Attributions in the sports pages.

Extended the generality of attribution research by exploring several important issues in a highly involving real-world setting in which attributions naturally occur: athletic competition. 107 newspaper accounts of baseball and football games were coded for attributional content. These data support a motivational or self-enhancement explanation for the tendency to make internal attributions for success and external attributions for failure. No support was found for D. T. Miller and M. Ross's (1975) contention that this tendency is mediated by expectancies. It was also found that more attributions were made after unexpected, as opposed to expected, outcomes. There was a tendency for relatively more stable attributions to be given after expected outcomes. The advantages and disadvantages of studying attributions in archival data and the possibility of attributions justifying rather than explaining behavior are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Highly skilled participants and failures to redirect attention: Two plausible reasons for failing to replicate Paap and Noel's effect.

P. A Pexman and S. I. Lupker (1995, 1998) reported 6 failures to replicate the 3-way interaction obtained by K. R. Paap and R. W. Noel (1991) and C. M. Herdman and B. Beckett (1996). The current authors argue that Pexman and Lupker's failures to replicate can be attributed to 2 factors: (a) their memory-load task did not redirect participants' attention away from the naming task, and (b) their participant population appears to have consisted of homogeneous and highly skilled readers. Pexman and Lupker also claimed that the present authors' results may have been a Type I error caused by bad luck and idiosyncratic differences in item difficulty. The authors show that the probability of this misfortune is extremely small. Three simulations explore the use of S. E. Bernstein and T. H. Carr's (1996) criteria for selecting individuals with different reading styles, and new evidence is presented that shows that individual differences in reading skill assessed a priori can be used to predict performance in Paap and Noel's task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions in marriage: Review and critique.

The prevailing behavioral account of marriage must be expanded to include covert processes. This article therefore examines the attributions or explanations that spouses make for marital events. A review indicates that dissatisfied spouses, compared with satisfied spouses, make attributions for the partner's behavior that cast it in a negative light. Experimental, clinical outcome, and longitudinal data suggest further that attributions may influence marital satisfaction. Rival hypotheses for these findings are examined. Because continued empirical development in this domain depends on conceptual progress, a framework is presented that integrates attributions, behavior, and marital satisfaction. This framework points to several topics that require systematic study, and specific hypotheses are offered for research on these topics. It is concluded that the promising start made toward understanding marital attributions holds considerable potential for enriching behavioral conceptions of marriage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions in marriage: Examining the entailment model in dyadic context.

The entailment model of attributions is examined for the first time using a dyadic approach and longitudinal data. In a sample of 229 married partners with children, causal attributions were distinguished empirically from responsibility attributions and, consistent with the entailment model, the effect of causal attributions on conflict was mediated through attributions of responsibility. Only 1 path was influenced by spouse gender. Examination of cross-spouse effects revealed significant effects and provided a better fit than a model with no cross-spouse effects. The importance of including cross-spouse effects in attributional models is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypertension and its treatment in the NINDS rt-PA Stroke Trial

The effects of dietary oligosaccharides on the hepatotoxic action of D-galactosamine (GalN) were investigated in this study. Male Wistar rats fed with 20% casein diets containing 10% oligosaccharide or D-galactose (Gal) for 2 weeks were injected with GalN (1,900 mg/kg of body weight), and the plasma aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities and the hepatic glycogen concentration were examined 20 hours after the injection. The plasma AST and ALT activities in experiment 1 for the Gal + neomycin (NEO) group were significantly lower than those for the control (C), NEO, raffinose (RAF) + NEO and galacto-oligosaccharide (GA-LO) + NEO groups. In experiment 2, these activities were significantly lower in the Gal, Gal + NEO and RAF groups than in the RAF + NEO group when the groups were treated with GalN. On the other hand, in respect of the hepatic glycogen concentration in experiment 1, that of the Gal + NEO group was higher than that of the C, NEO, RAF + NEO or GALO + NEO groups. In experiment 2, this parameter was significantly higher in the Gal, Gal + NEO and RAF groups than in the RAF + NEO group after the GalN treatment. As a result, it is suggested that the GalN-hepatitis-suppressive effects of indigestible oligosaccharides such as RAF or GALO is mediated by the action of intestinal bacteria.     

