Testing message diffusion in harmonic logistic curves

The growth of a population of knowers of a message was studied to test a human interactance hypothesis. The conditions investigated involvedpeople interacting in time, with the population pairing off randomly (i.e., determined by many, small, different influences) and transferring an attribute (i.e., an all-or-none act) at either a steady rate or a waning rate, subsequent to the originating stimulus. The mathematical expressions for these pre-conditions were the differential equations for the linear logistic for steady acting and the harmonic logistic for waning acting. Variant forms of these curves were developed. Two exploratory experiments, or pretests, comprised launching a coffee slogan in a town and imitating a badge wearer in a boys' camp. Since the activity rate waned harmonically in both cases, the harmonic logistic fit best in both the town and the camp as expected by the hypothesis.A paper read before Section K sponsored by the Committee on Social Physics of the AAAS Conference in Boston, December 30, 1953. This research was supported in part by the United States Air Force under Contract AF 33(038)-27522, monitored by the Human Resources Research Institute (now, Officer Education Research Laboratory, Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center), Air Research and Development Command, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Permission is granted for reproduction, translation, publication and distribution in part and in whole by or for the United States Government.     

Psychological adjustment of children in the pretransplant phase of bone marrow transplantation: Relationships with parent distress,parent stress,and child coping

Families of 22 children preparing to undergo bone marrow transplantation (BMT) provided information concerning parent-reported major negative life stress, child coping strategies, parental psychological symptomatology, and child adjustment. Immediately prior to BMT, children and families are confronted with multiple stresses which challenge the child's coping and strain the parents' ability to assist the child with coping. Hence, stress, parental adjustment (distress), and child coping may be important factors affecting the child's overall psychological adjustment. Results showed that 15–25% of children and parents experienced clinically significant levels of psychological distress. Parent and child psychological distress were closely related. Major negative life stresses experienced by the parent and use of avoidant coping by the child significantly predicted child adjustment problems in the pretransplant period. Coping skills interventions targeting avoidant coping and management of parental stress/distress may reduce child psychosocial risk prior to BMT.     

The effects of age and intelligence on the dark-interval threshold

The threshold for the detection of the dark interval between two flashes of light (DIT) was investigated for 240 school children aged 6–17. It was found that the threshold showed a linear decline with chronological age. a finding attributed to physiological aging of the visual receptor system producing diminished persistence of the initial stimulus. This finding was counter to the expectation that the DIT would also indicate the growing potency of a higher-order cognitive process (temporal integration of stimulus traces) which would have caused the DIT to rise at some point along the chronological scale.     

Effects of age and asymmetrical stimulation on the subjective median plane

Changes in subjective median plane (SMP) as a result of asymmetrical visual and bodily stimulation were measured for a total of 260 Ss, age 5–17. Asymmetrical visual stimulation resulted in a readjustment of the SMP in the direction of stimulation, with a decline in magnitude of response as a function of age. Asymmetrical bodily stimulation was assimilated to by the younger children (SMP adjusted in the direction of stimulation), . and counteracted by the older children (age 8 and older). In the combination of the two, the effects of visual stimulation dominated those of bodily stimulation throughout the age range, possibly due to insufficient exposure to the asymmetrical bodily stimulation. Correlational analysis showed that CA, rather than MA, was the major variable associated with the results. The results are in general agreement with sensory-tonic theory, and are discussed in this light.     

The specification of digit and duration during motor programming: a new method of precueing

This experiment manipulated digit uncertainty, duration uncertainty, and response duration (dit or dah) in a choice reaction time key press task. A new method of precueing was developed that effectively "precued" the digit and/or the duration of the key press task without confounding the number of stimulus response alternatives with the levels of uncertainty of digit and duration. When the duration of the response was certain, there were no RT differences between dit and dah responses, however, when duration was uncertain, RT to dah responses were longer than dit. In addition, level of duration uncertainty and digit uncertainty produced an overadditive interaction upon RT. These results are discussed in terms of generalized motor programs and a feature construction hypothesis. In addition, these results support the view that precueing of movement dimensions can be accomplished without confounding the number of stimulus response alternatives and the uncertainties of movement dimensions.     

