Natural, unnatural, and supernatural concepts

Five experiments investigating information-processing consequences of concept naturalness and unnaturalness are reported. In particular, an attempt is made to examine the separate and joint effects of simplicity and entrenchment upon reasoning with natural and unnatural concepts. The experiments employed four variants of a concept-selection task in which subjects characterized the state of an object at some future time on the basis of information about the object at that time and at some earlier time. In all five experiments, both simplicity and entrenchment affected ease of information processing. The last two experiments showed that the effect of simplicity was greater than that of entrenchment. An informationprocessing model of task performance provided a very good account of the latency and error data. Scores from the concept-selection task correlated with scores from a set of psychometric inductive-reasoning tests; indeed, the correlations were higher than those usually found between cognitive task performance and psychometrically measured intelligence. Processing of nonentrenched concepts may provide a useful means for studying the nature of intelligent performance.     

An investigation of two measures of career indecision

The present study compared two recent scales developed to measure career indecision, the Career Decision Scale and the Vocational Decision-Making Difficulty Scale. The subjects were 857 male and female undergraduates. The scales were factor analyzed, the total scores were correlated, and the factor structures were examined for similarities and differences. Test-retest correlations were performed on the items, the total scores, and the factor scores of both measures. Subjects who were satisfied with their career choices were compared with subjects who were unsure, dissatisfied, or undecided about their career choices using the items, total scores, and factor scores. The results are discussed along with the implications for the future development of the scales.     

Bases of young children's judgments about more

While the young child's difficulties in correctly comprehending the term less are well known, it appears less widely recognized that young children may also encounter difficulties with the term more. The present study shows that in a task which requires judgments about more to be based on the relative numerosity of sets, 3–4-year-old children may base their judgments on other parameters, such as the extent to which the sets are homogenous with respect to the color of their components. The implications of such findings are briefly considered.     

Moral judgments and self-presentations

Meehan, Woll, and Abbott (Journal of Research in Personality, 1979, 13, 25–38) have shown that scores on Hogan's Survey of Ethical Attitudes (SEA) are affected by instructions to simulate politically liberal or conservative attitudes. They also found that scores are affected by instructions to present one's self in a socially desirable or undesirable light, and that group ratings of the social desirability of the items could account for as much as 78% of the item response variance. Meehan et al. argue from these data that the SEA is a measure of political attitudes rather that moral judgments, and that the SEA is susceptible to dissimulation in the form of role playing and impression management. The present paper argues that test-taking is a form of self-presentation, identical to what goes on in everyday social interaction; this renders the Meehan et al. findings meaningful rather than problematic. The paper concludes with a discussion of the relationship between personality testing, self-presentation, moral judgments, and political attitudes.     

Behavioral and neural analyses of connotative meaning: Word classes and rating scales

Behavioral (semantic differential) and neural (Evoked Potentials, EPs) responses were related to connotative meaning. The approach was based on Osgood's semantic analyses and dimensions of Evaluation (E), Potency (P), and Activity (A). The experimental variables were (1) the semantic class of the stimulus word (E+, E-, P+, P-, A+, A-) and (2) the dimension of the semantic scale (E, P, A) which the subject used to rate the stimulus words. These variables were experimentally combined such that on each trial the subject used a designated semantic scale to judge a specified stimulus word while brain activity was recorded. Using multivariate analyses, the effects on the EPs of stimulus word class, scale dimension, and their interaction were analyzed. The EP effects of stimulus word class were similar whether the subjects were merely saying the words or rating the words on a variety of semantic scales. Different EPs were found for six word classes, three semantic scale dimensions, and the 18 groups formed by their combination. The success rates in EP identification of (1) word class and (2) scale dimension did not depend on whether these two kinds of semantic variables involved the same or different semantic dimensions. The two kinds of semantic effects in EPs were largely independent. The behavioral data supported Osgood's results and showed that our subjects were appropriately processing the semantic information. The common analyses of data from all subjects suggest the universality of the connotative EP effects across individuals. This parallels, at the neural level, the universality of the connotative dimensions found at the behavioral level by semantic differential ratings. The EP effects imply that the neural representation of meaning is similar in different individuals.     

