College students' study time: course level, time of semester, and grade earned

The association of total study time, number of events, time per event ratio, study strategies, and course grades across the semester were examined by linking students' study logs to course performance. There were 37 upper-division and 109 lower-division participants. Students earning As and Bs studied more frequently at the end of the semester but for shorter periods of time than students earning lower grades. Results are discussed in terms of providing college students and faculty with recommendations about learning strategies and time spent studying.     

Effect of socioeconomic status on general and at-risk high school boys' willingness to accept same-sex peers with LD

Thirty-eight educationally successful and 33 educationally at-risk high school boys from varying SES backgrounds participated in a study to determine their willingness to allow same-sex peers with LD to participate in activities in the school, out-of-school, and both contexts. Kruskal Wallis One-way Analysis of Valance of Ranks results indicated that, regardless of academic designation, boys from low SES backgrounds were more willing than their counterparts to accept peers with LD. Significant differences among SES groups were found in several activities performed in the out-of-school contexts, especially those with emotional or cognitive connotations. Discussion addresses the importance of training classroom teachers and general education students in maintaining an inclusive environment.     

The daily life of the garden-variety neurotic: reactivity, stressor exposure, mood spillover, and maladaptive coping

This article describes a series of studies using the daily process paradigm to describe and understand the affective dynamics of people who experience frequent and intense bouts of a wide range of negative emotions. In several studies, community residents reported on problem occurrence and affect several times a day or at the end of the day. We found reliable evidence that persons who scored high (vs. low) in Neuroticism reported more daily problems, tended to react with more severe emotions, experienced more mood spillover from prior occasions, and exhibited stronger reactions to recurring problems (the "neurotic cascade"). The susceptibility of neurotics to stress seems to extend to all types of problems while certain other dimensions of personality (e.g., Agreeableness) are associated with hyperreactivity to particular kinds of problems. The research demonstrates how daily process research can provide insight about classic problems in the field of individual differences.     

Accountability and need for cognition effects on contrast, halo, and accuracy in performance ratings

In the present study, the authors investigated the effects of accountability and need for cognition on contrast errors, halo, and accuracy of performance ratings examined in good and poor performance context conditions, as well as in a context-free control condition. The accountability manipulation reduced the contrast effect and also modified rater recall of good ratee behavior. Accountability reduced halo in ratings and increased rating accuracy in a poor performance context. Accountability also interacted with need for cognition in predicting individual rater halo.     

When logic fails: Implicit transitive inference in humans

Transitive inference (TI) in animals (e.g., choosing A over C on the basis of knowing that A is better than B and B is better than C) has been interpreted by some as reflecting a declarative logical inference process. We invert this anthropomorphic interpretation by providing evidence that humans can exhibit TI-like behavior on the basis of simpler associative mechanisms that underlie many theories of animal learning. In this study, human participants were trained on a five-pair TI problem (A+B-, B+C-, C+D-, D+E-, E+F-) and, unlike in previous human TI studies, were prevented from becoming explicitly aware of the logical hierarchy, so they could not employ logical reasoning. They were then tested with three problems: B versus D, B versus E, and C versus E. Participants only reliably chose B over E, whereas the other test conditions yielded chance performance. This result is inconsistent with the use of logical reasoning and is instead consistent with an account developed to explain earlier TI studies with rats that found the same pattern of results. In this account, choice performance is based on differential associative strengths across the stimulus items that develop over training, despite equal overt reinforcement.     

Choice reaction and unequal stimulus frequencies in an absolute judgment situation

Previous investigators have reported discrepant results for Ss in a choice reaction time (CRT) situation when stimuli are not equi-probable. Sixty Ss participated in an absolute judgment CRT task under three conditions of equi-probable stimuli and three of unequally probable stimuli. The results indicate that previous findings may be determined by a threshold dependent upon the effect of unequal stimulus frequencies and the utilities of different response strategies.     

Reward history modulates visual attention in an avian model

Animal Cognition - Attention can be biased towards previously reward-associated stimuli even when they are task-irrelevant and physically non-salient, although studies of reward-modulated attention...     

Operant control of preening in pigeons

Preening in four pigeons was observed and recorded during operant level determinations, continuous and variable interval reinforcement, and extinction. The rate at which preening responses occur seems to be controlled by reinforcement in the same way as other operant behavior. Preening during VI reinforcement and extinction appeared to be similar to preening in many natural situations. With respect to the part of the body preened, considerable stereotypy of responding was shown by all birds, particularly during VI training; there was, however, a conspicuous absence of consistency in the development of stereotypy both within and between individual birds, perhaps due to the nature of the response.