Self-esteem and clarity of the self-concept.

This article examines the association between evaluative and knowledge components of the self. Four studies tested the hypothesis that the self-concepts of low-self-esteem (LSE) people are characterized by less clarity or certainty than those of high-self-esteem (HSE) people. LSE Ss exhibited less extremity and self-reported confidence when rating themselves on bipolar trait adjectives (Study 1), less temporal stability in their trait ratings over a 2-month interval (Study 2), less congruence between their self-concepts and their subsequent perceptions of situation-specific behavior and memory for prior behavior (Study 3), and less internal consistency, lower self-rated confidence, and longer reaction times when making me/not me responses to pairs of opposite traits (Study 4). Alternative accounts of the results and the implications of self-concept clarity for understanding the pervasive impact of self-esteem on behavior are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alcohol intoxication on metamemory and on retrieval from long-term memory.

In a balanced-placebo design, 160 male moderate to heavy drinkers (aged 21–35 yrs) expected either an alcohol drink or placebo drink and consumed either alcohol (1 ml/kg) or placebo. Shortly thereafter, each S attempted to recall the answers to general-information questions (e.g., "What is the capital of Chile?"), made confidence judgments about the accuracy of recall, made feeling-of-knowing judgments on all nonrecalled items, and received a recognition test. Unanticipated outcomes included the following: (a) Alcohol intoxication significantly hindered recall from long-term memory, contrary to previous conclusions that alcohol does not affect retrieval; (b) Ss' expectancy of alcohol had no significant effect on memory or metamemory performance, contrary to its established effects on other kinds of performance; (c) Alcohol intoxication produced no significant overconfidence in judgments about recall or in feeling-of-knowing judgments, contrary to the overconfidence produced in other kinds of judgments such as an intoxicated person's assessment of his/her driving ability. This last outcome implies that alcohol intoxication does not produce a general lowering of the threshold for confidence but rather has effects that are situation specific. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Panic disorder: effective treatment options

Panic disorder is a distressing and debilitating condition with a familial tendency; it may be associated with situational (agoraphobic) avoidance. The diagnosis of panic disorder requires recurrent, unexpected panic attacks and at least one of the following characteristics: persistent concern about having an additional attack (anticipatory anxiety); worry about the implications of an attack or its consequences (e.g., a catastrophic medical or mental consequence) and making a significant change in behavior as a consequence of the attacks. A variety of pharmacologic interventions is available, as are non-pharmacologic cognitive or cognitive-behavioral therapies that have demonstrated safety and efficacy in the treatment of panic disorder. Early detection and thoughtful selection of appropriate first-line interventions can help these patients, who often have been impaired for years, regain their confidence and ability to function in society.     

"Two-stage dynamic signal detection: A theory of choice, decision time, and confidence": Erratum.

Reports an error in "Two-stage dynamic signal detection: A theory of choice, decision time, and confidence" by Timothy J. Pleskac and Jerome R. Busemeyer (Psychological Review, 2010[Jul], Vol 117[3], 864-901). The name of the philosopher Charles Peirce was misspelled throughout as Charles Pierce. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-14834-006.) The 3 most often-used performance measures in the cognitive and decision sciences are choice, response or decision time, and confidence. We develop a random walk/diffusion theory—2-stage dynamic signal detection (2DSD) theory—that accounts for all 3 measures using a common underlying process. The model uses a drift diffusion process to account for choice and decision time. To estimate confidence, we assume that evidence continues to accumulate after the choice. Judges then interrupt the process to categorize the accumulated evidence into a confidence rating. The model explains all known interrelationships between the 3 indices of performance. Furthermore, the model also accounts for the distributions of each variable in both a perceptual and general knowledge task. The dynamic nature of the model also reveals the moderating effects of time pressure on the accuracy of choice and confidence. Finally, the model specifies the optimal solution for giving the fastest choice and confidence rating for a given level of choice and confidence accuracy. Judges are found to act in a manner consistent with the optimal solution when making confidence judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in the accuracy of confidence judgments

Age differences in accuracy were investigated by having older (M = 68.6 years) and younger (M = 21.5 years) adults make confidence judgments about the correctness of their responses to two sets of general knowledge items. For one set, prior to making their confidence judgments, subjects made mental strategy judgements indicating how they had selected their answers (i.e., they guessed, used intuition, made an inference, or immediately recognized the response as correct). Results indicate that older subjects were more accurate than younger subjects in predicting the correctness of their responses; however, making mental strategy judgments did not result in increased accuracy for either age group. Additional analyses explored the relationship between accuracy and other individual difference variables. The results of this investigation are consistent with recent theories of postformal cognitive development that suggest older adults have greater insight into the limitations of their knowledge.     

