Motivational Similarity and Interpersonal Evaluations: The Role of Ambiguity, Self-Derogation, and Emotion

ABSTRACT The present study tests two hypotheses which are based on a motivational threat model of interpersonal evaluation: ( a ) Dominance- and dependency-oriented perceivers evaluate motivationally similar others less favorably only when evaluation pertains to an ambiguous attribute and perceivers score high on self-derogation; and ( b ) the relatively unfavorable evaluation of the similar target person is mediated by an arousal process. Males observed a working dyad in which one man was dominant and the other dependent, but both were ambiguous on sociability. Throughout the observation, subjects' emotion-related skin conductance responses were monitored. Subjects then evaluated the target person they expected to meet and recalled information. Results supported the first hypothesis, but were only partially consistent with the second hypothesis. In addition, dominance-oriented perceivers produced more assertiveness constructs than dependency-oriented perceivers in free recall. The findings suggest that the threat model should be revised to include the moderating factors of attribute ambiguity and attitude toward the self, and perhaps also an additional mediating process: generalization of attitude toward the self to motivationally similar others.     

Participation in a bystander intervention experiment and subsequent everyday helping: ethical considerations

This study examines how participation in a bystander experiment involving deception affects later everyday helping. Both subjects who had formerly participated in a bystander intervention experiment and a group of matched controls who had not participated were interviewed in a survey either 6–10 months (early) or 11–20 months (late) after completion of the experiment. Half of the previous subjects were prompted to recall their experimental experience in the interview. After leaving the interview, subjects encountered a needy person. Mere participation in the prior experiment did not influence helping during the early period but enhanced helping after 10 months had elapsed. Participation plus recall inhibited helping during the early period but not later. Compared with controls, past participants helped more with the passage of time. The results suggest that participation in bystander intervention experiments induces both context-specific cognitions about possible inauthenticity of need and generalized beliefs about the value of helping. With the passage of time, the former fade while the latter become more salient. Ethical implications of these findings are discussed.     

A maximum motion technique for assessment of color vision defects

Several luminance-matching methods, such as flicker fusion and the minimum motion technique (MMT), are capable of detecting certain forms of abnormal color vision. We present evidence that the heterochromatic fusion nystagmus (HFN) luminance matching technique can discriminate among normal trichromats, protanopes, and deuteranomals. The HFN luminance matching technique has the advantage that it provides a positive indication of isoluminance (maximization of motion) as opposed to the MMT and flicker fusion methods, which indicate isoluminance by the minimization of motion and flicker, respectively. We tested 16 normal trichromats, 6 protanopes, and 4 deuteranomals with the HFN technique. Results indicate that HFN is a useful tool for examining color vision. Because the HFN stimulus elicits reflexive eye movements (optokinetic nystagmus) that follow the apparent motion of the stimulus, HFN luminance matching will be particularly useful in animal and infant research, where other color vision tests are difficult to implement.     

Infant sleep problems: Origins,assessment, interventions

Infant sleep problems have become prevalent as complaints of parents to clinicians during the first 2 years of the child's life. This paper reviews (1) identification of multiple etiological sources for infant sleep problems from a systems perspective, (2) the assessment of sleep disturbances, and (3) the applica tion of intervention methods to the appropriate component of system dysfunction. These areas are reviewed by integrating research findings with clinical vignettes from our practice as pediatric sleep clinicians.     

A projective assessment of autonomous motivation in children: Correlational and experimental evidence

This article presents two studies aimed at validating a new TAT-like projective measure of autonomous motivation in children. Study 1 assesses the validity of the new measure by correlating it with self-report questionnaires of autonomous motivation, positive and negative affect, task value and mastery goal orientation. Study 2 is an experiment in which autonomous motivation is manipulated and then assessed with the new projective measure and with a self-report scale. Results of both studies support the validity of the new projective measure. In study 2, regression analysis suggests that the new projective measure is sensitive to aspects of experimentally induced autonomous motivation that are not captured by a self-report measure.

Inverted-U effects generalize to the judgment of subjective properties of faces

Researchers studying absolute identification have long known that it takes more time to identify a stimulus in the middle of a range than one at the extremes. That is, there is an inverted-U relation between mean response time and response position. In this task, an inverted-U relation also exists between response uncertainty and response position. Similarly, an inverted-U relation between mean response time and response position has been found for psychometric measures involving questions about the self. However, psychophysicists explain these inverted-U effects differently than do self-schema researchers. We propose an integrative framework in which task constraints explain these effects. To verify the generality of these inverted-U effects, we hypothesized that they would exist in three tasks having similar constraints--in this case, tasks involving the judgment of subjective properties of faces on a Likert-type scale. Our results are consistent with this hypothesis. We discuss the relevance of the results for other applications of Likert-type scales.     

The Role of Simple Emotion Recognition Skills among School Aged Boys at Risk of ADHD

Poor social skills and behavioral problems are a major component of ADHD. The different explanations offered so far, such as cognitive deficits and deficient self regulation, have not been able fully to account for the various aspects of the social dysfunction, suggesting that other mechanisms might underlay this impairment. Our study sought to assess the emotion recognition of Israeli boys at risk of ADHD, and to evaluate its associations with their social skills. A group of 111 boys (grades 4 and 5) were assigned to an At-risk (n=50) and a control (n=61) group based on their scores in an ADHD symptoms questionnaire. The two groups were matched on age, socio-economic status and class and school environment. Group comparisons revealed that compared to their non-At-risk counterparts, At-risk boys have impaired emotion recognition. Finally, multiple groups Structural Equation Modeling analyses (SEM) demonstrated that emotion misrecognition plays a significant role in the At-risk children's social functioning and behavioral problems compared to its role in the social competence and behavioral problems among the comparison group. Implications for the understanding and treatment of social skills problems among children at risk of ADHD are proposed.     

Tradition versus tradition: Mizrahi pupils in National Religious schools in Israel, 1948–1990

Absorbing the immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa in Israel was one of the Israeli education system’s important tasks. This article deals with the way the National Religious schools treated these new immigrants and their descendants, known as Oriental Jews, Mizrahi Jews, or “Mizrahim.” The differences between Mizrahi Jews and Ashkenazi Jews (those of European ancestry) were related to differences in religious traditions, academic level, and religious observance. Educators imposed the Ashkenazi tradition on Mizrahi pupils. This created social tension and alienated Mizrahi pupils from the system. On the other side, Ashkenazi pupils who had difficulties with the heterogeneous educational environment left the public system and enrolled in more religious schools, which had a much smaller percentage of Mizrahi pupils. This segregation was even more common at the high school level. Ashkenazim attended yeshiva high schools, while Mizrahi pupils went to regular high schools. Small changes were evident by the 1990s. By that time, more Mizrahi pupils were attending the elite yeshivot, and the public system adopted a more multicultural attitude and included the Mizrahi tradition as well.