Binocular vision and spatial perception on 4- and 5-month-old infants.

Conducted 4 experiments investigating the relation between the development of binocular vision and infant spatial perception. Exps I and II compared monocular depth perception in 39 4- and 5-mo-old infants. Results show that Ss in both age groups reached more consistently for the nearer of 2 objects under binocular viewing conditions than under monocular viewing conditions. Exps III and IV investigated whether the superiority of binocular depth perception in 89 4-mo-olds is related to the development of sensitivity to binocular disparity. In Exps I–II, under binocular viewing conditions, Ss who were identified as disparity-sensitive reached more consistently for the nearer object than did Ss who were identified as disparity-insensitive. The 2 group's performances did not differ under monocular viewing conditions. Results suggest that, binocularly, the disparity-sensitive Ss perceived the objects' distances more accurately than did the disparity-insensistive Ss. In Exps II–IV when Ss were habituated to an object, then presented with the same object and a novel object that differed only in size, disparity-sensitive Ss showed size constancy by recovering from habituation when viewing the novel object. Disparity-insensitive Ss did not show clear evidence of size constancy. Findings suggest that the development of sensitivity to binocular disparity is accompanied by a substantial increase in the accuracy of infant spatial perception. (64 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inferior performance as a selective response to expectancy: Taking a dive to make a point.

Investigated factors that determine whether persons conform to what is expected of them or not. 40 female undergraduates took a bogus personality test that established either publicly or privately that they had a particular (fictional) trait, which was presented either as a very desirable or a very undesirable trait. Ss then attempted an anagram-solving task after being informed that persons with this trait usually perform poorly on such tasks. Ss for whom the expectancy was presented as derived from the desirable trait, when it was publicly established that they had this trait, solved significantly fewer anagrams than Ss in the other 3 conditions, implying that self-presentational concerns are important in determining the extent to which an expectancy influences behavior. Differences between the number of anagram solutions Ss reported during the experiment and the number of actually correct solutions suggested that when the expectancy was linked to an undesirable trait, Ss actively sought to disconfirm it. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of a scale for hypomanic personality.

Constructed a hypomanic personality scale (HPS) to identify persons with hypomanic personality, an overactive, gregarious style associated with episodes of hypomanic euphoria and expected in some persons at risk for bipolar disorder. 1,519 undergraduates were tested with the HPS in a concurrent validity study. 40 experimental Ss with scores at least 1.67 standard deviations above the mean for their sex were compared to 40 control Ss, using modified versions of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia—Lifetime Version (SADS-L) and the Social Adjustment Scale. Results indicate that experimental Ss exceeded control Ss on measures of hypomanic personality characteristics, depressive symptoms, alcohol and drug use, and schizotypal and psychoticlike symptoms. 31 experimental Ss but no control Ss experienced SADS-L hypomanic episodes. Results appear to justify the follow-up of such persons to evaluate risk for bipolar disorder. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and the experience of time.

Conducted 2 studies to investigate the effects of personality, as dichotomized along a thought-action dimension, on time perception. Study 1 divided 27 10-48 yr old psychiatric patients into groups depending on whether their weighted color responses on the Rorschach exceeded or were exceeded by the sum of the movement responses. Ss with an introversive Experience Balance (EB) overestimated time, whereas Ss with an extratensive EB underestimated time. Study 2 used 24 normal undergraduates divided into high introversive and high extraversive based on the Maudsley Personality Inventory. 2 time judgments were obtained from each S, and the effect of situational factors (stress) as well as personality was noted. Results are similar to those of Study 1. The time estimation of the action-oriented Ss was significantly more influenced by situational factors than were the time judgments of the ideational Ss. The relationship between thought-action and time estimation was significant in both normal and clinical samples. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality impression formation: A correlational-experimental design.

62 undergraduates rated how they would accept a number of hypothetical stimulus people represented by combinations of self-referent statements denoting opposite poles of 4 personality dimensions. Ss also gave self-endorsement responses to a personality battery which sampled the same 4 dimensions. Perceivers were classified into personality types defining levels of a S's factor which together with 4 stimulus cue factors comprised a complete factorial design for analyzing the acceptance ratings. Although the main experimental results suggest that stimulus cue integration may be more linear than configural, the nature of S-cue interactions illustrates the need for more representative design in social perception research. (French summary) (30 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are personality factors raters' conceptual factors?

