system. To test this explanation, three experiments were carried out. In experiment 1, the magnitudes of the footsteps illusion in dynamic and static conditions was compared. If motion detectors play an important role in causing the illusion, it should be reduced in the static condition. Remarkably, however, we found that the illusory misalignment between the black and the white rectangle was even more prominent in the static condition than in the dynamic condition. In experiment 2, we measured the temporal-frequency properties of the footsteps illusion. The results showed that the footsteps illusion was tuned to low temporal frequencies. This suggests that the static illusory misalignment can contribute sufficiently to the dynamic illusory misalignment. In experiment 3, the magnitude of the illusion was measured with the rectangles drifting on a temporally modulated background instead of a spatially modulated background. If contrast affects the apparent velocity of the rectangles, temporal modulation of a uniform background should also cause the footsteps illusion. However, the results showed that the magnitude of the illusion was much reduced in this condition. Taken together, the results indicate that the footsteps illusion can be regarded as a static geometrical illusion induced by the striped background and that motion detectors play a minor role at best.     

Benefits of negative thinking and negative affect: analyses of answers to an open-ended question by Japanese undergraduates

What are the benefits of negative thinking and negative affect? Although previous studies in evolutionary psychology, social psychology, and clinical psychology have clarified the question, there has been no definitive study asking people directly about the perceived benefits. In the present study, 119 Japanese undergraduates were asked how they recognized the benefits of negative thinking and negative affect. Their answers were analyzed qualitatively. The answers were arranged into 30 smaller categories and 12 superordinate ones. The benefits were divided into "benefits to the self" and "benefits to interpersonal relations". Finally, the conditions necessary for the negative thinking and negative affect being benign, and possible cultural differences, were discussed.     

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Brief Version: factor structure and reliability

The short scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQR-S; H. J. Eysenck & S. B. G. Eysenck, 1992) is a 48-item personality questionnaire primarily designed to measure an individual's level of extraversion (vs. introversion) and neuroticism. Although L. J. Francis, L. B. Brown, and R. Philipchalk (1992) created the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised-Abbreviated (EPQR-A), an even briefer version of the EPQR-S, the reliability coefficients of some of the measures have been less than satisfactory (S. Forrest, C. A. Lewis, & M. Shevlin, 2000). Because brevity and reliability are both extremely important, the author of the present study created a briefer version of the EPQR-S, more reliable than the EPQR-A, by making slight alterations in the item content as well as the response format of the EPQR-S. Two hundred and sixty eight participants completed the original EPQR-S and the 24-item newly revised briefer version of the EPQR-S (EPQ-BV) twice. The findings revealed that the EPQ-BV has good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity. A principal component analysis revealed a solution with factor loadings that accurately reflected the primary measures of the EPQR-S. These findings are discussed in relation to the psychometric properties of the EPQR-A and the original version of the EPQR-S.     

Effect of focus on verbal working memory: Critical role of the focus word in reading

The effect of focus on working memory was investigated with the reading span test (RST). In two experiments, the span scores and the number of intrusion errors were compared between the focused RST the and the nonfocused RST. Focus word was defined as the most important word for comprehending a sentence. For the focused RST, the target word to be maintained was the focus word for the sentence. In the nonfocused RST, however, the target word was not the focus word for the sentence. The results of both experiments showed that RST span scores were higher for the focused RST than for the nonfocused RST, and intrusion errors were found to increase for the nonfocused RST. In Experiment 2, the effect of focus was compared between high-span and low-span subjects. An effect of sentence length was also investigated. The result showed that low-span subjects were more affected than were high-span subjects by whether the word to be remembered was the focus word. The effect of sentence length was not confirmed. These findings suggest that the low-span subjects had deficits in their ability to establish and/or inhibit mental focus when faced with conflict situations in reading.