Phenomenal characteristics of cryptomnesia

Qualitative characteristics of cryptomnesia, or unintentional plagiarism were investigated. In Experiment 1 we compared accurate and inaccurate source attributions in terms of their level of confidence using instructions that did not require a fixed number of responses. Confidence was lower for plagiarised responses than for correct responses. Nevertheless, participants provided high ratings of certainty for a large proportion of their plagiarised responses. In Experiment 2 the phenomenological differences between plagiarised recall and veridical recall were compared by using an adaptation of the memory characteristics questionnaire (Johnson, Foley, Suengas, & Raye, 1988). Correct responses were associated with more experiential detail than plagiarised responses. However, a considerable number of plagiarised responses were accompanied by a confident memory of at least one qualitative characteristic. Results are discussed in terms of the source monitoring framework developed by Johnson, Hashtroudi, and Lindsay (1993).     

The Susceptibility of the EPPS to Faking in Simulated and Actual Employment Situations

To investigate the fakability of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS) 60 Ss were given the scale under standard (anonymous) instructions; a month later, a third of them were given the scale under ‘simulated’ instructions, a third under instructions to make a ‘good impression’ and a third under ‘actual employment’ conditions. Since the pattern of scores differed significantly between the standard instructions and each of the latter instructions it was concluded that the EPPS is very easily faked and hence should be used with caution outside the research setting.     

Links between casino proximity and gambling participation, expenditure, and pathology.

Two studies investigated the relationship between casino proximity and gambling participation, expenditure, and pathology. In Study 1, 8,842 participants were categorized into 1 of 4 driving distances from their home to the nearest casino in the province of Quebec: 0-100 km, 100.01-200 km, 200.01-300 km, or 300.01-981 km. In Study 2, 5,158 participants, who lived within a 100-km driving distance from the Montreal casino, were classified into 1 of 5 equidistant, 20-km driving distances. A survey company interviewed participants regarding their gambling habits. Results indicated a positive link between casino proximity and gambling participation (at the provincial and Montreal levels) and expenditure (at the provincial level only) but no link with the current prevalence rate of probable pathological gambling or of problem gambling. In a setting in which many types of gambling activities are available, casino proximity in itself does not appear to explain the rate of gambling-related problems. It is necessary to continue prospective research on exposure and adaptation theories as potential explanations for the development of pathological gambling.     

Rorschach et maladies somatiques : Applications et éléments de validité

The goal of this article is to review the main applications of the Rorschach to the field of physical illness. Studies are presented and discussed concerning three areas, from the most theoretical to the most empirical: (1) The most widely used content scoring procedures, namely those of Fisher and Cleveland’s (1958) and Masling et al. (1967); (2) A group of studies dealing with a psychosomatic risk factor (alexithymia); (3) A summary of results concerning investigations of how Rorschach variables correlate with and determine self-care behaviours in people with various diseases. These three research axes illustrate the different types of relations between mind and body. Their results demonstrate that research questions and methods are being renewed.     

Studies in social influence IV: Minority influence in a context of original judgments

This research was devoted to the studv of minoritv influence in a context of originality of judgments. It was stimulated by a consideration of the role pla-ved by the normative context in influence processes. In most research, this implicitlv underlies the phenomena studied. Thus, studies of social control have naturally appealed to the objectivity context. Innovation, in the social milieu in which it is involved, frequentlv implies an originality context. We hoped to study experimentally its effects on the process of social change. To this end, five experimental conditions were created, in which the originality norm was introduced in different ways – by experimental instructions, by influencing the perception of his own creativity by each individual and by using the time factor to encourage the fuller acceptance of this norm. In each condition, a consistent minority defended a deviant response in a colour perception task (the experimental paradigm used in our previous research using an objectivity context). The originality context affected the development of minority influence. Judgment based on perceptual evidence was abandoned to a significant degree, and new influence behaviours appeared. Individuals followed the minority or avoided the conflict by apparently original compromise responses. They were able to adopt several modes of response in the destructured way during the experiment, as they could oppose the minority by adopting a counter-norm. Although these reactions depended on the way in which the originality norm was introduced, theprimary role in this process was nevertheless played by the minority, which provided the pole of attraction and persuasion in the group.     

