Some historical dimensions of commonsense knowledge about depression and antidepressive behaviour

Ss of the present study were asked to endorse one member of each of 10 forced-choice pairs of propositions representing the main principles of the neoclassical tradition of thought on the prevention and treatment of melancholy and to estimate the percentage of the group that they thought would endorse each proposition. Comparison of observed and mean predicted percentages showed a high correlation for two of three groups. All three groups gave very similar mean predictions, which suggested that they possessed an a priori schema of the distribution of consensus regarding these beliefs amongst peers. The results are examined as an empirical demonstration of quantitative dimensions of common culture and of the continuity of classical traditions in the contemporary social stock of knowledge. The recent general revival of scientific and popular interest in the role of factors traditionally regarded as contributory to health and disease is briefly considered as a wider context in which the present findings should be viewed.     

Spacing repetitions over 1 week

Does varying the spacing of repetitions over intervals as long as 1 week aftect recall? The answer from three experiments is yes. Subjects incidentally processed words repeated within a single list and words repeated in separate lists at list spacings of up to 1 week. Memory was tested by free recall shortly after the second presentations or after retention intervals of up to 1 week. Recall of the words repeated across separate lists conformed to a proportionality rule. When the retention interval is short relative to the spacing intervals, performance is inversely related to spacing. When the retention interval is a large proportion of the spacing intervals, performance is directly related to spacing. Does varying the spacing of repetitions within a single list affect recall after a retention interval of 2 weeks? The answer depends on the processing used while studying the words. Processing that generated interitem associations resulted in a within-list spacing effect even after a 2-week retention interval. Without the interitem associations, the effect was absent after a 1-day retention interval. Most of these findings were explained by examining the changing relationship between the retrieval context and the context stored during study.     

The spiritual experience index: A measure of spiritual maturity

The Spiritual Experience Index was developed to measure spiritual maturity in persons of diverse religious and spiritual beliefs. The scale was constructed from a developmental rather than a multidimensional conceptualization of faith. Initial findings from a religiously heterogeneous college sample indicated good reliability for the SEI and supported its use as a unidimensional measure. Higher scores on the SEI were significantly related to lower dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity. The SEI was also moderately related to higher religious participation and positively correlated with intrinsicness and quest. However, compared with the intrinsic and quest scales, the SEI emerged as the strongest indicator of adaptive spiritual functioning. Directions for future research are suggested.     

Feedback and performance expectancies in an academic setting

College students in two psychology courses estimated their confidence in passing and their anticipated score for three examinations. On the first examination the results from both courses supported the prediction that women, compared to men, would be less confident of passing, would predict lower scores, and would underestimate their obtained scores. These sex differences disappeared, as predicted, on the second and third examination for the course, in which the situation remained relatively constant over the term. However, contrary to predictions, the sex differences were maintained over all three examinations for the second course, which involved different instructors for each exam. Thus, the effects of feedback on performance expectancies seem to be vulnerable to situational changes.     

Commonsense beliefs about depression and antidepressive behaviour: A study of social consensus

The present study examines consensus in endorsed beliefs about depression and antidepressive behaviour in a group of 100 psychologists. Ss were given 20 pairs of items and asked to indicate which member of each pair they felt was ‘nearer the truth’. The numbers (and percentages) of Ss choosing each item was examined for each pair. Consensus was found to span the range from 100% agreement to near-complete disagreement and to be distributed roughly normally within the sample of items. People tended to agree about propositions that could be verified by an individual's own firsthand experience and observation and to disagree about more abstract matters that the ‘experts’ are still debating. The congruence of these findings with previous results in the present series of studies is discussed and suggestions for further exploration in the realm of ‘what everybody knows’ about depression and how to deal with it are given.