Friendly or just polite? The effect of self-esteem on attributions

Studied the effect of a person's self-esteem on his inferences about another person's feelings toward him. Fifty-six mule and female college student subjects of high or low chronic self-esteem (median split; modified version of Janis and Field's ‘Feelings of Inadequacy Scale’) received either a negative or a positive evaluation of themselves. They were told that the evaluation had been written by another subject who had acted either under ‘sincere’ instructions, which allowed him to give his own opinion, or under ‘role-playing’ instructions, which assigned him to write either a positive or a negative evaluation. The subject's take was to decide under which instruction his evaluation had been written. It was predicted from a self-concistency logic that low self-esteem subjects would attribute negative evaluations to ‘sincere’ and positive evaluations to ‘role-playing’ instructions, while high self-esteem subjects would make the reverse attributions. A significant self-esteem × evaluation positivity interaction (p <.01) supported this prediction.     

Detectability of motion as a factor in depth perception by monocular movement parallax

A display of two objects at different distances was presented to 10 observers, who were requested in two experiments to match the width of the more distant (comparison) object to the width of the nearer (standard) one under conditions permitting monocular observation and lateral head motion. The matched width of the comparison object was considered a measure of the effectiveness of movement parallax. The effectiveness of movement parallax decreases with increasing angular separation of the objects and with increasing background distance. A background without visible texture leads to a better perception of depth between two objects than a textured background The results can be explained by postulating that, whenever the detectability of motion is enhanced, i.e., the threshold for the detection of motion is lowered, the effectiveness of movement parallax as a cue to depth is increased.     

Component processes in multiattribute stimulus classification

Summary In an attempt to analyze some aspects of the task requirements in multiattribute stimulus classification (MASC), actual task demands are contrasted with nominal (i.e. theoretically assumed) task demands. On the basis of theoretical considerations and some experimental data corrections of the usually adopted picture of the task are suggested in three respects: 1. For many MASC tasks the component processes involved can better be conceived to be feature detection operations than dimensional discrimination processes. 2. When few dimensions are relevant, irrelevant interrogation may interfere with relevant processing. 3. When many dimensions are relevant, attribute chunking may occur, i.e. there may actually be fewer component processes than is theoretically assumed. — It is concluded that using multiattribute stimulus sets does not help to solve the problem of controlling or identifying functional units of information processing.

---

Zusammenfassung Es wird ein Versuch unternommen, einige Aspekte der Aufgabenanforderungen in Klassifikationsaufgaben mit mehrdimensional variierendem Figurenmaterial (MASC) zu analysieren und sie mit den entsprechenden nominellen (d. h. theoretisch postulierten) Aufgabenanforderungen zu vergleichen. Aufgrund von theoretischen Überlegungen und experimentellen Ergebnissen werden drei Korrekturen des allgemein akzeptierten Bildes dieser Art von Klassifikationsaufgaben vorgeschlagen: 1. Die Teilprozesse sind in vielen MASC-Aufgaben eher vom Typus der Merkmalsdetektion als vom Typus der dimensionalen Diskrimination. 2. Wenn nur ein Teil der variierenden Dimensionen relevant ist, kann irrelevante Variation mit der Verarbeitung der relevanten Information interferieren. 3. Wenn viele Dimensionen relevant sind, kann die Zahl der tatsächlichen Teilprozesse durch Zusammenfassung von Merkmalen reduziert sein, so daß in Wirklichkeit weniger Teilprozesse ablaufen als theoretisch angenommen wird. — Die Untersuchung führt zu der Schlußfolgerung, daß das Problem der Identifikation oder Kontrolle von funktionalen Einheiten der Verarbeitung durch die Verwendung von mehrdimensional variierendem Figurenmaterial nicht gelöst wird.

     

Stochastic independence,causal independence,and shieldability

The aim of the paper is to explicate the concept of causal independence between sets of factors and Reichenbach's screening-off-relation in probabilistic terms along the lines of Suppes' probabilistic theory of causality (1970). The probabilistic concept central to this task is that of conditional stochastic independence. The adequacy of the explication is supported by proving some theorems about the explicata which correspond to our intuitions about the explicanda.I am indebted to the referee for his most valuable report and to the editor for taking more trouble than usual, I fear.     

A computer-controlled cardiotachometer

A versatile display system for presenting heart rate information is described. The display has a table with 10 rows and 50 columns. This 10 by 50 matrix contains all integers from 0 to 499, so that it can display the instantaneous R-R intervals of a rat’s EKG to the nearest millisecond. At each beat 1 of 10 vertically and 1 of 50 horizontally arranged indicator lights are turned on to provide the coordinates for reading the table. Either beat-to-beat or averaged heart rate or period is displayed. Small and large changes can be easily and accurately observed on the same scale. The lights are controlled by a PDP-8/e. A listing of the assembler program is presented.     

Zum gegenwärtigen Stand der psychoanalytischen Selbstpsychologie

Zusammenfassung Die psychoanalytische Selbstpsychologie wird dargestellt als postmodernes Paradigma zur Analyse des postpatriarchalen Selbst mit dem methodischen Zugang über Introspektion und Empathie. Die eingeschr?nkten Behandlungsm?glichkeiten vor allem bei narzi?tisch gest?rten Patienten führte Heinz Kohut zur Annahme einer eigenen Entwicklungslinie des Narzi?mus und eines Motivationsprimats des Selbst, welches er bipolar konzipierte. Sexuelles und aggressives Verhalten werden in der Folge nur dann als prim?r angesehen, wenn ein koh?rentes, vitales, nicht fragmentiertes Selbst vorliegt. Wesentliche Bedingungen für Selbstkoh?renz sind die Selbstobjekterfahrungen, die in ihrer Vielfalt ebenso wie Selbstst?rungen dargestellt werden. Aus den Selbstobjekterfahrungen leiten sich die Hauptübertragungsformen in der psychoanalytischen Selbstpsychologie ab. Ein kurzer Abri?über den therapeutischen Proze? sowie über die Integration der S?uglings- und Kleinkindforschung in die Selbstpsychologie und eine andere Sicht des ?dipuskomplexes vervollst?ndigen die hier gegebene übersicht und werden abschlie?end durch einige Neukonzeptionen der psychoanalytischen Selbstpsychologie erg?nzt.      

An analog optical link in surface mount technology (SMT) for multichannel biomedical data acquisition

A stand-alone, low-cost analog optical link for biomedical data is described. This compact device features low power consumption and low noise and serves as a safe link between biodata amplifiers and computerized recording equipment. A modular surface mount technology design assures the high reliability and high package density required in multichannel applications in EEG and event-related potential research. With only a few modifications, the data link can transmit dc signals with low drift, or interface fast signals such as brainstem evoked potentials. The maximum bandwidth ranges from dc to 5000 Hz.