Predictors of peer helpfulness: Implications for youth in residential treatment

Sociometric measures were used to predict peer helpfulness of youth in a residential treatment center. Seventeen female adolescents with conduct disorders were asked to choose three peers in their group who were most popular, similar, well-liked, and competent. These sociometric measures were correlated with the frequency in which each peer was nominated as most and least helpful in several problem scenarios representing actual situations encountered in residential settings. A multiple linear regression analysis indicated that “popularity” was the best predictor of peer helpfulness across the problem scenarios. Discussion focused on the impact of popularity on treatment strategies for youth in residential placement.     

The ingroup overexclusion effect: Identity concerns in decisions about group membership

There are circumstances in which one is reluctant to express a judgment on the basis of the available information. This is for instance the case when the decision may jeopardize the integrity of the group one is a member of. In particular, ingroup members are considered less judgeable than outgroup members. This phenomenon corresponds to the ingroup overexclusion effect (Leyens and Yzerbyt, 1992). An experimental situation was designed in order to rule out an explanation of this phenomenon in terms of confirmation of hypothesis. French- or Dutch-speaking subjects heard recordings of 40 sentences and, depending on the specific wording of the question, decided whether the speakers belonged to the group of French-speaking (i.e. Walloon) versus Dutch-speaking (i.e. Flemish) Belgians or not. The 40 sentences enabled to cross three factors with five sentences in each cell: Walloon versus Flemish speakers, French versus Dutch sentences, and short versus long sentences. As predicted, subjects made most errors when ingroup members read short outgroup sentences. Most importantly, the specific wording of the question did not lead to a reversal of the pattern of errors of group identification. Subjects also took longer to make a decision about an ingroup member reading an outgroup sentence than about an outgroup member reading an ingroup sentence. Such a pattern clearly supports a motivational explanation and undermines a confirmation of hypothesis explanation of the ingroup overexclusion effect. Older accounts of ethnic identification phenomena are addressed and it is suggested that identity concerns greatly affect impression formation processes.     

Psychometric properties of the Wolpe-Lazarus assertiveness scale with community-dwelling older adults

The psychometric properties of the Wolpe-Lazarus Assertiveness Scale (WLAS) were examined with an older community-dwelling, nonclinical, adult population. Three hundred twenty-seven older adults (ages, 57–96; mean, 75.68) who were not psychiatrically impaired completed a demographic questionnaire and the WLAS. Fifty-seven of the 327 subjects also filled out the WLAS on a repeated basis after 3 or 4 weeks in order to determine the test-retest reliability. Results indicate that the WLAS has an adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's=.75) and test-retest reliability (r=.81). WLAS cutoff scores of 14 and under identify unassertiveness. Older adults who are (1) African-American or (2) of lower SES tend to be significantly less assertive. Also, five factors emerged from a principal-components analysis accounting for 34.7% of the total variance.This research is based on the senior author's doctoral dissertation in partial fulfillment of the Ph.D. under the direction of the second, third, and fourth authors.     

The Problem of Theodicy and Religious Response to Cancer

The authors studied the religious response to cancer in a group of hematology/ oncology-clinic patients. Method: Patients (N = 45) were surveyed with a self-report questionnaire. Five items were designed to reflect the five major categories of theodicy or modes of reconciling suffering with a morally good God. Results: Of the 45 patients, in response to their illness, 67% (N = 30) increased amount of prayer, 51% (N = 23) gained faith, and 16% (N = 7) increased the frequency of church attendance. The majority of patients across all levels of religious belief endorse a theodicy that claims God has a reason for their suffering, but this reason cannot be explained or understood. Conclusions: Religious cancer patients intensify their religious belief and practice in response to their illness. Despite the elusiveness of an explanation for their suffering in religious terms, patients remain confident in their faith.     

