Moral judgments, behaviour and cognitive style in young children.

Assessed level of moral maturity in 2 studies with middle-class 6-7 yr olds (n = 29), middle-class 3-4 yr olds (n = 35), and lower-class 3-4 yr olds (n = 37). For the older Ss, stories were used to elicit judgments about relative goodness or badness. Level of moral maturity was scored on the basis of S's awareness of the intentions of the actor as opposed to his reliance on consequences. For the younger Ss, a group of films depicting similar situations were shown. All Ss were then given a battery of tests (e.g., the Children's Embedded Figures Test) measuring cognitive style and rated by their teachers on behavior and personality items. In 6 yr olds, level of moral maturity was found to relate to the cognitive styles of reflection-impulsivity and field dependence-independence, but not to verbal intelligence. Ss characterized as immature in their moral judgments were more impulsive and field-dependent. Ss with higher-level moral judgments were also rated by their teachers as more attentive and reflective. In preschool samples, Ss highest on moral maturity were rated as less aggressive by their teachers, least impulsive in cognitive style and in the lower-class sample, more field-independent. (French summary) (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction of set and awareness as determinants of response to verbal conditioning.

The utility of an operant conditioning model to psychotherapy was evaluated by studying the definition of the situation given S and S's focus on E's behavior. Instructions induced either a positive or negative set, identifying a story telling task as a test of empathy or personal problems. Awareness was induced in ? of the Ss by calling attention to E's reinforcement "mm-hmm." 12 undergradate students served as Ss in each of the 4 experimental groups. Positive set-Aware Ss increased use of emotional words, while Negative set-Aware Ss decreased use of emotional words. The results were interpreted as evidence that awareness can either facilitate or inhibit conditioning, depending upon S's set. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of moral judgment through role playing.

Studied 42 male and 54 female undergraduates to examine the impact of actual role playing on the change of moral judgment maturity (as assessed by L. Kohlberg in 1969). Ss showed both immediate and delayed increases in moral judgment maturity when role playing a moral dilemma against an opponent who employed reasoning above the S's initially assessed stage. Change scores exceeded those of control groups who either performed extraneous tasks or who passively received role-playing arguments. More change was exhibited by Ss at the lower stages. The flexibility of S's responses during role playing was associated with immediate but not delayed change in moral judgment maturity. Ss did not show greater change in response to reasoning 1 stage higher than their own (vs 2 stages higher or 1 stage lower) as had been previously observed by E. Turiel (see record 1966-07567-001). No sex differences were observed in initial stages or in amount of change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Awareness of prior success or failure: A critical factor in task performance.

Exp I, with 36 undergraduates, determined the effects of 2 levels of history of success (high or low) and the presence or absence of an audience on task performance. Results show that after prior failure, alone Ss performed significantly better than audience Ss, although after prior success, the performance of alone and audience Ss did not differ. These results counter K. J. Good's (1973) results, since his experiment produced a social facilitation effect after prior success, not after prior failure. Performance differences were probably due to differences in audience awareness. In the present experiment, the audience was presumably unaware; whereas in Good's experiment, the audience was presumably aware of S's prior performance level. Exp II (60 Ss) tested the merits of this explanation. Ss with a history of success or failure performed either alone or in 1 of 2 audience manipulations. Ss were told that the audience was either aware or unaware of their prior performance level. Results support the hypothesis. It is argued than an audience can affect the type of standard that an S uses to evaluate performance and that the quality of an S's performance is a function not only of the criterion but also of S's expectation of meeting the criterion (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude change through modification of attitude structure.

183 experimental Ss were tested regarding their attitudes toward allowing Negroes to move into white neighborhoods, toward 25 values in terms of expected satisfaction from each, and toward the 25 values in terms of "allowing Negroes to move into white neighborhoods" would lead to or block attainment of the values both before and after a change procedure designed to increase the S's awareness that nonsegregation would lead to the attainment of four important values. The experimental procedure changed perceptions and attitudes toward Negro housing segregation in S's with moderate initial attitude on the issue. Little attitude change was produced in extremely prejudiced and extremely nonprejudiced S's (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repeated frustrations and expectations in hostility arousal.

"Two experiments were devised to test predictions developed on the basis of an earlier investigation… . (wherein) it was found that the partner's act had its greatest effect on S's final attitude toward him when it was inconsistent with the partner's earlier behavior… . The… experiment reported here… obtained essentially similar results… (suggesting) that unexpected frustrations produce a stronger aggressive reaction than anticipated frustrations because, as a result of the hypothesized contrast effect, the former probably are evaluated as being more severe." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Science, fallacies and ethics.

