Effect of success and failure on depressive cognitions

A cognitive social-learning approach to depression emphasizes biases or distortions in depressed persons' evaluation of information about self, future, and environment. 33 depressed and 34 nondepressed female undergraduates participated in a task that ostensibly assessed therapeutic potential; they received success, failure, or no feedback about their performance on this realistic social interaction task. It was anticipated that depressed women, especially as a function of feedback would respond in characteristic ways that could be construed as depression-enhancing on both self-rating and expectation-of-performance measures. The predictions were largely confirmed. A task developed to assess depressed-distorted responses to stories also revealed significant differences in types of response choices between depressed and nondepressed Ss. Results reinforce attempts to assess not what depressed people are or have , but what they do . (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "hidden observer" phenomenon in hypnosis: Some additional findings.

23 highly hypnotizable undergraduates (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility) underwent 2 specially constructed 7-item hypnotic inductions. Over the 14 items, the main finding was of a relationship between E. R. Hilgard's (1973, 1977, 1979) "hidden observer" effect and 2 aspects of hypnotic age regression. Ss reporting a hidden observer experienced duality during regression to age 5, in which they were aware of being both adult and child. When asked to write a complex sentence, most did so, usually without spelling errors. The Ss not reporting this effect experienced quasi-lateral age regression in which they had the exclusive feeling of being 5 yrs old, with no sense of an adult identity. Most of these Ss were unable to write the same complex sentence when requested to during age regression. The study replicated Hilgard's finding of the hidden observer phenomenon in terms of its incidence and obtained similar verbal reports from Ss experiencing it. At the same time, the results suggest that a neodissociation account of hypnosis may need some modifications to accommodate these additional findings. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Client-therapist complementarity: An analysis of the Gloria films": Correction.

Reports an error in "Client-therapist complementarity: An analysis of the Gloria films" by Donald J. Kiesler and Chesley S. Goldston (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1988[Apr], Vol 35[2], 127-133). The date of receipt indicated for the revision of this article was incorrect. The correct date of receipt is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1988-36446-001.) In this investigation of Shostrom's (1966) psychotherapy demonstration films, we used a checklist inventory measure derived from the 1982 Interpersonal Circle to examine the interpersonal behavior of Gloria, her three therapists, and their respective transaction patterns. Groups of undergraduate raters observed the three films, after which they rated the interpersonal behavior of either Gloria or the therapist. Analyses of Interpersonal Circle axes and segment scores revealed significant differences in the interpersonal behaviors of the three therapists with Gloria and of Gloria with the three therapists. Analyses of transactional patterns showed departures of Gloria's behaviors from the perfect complementary fit predicted from each of the therapist's interpersonal profiles, especially for behaviors categorized on the hostile half of the Interpersonal Circle. Discussion emphasized the complex of dyadic mix and other contextual factors that need to be addressed in future interpersonal studies of psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"When are social judgments made? Evidence for the spontaneousness of trait inferences": Correction to Winter and Uleman.

Reports an error in "When are social judgments made? Evidence for the spontaneousness of trait inferences" by Laraine Winter and James S. Uleman (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1984[Aug], Vol 47[2], 237-252). There are errors in the labeling of Figure 1 on p. 244. The ordinate percentages should be three times greater than indicated. In addition, the algebraic formula in the note for Table 2 on p. 245 is incorrect. The correct ordinate percentages and the correct algebraic formula are provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-01259-001.) Adapted E. Tulving and D. M. Thomson's (see record 2005-09647-002) encoding specificity paradigm for 2 recall experiments with 153 undergraduates to investigate whether Ss would make trait inferences without intentions or instructions at the encoding stage of processing behavioral information. Under memory instructions only, Ss read sentences describing people performing actions that implied traits. Later, Ss recalled each sentence under 1 of 3 cuing conditions: a dispositional cue (e.g., generous); a strong, nondispositional semantic associate to an important sentence word; or no cue. Results show that recall was best when cued by the disposition words. Ss were unaware of having made trait inferences. Interpreted in terms of encoding specificity, findings indicate that Ss unintentionally made trait inferences at encoding. It is suggested that attributions are made spontaneously, as part of the routine comprehension of social events. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Posthypnotic amnesia: Suggestions of an active process in dissociative phenomena.

In a study with 62 undergraduates, a retroactive inhibition design was used to examine the process of posthypnotic amnesia. Ss were assigned to either a posthypnotic amnesia or a no-posthypnotic amnesia treatment group and were administered the 1st 11 items of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. Results support the notion that "forgotten" material is as available to amnesia Ss at some level as it is to nonamnesic Ss. Further, so-called forgetting appears to be the result of an active process, that is, something the S does. Implications for understanding dissociative phenomena in general are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of experimenter modeling, demands for honesty, and initial level of suggestibility on response to "hypnotic" suggestions.

Pretested 180 college students on behavioral (objective) and experiential (subjective) responses to the test suggestions of the Barber Suggestibility Scale. After being exposed to 1 of 3 treatments--E modeling, hypnotic induction, or control--each S was retested on the same scale. Strong demands to give honest experiential reports were administered to 1/2 of the Ss under each treatment. Ss who were exposed to E modeling manifested a greater enhancement in objective responsiveness to test suggestions than control Ss and as much enhancement as Ss who were exposed to hypnotic induction. E modeling was as effective as hypnotic induction in enhancing sujective responsiveness to test suggestions with and without demands for honest reports. Under both the E modeling and hypnotic induction treatments, Ss who had initially manifested a high level of suggestibility (pretest) showed as much enhancement in subjective responsiveness to test suggestions as medium- or low-suggestible Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detecting letters in continuous text: Effects of display size.

In three letter detection experiments, subjects responded to each instance of the letter t in continuous text (a) typed in a standard paragraph, (b) typed with one to four words per line, or (c) shown for a fixed duration on a computer screen either one or four words at a time. In the multiword and the standard paragraph conditions, errors were greatest and latencies longest on the word the when it was correctly spelled. This effect was diminished or reversed in the one-word conditions. These findings support a set of unitization hypotheses about the reading process, according to which subjects do not process the constituent letters of a word once that word has been identified unless no other word is in view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Many hands make light the work: The causes and consequences of social loafing.

As reported in summary form by W. Moede (1927), an unpublished study found that in a rope-pulling task, while collective group performance increased somewhat with group size, it was less than the sum of the individual efforts (IE). IE decreased as group size increased. The present 2 experiments with 84 undergraduates investigated this effect using clapping and shouting tasks. Results replicate the earlier findings. The decrease in IE, which is here called social loafing, is in addition to losses due to faulty coordination of group efforts. The experimental generality, theoretical importance, widespread occurrence, and negative social consequences of social loafing are examined, along with ways of minimizing it. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)