The salience of the self in responses to inequity

Previous research has shown that people strive to conform with the standards of significant others in distributive justice. The present research was concerned with the role of attention to the self in the same paradigm. If people are motivated to personally evaluate their own behavior as fair, then self-focus should result in heightened attempts to redress an overpayment inequity. After the subject's criterion of a fair wage was assessed, they were paid either that amount or double it. Orthogonal to this manipulation, subjects were either made objectively self-aware (OSA) or not, by the presence or absence of a mirror. Consistent with the hypothesis, overpaid OSA subjects did more work, but of a poorer quality, than overpaid not-OSA subjects. This was taken as evidence of more zealous attempts to restore a sense of equity, implicating a greater personal need to eliminate the injustice when the discrepancy between pay level and a personal standard of fairness was made more prominent to the self.     

Psychometric and instructional validation approaches in the hierarchical sequencing of learning tasks

Two strategies used to test prerequisite relationships among intellectual skills were employed to examine the sequence of three types of subtraction tasks. A psychometric validation strategy yielded results similar to an instructional validation strategy. This finding provides support for the use of the more efficient psychometric approach for validating large numbers of learning hierarchies in relatively short periods of time.     

THE REDUCTION OF STEALING IN SECOND GRADERS USING A GROUP CONTINGENCY1

Three classes of second graders served as subjects in this study of the effects of two types of intervention programs upon stealing: (1) an antistealing lecture with no specific contingency implied, and (2) a direct group contingency applied, whereby children were rewarded with (a) extra free time for no thefts, (b) allowed normal free time if stolen items were returned, and (c) punished with loss of free time if stolen items were not returned. A multiple-baseline design across the three classes showed the group contingency to be effective in reducing stealing behavior; the anti-stealing lecture was ineffective.     

Blocking of incidental information in young children

Methods of increasing learning efficiency through a blocking technique were examined in young children. An experimental group of children was trained on an initial task with one relevant dimension, followed by redundancy training in which an incidental dimension also became relevant. A control group given only redundancy training was compared to this group to test how much the experimental subjects blocked or screened out the incidental dimension. In order to increase blocking, three methods were used: a preset transfer problem, an overtraining on the initial task, and a delay following training. The most important finding was increased blocking through the Preset Condition. Overtraining and Delay Conditions had no effect. In addition, more slow learners on the initial task learned about the incidental dimension than fast or intermediate learners. Also, fewer subjects given form on the initial task learned about the incidental dimension than those given color. The Combined Blocking, Delay, and Overtraining group showed partial blocking, while the Preset group demonstrated complete blocking. No developmental differences occurred. The results were interpreted using a modification of Trabasso and Bower's attention model (Attention in learning: Theory and research. New York: Wiley, 1968).     

A quasi-experimental investigation of message appeal variations on organ donor registration rates.

OBJECTIVE: Approximately 6,000 Americans die every year awaiting an organ transplant. Health promotion interventions may alleviate the shortage of viable organs by increasing the number of registered organ donors. This study is the first to evaluate the differential effectiveness of various organ donor messages in naturalistic settings. DESIGN: A 4 (Appeal)x4 (Exemplar)x4 (Location) counterbalanced quasi-experimental design was implemented. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The behavioral outcome measure was the number of individuals who registered to be organ donors at computer kiosks. RESULTS: A number of significant main effects and interactions emerged. Most notably, of the 4 different appeals (counterargument, emotional, motivating action, dissonance), counterargument was by far the most efficacious, especially in academic-type settings (library, university, community college); the emotional appeal was most successful in hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study have implications for both organ donor investigations and health campaign research in general. Statistical interactions highlight the importance of evaluating multiple exemplars in multiple locations for each type of appeal when conducting health campaign research.