Psychological experiments with human subjects are frequently based on faulty assumptions which may lead not only to erroneous conclusions but also to warped ethics. Motivational studies often assume implicity and without empirical evidence different motives in E and in S for participating in the experiment. The principle of parsimony requires a single explanation for E's and S's behavior when it is virtually identical. Milgram's experiments on "obedience" are used to illustrate the application of identical explanatory principles to E's and S's behavior and are shown to have tested the release of aggression in a situation which facilitated the use of rationalization and displacement. Experiments with human Ss are shown to be undemocratic and unnecessary in instances where the behavior of the Ss can be predicted from E's behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality variables affecting WAIS scores.

Assigned 32 undergraduate Es and 32 undergraduate Ss to 1 of 4 groups based on their scores on a hostility and a dominance scale. Each E interviewed 1 S for 10 min., rated the S on warmth and likability, and scored 4 WAIS verbal subtests completed by the S. Each S also rated the E for warmth and likability. Results indicate that (a) nonhostile Es gave more credit to hostile-dominant Ss and to nonhostile-nondominant Ss than to nonhostile-dominant Ss; (b) E's liking of S and rating of S's warmth were significantly related to total scores; and (c) S's ratings of E's warmth and likability were not positively related to S's test scores. It is concluded that E bias was present. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurement of appropriate and unnecessary help-seeking dependent behavior.

Help-seeking dependency was defined in terms of requesting assistance which was not objectively necessary for attaining a specific goal. 30 undergraduate female Ss answered, in writing, each of a series of 40 factual questions. Ss then had an opportunity to request help from a confederate before providing a final oral answer to E. S's responses were classified in 1 of 4 categories: independent correct, independent incorrect, incorrect answers for which Ss appropriately sought help, or correct answers for which Ss sought help unnecessarily. The procedure yielded a reliable and unambiguous distinction between appropriate and unnecessary help seeking which served as an operational definition of help-seeking dependent behavior. Results indicate that help seeking was not related to the Ss' knowledge of the answers, and that Ss made significant discriminations among all 4 categories of responses on a confidence scale. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The hierarchical nature of stages of moral development.

The notion that stages of moral reasoning develop in an invariant hierarchical sequence has been supported by data indicating that Ss prefer, but fail to understand, higher stage reasoning. However, as J. J. Moran and A. J. Joniak (see record 1979-28407-001) have suggested, this pattern may be artifactually based on nonstage features of moral reasoning, such as vocabulary and syntactic complexity. In the present study, 64 students (8th and 11th graders, undergraduates, and graduates) responded to a series of moral dilemmas and assessed evaluation and understanding of moral-stage-prototypic statements that were equated for level of language. Results support L. Kohlberg's (1981) hierarchical nature of moral stages, despite the equating of language level. Understanding was limited to no more than 1 stage higher than the S's own, and Ss preferred higher over lower stage statements if they were capable of appreciating the difference. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similarity of performance as influenced by interaction, self-esteem, and birth order.

"This study concerns the relationship between the amount of interaction between two persons in a group and the acquisition by one of the persons of an attribute of the other. It is hypothesized that the greater the interaction between the two, the more will one acquire an attribute of the other… . Twenty groups of six subjects each (all college students) were formed to carry out a word assembly task so arranged that one of the six would be the center of the interaction." The findings were that similarity to the performance of the central figure was noted for the groups in general. Even more so, the factors of degree of prior attraction to the central figure, degree of prior acquaintance among Ss, S's self-esteem, and S's order of birth in their family influence the experimental behavior. Low attraction, minimal prior acquaintance among Ss, higher self-esteem, and those born later in the sibling series facilitated S's performance in the task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Habituation, sensitization, and redirection of aggression and feeding behavior in the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.).

In Exp I, 3-spined stickleback males maintained in individual aquaria built nests and defended the entire aquarium as a territory. Adjacent compartments containing another male, a gravid female, or a nongravid female provided a social context within which to study habituation and sensitization of aggression elicited by a conspecific male intruded into S's territory. Typical sensitization–habituation curves were found for all Ss regardless of kind of neighbor. However, behavior redirected as a result of stimulation of the intruded male differed between conditions. Ss with a male neighbor showed increased aggression toward the neighbor; Ss with a gravid female neighbor showed courtship; and Ss with nongravid female showed neither. A 3rd behavior, nest building, showed no difference between conditions. Exp II elicited the same motor response to the intruded stimulus, but the motivational category was changed by eliciting the behavior by presenting live brine shrimp. Aggression did not change during habituation, but the waning predation was redirected to another food-securing behavior, picking at the substrate. Results provide evidence for the important role that social context plays in understanding the redirection of behaviors, a phenomenon predicted from an extension of the dual-process theory of habituation. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affect, culture, and morality, or is it wrong to eat your dog?