Chemoprevention of prostate cancer: the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial

The possible relationship between physeal diseases and physeal form prompted investigation of change in steepness of the physis in young foals. The distal and proximal aspects of the longbones were sawn sagittally in the right and frontally in the left bones. The slabs were washed to remove saw debris, arranged in order and inspected. The proximal physes had a flat or gently arched form, without obvious inclination. In the distal physes there were distinct inclinations. Inspection of an identical slab from the medial aspect of the distal radius of two series of foals of different breeds showed that the degree of inclination of the physis with respect to the long axis of the bone increased with age. In a further series of foals, the angle of inclination was measured from radiographs of identical sagittal and frontal slabs of the distal radius. A line drawn through the secondary spongiosa was produced to intersect a line drawn along the physis where it was mostly steeply inclined, and the angle measured. The angle decreased (physeal inclination increased) with increasing age, up to 35-90 days. The steepness in the lateral aspect of the physis was similar to that in the medial aspect, although evident in a different plane.     

Productive Activity and the Prevention of Behavior Problems.

This study used data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care to examine relations between parenting, self-control, and externalizing behavior among 1st graders. Of special concern was the relation between opportunities for productive activity and behavior problems and whether the relation was mediated by self-control. Evidence in favor of the hypothesis was observed for both mother-reported and teacher-reported externalizing behavior even with substantial controls on the models examined. Self-control also mediated relations for maternal harshness and maternal sensitivity. Somewhat surprisingly, the direct effect of maternal sensitivity on mother-reported externalizing behaviors was positive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions of Fluency in Fame Judgments by Younger and Older Adults.

Judgments about stimulus characteristics are affected by enhanced processing fluency that results from an earlier presentation of the stimulus. By monitoring for an episodic source of processing fluency, younger adults can more easily avoid this influence than can older adults. In Experiment 1, older adults discounted the effects of fluency when task demands encouraged the use of analytic judgments based on general knowledge, rather than an appeal to episodic source monitoring. Younger subjects were not reliably affected by these same task demands and their judgments continued to be affected by processing fluency. In Experiment 2, introduction of more stringent demands led younger adults also to discount the effects of fluency. We conclude that the influence of processing fluency on younger and older adults varies, depending on whether memory for source or general knowledge is put forward in place of fluency as a basis for judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determining the trough-to-peak ratio in parallel-group trials. Systolic Hypertension in Europe (SYST-EUR) Trial Investigators

We explored how in parallel-group trials interindividual variability, correction for placebo effects, and smoothing of blood pressure profiles can be handled in measuring the trough-to-peak ratio in 244 individuals with isolated systolic hypertension (> or = 60 years) enrolled in the placebo-controlled Systolic Hypertension in europe Trial. Net treatment effects were computed by subtracting the mean changes from baseline during placebo (n = 133) from those during active treatment (n = 111). At entry, systolic/diastolic pressures averaged 176/86 mm Hg in the clinic and 149/80 mm Hg on 24-hour ambulatory monitoring. With corrections applied for baseline and placebo, nitrendipine (10 to 40 mg/d), with the possible addition of enalapril (5 to 20 mg/d) and/or hydrochlorothiazide (12.5 to 25 mg/d), reduced (P < .001) these blood pressure values by 16.6/7.3 and 9.8/4.7 mm Hg, respectively. The net trough-to-peak ratios were first determined from blood pressure profiles (12 hours) with 1-hour precision, synchronized by the morning and evening doses of the double-blind medication. According to the usual approach, disregarding interindividual variability, the systolic/diastolic net trough-to-peak ratios were 0.46/0.40 in the morning and 0.77/0.99 in the evening. In individual subjects, the baseline-adjusted trough-to-peak ratios were nonnormally distributed. We therefore used a nonparametric technique to calculate the net trough-to-peak ratios from the results in individual subjects. In the morning, these ratios averaged 0.25 systolic (95% confidence interval, 0.09 to 0.41) and 0.15 diastolic (95% confidence interval, 0.00 to 0.31) and in the evening, 0.19 and 0.36 (95% confidence intervals, 0.00 to 0.38 and 0.14 to 0.56), respectively. When the blood pressure profiles were smoothed by substituting the 1-hour averages by moving or fixed 2-hour averages or by Fourier modeling, the trough-to-peak ratios remained unchanged after the morning dose (0.20/0.13, 0.20/0.14, and 0.16/0.21, respectively) but tended to increase in the evening (0.32/0.38, 0.28/0.40, and 0.48/0.49). In conclusion, the parallel-group analysis proposed makes it possible for one to correct the trough-to-peak ratio for baseline as well as placebo, to account for interindividual variability, and to calculate a confidence interval for the net trough-to-peak ratio. Accounting for interindividual variability reduces the trough-to-peak ratio. Smoothing affects the individualized net trough-to-peak ratios in an unpredictable way and should therefore be avoided.     

