Pitch of infant crying and caregiver responses in a natural setting

The naturally occurring cries of 13 infants in a day-care center were tape-recorded and spectrum-analyzed for the peak fundamental frequency. Caregivers' responses to higher-pitched cries were rated by observers as more urgent, and they more frequently included additional attempts to soothe the infant. These results provide some of the first ecologically valid evidence that the pitch of infant crying is related to the urgency and nature of caregivers' responses.     

Sufficient statistics and latent trait models

For questionnaires with two answer categories, it has been proven in complete generality that if a minimal sufficient statistic exists for the individual parameter and if it is the same statistic for all values of the item parameters, then the raw score (or the number of correct answers) is the minimal sufficient statistic. It follows that the model must by of the Rasch type with logistic item characteristic curves and equal item-discriminating powers.This paper extends these results to multiple choice questionnaires. It is shown that the minimal sufficient statistic for the individual parameter is a function of the so-called score vector. It is also shown that the so-called equidistant scoring is the only scoring of a questionnaire that allows for a real valued sufficient statistic that is independent of the item parameters, if a certain ordering property for the sufficient statistic holds.     

Preferences of infants for regular and distorted natural speech stimuli

The schema hypothesis proposed by Kagan (Science, 1970, 170, 826–832) andLewis (Developmental Psychology, 1969, 1, 75–86) was used to make predictions concerning the preferences of infants 3 to 14 months old for speech stimuli. An operant response method was used in determining the infants' preferences for inflected, monotone, and scrambled natural speech stimuli. Although the infants' preferences did not change with age as predicted, the infants produced clear preference orderings for the three stimuli. The speech preferences were interpreted as being based on stimulus variables (e.g., word order, inflection, and speech rate) in addition to the realism variables assumed by the schema hypothesis.     

Time of day effects in simple repetitive tasks: Some possible mechanisms

A brief review of the literature, and three experiments, are presented which investigated time of day effects in human performance at simple repetitive tasks (i.e. tasks involving little or no ‘working memory’ load) The goal was to differentiate between a ‘capacity’ based explanation of the effects, concerned with changes in the general rate of information processing, and a ‘strategy’ based one concerned with the amount of information processed at each decision point. The strategy based explanation appeared to be the more suitable, accounting for the surprising heterogeneity in time of day function that was found for such tasks in the literature, and for the results of the three experiments. It would appear that there might be a general tendency for people to become faster but less accurate as the day wears on.     

The Formation of Attitudes Toward New Immigrant Groups1

People often receive information about new immigrant groups prior to any direct contact with group members. However, it is not clear how this information shapes attitudes toward the groups. To explore this issue, 204 subjects were told about an unknown immigrant group that was presented as high or low in personal relevance. Subjects were then given positive or negative consensus information about the emotions that group members elicit from others, group members' personality traits, and group members' values. As expected, results indicated that the presentation of positive information about emotional reactions, personality traits, and values caused attitudes to be more favorable than did the presentation of negative information. Importantly, however, the combined impact of the emotion and personality trait information depended on whether the group was perceived to be of high or low personal relevance. Specifically, when the information about emotions and personality traits was similarly valanced (i.e., both were positive or both were negative), attitudes toward the group tended to be less favorable in the high personal relevance condition than in the low personal relevance condition. In contrast, when mixed information was presented (i.e., positive emotions and negative personality traits or negative emotions and positive personality traits), attitudes tended to be more favorable in the high personal relevance condition. In addition, attitudes, once formed, predicted further perceptions of the group and behavioral intentions toward group members. The implications of the findings for the reduction of prejudice toward new immigrant groups are discussed.     

Cooperativity, priming, and 3-D surface detection from optic flow

Three experiments were conducted to determine whether the mechanisms responsible for the detection of three-dimensional (3-D) surfaces from optic flow operate in a cooperative manner. The first experiment was conducted to determine whether a hysteresis effect occurs for 3-D surface detection from optic flow. The results of the first experiment demonstrated a hysteresis effect with lower thresholds occurring for decreasing texture density than for increasing texture density. The second experiment used a priming methodology to determine whether this form of cooperativity was based on preactivation of shear detectors or preactivation of 2-D motion detectors. The results suggest that only shear detectors were primed. The third experiment utilized a similar methodology to determine whether a surface representation would produce a priming effect. We found no evidence that the priming effect found in the second experiment was the result of preactivation of a generic representation of the test stimuli. The results of the experiments, considered together, suggest priming of the mechanisms responsible for recovering shear.     

Customer Service Behavior: The Interaction of Service Predisposition and Job Characteristics

The achievement of customer satisfaction in service operations depends to a great extent on employee customer service behavior (CSB). In this study, 123 service providers (77% response rate) responded to a survey assessing service predisposition and job characteristics. Employees also completed a behaviorally based CSB measure developed after interviewing and surveying customers (n=96). Analyses suggest that job characteristics, alone, accounted for a significant amount of CSB variance. Job characteristics did not moderate the relationship between service predisposition and CSB. In contrast to previous work, service predisposition and CSB were not correlated. A service provider typology is presented to explain these findings.     

Illness-Related Support and Negative Network Interactions: Effects on HIV-Infected Men's Depressive Symptomatology

Data collected as part of a psychosocial study of gay and bisexual men's experiences of living with HIV infection as a chronic illness were examined to investigate the psychological impact of the perceived availability of illness-related support and negative illness-related network interactions in a sample of men from this population. The sample was comprised of 144 HIV-infected non-Hispanic white, African American, and Puerto Rican men living in the New York City metropolitan area. Analyses found evidence of a conjoint (interactive) effect between perceived support and negative network interactions. There was no evidence of either perceived availability of illness-related network support buffering or negative illness-related network interactions amplifying the effect of HIV/AIDS-related physical symptomatology on depressive symptomatology.     

Clinical Geropsychology: Implications for Practice in Medical Settings

Older adults are a rapidly growing segment of the population, who have high rates of chronic illness and who utilize health care resources heavily. Psychologists must become better prepared to work with older patients in geriatric settings, including geriatric assessment units, memory disorders clinics, and nursing homes. In addition, all psychologists will increasingly encounter older patients in environments such as primary care clinics, rehabilitation settings, and disease management programs focusing on problems that are prevalent in older patients (e.g., cancer, diabetes). Suggestions are offered for adaptation of usual clinical practice to address the special needs of older patients and their families, and recommendations made for advancing and expanding the practice of clinical geropsychology.