Cognitive load and person memory: the role of perceived group variability

Two studies investigated the effects of cognitive busyness and group variability on participants' memory for stereotype‐related information. In Study 1, participants formed an impression of an experimentally created group that was either homogeneous or heterogeneous in composition. While learning about the group, half of the participants were made cognitively busy, the others were not. The results supported our prediction that stereotypical efforts on memory are moderated by both the availability of processing resources and the variability of the target group under consideration. Under optimal processing circumstances, participants' recollections were dominated by the perceived variability of the group in question. That is, participants displayed preferential recall for stereotype‐consistent information when they believed the group to be homogeneous in composition, but a tendency to recall more stereotype‐inconsistent information when they considered the group to be heterogeneous in nature. Under sub‐optimal processing conditions, however, a different pattern emerged. Now, participants preferentially recalled stereotype‐consistent information regardless of the perceived variability of the group. These results were largely replicated in Study 2 when the perceived variability of a real social group was manipulated. We consider the implications of these findings for contemporary theories of stereotyping. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship assessment in infant mental health

Infant-caregiver relationships are the crucial context for infant development and psychopathology. Considerable evidence suggests that infants may construct qualitatively different relationships with different caregivers. For these reasons, infant-caregiver relationships should be a centerpiece of assessment in infant mental health. We advocate assessing infant relationships with all important caregivers in both clinic based and naturalistic settings. In this article we describe our approach, which attends both to the external component of the relationship, behavioral interaction, as well as the internal component of the relationship, subjective experience. By integrating results from assessments of these two components, we determine both level of relationship adaptation and the specific domains of strengths and weaknesses. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

A Cross-Modal Comparison of Telephone and Face-to-Face Selection Interviews in Graduate Recruitment

Although there has been an increase in the use of telephone interviews for graduate recruitment by companies in the UK, there is little evidence attesting to their equivalence with traditional face-to-face selection interviews. A total of 70 candidates applying to a multinational oil corporation received both face-to-face and telephone interviews as the first stage of the 1996 graduate recruitment milkround. Group A (N = 41) received an initial face-to-face interview followed by a telephone interview and group B (N = 29) a telephone interview followed by a face-to-face interview. Findings indicate that candidates received significantly lower ratings when interviewed by telephone than when interviewed face-to-face (p ≤ 0.001). A significant interaction was also found (p ≤ 0.05) with candidates who received face-to-face interviews following telephone interviews demonstrating improved performance in their face-to-face interviews. The practical implications of these findings for companies wishing to use telephone interviews are discussed.     

Self-Ascription and Belief De Re

Philosophical Studies -     

No evidence of other-race effect for Chinese faces in Malaysian non-Chinese population

The other-race effect (ORE) reflects poor recognition of faces of a different race to one's own. According to the expertise-individuation hypothesis, this phenomenon is a consequence of limited experience with other-race faces. Thus, similar experience with own and other-race faces should abolish the ORE. This study explores the ORE in a multi-racial country (i.e., Malaysia) by comparing Malaysian observers' face recognition for faces of a predominant racial group in Malaysia (i.e., Chinese) with faces from an uncommon group (i.e., Caucasian). Malaysian Chinese, Malays, and Malaysian Indians completed the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) and the CFMT-Chinese. Compared with the normative scores, Malaysian observers showed poor performance in the CFMT-Caucasian. Interestingly, Malays and Malaysian Indians observers' performance was identical to that of Malaysian Chinese in the CFMT-Chinese and to the normative scores of the test. These results demonstrate the relevance of experience in shaping the ORE.     

Absence perception and the philosophy of zero

Synthese - Zero provides a challenge for philosophers of mathematics with realist inclinations. On the one hand it is a bona fide cardinal number, yet on the other it is linked to ideas of...     

The Incoherence of the Interactional and Institutional Within Freire’s Politico-Educational Project

Studies in Philosophy and Education - In this paper I draw apart two different contexts of Freirean pedagogical practice that I label interactional and institutional. The interactional refers to...     

Visual narrative comprehension: Universal or not?

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Visual narratives of sequential images – as found in comics, picture stories, and storyboards – are often thought to provide a fairly universal and...