Detection of stimulus change: The hypothetical roles of visual transient responses

Two random-dot patterns (D1 and D2) were displayed briefly in close temporal succession, separated by an interstimulus interval (ISI). The two patterns were identical except that D2 could contain one more element (addition) or one less element (subtraction) than D1. Observers were required to detect the addition or subtraction using a two-alternative forced-choice method. Three experiments were designed to examine Phillips and Singer’s (1974) suggestion that detection of additions and subtractions can be explained in terms of neural ON and OFF responses. Experiment 1 replicated Phillips and Singer’s finding that performance is progressively impaired as the ISI is increased. In Experiment 2, sudden shifts in luminance between D1 and D2 were combined with several durations of ISI to produce transient responses in a novel manner. Experiment 3 explored the roles of transient neural responses and of configurational changes as determinants of performance. Most predictions based on Phillips and Singer’s model were confirmed by the experimental outcomes. Some discrepancies between theory and data are noted, and directions for further research are suggested.     

Transgression and altruism: A case for hedonism

A model to account for the positive relationship between transgression and altruism was proposed and tested against three alternative formulations—Guilt, Social Justice, and Self-esteem Bolstering. The proposed model, Negative State Relief, asserts that people in a transgression situation behave charitably in order to reduce a general, negative affective state which is induced by exposure to harm-doing and that if the negative state is relieved by some other means, benevolent activity will be rendered unnecessary. All of the experimental subjects were exposed to an act of transgression; half performed the act themselves while half only witnessed it. In one set of experimental conditions (the relief conditions), a positive event—the receipt of either money or approval—was interposed between the harmful act and a fellow-student's request for aid. In another set of experimental conditions (the norelief conditions), no such positive event occurred. It was found, as predicted, that subjects who received a positive event were significantly less helpful than those who did not, but were not different from a control group which had never been exposed to the transgression. It was also found that harm-doers and harm-witnesses were identical in benevolent tendency. The results were interpreted as favoring a hedonistic conception of the nature of altruism. Finally, it was contended that a U-shaped relationship exists between mood state and helping tendency.     

The black sheep effect: Judgmental extremity towards ingroup members in inter-and intra-group situations

Two experiments yielded further evidence for the black sheep effect (Marques, Yzerbyt and by ens, 1988). In the first experiment, 66 subjects were presented with two good or two poor speeches, one supposedly made by an ingroup member and the other supposedly made by an outgroup member. In the second experiment, 37 subjects were presented with one good and one poor speech supposedly made either by two ingroup members or by two outgroup members. The black sheep effect was predicted and found in both experiments: subjects over-evaluated likeable ingroup members and under-evaluated unlikeable ingroup members as compared to equally likeable and unlikeable outgroup members. Collapsing the data of the two experiments suggests that social comparison may be performed, in purely symbolic terms, against a cognitive standard of positivity rather than an outgroup present in the judgmental situation. The emergence of the predicted effect when strongly individualized information was presented in inter- as well as in intra-group situations supports the robustness of the black sheep effect.     

A systemic approach to the treatment of depression with only one family member present

The purpose of the present article was to demonstrate a systemic treatment of depression for a 70 year-old woman. In this treatment, other family members were unavailable, but a family therapy systems perspective was used throughout. Results of the demonstration ABAB single case design and two year followup were suggestive of treatment effectiveness in decreasing depression. The need for additional replication of the study was noted.     

Two-dimensional filtering,oriented line detectors,and figural aspects as determinants of visual illusions

Quantitative data of Müller-Lyer illusions from the literature were analyzed according to three different models. All three models predict the illusion effect, although with different magnitude and different parameter dependency. First, a filter model describing a certain amount of blurring of the retinal picture seems partly responsible for the observed illusion. With reasonable estimation of the filter constants, however, a sufficient magnitude of illusion cannot be obtained. A second model of oriented line or bar receptors is even less effective in explaining the observed length illusions. A third model, consisting of a size-constancy operator triggered by depth cues, may predict effects larger than actually observed. It is concluded that figural aspects such as depth-inducing cues are mainly responsible for the illusion effects observed in Müller-Lyer figures.