3 separate factor-analytic studies were conducted to compare personality factors with semantic factors using 76 trait-rating scales. In 1 study raters rated real persons using the scales, in another stereotype persons. In the third study raters rated the "meaning" of select trait words on the trait-rating scales. A comparison of factors found in the 3 studies using an index of factor similarity showed that 5 of 11 factors found for ratings of real persons were congruent with 5 of 10 factors found for the ratings of stereotype persons, while the same 5 in these 2 studies were congruent with 4 of 9 factors found for ratings of the meaning of select trait words. These results suggested that "personality factors" based upon trait ratings of persons can be interpreted as distinct concepts implied by trait words rather than internal structural features of persons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An experimental test of defensive processes in impression formation.

The authors examined the hypothesis that 3 processes underlie the defensive aspects of impression formation: (a) increased autonomic arousal after the perception of another person as a threatening stimulus, (b) defensive cognitive activity in regard to the threatening stimulus, and (c) reduction in autonomic arousal after the defensive cognitive activity. 251 male undergraduates completed the Defense Mechanism Inventory, the Dominance scale of the California Psychological Inventory, and the Succorance scale of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. 54 dominance- and dependency-oriented Ss observed a work dyad in which one person was substantially more dominant than the other. During their observation of this interaction, Ss expected to evaluate and later work with either the dominant or the submissive person. Ss' skin conductance was monitored as they observed and evaluated these target persons. As predicted, Ss responded to the motive-threatening target person with greater autonomic arousal; this association was stronger among Ss who typically used denial as a defense mechanism. Defensive devaluation by dominance-oriented Ss was associated with subsequent lower arousal. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple audience problem: A strategic communication perspective on social perception.

Examined how communicators send mixed messages containing an explicit surface content and a covert hidden content. In Study 1, Ss wrote constrained essays presenting either an introverted or extraverted personality. Although authors reported manipulating essay credibility and readers reported relying on credibility to make their judgments, readers succumbed to correspondence bias. In Studies 2 and 3, Ss again prepared either constrained essays (Study 2) or constrained videotapes (Study 3) and included in them a hidden message that would be understood by only their friends but not by strangers. Observers then read these essays or watched these videotapes. Friends detected and decoded the hidden messages, whereas strangers did not. We discuss these findings in terms of social perception and strategic communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety indices related to susceptibility to persuasion.

Scores from three different anxiety scales were obtained from a self-rating personality questionnaire given to male college students. Each scale was studied in relation to a behavioral measure of persuasibility obtained by observing the opinion changes shown by 53 Ss after each was exposed to a series of five persuasive communications. The results give little support to the hypothesis that persons with a high degree of neurotic anxiety are predisposed to be relatively resistant to persuasive communications. The hypothesis that persons with relatively strong feelings of personal inadequacy are predisposed to be relatively highly influenced by persuasive communications is supported at about the .10 level of significance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On reducing experimenter bias: The effects of forewarning.

Tested the hypothesis, with 67 male and 70 female undergraduates, that forewarning would reduce the effects of E bias. Es were given different expectations as to how Ss would perform on a person perception task. Each E then ran a number of Ss. 1/2 of each E's Ss were forewarned of the possibility of E bias and 1/2 were not forewarned. The hypothesis is supported among females (p     

Facilitation of social interaction through deindividuation of the target.

Hypothesized that actors want their perception of a target to be consistent with the type of interaction they expect. It was predicted that Ss expecting to aggress would deindividuate their target through the selective recall of deindividuating information. Conversely, Ss expecting a prosocial interaction should individuate the target. Further, angry Ss should deindividuate the individual who angered them. 124 male undergraduates were either angered or not angered by an experimental confederate and then given the opportunity to either shock, reward, or have no interaction with him. Ss recalled information about the confederate either prior to or after the learning task. Ss expecting to aggress deindividuated the target, whereas Ss expecting a prosocial interaction individuated him. Angry Ss deindividuated the target; nonangry Ss did not. Since the selective recall of information occurred prior to the interaction, the deindividuation (individuation) was aimed at facilitating future behavior rather than justifying it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of biased test responses to psychopathology.

Groups of Ss differing in personality factors are given the Perceptual Reaction Test, a test which requires only an affective response to abstract designs, to determine if there is a difference in response set characteristic of personality. Scale development and validation employs 1,700 normal persons and 546 psychiatric patients and the reliability study utilizes an additional 159 persons. "Differences in response set were discovered between the groups from the general population and such clinical groups as heterogeneous abnormals, psychotics, and schizophrenics for both males and females. For males alone, differences in the response set were discovered between normals, and a group of males suffering from character disorders, and between male psychotics and males with character disorders." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)