Trial by Internet: Cybercascades and the Lilienfeld case.

Comments on the article by S. O. Lilienfeld (see record 2002-10795-003), which examined the controversies surrounding the publication of the B. Rind et al (see record 1998-04232-002) article and the responses to the controversies by the American Psychological Association (APA). The purpose of this commentary is to try to understand the role of the Internet in the controversy and to suggest remedies for "cybercascades." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low-dose cyclosporine for the treatment of Crohn's disease. The Canadian Crohn's Relapse Prevention Trial Investigators

BACKGROUND: Long-term corticosteroid therapy for Crohn's disease is associated with important types of morbidity, such as osteoporosis. Safe and effective alternative treatments are required. Although a short-term benefit of cyclosporine in active Crohn's disease has been suggested, the long-term safety and efficacy of this treatment have not been established. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled evaluation of the effect of 18 months of low-dose cyclosporine treatment on the course of Crohn's disease. Adult patients whose disease had been active within the previous two years were randomly assigned to receive cyclosporine (151 patients) or placebo (154 patients) in addition to their usual therapy. Randomization was stratified according to center and score on the Crohn's Disease Activity Index (193 patients had scores of 150 or less, and 112 had scores greater than 150). The primary outcome measure was clinically important worsening of Crohn's disease, defined as a 100-point increase in the Crohn's Disease Activity Index from the patient's base-line value. Secondary outcomes were the use of prednisone and 5-amino-salicylates, mean score on the Crohn's Disease Activity Index and mean quality-of-life score, and the need for surgery. RESULTS: The condition of more patients worsened with cyclosporine than with placebo (91 of 151, or 60.3 percent, vs. 80 of 154, or 51.9 percent; P = 0.10). The median time to worsening of disease in patients receiving cyclosporine was 338 days, as compared with 492 days in patients receiving placebo (P = 0.25; relative risk, 1.22; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.86 to 1.72). Analyses of the mean Crohn's Disease Activity Index and quality-of-life scores and of the use of prednisone and 5-aminosalicylates also failed to demonstrate benefit. CONCLUSIONS: In our patient population, the addition of low-dose cyclosporine to conventional treatment for Crohn's disease did not improve symptoms or reduce requirements for other forms of therapy.     

Attributions of responsibility for helping and doing harm: Evidence for confusion of responsibility.

The social inhibition of helping has been explained in terms of the general processes of audience inhibition, social influence, and diffusion of responsibility. The present research adapted the paradigm used in studies of the attribution of responsibility for an accident to examine a specific audience-inhibition process that may contribute to the social inhibition of helping. Evidence from 2 experiments, with 356 undergraduates, shows that an S who adopted the perspective of a helper following an accident expected to be held increasingly responsible by arriving onlookers for the victim's plight as the number of extant bystanders increased. Results also indicate that there was an objective basis for this expectation: Ss who adopted the perspective of a newly arriving onlooker increasingly attributed responsibility for doing harm to the individual helping the victim in the accident as the number of bystanders described as already at the scene increased. The distinction between confusion and diffusion of responsibility is emphasized, and limitations to confusion of responsibility for accidents are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical practices reported by play therapists: An outcome study.

Examined the responses of 240 members (aged 27–77 yrs) of the Association of Play Therapy to a questionnaire identifying ethical practices in play therapy treatment. The following areas were explored: nature of treatment, confidentiality, informed consent, treatment adequacy, referral, and training. Results indicate most play therapists are consistent in both their ethical beliefs and reported therapy practices. Noted areas of concern are who the actual client is and what topics should be addressed during treatment (i.e., discussion of fees, theoretical orientation, goals for treatment, confidentiality, and a child's need for treatment). Results and implications for the Association of Play Therapy Practice Guidelines are discussed. The ethical guidelines questionnaire to individual play therapy with children is appended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions for real and hypothetical events: Their relation to self-esteem and depression.

