The effects of trait label and order of presentation on observers' ratings of performance anxiety

In two experiments, the effects of different stimulus presentation orders and trait labels on observers' ratings of performance anxiety were examined. In Experiment 1, 60 college students viewed, in one session, ten 3-min videotapes of a man speaking while displaying a variety of the behavioral manifestations of anxiety. The tapes varied linearly in the percentage of time during which anxious behaviors were emitted. Anxiety ratings were made along either a “calm” or an “anxious” dimension. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three orders of presentation conditions (with the frequencies of anxious behaviors ascending, descending, or randomized across tapes) and one of two trait-label conditions, calm or anxious. In Experiment 2, 60 additional subjects viewed these same tapes and a contrasting series designed to display a consistent rate of anxiety behaviors. These tapes were viewed in 10 sessions over a 2- to 5-week period. Results replicated prior studies showing that the order of presentation can significantly affect observers' ratings. Additionally, the results suggested that, under certain conditions, subjects may not perceive a conceptually dichotomous variable (e.g., calm vs. anxious) in the same way. These results are discussed in terms of the complexity of observer behavior and potential problems in comparing outcome studies that use dichotomous traits.     

The pregnant woman's place and where to find it

A two-part study examined attitudes toward pregnancy. The first part — a department store survey — looked at the location of maternity clothes in different status stores. Clothes were located differently, depending on the social class of the store. High status stores located them in or near lingerie and/or loungewear. Lower status stores located them in or near uniforms and/or half sizes. It is suggested that these differences reflect differential attitudes toward pregnancy in the different social classes. The second part of the study examined pregnant women's attitudes toward themselves. In line with the department store findings, there were differences between upper-class women and working-class women in self-report data. These data suggest that pregnancy is viewed differently, depending on social class.     

Rate of language acquisition and noun emphasis

Fifteen pairs of children were matched on MLU. Members of each pair differed by 6 months or more in age. The younger (precocious) children's language was compared to the older (slower) children's on a number of complexity measures. Precocious children emphasized nouns more and tended to make more errors; slower children scored higher on a comprehension task. This suggests that there may be qualitatively different approaches to language development that relate to speed of language acquisition.Parts of this paper were presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development, 1977, under the title Individual Differences in Rate of Language Acquisition and at the New York Academy of Sciences in May 1979, under the title Nouns: Love 'em or Leave 'em. The author wishes to express her gratitude to Seymour Diamond and Jose Medina, without whom this article could not have been written.     

Proximal Impact of Two First-Grade Preventive Interventions on the Early Risk Behaviors for Later Substance Abuse, Depression, and Antisocial Behavior

We assessed the immediate effects of two universal, first-grade preventive interventions on the proximal targets of poor achievement, concentration problems, aggression, and shy behaviors, known early risk behaviors for later substance use/abuse, affective disorder, and conduct disorder. The classroom-centered (CC) intervention was designed to reduce these early risk behaviors by enhancing teachers' behavior management and instructional skills, whereas the family-school partnership (FSP) intervention was aimed at improving parent-teacher communication and parental teaching and child behavior management strategies. Over the course of first and second grades, the CC intervention yielded the greatest degree of impact on its proximal targets, whereas the FSP's impact was somewhat less. The effects were influenced by gender and by preintervention levels of risk. Analyses of implementation measures demonstrated that greater fidelity to the intervention protocols was associated with greater impact on behavior ratings and on achievement scores, thus providing some evidence of specificity in the effect of the interventions.     

Does traffic congestion increase driver aggression?

In his recent article about aggressive driving, David Shinar proposed that the classical frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard, J., Doob, L., Miller, N., Mowrer, O. & Sears, R. (1939). Frustration and aggression. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press) provides a useful tool for understanding driver aggression (Shinar, D. (1998). Aggressive driving: the contribution of the drivers and situation. Transportation Research Part F, 1, 137–160). According to Shinar's (1998) application of the frustration–aggression hypothesis, driver aggression is caused by frustration because of traffic congestion and delays. In the present study, the relationships between exposure to congestion (rush-hour driving) and aggressive violations (DBQ) were investigated in Great Britain, Finland and the Netherlands. Partial correlations showed that the frequency of rush-hour driving did not correlate statistically significantly with driver aggression. Correlations between driving during rush-hour and aggression did not differ in magnitude from those between driving on country roads and aggressive violations. In addition, correlations between exposure to congestion and aggressive violations in countries with large number of vehicles per road kilometre (UK, Netherlands) were not higher than those in a sparsely populated country (Finland). These results from three countries suggest that congestion does not increase driver aggression as directly as suggested by Shinar (1998).     

