Clogs in the bogus pipeline: Demand characteristics and social desirability

Jones and Sigall (1971) have advocated the use of a pseudophysiological monitoring device (the bogus pipeline) as a procedure to measure the “true” feelings of experimental subjects. A comparison of the bogus pipeline and a paper-and-pencil scale as measures of attraction indicated that the monitoring device is affected by experimenter demands among high social desirability (SD) subjects (p < .03) while the simple rating scale is not. Attraction to a stranger was determined solely by attitude similarity for high SD subjects using the paper-and-pencil measure and for low SD subjects in both measurement conditions. Use of the bogus pipeline in the typical attraction experiment thus would seem to be contraindicated. These results were discussed with respect to Ostrom's (1973) criteria of relative sensitivity and functional comparability of measurement techniques.     

Reward schedule effects in extinction: Intertrial interval, memory, and memory retrieval

Rats were trained in a runway such that partial reward occurred on Trial 1 of the day and consistent reward on subsequent massed trials (Group PRT1), or consistent reward occurred on Trial 1 of the day and partial reward on subsequent massed trials (Group PRTM). Under spaced (24-hr) extinction, Group PRT1 was more resistant to extinction than Group PRTM and under massed (1-min) extinction, Group PRTM was more resistant to extinction than Group PRT1. These findings suggest that (a) distinctive stimuli are associated with Trial 1 of the day and with subsequent massed trials, (b) these distinctive stimuli function as retrieval cues for memories, memory retrieval being independent of intertrial interval, and (c) behavior in extinction is controlled by a stimulus compound consisting of the memory of nonreward plus stimuli which accompany the memory of nonreward on rewarded acquisition trials.     

The aggression-inhibiting influence of nonhostile humor

Forty undergraduate students participated in an experiment designed to investigate the hypothesis that prior exposure to nonhostile humor would markedly reduce the level of aggression directed by angry individuals against the person who had previously provoked them. In order to examine this suggestion, subjects were first angered or not angered by a confederate of the experimenter, then exposed to either humorous cartoons or nonhumorous pictures, and finally provided with an opportunity to aggress against this individual by means of electric shock. Results indicated that exposure to the nonhostile cartoons significantly reduced the duration of the shocks delivered to the confederate by subjects in the angry condition, but failed to influence the level of aggression demonstrated by subjects in the nonangry group. These findings were discussed in terms of the elicitation, by the cartoons, of responses and emotional states incompatible with anger or overt aggression. Possible implications of the aggression-inhibiting influence of humor for the prevention and control of human violence were also considered.     

Partial reward training level and reward magnitude: Effects on acquisition and extinction

Two groups of 10 rats each received either a large magnitude (0.90 g) or a small magnitude (0.18 g) of partial reward (PR) and seven successive acquisition-extinction sessions in the runway. The large magnitude PR group ran much faster than the small magnitude PR group in the early acquisition sessions with differences between the groups declining over sessions. In the early extinction sessions, the large magnitude PR group showed greater resistance to extinction than the small magnitude PR group, but in the late extinction sessions this relation reversed itself. Finally, resistance to extinction decreased over sessions, this decrease being greater under a large than under a small magnitude of PR.     

Autonomy support,basic need satisfaction and the optimal functioning of adult male and female sport participants: A test of basic needs theory

Grounded in Basic Needs Theory (BNT; Ryan and Deci, American Psychologist, 55, 68–78, 2000a), the present study aimed to: (a) test a theoretically-based model of coach autonomy support, motivational processes and well-/ill-being among a sample of adult sport participants, (b) discern which basic psychological need(s) mediate the link between autonomy support and well-/ill-being, and (c) explore gender invariance in the hypothesized model. Five hundred and thirty nine participants (Male = 271; Female = 268; M _age = 22.75) completed a multi-section questionnaire tapping the targeted variables. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that coach autonomy support predicted participants’ basic need satisfaction for autonomy, competence and relatedness. In turn, basic need satisfaction predicted greater subjective vitality when engaged in sport. Participants with low levels of autonomy were more susceptible to feeling emotionally and physically exhausted from their sport investment. Autonomy and competence partially mediated the path from autonomy support to subjective vitality. Lastly, the results supported partial invariance of the model with respect to gender.     