Impression management and overclaiming on job applications: Related to future sales performance?

Despite decades of research on the role of socially desirable responding (SDR) in hiring contexts, it remains unclear whether job applicant SDR is related to future employee performance. Drawing on a large sample of 1,084 retail sales employees and their original job application data, this study examined the predictive validity of two operationalizations of SDR: (a) impression management captured using a personality scale and (b) overclaiming familiarity with a list of products that were directly relevant to the job. Neither measure was used to inform the hiring decisions. Results showed that job applicant impression management and overclaiming were unrelated to four indicators of future sales performance as employees. Implications for organizational selection policies involving applicant SDR are discussed.     

The Downsides of Extreme Conscientiousness for Psychological Well‐being: The Role of Obsessive Compulsive Tendencies

Although conscientiousness exhibits positive relations with psychological well‐being, theoretical and empirical work suggests individuals can be too conscientious, resulting in obsessive‐compulsiveness, and therein less positive individual outcomes. However, the potential for curvilinearity between conscientiousness and well‐being has been underexplored. We measured 912 subjects on facets of conscientiousness, obsessive‐compulsive personality, and well‐being variables (life satisfaction, job satisfaction, self‐esteem, positive affect, negative affect, work stress). Methods of scoring included traditional sum‐scoring, traditional item response theory (IRT), and a relatively new IRT approach. Structural models were estimated to evaluate curvilinearity. Results confirmed the curvilinear relationship between conscientiousness and well‐being, and demonstrated that differential facet‐level relationships underlie weaker curvilinearity at the general trait level. Consistency was found in the strength of relation between conscientiousness facets with their obsessive‐compulsive variants and their contribution to decreased well‐being. The most common association was that higher standing on conscientiousness facets was positively related to negative affect. Findings support the idea that extreme standing on facets of conscientiousness more strongly linked to their obsessive‐compulsive variants contributed to lower well‐being, highlighting the importance of considering alternative functional representations of the relationship between personality and other constructs. Future work should seek to further clarify the link between conscientiousness and negative affect.     

On Pascal's Wager, or Why All Bets are Off

Pascal's wager seems to demonstrate that it is rational to believe in God and to act accordingly. I argue, however, that Pascal's wager appears to establish that it is rational to believe exclusively in p , while also apparently establishing that it is rational to hold exclusively a contrary belief. I also argue that the wager seems to establish that it is rational to perform only actions of type F, while also seemingly establishing that it is rational to perform contrary actions as often as possible. Thus Pascal's argument appears to establish far too much. And in apparently establishing too much, it establishes, in effect, nothing at all.     

Can we differentiate sensory over‐responsivity from anxiety symptoms in toddlers? perspectives of occupational therapists and psychologists

Suppose a toddler becomes distressed after hearing a loud noise or when getting messy; are these indicators of sensory over‐responsiveness or indicators of anxiety? There is little evidence regarding the distinction between sensory over‐responsivity and anxiety disorders in toddlers. This construct validity study examined differences between occupational therapists' and psychologists' judgments of behaviors as representing sensory processing disorders (SPD) versus anxiety disorders. Twenty‐four occupational therapists and 25 psychologists completed a mailed survey, rating items from sensory and anxiety scales as representing sensory and/or anxiety disorders in toddlers, and analyzing cases of toddlers with these disorders. Occupational therapists were more likely to rate items as representing SPD than psychologists, and occupational therapists were more certain of the distinction of the sensory scales from anxiety. For the case designed to present a general anxiety disorder and the one designed to present sensory over‐responsivity, more occupational therapists diagnosed as sensory over‐responsive, while more psychologists diagnosed with a general anxiety disorder. The overlap in judgments of sensory over‐responsivity and anxiety supports the notion that these constructs in part reflect different professionals' perspectives upon behaviors as well as the difficulty in distinguishing these constructs in toddlers.