Reactions to the fate of one’s brain-child after its disclosure

After generating an idea we believe is original, we want it to be credited as original and receive recognition for it. So, we would be upset if its originality were questioned, or if our link to that intellectual self-extension were threatened, and we would cope with self-protective strategies. This rationale prompted an experiment with seventy-five female undergraduates. They (P) were to imagine drafting a paper for submission to a national creativity fair proposing a novel method for determining the structure of things, but then decided against submitting it. Fellow-participant, O, learning of P's decision to withdraw, borrows P’s draft. Later, P submits a revised, retitled draft that, unfortunately, goes astray. Still later P discovers that O, without P's knowledge and consent, submitted a copy of P’s original draft to the fair, listing O’s name, both names, or P’s name as author(s), and that the idea was or was not judged as original. Origination and recognition credit allocation had predicted effects on P’s emotional reaction, evaluation of the judges’competence, and of O’s trustworthiness. Unexpect-edly low self-evaluated creativity and sociability, and low desire for future collabora-tion, were obtained when recognition went to P and O jointly. We discuss the applica-bility of belief agreement-attraction and cognitive balance models, of imitation as flattery, of self-esteem as a moderator, and whether our results are culture-bound. Finally, we note how the reactions hint at conflict between inclinations toward altru-ism versus narcissistic self-interest when it comes to sharing one’s self-generated intellectual products with others.     

Memory for language organization in concrete and abstract sentences

Subjects were presented with concrete and abstract sentences equal in lexical complexity and comprehension rating and tested on their ability (1) to recognize the words used in the sentences when presented at a 3-sec rate and (2) to recreate the initial sentences when presented with a list of the words used. Only on this second task was there a significant concrete/abstract difference. In a second experiment, there was a significant concrete/abstract difference in word recognition when a 6-sec decoding rate was used. It was suggested that the best explanation of these results could be offered by a semantic analog model of language memory.

     

The direction of movement of machine controls

Experiments are described in which the relation between the direction of movement of a control and display was varied in order to determine what relationships are likely to cause least confusion to the operator of a machine. Two different types of task were used: a task consisting of intermittent stimuli whose rate of presentation could be varied, and a continuous pursuit task.

It is found that accuracy of performance varies with the degree of remoteiiess of the directional relationship from those met in everyday life, with the complexity of the task, with the ability of the subject, and there is some indication that under certain Conditions it may vary with the breadth of his attention. Awareness of the response aspect of the situation in these simple sensori-motor tasks, it is suggested, although necessary in the early stages of learning, may be associated in the later stages with confusion and error.     

Adolescent Egocentrism and the Illusion of Transparency: Are Adolescents as Egocentric as we Might Think?

The illusion of transparency, or people’s tendency to believe their thoughts and feelings as more apparent to others than they actually are, was used to investigate adolescent egocentrism. Contrary to previous research demonstrating heightened adolescent egocentrism, adolescents exhibited similar levels of egocentrism to adults. In experiment 1, 13-14 year-olds and adult participants both truthfully described and lied about a series of pictures. Both adolescent and adult liars indicated that they were more confident that other participants would know when they were lying, than other participants actually indicated. In experiment 2, 13-14 year-olds, 15-16 year-olds and adult participants read to an audience. The illusion of transparency effect manifested itself differently according to gender: Female participants indicating that they looked more nervous than audiences thought, whilst male participants indicating that they were more entertaining than audiences thought. Results were interpreted using simulation theory, and suggested that adolescents might not be as egocentric as previously thought.     

Psychometric Properties of the Power of Food Scale in a Community Sample of Preadolescents and Adolescents

The Power of Food Scale (PFS) was developed to assess hedonic hunger, or how individuals think and feel about food and eating in the absence of metabolic need. The measure was originally developed and validated in two adult samples, and recent preliminary support has been provided for the validity in a sample of preadolescents. The aim of the current study was to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the PFS in a community sample of preadolescents and adolescents to examine the psychometric properties in youth. Participants were 148 youth ages 11–18 (M = 12.85) from two Midwestern communities in the United States. Participants completed the PFS to assess for hedonic hunger. Structural equation modeling was used to conduct multiple CFAs to test varying factor structures of the PFS in preadolescents and adolescents. Results suggested that the scale was best represented by the previously established 15-item version of the measure with an aggregate domain and three subscales based on food proximity (i.e., food available, food present, and food tasted). Results from the CFA revealed that the measurement model had a close fit (RMSEA = 0.033, CFI = 0.985). Cronbach’s α for the total scale and the three subscales ranged from 0.86 to 0.95. Findings suggest that the previously established factor structure of the 15-item PFS best represents the factor structure of the measure in a community sample of preadolescents and adolescents.