Factors in the self-deception questionnaire: associations with depression

Disagreement presently exists over whether depressed or nondepressed persons exercise more cognitive distortion on material about the self. A negative correlation between the Self-Deception Questionnaire (SDQ, Sackeim & Gur, 1978, 1979) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, Beck, 1967) has been cited as evidence that it is the nondepressed individuals who exercise more distortion (Sackeim, 1983). This negative correlation was replicated, and the SDQ was factor analyzed to determine which factors might account for the correlation with depression. The three largest factors, identified by content themes of relationships with parents, emotionality, and denial of tabooed activities, correlated reliably with the BDI. Discussion focused on whether these correlations reflect differences in self-deception that are associated with depression or differences in veridical responding between depressed and nondepressed subjects on those items in the SDQ. Suggestions for future research and possible therapeutic implications are also discussed.     

Matching attidudes towards cartoons across evaluative judgments and nonverbal evaluative behavior

Summary Attitude responses and behavior were theoretically treated as two modalities in a psychophysical matching task. The total response pattern was expected to vary in terms of (a) covariation between modalities and (b) shifts in central tendencies within modalities. Subjects watched a series of humorous and disgusting cartoons on nonsense and women-related topics and evaluated each cartoon using an attitude rating scale. Their facial expressions were secretly videotaped. The tapes were content-analyzed by raters for the amount of nonverbal mirth and of disgust. Independent variables were: (1) Instruction for self-observation (yes/no), (2) Instructions to identify the kind of cartoon (yes/no), (3) Sex of subject (male/female), and (4) Kind of cartoon (nonsense or women-related). The correlation across the total set of cartoons between the two modalities was r=0.88. Self-observation and kind of cartoon affected the strength of covariation of the modalities: sex of subjects and kind of cartoon had a biasing influence on the central tendency of responses.     

Reliability of diagnosis in older psychiatric patients using the structured clinical interview for DSM-III-R

We conducted one of the few studies that has examined the reliability of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Axis I (SCID-I) with a mixed inpatient and outpatient population of adults 55 years old and over (range, 56–84 years; mean, 67.33 years). All SCID interviews were videotaped or audiotaped and were administered by Master's-level clinicians working toward their doctorate degrees in clinical psychology. Interrater reliability estimates (kappa and percentage agreement) were calculated for current major depressive episode (47% base rate) and the broad diagnostic categories of anxiety disorders (15% base rate) and somatoform disorders (12% base rate). Kappa values were .70, .77, and 1.0. Respective percentage agreement was 85% for major depression, 94% for anxiety disorders, and 100% for somatoform disorders. Overall percentage agreement was 91%. We conclude that the SCID-I can be effectively administered by relatively inexperienced clinicians to diagnose older psychiatric patients reliably. Directions that future research might take are offered.     

Accounting for nonlinear utility functions in composite measures of productivity and performance

Composite measures of productivity and performance combine different indicators of work activities into a single index. The term nonlinearities refers to the phenomenon that the relationship between the scores on an indicator of productivity and the value of that level of the indicator to the organization is not always linear. For example, more is not always better. This research evaluated whether accounting for such nonlinear relationships in productivity measures adds new information to the composite measures. Data from five organizations showed that the correlations between a composite measure which includes nonlinear relationships and one which does not were very high, but treatment effect sizes and decisions resulting from the two measurement systems were substantially different. It was concluded that inclusion of nonlinearities added important information to composite measures of productivity and that accounting for nonlinearities should result in more valid composites. Applications of this issue for other topics such as performance appraisal and promotions were discussed.     

A new approach to cerebral asymmetry: RT differences in simultaneous bimanual finger movement during verbal and nonverbal tasks

This study was aimed at testing a new approach for examination of functional laterality based on hemispheric specialization. The subjects had to perform verbal (words/nonwords) and nonverbal (similar/different patterns) discrimination. The separation of the two hemispheres during information processing was realized by requiring a simultaneous response of both index fingers. The obtained over-all reaction times (RT) were faster for verbal than for pattern tasks. Considering the RTs for solely the particular, faster response of one or the other index finger, the right index finger turned out to be faster on verbal tasks whereas the left one dominated on pattern tasks. According to the hypothesis that the faster hand indicates the more active (contralateral) hemisphere, it can be assumed that words are responded to more quickly when processed in the left hemisphere. On the other hand, patterns are responded to more quickly when the right hemisphere is active. These results suggest that each hemisphere may be capable of processing verbal and nonverbal material; the speed of information processing, however, is faster in the more adept one.     

Sex differences in the relationship of height to children's actual and attributed social and cognitive competencies

In three studies, the relationship of children's height to both (a) adults' attributions regarding the children and (b) preschoolers' social and cognitive competencies were examined. Sex differences were consistent with stereotypic conceptions. In the first two studies, mothers of preschool children rated photographs of toddlers varying in height on a variety of social and cognitive abilities. The mothers also assigned punishment to the children for hypothetical transgressions. In Experiment 1, mothers rated the large boys as more competent than the average-sized and small boys (even when effects of mothers' perceptions of the children's ages were covaried). In Experiment 2, involving female stimuli, mothers rated small girls as being less able (especially less independent) than average-sized or tall girls. While the effect of height on mothers' attributions was still evident when the effects of perceived age of the children were covaried, the pattern of results was less clear. Mothers assigned more punishment to tall girls (but not tall boys) than to small girls regardless of perceptions of age. In Experiment 3, height was associated with boys', but not girls', competence on tasks of logical ability and boys' sociometric nominations of whom they prefer to play with (significant for girls, marginally significant for boys). Height was not highly correlated with peers' perceptions of competence. The implications of the research for the socialization process are discussed.The authors wish to express their gratitude to the parents, teachers, and children at the Child Study Laboratory, Students' Child Center, Palo Alto Preschools, and Tempe Preschool. The authors would also like to thank Michael Gunzelman, Michelle White, Julie Mankowski, Marsha Kaplan, and Melissa Rook for their able assistance in data collection.     

Children and adults' distance estimations in a large-scale environment: effects of time and clutter

In two experiments adults (mean age = 19-5), sixth graders (mean age = 11-8), fourth graders (mean age = 9-8), and second graders (mean age = 7-8) walked a straight line distance through a large-scale environment. Subjects were then asked to estimate the time taken to traverse each half of the walk and to estimate the distance between objects seen along the walk. In Experiment 1 each half of the walk was traversed in the same amount of time but contained a different number of objects (clutter). Time and distance estimates were related, but were not affected by the number of intervening objects encountered between locations. In Experiment 2 subjects again encountered a different number of objects along each half of the walk but each half was traversed in varying amounts of time. Again, time and distance estimates were related, and there was no clutter effect. There were no consistent developmental differences across the two experiments. It was concluded that (1) Thorndyke's clutter effect does not occur across all types of spatial cognition tasks, and (2) children and adults tend to relate time and distance across a variety of distance estimation tasks.