Culture,personality, and reactions to praise and criticism1

An empirical study was designed to investigate the effects of personality and sociocultural background on reactions to positive and negative performance feedback. Eighty college students of two sociocultural backgrounds (Mexican- and Anglo-American) were asked to work on a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle and were then either praised or criticized, ostensibly according to their “problem-solving strategies,” but actually on the basis of random assignment to either condition. Seven dependent variables were included, representing various reactions to the feedback. Four-way analyses of variance were conducted on each dependent measure with the independent variables being type of feedback, locus of control, sex of subject, and ethnicity. In addition to consistent main effects for feedback, the results revealed that reactions to feedback, particularly criticism, are often mediated by personality and/or sociocultural factors. The findings are discussed in relation to previous literature and the need to take a sociocultural perspective in psychological research is emphasized.     

Visual detection of line segments: Two exceptions to the object superiority effect

Boundary conditions for the object superiority effect (OSE, target lines embedded in meaningful drawings are more accurately identified than the same targets embedded in nonmeaningful drawings; Weisstein & Harris, 1974) were sought by examining two variables known to affect the word superiority effect. A robust OSE was obtained in both two- and four-alternative tasks with no mask or speed requirement. The OSE was eliminated by either a random masking stimulus composed of dots or lines (Experiment 1) or by requiring speeded identification responses (Experiment 2). An information processing model is proposed to account for the OSE, as well as the exceptions reported herein. It is shown that this model can be modified to deal with the analogous word superiority effect.     

The time course of learned helplessness, inactivity, and nociceptive deficits in rats

Four experiments are reported which explore the nature of the effects of inescapable shock on subsequent shuttlebox escape learning. The first experiment demonstrated that shuttle escape deficits dissipate within 48 hr after treatment with inescapable shock. Experiment 2 showed that exposure to inescapable shock suppressed unlearned activity in the shuttlebox and that this activity deficit recovered within 48 hr. Experiment 2A demonstrated that this shuttlebox crossing decrement was at least partly attributable to the inescapability of the shocks. These results suggested that activity factors might partly mediate the shuttle escape learning deficit reported in Experiment 1. Experiment 3 explored the possibility that activity and shuttle escape learning deficits are subserved by the effects of inescapable shock on pain sensitivity. The results supported this notion. It was found that rats were less sensitive to painful stimulation 24 hr after inescapable shock and that this analgesic tendency also dissipated within 48 hr after pretreatment. The implications of these results were discussed.     

Transportation,Stress, and Community Psychology

Conditions of transportation were investigated as sources of psychological stress as they affect the physiology, task performance, and mood of commuters. Participants in the study were 100 employees of industrial firms. Traffic congestion was construed as a behavioral constraint in terms of the concept of impedance which is defined by the parameters of distance and time. It was expected that the effects of impedance would be mediated by personality factors, such as locus of control. Multivariate tests of the internal validity of the impedance factor were significant. However, significant main effects for impedance were obtained only for mood and residential adaptation. The predicted interactions of impedance with locus of control were obtained across task performance indices. In multiple regression analyses, the distance and speed of the commute to work were found to account for significant proportions of variation in blood pressure, while several indices of personal control had significant regression effects on the task measures. The implications of the results for research in community psychology are discussed.     

Behavior problems of educationally handicapped and normal pupils

Male pupils identified as behaviorally disordered, learning disabled, and educable mentally retarded, as well as nonidentified normal boys, were rated by their teachers on the Behavior Problem Checklist. Analyses of the ratings indicated significant differences for pupil category, Behavior Problem Checklist dimension, and category by dimension interaction, but no significant differences for age alone or in interaction with other factors. Categories of pupils were best discriminated from one another on the basis of Conduct Disorder and Personality Problem dimensions of the Behavior Problem Checklist. Results were discussed in terms of some implications for special education and further research suggested by the present findings.This research was supported by grant number GOO-7700642 from the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, U.S. Office of Education. Appreciation for their help in facilitating data collection is expressed to Jan Jones, Dee Tull, Dan Hurd, and Frank Kolinsky.     

Dyslexia and a temporal processing deficit: A reply to the commentaries

A number of points and criticisms were raised in the commentaries on our review paper (Farmer & Klein, 1995), and in this reply we address the most pertinent and major of those points. First, we clarify and expand upon what we mean by a temporal processing deficit. We then address Studdert-Kennedy and Mody’s (1995) major claims, which are confined to the auditory modality, that (1) a discriminative deficit underlies what they see as a rate of processing deficit, and (2) discriminative/rate deficits for speech and nonspeech materials are independent. We explain why we believe the first proposal is unlikely to provide an explanation of the temporal processing deficits that we reviewed, and we present a simple framework within which speech and nonspeech perceptual codes are viewed as higher level isolable subsystems that depend on a common, lower level, auditory input system. The speech and nonspeech systems may be influenced similarly by damage to, or impairments of, their common input system, but they can be selectively influenced by insults after the pathways diverge. Then we address some of the issues raised by Rayner, Pollatsek, and Bilsky (1995), relating to visual deficits and oculomotor behavior, and we point to the rapidly growing evidence to diminish skepticism about the occurrence of a transient system deficit in dyslexia. Next, while agreeing that case studies are valuable, we dispute Martin’s (1995) endorsement of the case study as the preferred methodology for studying a heterogeneous deficit such as developmental dyslexia. Finally, we affirm our original conclusion that more research aimed at revealing the nature and generality of the visual and auditory temporal processing deficits is warranted, and we reiterate some of our suggestions for the types of study that might help elucidate if and how these deficits might be causally related to the dyslexia with which they are frequently associated.     

A Healthy Lifestyle Program for the Treatment of Obesity in Minority Men

Historically, minority males have had limited success in programs designed to reduce weight. Twenty-five obese minority males participated in a healthy lifestyle program designed to treat essential hypertension, hyperlipidemia, type II diabetes, obesity, and hypothyroidism. Coined the LE ³ AN Lifestyle Program (emphasizing healthy lifestyles, realistic exercise, reasonable expectations and emotions, attitudes, and nutrition), the program offered a treatment model that involved reasonable low-intensity short exercise regimens, instruction, and extensive practice in making healthy food choices, behavior modification, and self-monitoring techniques coupled with guidance on realistic weight loss and exercise expectations. The participants were able to lose 13 Ib during the inpatient plus day treatment phases of the program and continued to maintain a 19-lb weight loss at 12 months. A program overview, case examples, and suggestions to improve outcome efficacy with difficult to manage obese, minority, male patients are provided.