Different Associations of Health Related Quality of Life with Pain,Psychological Distress and Coping Strategies in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disorder

The primary aim of this study was to measure psychological distress, pain severity, health related quality of life (QOL) and pain coping strategies in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and ulcerative colitis (UC). A second aim was to determine the influence of somatic and psychological variables on health related QOL. Eighty-eight IBS and 66 UC patients completed the Irritable Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life Questionnaire (IBSQOL), Pain Severity Scale of West Haven Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory (WHYMPY), Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ). T-tests and GLM Analysis of Covariance were used for statistical analysis. IBS patients had significantly higher levels of psychological distress, pain severity and maladaptive pain coping strategies (catastrophization), and lower QOL than UC patients. Variance of QOL in IBS was explained for the most part by catastrophization (15%), then by psychological distress (8%), and for the less part by pain severity (5%). In UC, pain severity explained 21%, psychological distress 8%, and catastrophization 3% of the variance of QOL. These results suggest there are differences between IBS and UC patients in the role of physical and psychological factors in QOL and emphasize the importance of cognitive processes in IBS.     

Actual environments do affect motivation and psychological adjustment: A test of self-determination theory in a natural setting

This study examined the impact of the actual environment on changes in psychological adjustment over time. According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci and Ryan, Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior, 1985a, Plenum, New York; J Res Pers 19:109–134, 1985b; Psychol Inq 11:227–268, 2000), environments that are objectively supportive of autonomy should facilitate psychological adjustment through their impact on people’s subjective perceptions of autonomy and self-determined motivation. The present study tested this hypothesis using a prospective design with nursing homes residents. Results from structural equation modeling showed that actual autonomy-supportive nursing home environments were positively associated with residents’ perceptions of autonomy that in turn predicted self-determined motivation in major life domains. Self-determined motivation, in turn, predicted increases in psychological adjustment over a one-year period. Theoretical implications of the present findings are discussed in line with SDT.

Variations in Psychological Profile Among Children with Recurrent Abdominal Pain

This study was designed to determine whether distinct subgroups of children with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) could be identified based on patterns of psychological functioning. Two hundred and eighty-three children (ages 8–17 years), and a primary caretaker, completed the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) during the initial evaluation of RAP at a pediatric gastroenterology clinic. Cluster analysis of BASC scores supported a 3-cluster solution, with fair agreement observed between parents and children on cluster assignment. Approximately half of the sample identified no significant psychological problems. A small percentage (13%) evidenced intense and broad-based psychological problems, while the remainder (35–45%) indicated relative elevations in anxiety only. Cluster membership did not vary systematically by age, gender, race, or functional gastrointestinal disorder diagnosis. Distinct psychological profiles appear to exist for children with RAP. Targeting treatments to these profiles may improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which health professionals address pediatric abdominal pain. This study was supported in part by a grant from the Hall Family Foundation. Portions of this work were presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association in July 2004 (Honolulu, HI) and at Digestive Diseases Week in May 2004 (New Orleans, LA).     

Do the core self-evaluations moderate the relationship between subjective well-being and physical and psychological health?

This study investigates the role that core self-evaluations (CSE) plays on the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and health functioning. The findings from a sample of 160 undergraduate students revealed that CSE explains incremental variance in physical and psychological health functioning, above and beyond the effect of SWB. The results also revealed that CSE moderated the relationship of two indicators of SWB (PA/NA and satisfaction with life) with physical functioning, suggesting that individuals who have positive emotions and/or are satisfied with their lives and simultaneously are high CSE are more likely to demonstrate good physical health functioning. Contrary to expectations, the results revealed that CSE did not moderate the relationship between SWB and psychological health functioning. The findings are discussed in the context of the importance of CSE on health psychology, while implications for practice and directions for future research are proposed.     

Compatibilism,Evil, and the Free-Will Defense

It is widely believed that (1) if theological determinism were true, in virtue of God’s role in determining created agents to perform evil actions, created agents would be neither free nor morally responsible for their evil actions and God would not be perfectly good; (2) if metaphysical compatibilism were true, the free-will defense against the deductive problem of evil would fail; and (3) on the assumption of metaphysical compatibilism, God could have actualized just any one of those myriad possible worlds that are populated only by compatibilist free creatures. The primary thesis of this essay is that none of these propositions is true. This thesis is defended by appealing to a recently proposed novel, acausal, composite, unified theory of free action – the Theory of Middle Freedom – that evades the central problems plaguing traditional theories of metaphysical compatibilism.