STRATÉGIES COGNITIVES ET PROCESSUS D'AUTORÉGULATION CHEZ DES FAMILLES EN SITUATION DE RÉSOLUTION DE PROBLÈMES LOGIQUES*

The family is a fundamental learning environment for many basic skills such as the ability to solve everyday domestic problems. A lack of competence in this type of problem solving would expose the individual to more frustration and possibly create the conditions for greater aggression. Forty-two low SES families, each including an aggressive boy, were invited to the laboratory for a problem-solving session on two occasions, at an interval of two years. Subjects were asked to find four preset combinations of colours by systematic permutations of four colours using a computer. Three types of cognitive performance were examined: resolution strategies, autoregulation strategies and the success rate in finding the solution. Results showed that most of the families were consistent in their use of a non-systematic strategy. Although some improvement in planning is observed during the second testing, no other improvement in autoregulation strategies was observed. In general, families had a better rate of success in finding the solution in the second session. The low cognitive level of these families and its stability are discussed. Étant donné que la famille constitue un terrain privilégié d'apprentissage, l'aggressivité comportementale de certains enfants pourrait résider dans le peu d'opportunités offertes par leur famille d'apprendre à affronter les problèmes de la vie quotidienne d'une manière réfléchie. Quarante-deux familles de milieu socio-économique faible, dont un des enfants est à risque d'inadaptation sociale et dont les parents sont peu scolarisés, ont à résoudre un problème nécessitant l'intelligence logique et ce, à deux ans d'intervalle (T-1 et T-2). La tâche consite à résoudre un problème de permutations à quatre éléments et se présente sous la forme d'un jeu d'ordinateur. Le fonctionnement cognitif est examiné selon trois dimensions: les stratégies cognitivcs de résolution, les stratégies d'autorégulation exercées, sur la démarche cognitive et l'issue de la démarche cognitive. L'examen des stratégies cognitives révèle que la majorité des familles utilisent une approche non stratégique et que cette approche est maintenue aussi bien à l'intérieur d'une séance donnée que d'une séance à l'autre. Exception faite de l'amélioration relevée à la séance 2 quant au contrôle exercé par les familles sur le déroulement de leur démarche cognitive, aucun changement n'émerge sur les autres critères de l'autorégulation. Finalement, les familles obtiennent une meilleure performance à la deuxième séance. La discussion porte sur la relative stabilité du niveau de fonctionnement cognitif des familles ainsi que sur la pauvreté apparente de leur répertoire de schèmes.     

On the speed of different senses and nerve transmission by Hirsch (1862)

A translation is given of Hirsch's pioneering paper of 1862 on chronoscopic experiments On the speed of different senses and nerve transmission. Hirsch was the first (1) to use Hipp's chronoscope in scientific literature, (2) to study reaction time in connection to psychological interest, and (3) to study velocity of conduction in humans with appropriate techniques. Using Hipp apparatus, Hirsch showed differences in time for manual response (1) to auditory, visual, and tactile stimulation; (2) between observers; (3) in Hirsch's own results when fresh and when fatigued; (4) according to the locus of tactile stimulation and the hand used for response; and (5) according to whether the stimulus was expected or unexpected. Moreover, observations made on one of his colleagues relate the conduction speed in nerves, from which he concludes that the differences in reaction time were due to the varying lengths of nerves. The speed of transmission in sensory nerves was evaluated by Hirsch at about 34 m/s. This work constitutes a prelude of Donders' research on the speed of mental processes.     

Gender role socialization in toy play situations: Mothers and fathers with their sons and daughters

This study examined the interaction within and between 20 intact families. As in past research, when parents were separated and not influenced by their child (i.e., completing a toy desirability scale), traditional findings were supported; neutral toys are not specific to the gender of the child while feminine toys were preferred for girls and masculine toys were preferred for boys. However, when parents were actively engaged in play with their child this traditional pattern was not supported. In general, parents spent the least amount of time with feminine toys. Children eagerly accepted most of the toys presented by their parents and their enthusiasm was equal for the toys in all three categories. This research suggests a change in parents' perceptions of what is acceptable gender-typing behavior.     

Sick? Or slow? On the origins of intelligence as a psychological object

This paper examines the first moments of the emergence of “psychometrics” as a discipline, using a history of the Binet–Simon test (precursor to the Stanford–Binet) to engage the question of how intelligence became a “psychological object.” To begin to answer this, we used a previously-unexamined set of French texts to highlight the negotiations and collaborations that led Alfred Binet (1857–1911) to identify “mental testing” as a research area worth pursuing. This included a long-standing rivalry with Désiré-Magloire Bourneville (1840–1909), who argued for decades that psychiatrists ought to be the professional arbiters of which children would be removed from the standard curriculum and referred to special education classes in asylums. In contrast, Binet sought to keep children in schools and conceived of a way for psychologists to do this. Supported by the Société libre de l'étude psychologique de l'enfant [Free society for the psychological study of the child], and by a number of collaborators and friends, he thus undertook to create a “metric” scale of intelligence—and the associated testing apparatus—to legitimize the role of psychologists in a to-that-point psychiatric domain: identifying and treating “the abnormal”. The result was a change in the earlier law requiring all healthy French children to attend school, between the ages of 6 and 13, to recognize instead that otherwise normal children sometimes need special help: they are “slow” (arriéré), but not “sick.” This conceptualization of intelligence was then carried forward, through the test's influence on Lewis Terman (1877–1956) and Lightner Witmer (1867–1956), to shape virtually all subsequent thinking about intelligence testing and its role in society.