Multiple confidence estimates as indices of eyewitness memory.

Eyewitness identification decisions are vulnerable to various influences on witnesses' decision criteria that contribute to false identifications of innocent suspects and failures to choose perpetrators. An alternative procedure using confidence estimates to assess the degree of match between novel and previously viewed faces was investigated. Classification algorithms were applied to participants' confidence data to determine when a confidence value or pattern of confidence values indicated a positive response. Experiment 1 compared confidence group classification accuracy with a binary decision control group's accuracy on a standard old-new face recognition task and found superior accuracy for the confidence group for target-absent trials but not for target-present trials. Experiment 2 used a face mini-lineup task and found reduced target-present accuracy offset by large gains in target-absent accuracy. Using a standard lineup paradigm, Experiments 3 and 4 also found improved classification accuracy for target-absent lineups and, with a more sophisticated algorithm, for target-present lineups. This demonstrates the accessibility of evidence for recognition memory decisions and points to a more sensitive index of memory quality than is afforded by binary decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Framing of task performance strategies: effects on performance in a multiattribute dynamic decision making environment

It is well documented that the way a static choice task is "framed" can dramatically alter choice behavior, often leading to observable preference reversals. This framing effect appears to result from perceived changes in the nature or location of a person's initial reference point, but it is not clear how framing effects might generalize to performance on dynamic decision making tasks that are characterized by high workload, time constraints, risk, or stress. A study was conducted to examine the hypothesis that framing can introduce affective components to the decision making process and can influence, either favorably (positive frame) or adversely (negative frame), the implementation and use of decision making strategies in dynamic high-workload environments. Results indicated that negative frame participants were significantly impaired in developing and employing a simple optimal decision strategy relative to a positive frame group. Discussion focuses on implications of these results for models of dynamic decision making.     

Accuracy decomposition and team decision making: Testing theoretical boundary conditions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the implications of accuracy decomposition (D. Gigone & R. Hastie, 1997) for team decision making. Specifically, the authors tested the generalizability of the multilevel theory of team decision making (J. R. Hollenbeck et al., 1995), across various components of accuracy. The authors also tested the generalizability of this theory across different levels of staff-member specialization. Results from a study with 420 individuals in 105 teams demonstrate that the validity of the multilevel theory generalizes across specialization levels but fails to generalize across different components of decision accuracy. The authors concluded that this theory is best conceptualized as a theory of achievement accuracy, rather than mean bias or variability bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flare-up rate in pulpally necrotic molars in one-visit versus two-visit endodontic treatment

This retrospective study compared one-visit versus two-visit endodontic treatment. The same technique and materials were used before and after making the sole change to one-visit endodontic treatment in 1991. Treatment records of 402 consecutive patients with pulpally necrotic first and second molars were compared. In 201 patients, treatment was provided by debridement and instrumentation, followed by obturation at a second visit; whereas the second group received single visit therapy. Flare-ups were defined as either patient reports of pain not controlled with over-the-counter medication or as increasing swelling. Sixteen flare-ups (8%) occurred in the two-visit group versus six flare-ups (3%) for the one-visit group. This showed an advantage for one-visit treatment at a 95% confidence level. In a second comparison, one-visit patients who had previously received two-visit treatment for a different pulpally necrotic molar served as their own control. No significant differences were present in this subgroup of 17 patients.     

Unexpected improvement, decline, and stasis: A prediction confidence perspective on achievement success and failure.

The authors hypothesized that reactions to performance feedback depend on whether one's lay theory of intelligence is supported or violated. In Study 1, following improvement feedback, all participants generally exhibited positive affect, but entity theorists (who believe that intelligence is fixed) displayed more anxiety and more effort to restore prediction confidence than did incremental theorists (who believe that intelligence is malleable). Similarly, when performance declined, entity theorists displayed more anxiety and compensatory effort than incremental theorists. However, when performance remained rigidly static despite a learning opportunity, incremental theorists evinced more anxiety and compensatory effort than entity theorists. In Study 2, this pattern was replicated when the entity and incremental theories were experimentally manipulated. Study 3 demonstrated that for both groups, theory violation impairs subsequent task performance. Taken together, these studies provide evidence that lay theory violation and damaged prediction confidence have significant and measurable effects on emotion and motivation. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for the literature on achievement success and failure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender-based schematic processing: An empirical investigation and reevaluation.