On access representation in visual word recognition: The temporal separation technique

Summary This paper examines the evidence for an access representation based on the initial part of the word. A temporal separation technique, which presents test words in two parts, was used, and varied as to whether the first part included two, three, or four initial letters of a word. In contrast with previous studies, word-frequency effects were used to assess whether access had occurred from that initial part. Experiment 1 (in English) tested the validity of the temporal separation technique, and showed that it does impose an input segmentation. Experiments 2 (in English) and 3 (in Spanish) examined whether access to a monomorphemic word is achieved, using word frequency as a diagnostic of access. The implications of the findings for the notion of a partial input representation for access are discussed.     

Developmental epidemiologically based preventive trials: Baseline modeling of early target behaviors and depressive symptoms

Describes a conceptual framework for identifying and targeting developmental antecedents in early childhood that have been shown in previous work to predict delinquency and violent behavior, heavy drug use, depression, and other psychiatric symptoms and possibly disorders in late adolescence and into adulthood. Criteria are described that guided choices of targets for two epidemiologically based, randomized preventive trials carried out in 19 elementary schools in the eastern half of Baltimore, involving more than 2,400 first-grade children over the course of first and second grades. Baseline models derived from the first of two cohorts show the evolving patterns of concurrence among the target antecedents. The central role of concentration problems emerged. From Fall to Spring in first grade, concentration problems led to shy and aggressive behavior and poor achievement in both genders and to depressive symptoms among girls. There was evidence for reciprocal relationships in girls. For example, depressive symptoms led to poor achievement in both girls and boys, whereas poor achievement led to depressive symptoms in girls but not boys, at least over the first-grade year. These results provide important epidemiological data relevant to the developmental paths leading to the problem outcomes and suggest preventive trials.     

An Examination of the Lost-letter Technique1

The results of three investigations of the validity and economics of the lost-letter technique are reported. Although the return rate of the lost-letter technique was higher than in the case of more obtrusive survey techniques involving hand-distributed postcard questionnaires and mail surveys, the more obtrusive survey techniques were more economical to carry out, were more accurate in their predictions of election outcomes, and gave results more highly consistent among themselves than with the results obtained by the lost-letter technique. Furthermore, the results indicated that the act of returning a lost letter may not be strongly affected by the identity of the sender or addressee indicated on the letter.     

The perception and identification of mirror-reversed patterns

Many species have difficulty in discriminating between mirror-image stimuli, especially those about a vertical axis, and when identificatory rather than purely perceptual processes are involved. Various theories are reviewed. In two experiments involving same-different judgments for pairs of stimuli, triangles or semicircles, these were simultaneously presented either unilaterally or bilaterally, and in mirror or aligned orientations with respect to each other. Mirror oriented stimuli presented to opposite cerebral hemispheres were no more readily matched than those possessing the same orientations (aligned), thus suggesting that at the perceptual level there is no interaction between mirror-corresponding points in the two visual cortices. Foreknowledge of stimulus orientations failed differentially to affect the findings. Two other studies were performed involving manual identification of single letters, correct or mirror oriented, in either visual field. Here, for most subjects, mirror reversal proved either less disruptive or even advantageous when in the visual field which is normally inferior with correctly oriented material. It was concluded that mirror-image confusion at the level of memory is almost certainly a consequence of reversed coding, in some form, in the opposite sides of the brain. A number of incidental findings were made with respect to visual field effects.     

Arousal,positive and negative affect,and preference for Renaissance and 20th-century paintings

Treatments expected to raise the level of arousal and induce different degrees of positive and negative affect were paired on some trials with Renaissance or 20th-century paintings, whereas no paintings were shown on other trials. The design was within-subjects (24 females); the dependent measures were skin conductance (SC) and the preference for paintings. All treatments, including the paintings/no paintings factor, raised SC over the base-line, and the pattern was essentially additive. The perceived failure to attain control over aversive auditory stimulation (resulting in negative affect) raised SC to a higher level than did the unavoidable aversive stimulation (minimal affect) or monetary gains (positive affect). Paintings paired with affect (positiveor negative) were rated as more pleasing than were those paired with no affect. The Renaissance works were preferred to the 20th-century works when negative affect was induced, whereas the opposite was true in the case of positive affect. The collative-motivation model could not account for the fact that pleasingness of paintings was not related to SC by an inverted-U function. The contiguity model could not explain the considerable rated pleasingness of paintings paired with negative affect. In contrast, there was considerable support for a more comprehensive hypothesis (distraction/soothingness) based on attentional and affective considerations, and the differential cognitive labeling of fluctuations of arousal.This research was supported by Grant GS-42802 from the National Science Foundation to VJK. Some of the findings were presented at the 6th International Colloquium of Empirical Aesthetics, and the 21st International Congress of Psychology, both held during July 1976 in Paris, France.