Examined the association between attributional style, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and general distress to test hypotheses derived from a learned helplessness model and B. Weiner's (see record 1979-28688-001) attributional model of motivation. 178 male and female undergraduates completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and an attributional style questionnaire and were asked to make causal attributional ratings about 12 hypothetical events. 151 Ss also were asked to make diary ratings on 14 real events. Attributional ratings were internally consistent across events, but attributions about positive outcomes were either uncorrelated or positively correlated with attributions about negative outcomes, failing to support learned helplessness predictions that a single process underlies attributions about positive and negative events. As predicted, internal attributions for positive outcomes were primarily associated with high self-esteem. Only internal stable attributions for negative outcomes were related to depressive symptoms, consistent with Weiner's model. The pattern of correlation between attributions and general distress was essentially identical to that obtained with depressive symptoms. Attributions for real events were similar in their effects to ratings of hypothetical events. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A question of standards: Attributions of blame and credit for classroom acts.

We examined differences between blame and credit judgments among 247 students and 13 teachers from 7 first- and 6 fifth-grade classrooms. Study 1 indicated that even young children used information about excuses and justifications in assigning blame but not in determining credit. The gap between grades for assignment of credit was most striking for norms involving specific classroom roles. At both grade levels, norms of duty differed from norms of aspiration; for the latter, more credit was assigned for good outcomes than was blame for bad outcomes. Study 2 analyzed teachers' attributions and examined links between teachers' and pupils' judgments. Children's blame attributions were more highly correlated with those of teachers than were credit attributions. Teachers who provided less negative procedural feedback (NPF) had pupils whose blame judgments were more highly correlated with their own. However, within categories of teachers (grade levels by high-low NPF), individual teachers' and pupils' idiosyncratic judgments were not associated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-attention and reported symptoms: Implications for forensic assessment.

Does patient self-attention to physical and psychological symptoms compared to self-distraction result in different clinical conclusions in forensic contexts? Participants in 2 studies were instructed either to attend carefully to somatic symptoms and sensations (attention instructions), to tally how many questionnaire items were related to physical versus emotional symptoms (distraction instructions), or received no attentional instructions (controls). The principal findings were that physical symptoms and reports of anxiety and depression were greater after attention instructions than after distraction instructions. Insofar as assessment contexts produce differential attention to self, examiners are advised to use caution in drawing conclusions regarding accuracy of self-reported symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions for negative life events and depression: The role of perceived control.

Although perceptions of control occupied a central role in the development of learned helplessness theory, recent helplessness research has not considered controllability judgments when relating attributions to depression. Supporting the importance of this construct, the research discussed in this article found evidence that judgments of control interact with other attributions in predicting depression. Specifically, in a prospective study of stress and well-being in adolescence, internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events attributed to uncontrollable causes were found to be positively related to increases in depression (as predicted by the reformulated helplessness theory), but internal and global attributions for negative events attributed to controllable causes were found to be inversely related to increases in depression. The discussion considers the implications of the findings for understanding the nature of the relation between attributions for naturally occurring life events and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions and the stigma of illiteracy: Understanding help seeking in low literate adults.

Examined the extent to which members of a stigmatized group would make internal versus external attributions for their difficulties and how these attributions would influence their willingness to seek help. Hypothesis 1 was that help-seeking by stigmatized individuals would be influenced by reflected attributions (their expectations of the attributions others would make regarding their difficulties). Hypothesis 2 was that stigmatized individuals would possess a less optimistic style of attribution than others. Ss included 26 low-literate adult learners (aged 18–62 yrs), 26 literacy tutors (aged 27–80 yrs), and a comparison group. Information was collected concerning attributional style and personal and reflected attributions for the difficulties experienced by low literate adults. Contrary to predictions, low literate Ss were found to have the most optimistic style of attribution. The belief that others would make internal attributions for literacy difficulties was strongly correlated with a fear of negative evaluation as a result of being helped. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)