Physical self-efficacy and actualization

In his theorizing about self-actualization, Maslow speculated that physical ability and physical self-confidence were two aspects of cooperative dominance which were associated positively with actualization. These aspects of dominance bear close resemblance to the Perceived Physical Ability (PPA) and the Physical Self-Presentation Confidence (PSPC) dimensions of the Physical Self-Efficacy (PSE) Inventory. Accordingly, the PPA and PSPC scores of undergraduate men and women were correlated with their scores on the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), a popular measure of actualization, to test Maslow's hypotheses. The results showed that, contrary to Maslow's claims, PPA is not a positive correlate of self-actualization. However, strong support was found for Maslow's contention that high-PSPC individuals are more likely to be actualizing than low-PSPC people. Also, Maslow's hypothesis that actualizers are high in global sensation seeking (SS) was tested. The data indicated that only male actualizers were high in various aspects of SS, but female actualizers were not. Multiple regression analyses revealed further that both SS and PSPC are primary contributors to POI for men, but only PSPC contributes significantly to POI for women. Discussion focused on the reasons why research findings showing that increases in physical fitness lead to increases in self-esteem cannot be used to support the view that physical fitness and actualization are linked positively.     

The effects of sensation seeking and misattribution of arousal on attraction toward similar or dissimilar strangers

While previous research has indicated that certain situational variables can mediate the typical positive relationship between attitudinal similarity and attraction, investigations focusing on the impact of individual difference variables on this relationship have typically yielded unimpressive results. The present experiment was conducted to test the prediction that individual differences in sensation seeking do moderate this relationship. The major results showed that, as predicted, high sensation seekers were more attracted than low sensation seekers to dissimilar others, whereas low sensation seekers were more attracted than high sensation seekers to people with similar attitudes. The data also indicated that a misattribution of arousal manipulation serves to increase attraction under certain conditions. Specifically, misattribution of aversive arousal increased low sensation seekers' attraction to a dissimilar stranger and increased high sensation seekers' attraction to a similar stranger.     

Attraction to a dissimilar stranger as a function of level of effectance arousal

An experiment was carried out to demonstrate that the relationship between attitudes of a stranger and attraction to that stranger can be mediated by effectance arousal and the consequent information search to reduce the arousal. The argument posited was that individuals under high effectance arousal produced by a confusing and ambiguous film would be attracted to dissimilar others as a source of information and uncertainty reduction. Results indicated that high levels of arousal produced greater attraction to a dissimilar stranger than to a similar stranger. This finding was reversed when an explanation was provided along with the confusing film, lending support to the uncertainty reduction position.     

Short-term memory and information processing in pigeons

Six pigeons were trained to asymptotic performance on a variable-delay matching-to-sample task in which the samples were sometimes line or color elements and sometimes line-color compounds. On compound-sample trials, the comparison stimuli were sometimes color elements and sometimes line-tilts. Sample type and delay (0, 1.5, and 4.5 sec) were varied within sessions, and sample duration (.4, 1.0, and 3.0 sec) was varied between sessions. Forgetting curves were steeper for line-tilt than for color. As sample duration increased, matching performance improved more for colors than for line-tilts, especially at delays greater than zero. Performance was better with element samples than with compound samples only on the line-tilt dimension at zero delay. Some predictions of a unitary trace growth and decay theory of pigeon short-term memory were not confirmed. A dual-code hypothesis was proposed to account for the data.     

Mental comparison and the symbolic distance effect

The time required to compare two symbols varies inversely with the distance between their referents on the judged dimension. Evidence for this phenomenon, here called the symbolic distance effect, is reviewed, and the paper describes a new experiment designed to clarify the nature of the effective “distance” by disentangling ordinal and interval distances between the referents of compared symbols. The data show that doubling the size difference between two circles speeds comparison of their names, even when ordinal distance between the circles is held constant. Several explanations of the mental processes involved in such memory comparisons are then critically evaluated, and a “scan plus comparison” model is tentatively adopted.     

WHEN TO BEAR FALSE WITNESS: AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF HONESTY AND DECEIT AMONG COMMERCIAL FISHERS

Abstract. This paper uses an evolutionary perspective to identify variables influencing compliance with moral codes about honest communication. Data on over one thousand radio conversations among lobster fishers in two harbors in Maine are compared in regard to the sharing of information. The sharing of accurate information is found to be significantly more frequent in the harbor that is more integrated by reciprocally altruistic relationships. This is consistent with the view that moral systems are systems of indirect reciprocity, but it also suggests that humans have evolved to base their compliance with moral codes on cues from their social environment.     

Young children's processing of television: Modality differences in the retention of temporal relations

Two experiments were conducted to examine modality differences in pre-schoolers' ability to recognize or recall temporally related events. Results of both experiments demonstrated that temporally related events were remembered more frequently when they were conveyed visually rather than aurally. This modality effect was found both when the semantic content of the auditory and visual sequences was either the same or different, and for shows designed for educational and purely entertainment purposes. The data suggest that children show relatively impoverished integration of the temporal parameters of auditory information, which may contribute to their misunderstandings about the plot of a televison show.