Effects of task and experimenter feedback on the self-reinforcement behavior of internals and externals.

Tested 24 internal and 24 external locus of control Ss on 3 verbal recognition memory tasks. Ss administered self-reinforcement for correct responses on the 1st and 3rd tasks, which had the same difficulty level. The 2nd task was either more or less difficult than the other 2 and was accompanied by E reinforcement. All Ss thus received external evaluation that had variable relevance to their self-evaluation. There were no differences in self-reinforcement base rate (reinforcement rate on the 1st task), but there were several significant and contrasting changes on the 3rd task. Internals attended to both task differences and external evaluation. Externals responded only to evaluation, apparently not attending to task factors. Results are discussed in terms of locus of control and in terms of self-reinforcement behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal attributions of learning disabled children: Individual differences and their implications for persistence.

It has been shown that learning disabled (LD) children are likely to develop a maladaptive pattern of causal attributions. However, it is unclear whether LD children are more likely to differ from their peers in terms of a greater tendency to attribute their difficulties to insufficient ability or in terms of a greater tendency to blame external factors. The authors investigated this issue in 24 LD boys and 14 LD girls in Grades 3–5 and in 38 age-, sex-, race-, and IQ-matched normal controls. Ss were asked to complete scales assessing attributions for academic difficulties; 2 wks later, Ss were presented with a reading task for which persistence was measured. It was found that LD girls were significantly more likely than nondisabled girls to attribute their difficulties to insufficient ability, but girls did not differ in their tendency to attribute their difficulties to external factors. In contrast, LD boys were significantly more likely than nondisabled boys to attribute their difficulties to external factors, but they did not differ from nondisabled boys in their tendency to attribute their difficulties to insufficient ability. Although the tendency to blame one's ability was negatively related to reading task persistence, the tendency to attribute one's difficulties to external factors did not show this negative relation. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparisons of the restricted association of chronic schizophrenic and normal control subjects.

Obtained 11 types of restricted associations and free associations from 24 chronic schizophrenics and 24 normal controls equated for age and education. The associations of schizophrenics were more variable than those of normal Ss, especially on tasks which most restricted the choice of responses. Agreement in responding between normal and schizophrenic Ss was markedly lower when compared with that between high- and low-creative Ss, or with 1-yr, test-retest data. Repetition of responses given to the same stimuli under different instructions was markedly higher for schizophrenic than normal Ss, and thus the degree of task and response differentiation was reduced. The restricted associations overlapped with free associations more markedly for schizophrenic than for normal Ss, but the general structure of a conceptual semantic space was about the same for both groups. It is argued that when explicit constraint in tasks of verbal associations is high, schizophrenic Ss, more than normals, impose a low degree of implicit constraint on their verbal behavior; when the external constraint is low, they increase their implicit constraint. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences in response latency and response variability between high and low anxiety subjects in a flicker-fusion task.

The present research investigated the effect of anxiety on various psychophysical tasks. Ss high in anxiety (HA) and their low anxiety (LA) relatives were presented with a flicker-fusion task. It was predicted that HA Ss would show significantly more difficulty than the LA group at the point of threshold for flicker-fusion. HA Ss showed lower threshold to flicker, more variability and response alternation, therefore, increased difficulty in making decisions at the threshold values. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2HK55W. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mind over matter: Perceived success at psychokinesis.

Four experiments with 212 undergraduates showed that Ss' estimates of success on a psychokinetic (PK) task were independent of actual performance. In Exp I, Ss given a positive introductory set or no set about PK evidenced more illusory control than Ss given a negative set. In Exp II, both degree of general belief in psychic phenomena and the number of practice trials that Ss received influenced performance estimates, with high believers who received 10 practice trials providing the highest estimates and low believers who received 1 practice trial the lowest. In Exp III, Ss actively involved with the PK task judged their performance more positively than passively involved Ss. Exp IV showed that when they were actively involved in the task, Ss with an internal locus of control (Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale) gave higher estimates of their success than Ss with an external locus of control. When passively involved, internals and externals did not reliably differ in their estimates, but their estimates were lower in those of active/internals. Results support E. J. Langer's illusion-of-control theory and highlight the importance of general psychic belief and locus-of-control orientation in affecting perceived success at a psychic task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of job experience on supervisor attributions for a subordinate's poor performance.