This study was designed to provide a test of two models of gender-based schematic processing: gender schema theory (Bem, 1981b) and self-schema theory (Markus, Crane, Bernstein, & Saldi, 1982). The former position stipulates that only sex-typed individuals should provide strong evidence for schematic processing of gender-related information, whereas the latter contends that individuals may exhibit such processing with respect to masculine, feminine, neither, or both classes of stimuli. A total of 167 male and female introductory psychology students were classified into the four sex role categories and then participated in a standard "me/not me" attribute rating task, followed by either a free-recall or "yes/no" recognition procedure, which used an independent set of stimuli. Results indicated that although predictions from self-schema theory were best able to account for the findings emerging from the attribute rating task, neither model satisfactorily addressed the data from the memory tasks. The discussion focuses on implications for current conceptualizations of gender schematic processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating advice and experience: Learning and decision making with social and nonsocial cues.

When making decisions, people typically gather information from both social and nonsocial sources, such as advice from others and direct experience. This research adapted a cognitive learning paradigm to examine the process by which people learn what sources of information are credible. When participants relied on advice alone to make decisions, their learning of source reliability proceeded in a manner analogous to traditional cue learning processes and replicated the established learning phenomena. However, when advice and nonsocial cues were encountered together as an established phenomenon, blocking (ignoring redundant information) did not occur. Our results suggest that extant cognitive learning models can accommodate either advice or nonsocial cues in isolation. However, the combination of advice and nonsocial cues (a context more typically encountered in daily life) leads to different patterns of learning, in which mutually supportive information from different types of sources is not regarded as redundant and may be particularly compelling. For these situations, cognitive learning models still constitute a promising explanatory tool but one that must be expanded. As such, these findings have important implications for social psychological theory and for cognitive models of learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of a positive emotional state on interpretation bias for threat in children with anxiety disorders.

The authors examined the effect of a positive emotional state on interpretation bias for threat in children with anxiety disorders. Participants were 34 children with anxiety disorders and 34 children without any psychological disorders who were randomly assigned to either a positive or neutral emotion induction condition. Consistent with the broaden-and-build theory, children with anxiety disorders exhibited an interpretation bias for threat, but not when they were in a positive emotional state. Furthermore, results indicated that positive emotional state made a unique prediction of interpretation bias score, whereas state anxiety did not. Findings are discussed with reference to theory, clinical implications, and suggestions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Different effects of cell-permeable ceramide analogs on platelet activation

Assume that in a comparative clinical study the primary endpoint is a binary event, such as life or death. A new treatment or therapy is tested for a significant reduction of the incidence of the binary event compared with a control group. Another objective is to ensure that the incidence in the new treatment group is below some clinically acceptable value. This is done by calculating the exact upper 95% confidence limit for the probability of the event. The study is considered successful if the upper confidence limit is lower than a historical threshold, as well as if there is a significant reduction in the incidence of the event by the new treatment. In this article, we provide an exact method for calculating the sample size so that there will be adequate power to ensure that the exact upper confidence limit is below the threshold. Based on this we can design a study to achieve both objectives.     

Intralymphocyte free magnesium in a group of subjects with essential hypertension

