Prediction accuracy of text recall: Ease, effort and familiarity

Prediction accuracy of text recall was studied in two experiments. Text characteristics (i.e., consistency and distinctiveness) were manipulated in Experiment 1, and familiarity with the reading-task in Experiment 2. The results were also analyzed and discussed in terms of easy processing (Experiment 1), and in terms of increased and more active processing (Experiment 2). Text characteristics did not affect prediction accuracy. However, being familiar with the reading-task led to good and long-lasting prediction accuracy. Thus, subjects reading a school-book text, instructed to learn the contents of it demonstrated reliable memory awareness, both for immediate recall and for delay of one week. It was also suggested that increased processing demands and active reading enhances prediction accuracy.     

Sociolinguistic inference and intercultural coorientation.

We present a model that examines the effects of cultural differences on coorientation (the ability of communicators to accurately encode and interpret the referential and relational meanings of messages). Intercultural coorientation is made problematic by the absence of certain shared communication system knowledge, which in same‐culture interactions is used in the dynamic sociolinguistic negotiation of relational rights and obligations. We propose that the process of sociolinguistic negotiation of meanings relies fundamentally on probabilistic inference and have constructed a model based on Bayes' theorem. The model predicts the effects of the communication situation, communicator stereotypes and prejudice, and some other‐culture speaker errors on conclusions the receiver draws about the message. Using the model, we distinguish between the ethnocentric error of interpreting a communication in terms of one's own culture and the error of not seeing the communication as diagnostic. Among our predictions are: (a) the less diagnostic the communication, the more impact cultural stereotypes will have on attributions; (b) although evidence of sociolinguistic incompetence sometimes causes misunderstanding, it sometimes prevents misunderstanding; (c) multiple consistent features make intentions clearer than would a single cue, but multiple features violating co‐occurrence norms often lead to the attribution of incompetence.     

Responsibility assignment at the workplace: a Finnish and Ghanaian perspective

The study sought to explore management's responsibility in accident causation as perceived by Ghanaian and Finnish industrial workers. It was anticipated that the Ghanaian industrial workers would externalize accident causality more than their Finnish counterparts, and would assign only marginal responsibility to the management for industrial accidents. The predicted difference was based on the premise that the difference in these two cultures on the power-distance cultural dimensions would have an impact on their responsibility assignments. The results confirmed our expectation.     

Information processing in patients with first episode major depression

Hammar, Å., Kildal, A. B. & Schmid, M. (2012). Information processing in patients with first episode major depression. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 445–449. Few studies have investigated cognitive functioning in a group of patients experiencing a first episode of depression. The aim of this study was to investigate how patients diagnosed with a first episode of depression perform in effortful and non‐effortful information processing compared to healthy controls. An experimental paradigm based on a visual search test was applied. Thirty‐one patients and thirty‐one healthy controls were included in the study. All patients experienced a severe level of symptom load at the time of testing. Results showed no significant differences between groups under any of the conditions. Findings in the present study indicate that patients with a first episode of depression perform equally to healthy controls in tasks requiring visual attention in both effortful and non‐effortful information processing.     

Book reviews

Mary T. Malone, Women and Christianity, II: The Medieval Period AD 1000–1500 (Blackrock: Columba Press, 2001), ISBN 1–85607–339–4 (pbk), 198 pp.

Nicholas Sagovsky, Ecumenism, Christian Origins and the Practice of Communion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), ISBN 0–521–77269–9 (hbk), 221 pp.

John D. Zizioulas, Eucharist, Bishop, Church (trans. Elizabeth Theokritoff; Boston, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2001), ISBN 1–885652–43–7 (pbk).

Peter Matheson, The Imaginative World of the Reformation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), ISBN 0–8006–3291–5 (pbk), xiv + 153 pp. Illus.

Carol Rittner and John K. Roth (eds.), Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust (London/NY: Leicester University Press/Continuum, 2002), ISBN 0–7185–0274–2 (pbk), 256 pp.

Paul Freston, Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa and Latin America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), ISBN 0–521–80041–2 (hbk), xiii + 344 pp.     

Causal Attributions of Ghanaian Industrial Workers for Accident Occurrence

This study confirms the self-defensive attribution hypothesis on causal attributions of accidents in Ghana's work environment. In this investigation, Ghanaian industrial workers and their supervisors assigned causality to industrial accidents, and their responses were compared. The results showed that the victims attributed their accidents to external causes to a greater extent than did the supervisors, and to internal causes to a lesser extent than did the supervisors. This finding reflects the tendency toward self-protective bias, whereby people tend to project blame for their failures onto external circumstances.     

Perceived Organizational Support: An African Perspective

The study of perceived organizational support (POS) has received considerable attention in the literature. Despite the acknowledged impact of sociocultural values on organizational behaviors, there is paucity in non-Western work environments. The current study empirically examined supportive perceptions in an African context. Workers' demographic variables and consequences of POS were examined in light of their sociocultural values. POS were measured with the short version of Eisenberger et al.'s (1990 ) survey. Sociocultural values that explain the associations of demographic variables with psychological variables (e.g., job satisfaction, POS) were examined. Older workers, the married, relatively higher educated, satisfied workers, relatively long-tenured, and supervisors expressed greater supportive perceptions. Contrary to our expectation, female workers expressed greater supportive perceptions than did their male counterparts.     

Enduring cognitive dysfunction in unipolar major depression: A test–retest study using the Stroop paradigm

Hammar, Å., Sørensen, L., Årdal, G., Oedegaard, K.J., Kroken, R., Roness, A. & Lund, A. (2009). Enduring cognitive dysfunction in unipolar major depression: A test–retest study using the Stroop‐paradigm. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. The aim of the study was to investigate automatic and effortful information processing with the Stroop paradigm in a long term perspective in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Patients were tested at two test occasions: at inclusion with a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) score >18, and after 6 months, when most patients had experienced symptom reduction. The Stroop paradigm is considered to measure aspects of attention and executive functioning and consists of three conditions/cards: naming the color of the patches (Color), reading of the color‐words (Word) and naming the ink color of color‐words (Color‐Word). The Color‐Word condition is proved to be the most cognitive demanding task and requires the proband to actively suppress interference and is therefore considered to require more effortful information processing, whereas naming the color of the patches and reading the color‐words are expected to be more automatic and less cognitive demanding. A homogenous group of 19 patients with unipolar recurrent MDD according to DSM‐IV and a HDRS score of >18 were included in the study. A control group was individually matched for age, gender and level of education. Depressed patients performed equal to the control group on the Color and Word cards at both test occasions. However, the patients were impaired compared with the control group on the Color‐Word card task at both test occasions. Thus, the depressed patients showed no improvement of effortful attention/executive performance as a function of symptom reduction. The results indicate that the depressed patients showed impaired cognitive performance on cognitive demanding tasks when symptomatic and that this impairment prevailed after 6 months, despite significant improvement in their depressive symptoms.