64 undergraduates worked for 2 hrs in 6-person groups on a proofreading task. Half the Ss were supervisors and half were proofreaders; roles were alternated after 1 hr. Performance was controlled so that all supervisors believed they were evaluating a poor performing subordinate. Results show that experienced supervisors (Ss who served as supervisors first and then as proofreaders) tended to blame the environment more for the poor performance and recommended more changes in that environment than did nonexperienced supervisors. A field study with 30 military officers indicated that external attributions were positively correlated with the amount of experience the supervisor had working on the same task. Results are discussed within the framework of an attributional model of performance evaluation. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental manipulation of spatial information in young and elderly adults.

Investigated the ability of 20-, 60-, and 70-yr-olds (12 men and 12 women at each age level) to mentally manipulate spatial information in a large-scale environment. In a perspective-taking task, Ss were asked to determine the location of target objects from imagined locations. In an array rotation task, Ss were asked to imagine that the array of objects rotated relative to their current position. Young and elderly Ss performed with equivalent accuracy on the array rotation task, but young Ss were more accurate on the perspective-taking task. Ss who were taken to each object location prior to testing were more accurate in the perspective-taking task than Ss who did not have this experience. There was no effect of prior experience on performance in the array rotation task. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex and ethnic differences in the use of power.

Hypothesized that women and Chicanos would make less internal and more external attributions for their own successful performance than would Anglo males. 40 Chicano male, 40 Chicano female, 40 Anglo male, and 40 Anglo female undergraduates participated as managers in an industrial simulation study. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions: designated powers vs unspecified powers, and supervision of male or female workers. Following the managerial task, Ss completed a questionnaire assessing their own performance and that of their workers. All Anglos devalued their workers as a function of controlling power and attributed workers' performance to external factors. All Ss tended to use their power to persuade workers. Males attempted to influence workers to a greater degree than did females. The predicted sex differences in terms of attribution were evident only among Anglos. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aggression and blood pressure responses of high- and low-guilt subjects following frustration.

After completion of the Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory, a total of 64 females were randomly assigned to frustration or neutral conditions. Frustrated Ss were told by E that their performance on a counting task was unsatisfactory and were not given an expected reward. Frustrated Ss showed (a) a significant increase in diastolic blood pressure during the task; (b) more aggression toward E on a postexperimental Research Evaluation Questionnaire (REQ); and (c) a significant decrease in diastolic pressure after the REQ, especially in low-guilt Ss. No differences were found between groups in systolic pressure, and not all high-guilt Ss inhibited their aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations, aspirations, and evaluations as influenced by another's attributions for success and failure.

A study with 80 male and female students aged 16–18 yrs examined the effects of another's attributions for performance on one's own expectations, aspirations, and evaluations of performance. Ss witnessed an other (O) who had attributed his (or her) performance (successful or unsuccessful) on an anagram task to luck, task ease or difficulty, effort, or ability. When O had succeeded, Ss expected to perform best if O had attributed his success to the task (rather than to luck, effort, or ability); when O had failed, Ss expected to perform worst when O had attributed his failure to the task. In addition, Ss witnessing a successful O were more hopeful if O had made a task attribution, but Ss witnessing an unsuccessful O were more hopeful if O had made an effort attribution. Finally, Ss showed a tendency to attribute their own performance to the same cause to which O had attributed his own performance. Results are discussed in relation to the stability–instability and internal–external dimensions of causal attributions and to the need to perceive oneself as exercising effective control over the environment. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal involvement and strategies for making contingency judgments: A stake in the dating game makes a difference.

Examined the relation between the degree of involvement in a task and the complexity of strategy that Ss apply to the task. 48 female university volunteers were randomly assigned to either a dating (high-involvement) condition or 1 of 2 (low-involvement) control conditions. In addition, Ss in each condition were assigned to a person information or an abstract information condition. Ss in the person information condition received information about a particular male's dating preferences; those in the high-involvement condition were told that they would date this person. All Ss then performed a covariation judgment task (involving the male's dating preferences) for which the likelihood of their using simple or complex strategies was calculated. High-involvement Ss used more complex strategies and tended to be more accurate. These data are discussed in terms of the functionality of human information processing, heuristic analyses of inference strategies, and the importance of considering level of personal involvement in analyses of task performance. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of leadership in a simulated industrial task.

