Selective information use and perseveration in the search behavior of infants and young children

Two experiments examined the early development of selective information use in search. The first experiment tested 9- and 16-month-olds on a modification of Piaget's Stage IV object permanence task. It examined infants' use of information from previous experiences with an object (prior information) and from the most recent hiding (current information) to locate a hidden object. In the second experiment, 2-, $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}$-, and 4-year-old children received these same sources of information along with new forms of prior and current information: information about the typical locations of objects (location specificity) and verbal information. No systematic perseveration was observed at 9 months, although previous findings related to perseveration were replicated. Perseveration was found at 16 months, but there was also evidence of selectivity at that age. When errors occurred, they tended to be to the prior location, but they were infrequent in comparison to correct searches at the current location. The preschoolers, while continuing to show perseveration, were more consistently selective than the infants. They also showed considerable generality in extending their selectivity to new sources of information.     

A factorial study of a new measure of authoritarianism

In the present study scores on Ray's Directiveness scale were subjected to Varimax rotation. Three factors explaining more than 50% of the variance of authoritarianism were interpreted and labelled Submissiveness, Dominance and Aggressiveness, respectively. Although these are in line with Ray's earlier conception of the nature of authoritarianism and do, to some extent, support other findings, it is suggested that the Directiveness scale be expanded to accommodate more characteristics of authoritarianism such as rigidity, hostility and superstitiousness.     

A rose is a rose is a rose: Minimalism in perception

The article by Wilcox and Edwards (1982) is discussed in terms of the notion of a Physics necessary for an explanatory theory of Perception. Phenomenological explanations, while true, are rejected as lacking explanatory adequacy. Some examples of succesful computational theories, covering the phenomena Gibson considered basic to an Ecological Physics, are given which are based upon a classical optics.     

Irrelevant thoughts,emotional mood states,and cognitive task performance

In two experiments, we investigated the relationship shared by irrelevant thoughts, emotional mood states, and cognitive task performance. At an empirical level, irrelevant thoughts were defined as thoughts that did not facilitate successful task performance. We used the same general procedure for both experiments: three groups of college students received happy-, neutral-(control), or sad-mood inductions and performed a memory task. The procedure for obtaining thoughts varied between experiments. The subjects in Experiment 1 listed their thoughts after the memory recall task. In Experiment 2, the subjects were tape-recorded while performing a memory task and producing concurrent verbal protocols. The subjects in both experiments then judged their thoughts in terms of frequency, intensity, and irrelevance. We found a similar pattern of results in both experiments: (1) The proportions of irrelevant thoughts and recall performance were negatively related, and (2) happy and sad students produced reliably greater proportions of irrelevant thoughts than did neutral (control) students.     

Organizational and family systems factors in stress among ministers

Forty-one Protestant ministers completed measures of stress-related symptoms, family of origin contact, church governing body density, history of pastor-parish conflict in the church, and a measure of Bowen's (1959b/1985) concept of emotional triangles. A denominational executive provided ratings of each church's history of pastor-parish conflict. Path analysis using multiple regression showed support for a model in which governing body density and history of conflict predicted emotional triangles, and emotional triangles predicted stress symptoms. Contact with the pastor's family of origin moderated the relationship between emotional triangles and stress symptoms. Results suggest that the organizational and family ecology of the ministerial role can be important in understanding occupational stress among ministers.     

Associative facilitation of word recognition as measured from a neutral prime

It is shown that lexical decision times to strong associates with an associative strength of approximately 40% are facilitated relative to targets following a neutral prime, “blank,” whereas very weak associates with an associative strength of less then 3% are neither facilitated nor inhibited. It is also shown that relative to the “blank” baseline time, a row of crosses inhibits processing of the following target. The latter finding has implications for earlier studies that have used crosses as a neutral prime. In these studies, facilitation effects have been overestimated and inhibition effects have been underestimated. Neely 1976 has proposed a predict-and-match strategy according to which subjects are assumed to predict one or more targets from the prime and to match the actual target onto the predicted targets. A part of this theory is not supported by the present data. The results are discussed in terms of the two-process theory of expectancy (Posner & Snyder, 1975). They are also considered in the light of a recent theory by Becker (1980). As an alternative interpretation of part of the reported data, a coherence assumption by the subjects about all reading materials is introduced.     

Therapeutic effectiveness of differentially targeted humorous remarks in group psychotherapy

Video records of five different sessions of a single therapy group were scored for the occurrence of laughing, smiling, and talking. Successive five-minute intervals were also scored for therapeutic level through ratings derived from the Hill Interaction Matrix. Humorous remarks were categorized according to humor target: self, other in group, and generalized other. Results indicated that the vast majority of humorous remarks were directed at some specific target, and that over 50% of these remarks were negative in tone. Results also revealed that remarks targeted at others in the group tended to decrease therapeutic effectiveness whereas remarks targeted at individuals or institutions not presently in the group were found to increase therapeutic effectiveness. Selftargeted remarks were found to produce inconsistent effects. These findings are discussed in terms of their significance for a more general analysis of group humor as well as in terms of their more specific implications for therapeutic interventions.