Automatic and controlled processing in Stroop negative priming: The role of attentional set.

The distinction between automatic and controlled attentional influences on priming effects was examined in a series of Stroop color-naming experiments. As expected, priming effects depended on the proportion of repeated trials-those in which a color word prime matched a following ink-color probe. However, responses were slower for repeated trials than for unrepeated trials when the proportion of repeated trials was no greater than chance (.25 with 4 colors). This effect was shown not to depend on slow-to-develop expectancies but did depend on the selective-attention requirements of the probe task. This dependence on probe task selection parallels an often reported result in the negative-priming literature (e.g., D. G. Lowe, 1979; S. P. Tipper & M. Cranston, 1985). Implications of these results for the distractor inhibition and episodic retrieval accounts of negative priming are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Regulation processes in intimate relationships: The role of ideal standards.

This research investigated the consistency between partner perceptions and ideal standards (ideal-perception consistency) and the partner regulation attempts of 200 individuals involved in relationships (Study 1) and 62 heterosexual couples (Study 2). As predicted, greater regulation attempts were associated with lower ideal-perception consistency, and these links operated within 3 pivotal mate-evaluation dimensions and were moderated by perceived regulation success. Ideal-perception consistency also mediated the relation between partner regulation and relationship quality, and cross-lagged analyses suggested that ideal consistency and regulation influenced each other over time. Finally, stronger partner regulation was generally associated with more negative self-evaluations and more self-regulation by the targeted partner. These novel results support and extend the Ideal Standards Model (J. A. Simpson, G. J. O. Fletcher, & L. Campbell, 2001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimal learning in optimal contexts: The role of self-determination in education.

This literature review provides an overview of education studies that have been guided by self-determination theory (SDT). First, the authors examine studies that have assessed motivation based on SDT. Second, the authors detail research that has focussed on the linkages between motivation types and students' behavioural, affective, and cognitive outcomes. Third, the authors present studies on how learning contexts (parents, teachers) contribute to students' motivational resources. The authors conclude that the motivation types proposed by SDT are important for understanding how students thrive and succeed at school. The authors also highlight the significant role played by teachers and parents in the development of student motivation. The authors conclude with a summary of the benefits of self-motivation for learning and offer some recommendations for the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of pathogenic beliefs in psychic reality.

Contends that beliefs regarding reality and morality guide people in the tasks of adaptation and self-preservation. Through these processes, people develop beliefs about themselves and their interpersonal world, and these beliefs organize the way in which they perceive themselves and others, and shape their behaviors, affects, moods, and personalities. It is suggested that obedience to certain maladaptive beliefs develop and maintain psychopathology. Evidence for the role of pathogenic beliefs in psychopathology has been found in formal quantitative research studies (e.g., J. Weiss, 1990) and is briefly discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of unconscious pathogenic beliefs in agoraphobia.

Agoraphobia can severely constrict the life of those who suffer from it. Control-mastery theory is a cognitive psychoanalytic theory that posits that symptoms are caused and maintained by unconscious pathogenic beliefs. Two cases are discussed in detail to support the hypothesis that agoraphobic patients suffer from 2 pathogenic beliefs: The world is a dangerous place that punishes assertiveness and they don't deserve to have a better life. The role of unconscious pathogenic beliefs may serve as a bridge in explaining both the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy as well as the usefulness of longer term psychodynamic treatment in resolving the often significant residual symptoms of these patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of caring youth sport contexts on efficacy-related beliefs and social behaviors.

Understanding what factors influence positive youth development has been advocated by youth development researchers (P. L. Benson, 2006; J. S. Eccles & J. A. Gootman, 2002). Consequently, the purpose of this study was to examine whether perceptions of a caring youth sport context influenced prosocial and antisocial behavior through efficacy-related beliefs, that is, positive and negative affective self-regulatory efficacy (ASRE) and empathic self-efficacy (ESE). Multiethnic youths taking part in summer sport programs (N = 395) completed a questionnaire that measured perceptions of the caring climate, ESE, ASRE, and social behavior. Structural equation modeling was used to test whether ASRE and ESE mediated the relationship between caring and social behaviors. Findings revealed that perceptions of caring positively predicted ASRE and ESE. In turn, positive ASRE positively predicted ESE. Prosocial behaviors were positively linked to ESE, whereas antisocial behaviors were negatively predicted by positive ASRE. The results suggest that caring influences prosocial and antisocial behavior because such contexts develop youths' ability to monitor, manage, and control positive affect, which in turn enhances their belief in their ability to empathize. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of romantic/intimate relationships in the well-being of incarcerated females.

This study examined the role of romantic and/or intimate relationships on female offenders' well-being and institutional behavior while incarcerated. Relationship satisfaction and social support were additional variables examined for association with well-being. Participants were 211 adult female inmates from a midwestern department of corrections. Results indicated increased anger, hostility, and number of disciplinary infractions for female inmates involved in romantic relationships as compared to those not involved in relationships. Findings also indicated increased anger and punishments for inmates in romantic relationships with females within the prison as compared to those in romantic relationships with males outside of the prison. Relationship satisfaction and social support did not significantly predict well-being or institutional behavior. Implications of the current findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Directed forgetting and posthypnotic amnesia: Information processing and social contexts.