Ss high and low in dominance were selected with the CPI Dominance (Do) scale and confronted with a simulated industrial task which could be solved best by 1 person assuming a leader role and the other following his instructions. When the instructions emphasized the task, the High Do Ss did not assume the leader role significantly more often than the Low Do Ss. When leadership was emphasized, however, the High Do Ss assumed the leader role in 90% of the pairs. It is concluded that the CPI Do scale has predictive validity when leadership is made salient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Demand characteristics or conformity?: Suspiciousness of deception and experimenter bias in conformity research.

Administered to 87 undergraduates (a) the Psychology Research Survey (PRS), a measure of attitudes toward psychology experiments; and (b) a battery of attitude scales on current issues. 6 advanced undergraduate Es, led to believe that Ss had high- or low-conformity scores on the battery, presented R. Wyer's dot-estimation conformity task to Ss. Results of a postexperimental questionnaire indicate Ss' suspiciousness of deception was quite common (43.7%) and suspicious Ss conformed less. The prediction that suspicious Ss would be more positive in their attitudes on the PRS than nonsuspicious Ss was not supported. However, Ss who were aware that they were being deceived and nevertheless conformed had significantly more positive attitudes on the PRS than aware Ss who conformed less. In addition, Es who tested Ss of the opposite sex biased their results according to their expectations, while for Ss of the same sex the bias was reversed. It is apparent that conformity studies are quite susceptible to the effects of demand characteristics and that only with controlled E-S interaction and more attention to deception procedures can results be generalized. (French summary) (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attributions for success on the alleviation of learned helplessness and depression.

Investigated the effects of attributions for success on the alleviation of mood and performance deficits of 104 19–60 yr old clinically depressed inpatients. Ss were assigned to either an acutely depressed group or an improved depressed group that was exposed to a learned helplessness induction procedure. Ss received 80% positive feedback on a task allegedly measuring social intelligence. Concurrently, Ss were exposed to experimental manipulations designed to induce attributions of this experience to 1 of 4 types of causes (internal–general, internal–specific, external–general, external–specific). Following this task, Ss' mood, expectancies, and anagram performance were assessed. Results indicate that helpless and depressed Ss who received the internal attribution manipulations reported less depressed mood than Ss in the external attribution conditions. Similarly, Ss in the general attribution conditions performed better and reported higher expectancies for success on the anagrams than Ss in the specific attribution conditions. Results are supportive of an attribution theory model of learned helplessness and depression. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem solving in triads composed of varying numbers of field-dependent and field-independent subjects.

Investigated the interactive effects of situational task demands and interpersonal group environment on small group performance. High-structure and low-structure tasks were solved by 3 types of small groups: 3 field-dependent Ss; 3 field-independent Ss; and triads with both field-dependent and field-independent Ss. Ss were 231 male college students who were tested with the Group Embedded Figures Test. The lower and upper third of the test distribution were defined as field dependent and field independent, respectively, and assigned to 1 of the 3 small groups. It was hypothesized that field-dependent Ss would perform tasks more efficiently than would field-independent Ss when the task environment provided structure. This hypothesis was not supported. The field-independent Ss had the fastest completion times, whereas the field-dependent Ss had the slowest times of all. It was also hypothesized that the difference in performance attributable to task structure would be greater for field-dependent Ss than it would be for field-independent Ss. This hypothesis was supported. Results demonstrate the relative ability of field-independent Ss to solve the tasks and the potential for coalition formation within the mixed triads. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compliance with a leader's suggestions as a function of perceived leader/member competence and potential reciprocity.

Examined with 80 male undergraduates the effects of perceived leader/group member competence and potential reciprocity on group member compliance with a leader's task suggestions. Ss worked in 5-person nominal groups on 2 construction tasks. A confederate was always appointed leader by a bogus random selection procedure. Perceived leader and group member competence were manipulated through bogus performance feedback following the 1st task. Ss received a written suggestion from the leader before the 2nd task that called for an assembly line procedure. Potential reciprocity was manipulated by the leader's request or refusal to see Ss' own suggestions. Compliance was measured through observer coding of Ss' performance on the 2nd task. Ss in the high leader competence/low group member competence condition compiled significantly more than did Ss in all other conditions. Internal analysis revealed that reciprocity was positively related to compliance among Ss with high-quality task suggestions and negatively related to compliance among those with low-quality suggestions. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attribution and alcohol-mediated aggression.