Despite the importance of magnesium in essential hypertension, few data are available on the ionized intracellular concentration of this ion. We therefore studied intralymphocyte free intracellular magnesium (Mgi) in 32 untreated essential hypertensive subjects and 27 normotensive control subjects by means of a fluorimetric technique based on the use of the new magnesium-sensitive dye furaptra. We also measured intralymphocyte ionized calcium (Cai) with fura 2. No statistically significant differences were found in Mgi in hypertensive compared with normotensive subjects (essential hypertensive, 0.291 +/- 0.053 mmol/L; normotensive, 0.293 +/- 0.043 [mean +/- SD]). A statistically significant inverse correlation was established between Mgi and plasma triglycerides in essential hypertensive subjects (r = -.521, P = .002). The hypertensive group was arbitrarily divided into two subgroups according to plasma triglyceride levels (> 2 [n = 10] or < 2 mmol/L [n = 22]), and Mgi proved to be significantly lower in the subgroup with high plasma triglyceride levels compared with either the subgroup with normal triglycerides (P = .009; 95% confidence interval, 0.013-0.088) or the normotensive control group as a whole (P = .03; 95% confidence interval, 0.003-0.069) (high-triglyceride hypertensive subgroup, Mgi = 0.256 +/- 0.045 mmol/L; normal-triglyceride hypertensive subgroup, Mgi = 0.307 +/- 0.049). No statistically significant differences were found in Cai in hypertensive compared with normotensive subjects (hypertensive, 53 +/- 12 nmol/L; normotensive, 54 +/- 14). We did not find statistically significant correlations between Cai and plasma triglycerides, nor did we find any differences in Cai between the subgroup of hypertensive subjects with high plasma triglyceride levels and either the subgroup of hypertensive subjects with normal triglycerides or the normotensive control group as a whole. The discrepancies between our results in lymphocytes and data relating to either erythrocytes or platelets emphasize the need for caution before the results are extrapolated from one tissue to the other. The decreased Mgi levels in the subgroup of high-triglyceride hypertensive subjects may suggest a role for magnesium in plurimetabolic syndrome.     

Stimulus salience and retrospective revaluation.

The effect of conditioning or extinguishing the more salient element of a previously reinforced compound on responding to the less salient element of that compound was assessed in rats. Experiment 1 established that the 2 elements making up an audiovisual compound differed significantly in salience. In Experiment 2A, compound conditioning was followed by either reinforcement or extinction of either the less or more salient element. On test, evidence of retrospective revaluation of the less salient element was found but not of the more salient element. In Experiment 2B, extinction of the more salient element was found to be more effective than its reinforcement in producing retrospective revaluation of the less salient element. The implications of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of the type of incident and the number of perpetrators on eyewitness memory.

Investigated 60 undergraduates' accuracy in testimony and identification following either a violent (mugging) or a nonviolent (direction-seeking) videotaped incident in which 1, 3, or 5 perpetrators participated. The relationship between Ss' objective accuracy and their subjective feeling of certainty concerning correctness was also examined. Testimony was less accurate following the witnessing of the violent incident, and the decrease in accuracy was a function of the increase in the number of perpetrators seen, especially under the violent condition. The accuracy of identification was very low, with only 27% of Ss making a correct identification; chance performance was observed with 5 perpetrators. A positive accuracy–confidence relationship held for identification under the nonviolent condition but not under the violent condition. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of previous leaders on the evaluation of new leaders: An alternative to prototype matching.

In 2 studies, this research demonstrated the existence of leader transference, a cognitive process whereby mental representations of previous leaders are activated and used for evaluation when new, similar leaders are encountered. The 1st study demonstrated that exposure to a new leader who was similar to a past leader led to erroneous generalization of leader characteristics and associated underlying attributions. The 2nd study showed that expectations of just treatment and abuse were also subject to transfer from old to new, similar leaders, although positive and negative affective responses were not. Results suggested that individuals exposed to a leader who was not reminiscent of an old leader were more likely to use a general leader prototype to form leader expectations, whereas individuals exposed to a leader who was similar to an old leader activated a significant other mental representation for use in making judgments. These results have implications for individual- and relational-level processes as characterized by implicit leadership theory and leader-member exchange theory as well as macro theories of leader succession and organizational culture change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguishing between random and nonrandom events.

Subjects judged whether binary strings had been generated by a random or a nonrandom process. Half of the strings were generated by a Bernoulli process with p?=?.5. The other half were generated by either a repetition-biased process or an alternation-biased process. Subjects were (a) not informed about the nonrandom process, (b) informed about the qualitative nature of the process, or (c) given accurate feedback after each trial about the generating process. The data show that subjects equate long runs and symmetry with nonrandomness, and high rates of alternation with randomness, making them less successful in detecting alternation-biased processes. The data also show that performance can be improved by instructions or feedback. A second experiment using statistically sophisticated subjects showed that although they perform better than naive subjects, their data are similar qualitatively. We interpret these results in terms of whether the subject must perform the task in a null hypothesis mode or a maximum likelihood mode. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)