In three experiments we compared posthypnotic amnesia (PHA) with directed forgetting (DF), evaluating subjects' hypnotic susceptibility, hypnotized or not. Experiment 1 suggested that the memory processes in PHA and DF were not the same. Low and high susceptibility subjects responded differently in the two contexts. Experiment 2 demonstrated a context effect for highly susceptible subjects: They showed the usual DF response outside hypnosis but not during hypnosis. Experiment 3 showed that high and low susceptibility subjects responded similarly to DF instructions outside hypnosis, eliminating the susceptibility as an important variable in the DF response. We concluded: (a) The interaction of context and susceptibility was the important determinant of unusual DF responses for high susceptibles, and (b) information processing concepts are too limited to explain PHA and perhaps DF. Theories that include interactions appear necessary for an accurate understanding of hypnotic phenomena and perhaps some phenomena usually focused on by cognitive psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic processing of fundamental information: The case of frequency of occurrence.

Reviews the evidence that suggests that information about frequency of occurrence is stored in memory by an implicit or automatic encoding process. This evidence shows that frequency information is stored for a wide variety of naturally occurring events. Laboratory research shows that usually powerful task variables (e.g., instructions, practice) and S variables (e.g., age, ability) do not influence the encoding process. Evidence is also reviewed that either directly or indirectly implicates the use of frequency information across issues in psychology ranging from the acquisition and representation of knowledge domains to decision making to sex-role development. (120 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response to cognitive therapy in depression: The role of maladaptive beliefs and personality disorders.

This study examined whether personality disorder status and beliefs that characterize personality disorders affect response to cognitive therapy. In a naturalistic study, 162 depressed outpatients with and without a personality disorder were followed over the course of cognitive therapy. As would be hypothesized by cognitive theory (A. T. Beck & A. Freeman, 1990), it was not personality disorder status but rather maladaptive avoidant and paranoid beliefs that predicted variance in outcome. However, pre- to posttherapy comparisons suggested that although patients with or without comorbidity respond comparably to "real-world" cognitive therapy, they report more severe depressive symptomatology at intake and more residual symptoms at termination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic and effortful processing in depression.

Automatic processes require few attentional resources, but effortful processes use attentional capacity. Research on cognitive processing by depressed individuals is reviewed and the following is concluded: (1) Depression interferes with effortful processing. The degree of interference is determined by the degree of effortfulness of the task, the severity of depression, and the valence of the stimulus material to be processed. (2) Depression interferes only minimally with automatic processes. Hypothetical causal mechanisms for interference in effortful processes by depression, whether interference in effortful processing is unique to depression or characteristic of psychopathology in general, and whether negative automatic thoughts are associated with current depression or depression proneness also are addressed. The effortful–automatic perspective has implications for understanding depressive clinical features, treating depression, and conducting future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender-schematic processing in children: The role of initial interpretations of stimuli.

When processing gender-related information, children have difficulty remembering materials that are counterstereotypic or that are associated more strongly with the other sex. The question of whether encoding difficulties account for these memory problems was investigated. Children (kindergarten through Grade 3) were shown pictures of men and women in traditional, nontraditional, or neutral roles. Some children were given stimulus labels at acquisition to simplify the encoding task. Free-recall data revealed biases in the direction of gender stereotypes, irrespective of label vs no-label conditions (Studies 1 and 2) and of slower vs faster presentation rates (Study 2). Results suggest that an inability to encode at acquisition is probably not the major cause of gender-related biases observed in later recall and have implications for the development of intervention programs designed to reduce gender-schematic processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The distinction between beliefs legitimizing aggression and deviant processing of social cues: Testing measurement validity and the hypothesis that biased processing mediates the effects of beliefs on aggression.

In 2 studies the authors examined knowledge and social information-processing mechanisms as 2 distinct sources of influence on child aggression. Data were collected from 387 boys and girls of diverse ethnicity in 3 successive years. In Study 1, confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the discriminant validity of the knowledge construct of aggression beliefs and the processing constructs of hostile intent attributions, accessing of aggressive responses, and positive evaluation of aggressive outcomes. In Study 2, structural equation modeling analyses were used to test the mediation hypothesis that aggression beliefs would influence child aggression through the effects of deviant processing. A stronger belief that aggressive retaliation is acceptable predicted more deviant processing 1 year later and more aggression 2 years later. However, this latter effect was substantially accounted for by the intervening effects of deviant processing on aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mediating role of empowerment for African American women experiencing intimate partner violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant societal problem associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, which in turn can cause impairment in a variety of areas. Previous research suggests that African American women experience more frequent and severe IPV than White women, yet report fewer PTSD symptoms related to their abuse. One proposed explanation for this relationship is that African American women are more resilient due to internal coping methods such as empowerment; however, this relationship has yet to be empirically tested. The current study investigates the role of empowerment in mediating IPV-related psychological distress in a sample of African American and White battered women (N = 204). As hypothesized, personal empowerment mediated the relationships between race and PTSD and race and depression, suggesting that empowered African American women may demonstrate greater resiliency when faced with IPV. Results are discussed in terms of their implication for developing culturally sensitive empowerment-based interventions for battered women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of spatial attention in visual word processing.