48 males participated in an aggression task after receiving either alcoholic or placebo beverages and after being told that they had received either a high or a low dose of alcohol. All Ss in the alcohol group actually received the same dose. Measures of aggression were the intensity and duration of shock given to a bogus partner in a RT-pain perception task and a score on a posttask attitude questionnaire. Blood alcohol readings were taken 3 times during the session, and a locus of control scale was administered before and after drinking. For Ss in the alcohol conditions, blood alcohol levels averaged .079% before the task and .085% afterwards. Alcohol resulted in higher aggression scores only on the questionnaire measure, and an interaction between drug and attribution was found for the measure of shock duration. Attribution alone resulted in greater aggression on the measure of shock intensity. Ss in groups where the attribution was discrepant with the drug condition were the most aggressive on the measures of shock intensity and duration. These Ss became more external, reflecting a high correlation between their aggression and a stimulus tone. Results suggest that a person's increased aggressiveness when intoxicated results from an interaction between alcohol and an altered responsivity to provoking stimuli. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student locus of control and response to expectations about self and teacher.

85 female undergraduates with either an internal or external locus of control (LOC) (Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale) were used to investigate the relationship between LOC and responsivity to expectations regarding their own and their teacher's competence. Internal and external Ss, acting as students, were led to expect that they would perform well or poorly on a lesson and independently to expect that their teacher was competent or incompetent. After receiving a standardized lesson from a confederate acting as teacher, Ss' attitudes and performance were assessed. As predicted, internal Ss were more receptive to the expectation regarding self than external Ss. In contrast, the teacher expectation manipulation had no differential effect on internal and external Ss. Results suggest that students respond both to expectations about themselves and about their teacher and that LOC plays an important role in determining how an individual responds to such expectations. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's effective use of multiple standards for evaluating their comprehension.

Two experiments examined children's ability to apply 3 different standards for evaluating their understanding. 71 5-, 7-, 9-, and 11-yr-olds were presented with short narrative passages within which were embedded 3 types of problems (nonsense words, internal inconsistencies, and prior knowledge violations), each of which could only be identified if a specific standard of evaluation were used (lexical, internal consistency, and external consistency, respectively). Ss were explicitly instructed in advance that their task was to find the "mistakes." Moreover, Ss were given immediate feedback after each trial and a 2nd opportunity to find any missed problems. Although older Ss used all 3 standards more effectively than younger Ss, problem identification was considerably better than that reported in noninstructed settings. The internal consistency standard was applied least effectively, but even the youngest Ss were able to use it. Results illustrate the need to consider comprehension-monitoring skills with respect to specific standards of evaluation, rather than as a unitary phenomenon. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

With a little help from my friend: Effect of single or multiple act aid as a function of donor and task characteristics.

96 Israeli males were asked to bring a good same-sex friend with them to the experiment. Half the Ss were told that their teammate, with whom they were to interact at a later stage of the experiment, was their friend. The other half were told that they had been teamed up with someone whom they did not know. Ss were instructed to solve a detective story, the performance of which was presented to half the Ss as related to ego-relevant dimensions (e.g., intelligence, creativity) and to the other half as related to non-ego-relevant dimensions (e.g., luck and momentary mood). The assignment was insolvable, and Ss were helped by their supposed teammate to obtain the "correct" solution. Half received help on one detective story, and the other half received help on 2 stories. Results show that Ss who had been helped twice on an ego-relevant task by a good friend had the least-favorable affect and self-evaluations. Ss who had been helped twice by a good friend on a non-ego-relevant dimension tended to have the most-favorable affect and self-evaluations. Similar patterns were observed for measures of external perception (i.e., liking for helper, evaluations of helper, and relations with the helper). Implications for research on recipient reactions to aid, social comparison processes, and close interpersonal relations are discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)