Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religiosity and University Students' Willingness to Donate Organs Posthumously

This research focuses on the links between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations as they relate to willingness to donate organs posthumously. Participants responded to a factual test of their knowledge about organ donation, indicated their degree of willingness to donate organs, and filled out personality inventories measuring their intrinsic and extrinsic orientations. The data indicated a high level of factual knowledge about organ donation. Also, contrary to Allport's (1966) arguments, people with an intrinsic religious orientation were not more likely to donate their organs, nor were people with an extrinsic religious orientation less likely to do so. Instead, it was found that intrinsic religiosity was unrelated to willingness to donate organs and that extrinsics with strong social orientations were more willing to donate their organs. Discussion centers on the need to develop more psy-chometrically sound measures of mature religiosity as a means of conducting a fairer test of Allport's original theorizing about intrinsic religiosity.     

The effects of feature type in operant serial feature-positive discriminations

In two experiments, rats were trained on two operant serial feature positive discriminations in which one feature was a flavored solution and the second feature was a visual or auditory cue. As in a previous study ([Goddard and Holland, 1996]), transfer of a feature’s control to the target of the other discrimination was not observed when the flavor feature and the reinforcer were flavored sucrose solutions (Experiment 1). The performance of comparison groups showed that this lack of transfer was not due to confounded differences in the event contingencies resulting from having similar stimuli serve as feature and reinforcer. By contrast, in Experiment 2, transfer was observed between visual and flavor features when the flavor feature was unsweetened and the reinforcer was plain sucrose. These results suggest that the lack of transfer in Experiment 1 and in [Goddard and Holland, 1996] study were related to the biological significance or hedonic properties of the sucrose feature.     

Ambivalent or Indifferent? Examining the Validity of an Objective Measure of Partisan Ambivalence

This article examines the validity of an objective measure of partisan ambivalence. More generally, it draws attention to the idea that measurement is an active step taken by the researcher and therefore should be subjected to empirical examination. It is also argued that treating a variable at a higher level of measurement than warranted will cause a valid measure to cease to be so, and that the appropriate level of a variable is determined not by the underlying concept or the measurement procedure, but by the researcher. I demonstrate the measure examined can distinguish between various attitudinal states, but only at the nominal level. This is largely driven by individuals who offer no responses to open‐ended questions, who are termed indifferent. Furthermore, different coding schemes result in different conclusions. For example, the finding that indifferent individuals are less likely to rely on partisanship than ambivalent individuals when evaluating candidates is obscured when treating the measure as interval. The findings suggest the measure should be coded to account for indifferent individuals, and that even well developed measures of clearly defined concepts need to be subjected to empirical examination.     

On the electrophysiology of effective visual memory as measured by QEEG

An investigation into the QEEG parameters of effective cognitive functioning of visual memory for six Korean figures was conducted employing 69 normal subjects. Subjects studied the figures for 1 minute, engaged in an immediate 30-second quiet recall period, which was then followed by the subjects drawing the figures. A delayed recall of 45 minutes later followed the same methodology. The recall performances were correlated with the QEEG variables. For the input stage, total memory was determined predominantly by specific patterns of left frontal (F7, F3, Fpl) projections (phase and coherence activity) and left central/posterior (T3, C3, P3) phase (Alpha and Betal( 13–32 Hz)) projections. Success during immediate silent recall was determined by left frontal (F7, Fpl, F3) projections and left central/posterior (T3, T5, Ol, P3) projections in the Beta frequencies. Long term-delayed recall was determined by Ol coherence Alpha projection activity and Symmetry of Beta2 (32–64 Hz) at F8. Degree of activation variables (from visual attention and eyes closed) showed different patterns of successful activations.     

On the electrophysiology of effective visual memory as measured by QEEG

An investigation into the QEEG parameters of effective cognitive functioning of visual memory for six Korean figures was conducted employing 69 normal subjects. Subjects studied the figures for 1 minute, engaged in an immediate 30-second quiet recall period, which was then followed by the subjects drawing the figures. A delayed recall of 45 minutes later followed the same methodology. The recall performances were correlated with the QEEG variables. For the input stage, total memory was determined predominantly by specific patterns of left frontal (F7, F3, Fpl) projections (phase and coherence activity) and left central/posterior (T3, C3, P3) phase (Alpha and Betal( 13–32 Hz)) projections. Success during immediate silent recall was determined by left frontal (F7, Fpl, F3) projections and left central/posterior (T3, T5, Ol, P3) projections in the Beta frequencies. Long term-delayed recall was determined by Ol coherence Alpha projection activity and Symmetry of Beta2 (32–64 Hz) at F8. Degree of activation variables (from visual attention and eyes closed) showed different patterns of successful activations.     

Doctoral dissertations in pastoral psychology September 1, 1968 to August 31, 1969

Pastoral Psychology -     

A chimeric point-light walker

Ambiguity has long been used as a probe into visual processing. Here, we describe a new dynamic ambiguous figure-the chimeric point-light walker--which we hope will prove to be a useful tool for exploring biological motion. We begin by describing the construction of the stimulus and discussing the compelling finding that, when presented in a mask, observers consistently fail to notice anything odd about the walker, reporting instead that they are watching an unambiguous figure moving either to the left or right. Some observers report that the initial percept fluctuates, moving first to the left, then to the right, or vice versa; others always perceive a constant direction. All observers, when briefly shown the unmasked ambiguous figure, have no difficulty in perceiving the novel motion pattern once the mask is returned. These two findings--the initial report of unambiguous motion and the subsequent 'primed' perception of the ambiguity--are both consistent with an important role for top-down processing in biological motion. We conclude by suggesting several domains within the realm of biological-motion processing where this simple stimulus may prove to be useful.     

Faking and selection: considering the use of personality from select-in and select-out perspectives

The effects of faking on criterion-related validity and the quality of selection decisions are examined in the present study by combining the control of an experiment with the realism of an applicant setting. Participants completed an achievement motivation measure in either a control group or an incentive group and then completed a performance task. With respect to validity, greater prediction error was found in the incentive condition among those with scores at the high end of the predictor distribution. When selection ratios were small, those in the incentive condition were more likely to be selected and had lower mean performance than those in the control group. Implications for using personality assessments from select-in and select-out strategies are discussed.