A research scale for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations

This paper describes an early phase in the development of new research scale for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations. The scale is meant to be a sort of operational definition of the procedures that go into making global ratings of psychopathy. While the interrater reliability of these ratings is very high ( > 0.85) they are difficult to make, require a considerable amount of experience, and the procedures involved are not easily communicated to other investigators. Following a series of analyses, 22 items were chosen as representative of the type of information used in making global ratings. Two investigators then used interview and case-history data to complete the 22-item checklist for 143 male prison inmates. The correlation between the two sets of total checklist scores was 0.93 and coefficient alpha was 0.88, indicating a very high degree of scale reliability. The correlation between the total checklist scores and global ratings of psychopathy was 0.83. A series of multivariate analyses explored the factorial structure of the scale and demonstrated its ability to discriminate very accurately between inmates with high and low ratings of psychopathy. Preliminary indications are that the checklist will hold up well to crossvalidation.     

Relative deprivation and referent cognitions

Determinants of relative deprivation were examined in a laboratory experiment. Discontent associated with relative deprivation was hypothesized to be a function of likelihood, or the perceived probability of actually obtaining a desired outcome under existing circumstances, and referent cognitions, which involve the subjunctive probability of obtaining that outcome under alternative (hypothetical) circumstances. Male and female undergraduates discovered that their alleged chances of receiving experimental credit were either poor (low likelihood) or good (high likelihood). They also learned that if a different procedure had been used, their chances of receiving credit would have been either poor (low referent) or good (high referent). Responses to a subsequent questionnaire indicated that whereas discontent did not differ by referent conditions under high likelihood, greater discontent was shown by low-likelihood/high-referent subjects than by low-likelihood/low-referent subjects. This low- versus high-referent difference under low likelihood was also found in two conceptual replications designed to eliminate any influence of social comparison. The relevance of this model to other findings and theoretical formulations is discussed.     

The effects of feedback about self and others on the recall and judgments of feedback-relevant information

After people have received feedback about the outcome of their behavior, their responses to information bearing on the validity of this feedback may be influenced by their desire to maintain a favorable self-image. This experiment investigated the cognitive mediators of these responses. Subjects who received negative feedback about their performance on an intelligence test disparaged intelligence tests in general and judged a report they had read to be unfavorable to intelligence tests. Nevertheless, they recalled more arguments in the report that were favorable to intelligence tests than did positive feedback recipients. These results contradicted the hypothesis that subjects selectively attend to information that helps them to maintain a positive self-concept in light of negative information about themselves. Rather, they may attempt to refute arguments that support the validity of the negative feedback they receive, and this relatively greater processing may facilitate the recall of these arguments later on. In contrast, there was no evidence that subjects try to refute information that calls the validity of positive feedback into question. Results had implications for two additional issues: first, whether the effect of performance feedback depends on whether it is received before or after information bearing on its validity; second, whether feedback has similar effects on recall and judgments by persons to whom it does not directly pertain.     

BRAIN, SYMBOL, & EXPERIENCE: A PSYCHIATRIC AND THEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE

Abstract. Brain, Symbol & Experience attempts to solidify the authors' work in the fields of neurophenomenology and consciousness. The interdisciplinary nature of the work dictates less than extensive discussions of individual academic topics, but it does facilitate the identification of mutual points of interest for future pluralistic dialogues. This paper explores the implications of Laughlin, McManus, and d'Aquili for the neurosciences, psycho-pathology, psychotherapy, contemporary literature, theology, and faith development theory. Suggestions for specific interdisciplinary conversations are offered.     

A clarification of selective exposure: The impact of choice

Selective exposure as a reaction to cognitive dissonance has long eluded researchers working in the realm of dissonance theory. It is proposed here that the difficulties in selective exposure paradigms have resulted from inadequate designs, and more particularly, it is likely that many of the previous findings are due to confoundings. The present experiment manipulates the variable of choice with the intent of controlling for a variety of possible confounds. The experiment shows a simple, theoretically predicted effect: Selective exposure, favoring supporting over nonsupporting information, increases to the degree that an onerous task is undertaken with volition.