Explored whether disgusting or disrespectful actions are judged to be moral violations, even when these actions are harmless. Stories about victimless yet offensive actions (such as cleaning one's toilet with a flag) were presented to Brazilian and US adults and children of high and low SES (N?=?360). Results show that college students at elite universities judged these stories to be matters of social convention or of personal preference. Most other Ss, especially in Brazil, took a moralizing stance toward these actions. For these latter Ss, moral judgments were better predicted by affective reactions than by appraisals of harmfulness. Results support the claims of cultural psychology (R. A. Shweder, 1991) and suggest that cultural norms and culturally shaped emotions have a substantial impact on the domain of morality and the process of moral judgment. Suggestions are made for building cross-culturally valid models of moral judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral disengagement among serious juvenile offenders: A longitudinal study of the relations between morally disengaged attitudes and offending.

The present study investigates the relation between moral disengagement—one's willingness to conditionally endorse transgressive behavior—and ongoing offending in a sample of adolescent male felony offenders (N = 1,169). In addition, the study attempts to rule out callous–unemotional traits as a third variable responsible for observed associations between moral disengagement and offending. A bivariate latent change score analysis suggests that reduction in moral disengagement helps to speed decline in self-reported antisocial behavior, even after adjusting for the potential confound of callous–unemotional traits. Declines in moral disengagement are also associated with declining likelihood of offending, based on official records. Given that both moral disengagement and offending tend to decrease over time, these findings suggest that changing attitudes toward antisocial behavior contribute to desistance from offending among delinquent youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A method for evaluating the use of the polygraph in a real-life situation.

15 males (mean age 29.2 yrs) participated in an experiment to evaluate the polygraph in a real-life situation; 2 Ss had actually cheated on a test. All Ss went through a standard polygraph test using the control questions method. This procedure guarantees the objective identification of "liars" without jeopardizing the real-life appearance of the experimental situation. Each S was evaluated by 3 polygraphers: One had access to the polygraph charts only, one observed the S's behavior but not his charts, and a third had both kinds of information. The evaluations of all 3 polygraphers were compared with the criterion. Evaluations based on both behavior observation and physiological charts were superior to those based on either type of information alone. However, evaluations based on the physiological information alone were not superior to those based on the behavioral information alone. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Approach and avoidance of social information.

Examined how an approach or avoidance tendency to information influences the perception of related social behaviors. The sexual attitudes of 50 male and 54 female undergraduates were assessed prior to viewing either a birth control, conservative social values, or educational issues lecture. Ss indicated the number of meaningful actions in the sequence by pressing a thumb switch. It was hypothesized that more units would be indicated when the topic was consistent with the S's sexual attitudes, due to an attempt to gain more informational content. Ss with positive sexual attitudes (erotophiles) indicated more units in the birth control condition, whereas Ss with negative sexual attitudes (erotophobes) indicated more units in the social values condition. Results suggest that there are chronic differences in the segmentation patterns of individuals, reflecting affective orientations toward social information. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of the parents and verbal reinforcement on the performance of schizophrenic patients.

Conducted 2 studies concerned with the psychological deficits displayed by schizophrenic patients. The 1st study evaluated the role of the parents and the 2nd measured the effects of praise and censure. For each study, Ss were 2 groups of male schizophrenic patients, 1 rated as good and the other as poor by means of the Phillips Scale, and a group of nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients. Large differences were found between Ss whose parents displayed high and those whose parents displayed low degrees of conflict toward them just prior to the task performance. Verbal rewards and punishments did not appear to affect the Ss behavior and for neither study were the 3 types of S's differentially influenced by the manipulations. The main conclusions are that the phenomenon of psychological deficits is extremely complex and that schizophrenics are less readily influenced by affective experiences than prior researchers have suggested. (30 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Artificial induction of posthypnotic conflict.

Employed the real-simulating model of hypnosis to study the effectiveness of conflict suggestion on S's behavior in the posthypnotic period when amnesia was present for the source of the conflict. Blind to S's true identity, E gave anxiety-toned paramnesia suggestion to 17 hypnotic Ss and 14 insusceptible Ss who were motivated by another E to fake hypnotic performance. Comparison of pre- and postcomplex performance on a battery of personality tests showed that both simulators and hypnotic Ss behaved in a similar fashion following the induction of conflict. Differences which did exist between the 2 groups suggested that the induced conflict inhibited the spontaneity of the hypnotic S. In the case of hypnotic performance, awareness of the source of the conflict made little difference to the occurrence of the painful emotional state. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)