Concreteness and context availability in lexical decision tasks

Three experiments were carried out to elucidate the origins of the concreteness (C) effect in a lexical decision task. The first experiment was a replication of the work of Schwanenflugel et al. (1988) and Van Hell and De Groot (1998), who presented the context availability (CA) hypothesis. In this experiment CA seemed to be a dominant factor. Familiarity (FAM) was not incorporated in the ANOVA, but a regression analysis and negative correlation between C and FAM in the groups matched on CA showed that FAM could explain the disappearance of the C effect. Experiment 2 controlled FAM and revealed a C effect, although concrete and abstract words were matched on CA. Experiment 3 controlled C and FAM and revealed a CA effect. The current data emphasize the importance of controlling FAM and CA in examining the C effect in a lexical decision task and support a revised version of the dual-coding theory.     

Self-Presentation of Beliefs About Gender Discrimination and Feminism

This study examined whether college students' expressed beliefs about gender discrimination and feminism are due to concerns about self-presentation rather than an accurate reflection of their beliefs. Fifty-eight women and 45 men (82% Caucasian) completed scales measuring their beliefs about gender discrimination and feminism and responded to scenarios about hypothetical court cases involving discrimination. Participants were told their personal views would be either shared publicly or remain private during a small group discussion. Results showed that men expressed more belief in gender discrimination and feminism in the public groups compared to men in private groups and women. Responses to hypothetical court cases also showed some evidence of self-presentation. Implications for changes in self-identity and behavior toward incidents of gender discrimination are discussed.     

Justice to Nature and to the Disadvantaged

This article argues against using the practice of discounting and shows that both the time preference and the opportunity cost of capital arguments, put forward to justify discounting, are in conflict when we take the holistic approach to the environment. Both the time preference and the opportunity cost concepts are the tools to support the institution of interest. Using a hierarchical systems approach it is argued that in order to save the super hierarchical system (biosphere as a whole in our case) the contemporary economic system has to renew so that the humanity and global ecosystem may persist.     

BIS,BAS, and response conflict: Testing predictions of the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory

Gray’s (1970) reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) was recently updated (Gray & McNaughton, 2000), but the changes have not received extensive empirical validation. The study tests three novel predictions of the revised RST. First, the behavioral activation system (BAS) is expected to be sensitive to both conditioned and unconditioned incentives. Second, the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) is expected to be sensitive to conflicting incentives such as between unconditioned and conditioned stimuli, and not to avoidance responses or aversive stimuli alone. Third, during approach-avoidance conflicts only, BAS is expected to moderate BIS responses to conflict such that individuals with high BAS show the strongest effect of BIS. In order to test these hypotheses, we developed a novel incentive task that crosses approach/avoidance conditioned responses to appetitive/aversive unconditioned stimuli. Conflict between unconditioned and conditioned stimuli occurred on the approach-aversive and avoid-appetitive trials. Results confirm the predictions and provide support for the revised RST.     

Multiple systems for cognitive control: evidence from a hybrid prime-Simon task

Cognitive control resolves conflicts between appropriate and inappropriate response tendencies. Is this achieved by a unitary all-purpose conflict control system, or do independent subsystems deal with different aspects of conflicting information? In a fully factorial hybrid prime-Simon task, participants responded to the identity of targets displayed at different nominally irrelevant screen locations, preceded by nominally irrelevant, consciously or nonconsciously perceived primes. The response required by the target's identity could match or mismatch (a) the target's location, and (b) the prime's identity, resulting in potential conflict (a) across and (b) within stimulus domains. Conflict effects were investigated within and across trials. Results suggest that (i) nonconsciously perceived information elicits within-trial control, but--unlike consciously perceived information--no across-trial behavioral modulation; (ii) separate subsystems deal with conflicts arising from different stimulus domains; and (iii) occasional apparent interactions between domains reflect a particular difficulty in reactivating a just-discarded response (reactivation aversion effect, RAE).     

PTSD Symptoms in College Students Exposed to Interparental Violence: Are they Comparable to those that Result from Child Physical and Sexual Abuse?

Undergraduate students completed the Trauma Symptom Inventory and a childhood history questionnaire that assessed their experience of three types of childhood traumatic events: physical abuse (CPA), sexual abuse (CSA), and interparental violence (CPV). Six posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) subscales previously found to be associated with these types of abuse (anxious arousal, anger/irritability, intrusive experiences, depression, tension reduction behaviors, and defensive avoidance) were examined through multiple regression analyses to determine the extent to which each type of trauma history was most predictive of elevated symptomatology. For several subscales, having exposure to interparental violence was the strongest predictor of elevated symptomatology, suggesting that CPV is at least as powerful as CPA or CSA in producing symptoms of PTSD in adulthood.