Ss made lexical decisions on a target letter string presented above or below fixation. In Exps 1 and 2, target location was cued 100 msec in advance of target onset. Responses were faster on validly than on invalidly cued trials. In Exp 3, the target was sometimes accompanied by irrelevant stimuli on the other side of fixation; in such cases, responses were slowed (a spatial filtering effect). Both cuing and filtering effects on response time were additive with effects of word frequency and lexical status (words vs nonwords). These findings are difficult to reconcile with claims that spatial attention is less involved in processing familiar words than in unfamiliar words and nonwords. The results can be reconciled with a late-selection locus of spatial attention only with difficulty but are easily explained by early selection models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic and controlled processing revisited.

The authors (see PA, Vol 58:305 and 4785) defend their theory of automatic and controlled processing. It is argued that the criticisms of C. Ryan (see record 1983-22634-001) range from irrelevant to incorrect, based on a brief review of data from the present authors' 2 articles and on more recent publications. The evidence Ryan discusses comes from the prememorized-list paradigm, a paradigm that undoubtedly involves automatic and controlled processes but probably not automatic detection and controlled search. It is suggested that a variety of mechanisms consistent with the authors' general theory, some automatic and some controlled, could be operating in the prememorized-list paradigm and can explain the observed results. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding the relationship between moral judgment development and individual characteristics: The role of educational contexts.

This study examines variation in moral judgment level as measured by the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT-2; J. R. Rest & D. Narvaez, 1998), based on individual demographic information and educational contexts. Individual DIT-2 scores and demographic information were obtained from the archived data sets housed at the Center for the Study of Ethical Development. The information on educational contexts was obtained by surveying the researchers who initially gathered the data. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze DIT-2 data from 7,642 individuals and 65 institutions. Findings indicate that average DIT-2 scores vary significantly among institutions. Further, the authors found that the strength of the relation of DIT-2 scores to gender and English language status is significant and consistent across contexts, whereas the strength of the relation to educational level and political identity varies across contexts. These findings indicate that information about the individuals' educational context as well as the broader regional contexts should be taken into account to understand variation in individual levels of moral judgment. The findings can also be used as an interpretive guide for DIT-2 users. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Striving to be known by significant others: Automatic activation of self-verification goals in relationship contexts.

Extending research on the automatic activation of goals associated with significant others, the authors hypothesized that self-verification goals typically pursued with significant others are automatically elicited when a significant-other representation is activated. Supporting this hypothesis, the activation of a significant-other representation through priming (Experiments 1 and 3) or through a transference encounter (Experiment 2) led participants to seek feedback that verifies their preexisting self-views. Specifically, significant-other primed participants desired self-verifying feedback, in general (Experiment 1), from an upcoming interaction partner (Experiment 2), and relative to acquaintance-primed participants and favorable feedback (Experiment 3). Finally, self-verification goals were activated, especially for relational self-views deemed high in importance to participants’ self-concepts (Experiment 2) and held with high certainty (Experiment 3). Implications for research on self-evaluative goals, the relational self, and the automatic goal activation literature are discussed, as are consequences for close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing job seekers' organizational image beliefs: The role of media richness and media credibility.

In this article, the authors assessed job seekers' organizational image beliefs before and after they experienced 3 recruitment media. The authors examined whether perceptions of media richness and credibility were related to improvements in the correspondence between job seekers' image beliefs and firms' projected images. Both media richness and credibility perceptions were associated with correspondence between job seekers' image beliefs and firms' projected images. However, results revealed that richness and credibility perceptions were likely to enhance job seekers' initial beliefs about firms' images when their beliefs were positive but did not diminish job seekers' beliefs about firms' images when their initial impressions were too positive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of epistemological beliefs and topic-specific beliefs on undergraduates' cognitive and strategic processing of dual-positional text.

The effects of epistemological beliefs and topic-specific beliefs on undergraduates' cognitive and strategic processing of a dual-positional text were investigated. Forty undergraduates thought aloud while reading a text that presented information both consistent and inconsistent with their prior beliefs about the HIV–AIDS relationship. Epistemological beliefs about the speed of learning affected the overall number of cognitive processes exhibited, whereas topic-specific beliefs interacted with the nature of the information read to influence the specific type of cognitive processing used. Strategies for accepting or resolving apparent ambiguities in text were related positively to delayed recall; cognitive processes for developing awareness were related negatively to the number of distortions produced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)