The test of self‐conscious affect: internal structure,differential scales and relationships with long‐term affects

Item analyses and confirmatory factor analyses on the Test of Self‐Conscious Affect (TOSCA), in a student (N = 723) and an adult (N = 891) sample, supported the theorized four factor structure of proneness to reparation, negative self‐evaluation, externalizing blame and unconcern. However, two‐fifth of the items did not empirically differentiate between two or more factors. Differential TOSCA scales, including only differentiating TOSCA items, were constructed and related to measures of long‐term affect, depression, anxiety, and anger. Both the pattern and size of correlations of the original and the differential TOSCA scales were almost identical. Results of this study support the interpretation of TOSCA guilt as a measure of a tendency to reparation associated with guilt and TOSCA shame as a measure of a tendency to global negative self‐evaluation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attribute Framing and Goal Framing Effects in Health Decisions

Levin, Schneider, and Gaeth (LSG, 1998) have distinguished among three types of framing—risky choice, attribute, and goal framing—to reconcile conflicting findings in the literature. In the research reported here, we focus on attribute and goal framing. LSG propose that positive frames should be more effective than negative frames in the context of attribute framing, and negative frames should be more effective than positive frames in the context of goal framing. We test this framework by manipulating frame valence (positive vs negative) and frame type (attribute vs goal) in a unified context with common procedures. We also argue that the nature of effects in a goal-framing context may depend on the extent to which the research topic has “intrinsic self-relevance” to the population. In the context of medical decision making, we operationalize low intrinsic self-relevance by using student subjects and high intrinsic self-relevance by using patients. As expected, we find complete support for the LSG framework under low intrinsic self-relevance and modified support for the LSG framework under high intrinsic self-relevance. Overall, our research appears to confirm and extend the LSG framework.     

Perception and acceptance of evaluations by supervisors and peers

A survey of 200 employed graduate and undergraduate business students investigated differences in individuals’ acceptance and perceptions about peer evaluation vs. supervisor evaluation. Results showed that, compared to peer evaluations, acceptance of supervisor evaluations is higher, supervisor evaluations are perceived as more accurate and more trusted, supervisors are seen as having more qualifications to evaluate performance and more opportunities to observe performance, and suffer less from friendship bias.     

The Impact of Group Work on Offender Adolescents

The impact of personal construct and psychodynamic group work on the psychosocial functioning of offender adolescents was evaluated. The repeated measures design involved 3 data collections. Data from 102 participants included measures of 5 pairs of maturational processes and 5 psychological states. Group work was effective immediately after terminating treatment in increasing helpful maturational processes and in reducing the less helpful maturational processes. The group work was also effective to some extent in reducing less helpful psychological states. The implications of this research for future interventions and its evaluation are discussed.     

Feature-based attention across saccades: Pop-out in color search is spatiotopic

Our perception of the world remains stable despite the retinal shifts that occur with each saccade. The role of spatial attention in matching pre- to postsaccadic visual information has been well established, but the role of feature-based attention remains unclear. In this study, we examined the transsaccadic processing of a color pop-out target. Participants made a saccade towards a neutral target and performed a search task on a peripheral array presented once the saccade landed. A similar array was presented just before the saccade and we analyzed what aspect of this preview benefitted the postsaccadic search task. We assessed the preview effect in the spatiotopic and retinotopic reference frames, and the potential transfer of feature selectivity across the saccade. In the first experiment, the target and distractor colors remained identical for the preview and the postsaccadic array and performance improved. The largest benefit was observed at the spatiotopic location. In the second experiment, the target and distractor colors were swapped across the saccade. All responses were slowed but the cost was least at the spatiotopic location. Our results show that the preview attracted spatial attention to the target location, which was then remapped, and suggest that previewed features, specifically colors, were transferred across the saccade. Furthermore, the preview induced a spatiotopic advantage regardless of whether the target switched color or not, suggesting that spatiotopy was established independently of feature processing. Our results support independent priming effects of features versus location and underline the role of feature-based selection in visual stability.     

Associative false recognition occurs without strategic criterion shifts

In the DRM (Deese/Roediger and McDermott) false memory paradigm, subjects studied lists of words associated with nonpresented critical words. They were tested in one of four instructional conditions. In a standard condition, subjects were not warned about the DRM Effect. In three other conditions, they were told to avoid false recognition of critical words. One group was warned before study of the lists (affecting encoding and retrieval processes), and two groups were warned after study (affecting only retrieval processes). Replicating prior work, the warning before study considerably reduced false recognition. The warning after study also reduced false recognition, but only when critical items had never been studied; when critical items were studied in half the lists so that subjects had to monitor memory for their presence or absence, the warning after study had little effect on false recognition. Because warned subjects were trying to avoid false recognition, the high levels of false recognition in the latter condition cannot be due to strategically guessing that critical test items were studied. False memories in the DRM paradigm are not caused by such liberal criterion shifts.     

Using segmented linear regression models with unknown change points to analyze strategy shifts in cognitive tasks

Some years ago, Beem (1993, 1995) described a program for fitting two regression lines with an unknown change point (Segcurve). He suggested that such models are useful for the analysis of a variety of phenomena and gave an example of an application to the study of strategy shifts in a mental rotation task. This technique has also proven to be very fruitful for investigating strategy use and strategy shifts in other cognitive tasks. Recently, Beem (1999) developed SegcurvN, which fitsn regression lines with (n - 1) unknown change points. In the present article we present this new technique and demonstrate the usefulness of a three-phase segmented linear regression model for the identification of strategies and strategy shifts in cognitive tasks by applying it to data from a numerosity judgment experiment. The advantages and shortcomings of this technique are evaluated.     

EFFECTS OF A FIXED‐TIME SCHEDULE ON ABERRANT AND ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR

Fixed‐time (FT) schedules of reinforcement have been used to decrease destructive behavior. However, the effects of FT schedules on acquisition and maintenance of appropriate behavior remain unclear. In this study, we present a case in which an FT schedule produced an increase in adaptive behavior and resulted in a significant decrease in destructive behavior.     

ANALYZING THE INFLUENCE OF TIC‐RELATED TALK ON VOCAL AND MOTOR TICS IN CHILDREN WITH TOURETTE'S SYNDROME

This study examined the effect of tic‐related talk on the vocal and motor tics of 2 boys with Tourette's syndrome. Using ABAB withdrawal designs, the boys were alternately exposed to conditions with and without talk of their tics. For both boys, vocal tics markedly increased when talk pertained to tics and decreased when talk did not pertain to tics, but motor tic covariance was less consistent.     

Derrida's Worldly Responsibility: The Opening between “Faith” and the “Sacred”

This article will theorize how Derrida's deconstruction signifies a fundamental ontological alterity. We will examine the use of both the tropes of “sacred” and “faith” as tropes to express this possibility. We will articulate how deconstruction, as a development of phenomenology, provides a theoretical nexus where the alterity of things and persons may be thought. We will arrive at the paradoxical formulation of “ontological alterity” as a key moment in deconstructive thinking. Essentially we will argue that deconstruction offers the resources to think the relation between other person and things in the world as motivated by a firm radicalization of Heideggerean worldliness and Levinasian alterity.