Objective self-awareness,standards of evaluation,and moral behavior

In a performance setting, subjects were given an opportunity to cheat without fear of detection on puzzle problems. Subjects were led to believe that successful performance was due to ability in some conditions, but to luck in other conditions. In fact, most of the problems were insolvable, so that success was impossible without cheating. Self-awareness was induced in half the subjects by having them sit in front of a mirror and listen to a tape recording of their own voice as they worked on the puzzle problems; the remaining subjects were not exposed to a mirror and listened to a tape of someone else's voice as they worked on the problems. It was predicted that cheating frequency would be higher under ability attribution conditions than under luck attribution conditions, and that this effect of performance attribution would be greater among self-aware subjects than among non-self-aware subjects. Results confirmed these hypotheses. Discussion centered on the differential use of morality and competence standards for behavior when in a state of self-awareness.     

Consistency of the labial temperature change measure of human female eroticism

Six adult, human female volunteers participated in a study to determine the consistency of their pattern of sexual arousal to two erotic films over two experimental sessions. Sexual arousal was assessed objectively by means of continuous measurement of temperature changes of the labia minora and subjectively by periodic self-ratings. Each subject developed increases in labial temperature to both film presentations that ranged from about 0.10°C to 1.36°C above basal levels. The amount of temperature change in a subject's labia minora during the first film presentation was significantly correlated with that during the second film, and there was a reasonable degree of consistency across the two sessions with regard to the rate at which the subject's labial temperature subsided towards basal levels after the cessation of erotic stimulation. Labial temperature changes and subjective ratings were also significantly correlated during each of the two film presentations.     

Retrieval failure, rehearsal deficiency, and short-term memory loss in the aphasic adult

Studies show that aphasic patients typically are grossly impaired in short-term memory performance. Since aphasics generally experience difficulty in word retrieval, it is conceivable that short-term memory loss is partially the result of verbal rehearsal deficiency which, in turn, is caused by the word retrieval problem. This paper reports an experiment in which five aphasic adults were nonverbally to recall individualized lists of pictures they could easily name and lists of pictures they could not name. Final items in the two lists were recalled with equal accuracy; this was expected in that the recency effect usually reflects sensory rather than verbal storage. Initial items were recalled with greater accuracy than middle-list items in the nameable sets but not in the unnameable sets. This primacy effect suggests the aphasics rehearsed the nameable pictures, but both lists were recalled so poorly that rehearsal deficit was considered responsible for no more than a fraction of the aphasics' reduction in short-term memory.     

A multimethod analysis of selected self-esteem measures

This study investigated the convergent and discriminant validity of selected measures of global self-esteem and social self-esteem, using the multitrait-multimethod design. Orderliness was included as the third trait for appraising the discriminant validity of the self-esteem measures. Each trait was measured by three different methods: true-false self-report inventory, multipoint self-report inventory, and simple self-ratings. The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (short form) were the selected measures of global self-esteem. The revised Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale and the Self-esteem scale of the Jackson Personality Inventory were included as measures of social self-esteem, while orderliness measures included the Order scales from the Personality Research Form and Comrey Personality Scales. Results from the multitrait-multimethod matrix and the multimethod factor analysis of data based on 93 males and 103 females provided strong evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the various trait measures.     

Career indecision in adult women: A comparative and descriptive study

This study compared 66 high-school women, 66 first-year college women, and 66 adult women on four measures of career indecision, the Satisfaction with Career Scale, the Occupational Alternatives Question, the Vocational Decision Making Difficulty Scale, and the Career Decision Scale. The results consistently suggested that the adult women were experiencing more career indecision than the high-school and college women. Intercorrelations among the scales were generally moderate to somewhat low and raised some questions about the use of the Career Decision Scale with adult women. Additional data were gathered on the adult women in an attempt to delineate the sample. Variables included were: marital status, present work experience, the career-related goals and the reasons for pursuing these goals, and possible impediments to reaching the goals. These results are presented and the implications for future research and counseling with adult women are examined.     

An informational analysis of actors' and observers' belief attributions in a role-playing situation

An actor's belief in a proposition was inferred by both the actor himself and an observer on the basis of information concerning (a) the actor's preparation and delivery of a speech on the proposition to an unseen audience, and (b) the audience's belief in the proposition. The availability of this information to judges was systematically varied. The position advocated by the actor in his speech and the audience's opinion affected both the actor's belief in the test proposition and the belief attributed to the actor by a disinterested observer. However, neither effect depended upon whether or not other belief-relevant information was also available. These results were interpreted as more consistent with a summative model of information integration than with an averaging model. Actors' behavior had similar effects upon both actors' estimates of how the audience would judge their beliefs and observers' actual estimates of these beliefs. However, these effects were both greater than the effect of their behavior on their own estimates of their beliefs. The apparent strength of the audience's belief in the target proposition had a positive influence upon both actors' beliefs in the proposition and observers' estimates of actors' beliefs, but had a negative, or contrast effect upon actors' expectancies for how the audience would judge their beliefs. Results were more consistent with the differential perspective hypothesis of actor-observer differences proposed by Jones and Nisbett than with the hypothesis that actors and observers differentially weight the implications of their past experience in formulating their judgments. Results had additional implications for the assumptions that persons make when using their behaviors as indications of their beliefs.     

The role of logical and nonlogical factors in making inferences about category membership

Three postulates are proposed concerning the manner in which persons infer the validity of propositions that do not necessarily follow logically from the information available. These postulates assume that subjects first attempt to identify the propositions that are most and least likely to follow from the information given. They then use their beliefs in these propositions as anchors, relative to which the validity of other propositions is evaluated on the basis of both logical and nonlogical criteria. Two experiments are reported in which these postulates are used successfully to diagnose the logical and nonlogical factors that underlie inferences based upon both single statements and sets of syllogistically related propositions. The implications of the proposed postulates for existing formulations of social inference and cognitive organization are discussed.     

A test of the hypothesis about the two-dimensional nature of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale

This paper presents the results from two related studies concerning the internal structure of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability (MD-SD) scale. Study 1 tested the hypothesis that attribution and denial are two major components of the MC-SD scale by factoring the intercorrelations among the MC-SD items using the correlated multiple-group common factor analysis, and the results supported the hypothesis. Study 2 investigated the differential validity of these components for predicting scores on the Lie scale, the K scale, and the Repression-Sensitization scale. The attribution and denial components were found to be differentially related to the K scale and the Repression-Sensitization scale but not the Lie scale. These results were also interpreted as partially supporting the hypothesis.     

Training strategic study time apportionment in educable retarded children

Two groups of educable retarded children differing in functioning level served as subjects. One group, the High group, consisted of 31 children drawn from the upper two classes of a five-class stream. The Low group consisted of 39 children drawn from the lowest two classes. During pretesting, on each trial but the first of a multitrial free recall procedure, subjects were allowed to select half of the to-be-remembered items to see if they would strategically select missed items for extra study. Following pretesting, subjects were divided for training into three groups for which the experimenter selected items for study: in the Standard group, missed items; in the Creeping group, recalled items plus one missed item; and in the Random group, half missed and half recalled items. Children in the High group improved in the Standard condition, and those in the Low group benefited from Creeping training. There was no evidence of maintenance of training in the Low group, but children in the High group given training in the standard strategy selected missed items for recall on the posttests. The results are discussed in terms of the stability of trained strategies in retardates, and the question of what constitutes an optimal strategy is considered.