Perceiving AIDS-related risk: Accuracy as a function of differences in actual risk.

Investigates the perceived risk of an HIV infection. Cognitive antecedents of biases in risk perception and their effects on behavioral intentions were investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine the relative accuracy of risk assessments for samples that vary in actual risk for AIDS. Ss were citizens of Amsterdam, heterosexuals with private partners, gay men, and heterosexuals with prostitution partners. Although optimistically biased in all samples, perceptions of risk were related to previous risk behavior in high-risk samples only. Pessimism was more pronounced in samples higher at risk. Optimists had lower levels of previous risk behavior and increased intentions to adopt safe sex practices. Ss in samples higher at risk had, therefore, relatively adequate perceptions of risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High school students' occupational interest as a function of projected sex ratios in male-dominated occupations.

To demonstrate that the sexual composition of a field influences a woman's career interests and preferences, a study was designed to determine the effects of projected shifts in the sexual composition of 2 occupations presently dominated by males. 144 male and female high school students were led to believe that the proportion of women in one of those occupations would be 10% (token), 30% (minority), or 50% (equal) in 15 yrs. Results indicate that, as predicted, projections of more-balanced sex ratios encouraged greater occupational interest among women; however, a totally balanced sex ratio was shown to reduce the degree of occupational interest expressed by men. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Procedural justice as autonomy regulation.

The present research investigated the relation between autonomy (i.e., freedom of choice) and procedural justice. Three studies tested the hypothesis that people would be particularly sensitive to the fairness of decision-making procedures when they experience deprivation of autonomy needs. Study 1 indicated that procedural justice judgments indeed were influenced more strongly by variations in decision-making procedures among participants who experienced little autonomy in their life. In Study 2, these findings were conceptually replicated by manipulating whether participants were provided with choice on an issue that was unrelated to the outcomes of the subsequent decision-making process. Study 3 revealed evidence for the hypothesis in a field setting. It is concluded that procedural justice is functional to regulate basic autonomy needs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactance as impression management: A critical review.

Recent attempts to reinterpret reactance theory in terms of impression management are considered in light of available empirical evidence. Contrary to an impression management view, reactance effects have been observed (a) where there was only a tenuous "glimpse" of a social agent, (b) where freedom threat or elimination occurred by chance or was not intentional, (c) where Ss' responses were not observable by either the influencing agent or a relevant observer, and (d) where Ss' responses could not be individually identified. Also inconsistent with the impression management formulation of reactance is evidence that neither an influencing agent nor a relevant observer must be present for freedom restoration by a third party to be effective. It is concluded that although self-presentation might account for some reactance effects, the theory as a whole cannot be subsumed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapeutic Reactance as a Predictor of Outcome in the Treatment of Chronic Depression.

This study examined whether reactance would negatively influence treatment outcome in 347 patients diagnosed with chronic forms of depression and treated at 9 sites with either Nefazodone, cognitive-behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy (CBASP), or combination therapy. Contrary to our hypotheses, reactance positively predicted treatment outcome in CBASP on 2 of 4 scales. These effects were independent of the therapeutic alliance, which also positively predicted outcome. Reactance did not predict outcome in the groups receiving medication alone or in combination with CBASP. The findings suggest that reactance may be an asset in psychotherapy among chronically depressed individuals and that reactant patients can benefit from directive psychotherapy when therapists flexibly respond to perturbations in the therapeutic relationship. Results support the importance of Aptitude × Treatment interactions in psychotherapy outcome. The direction and significance of such interactions may vary with different forms of psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recall as a function of single versus multiple trials: Implications for rehabilitation.

Objective: To empirically demonstrate that recall based on multiple presentations of material (i.e., "learning") is statistically distinct from recall based on singular presentations of material (i.e., "memory"). Participants: Two hundred ninety-one individuals referred to an outpatient neuropsychology laboratory, including 199 with a primary diagnosis of traumatic brain injury, 13 who experienced a cerebral vascular accident, 3 with progressive dementia, and 76 with an unknown etiology. Main Outcome Measures: Raw-standard scores from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised Logical Memory and Visual Reproduction subtests, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), the Tactual Performance Test (TPT), the Category Test, and indices of "learning" based on difference scores: RAVLT Trial 5 minus Trial 1; TPT Trial 3 minus Trial 1. Results: A promax factor analysis of 291 participants with cognitive dysfunction revealed a 4-factor solution (verbal memory, spatial memory, verbal learning, and tactile-motor learning), supporting the distinction between learning and memory constructs. Conclusions: Recall based on multiple presentations of information should be evaluated to provide the most functionally relevant assessments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primacy versus recency in persuasion as a function of the timing of arguments and measures.

In an after-only design 4 independent variables were manipulated to test Miller and Campbell's theory of primacy vs. recency in persuasion: time between communications (none, 2 days, 1 week, or 2 weeks), time between the 2nd communication and the measures of opinion and retention (none, 2 days, or 1 week), order of communications (pro-con or con-pro), and order of measures (opinion-recall or recall-opinion). There were 2 dependent variables: opinion (measured on a rating scale) and retention (measured through recall). Confirming Miller and Campbell, the longer the time interval between 2 communications the greater the recency effect in both opinion and recall immediately after the 2nd communication; and the longer the time elapsed from the 2nd communication until measurement the less the recency effect. Contrary to Miller and Campbell's prediction, delayed measurement did not tend to produce primacy in the case of the groups in which the 2nd communication followed immediately upon the 1st. The theoretically predicted shape of the recency function over time was only roughly supported. A correlational analysis of the relation between opinion and retention called into question the assumption that opinion is a direct function of retention of message content. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Guidelines as a strategy for preserving professional autonomy

Practice guidelines are often perceived as a threat to physician autonomy. However, the true challenge to physician autonomy is the rising costs of health care, which in turn is the result of continued progress in medical research. Since, inevitably, choices must be made about how our limited resources are expended, an increasing number of physicians are concluding that health care providers should assume financial risk for providing care--so that providers can make the decisions about which interventions are used for which patients. In this context, groups of physicians are adopting practice guidelines as an important strategy for providing high quality and efficient care under capitation. At least in some areas, practice guidelines are emerging as a critical tool for physicians to assume financial risk, and thereby protect professional autonomy.     

Performance expectancy as a determinant of actual performance: A partial replication.

Astudy by Aronson and Carlsmith (1962) indicated that Ss preferred to fail in order to confirm a failure expectancy than to be successful and disconfirm the expectancy. The present study was a partial replication of the Aronson and Carlsmith study. E demands were minimized, and it was expected that the results should have paralleled those of Aronson and Carlsmith if E demands in the latter study had not confounded the dependent variable. 40 1st-year, female nursing students were used. The results indicated that Aronson and Carlsmith's findings might be accounted for by E demands. Ss of the present study behaved as though they preferred to succeed rather than to confirm a failure expectancy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The extinction of fear as a function of distance versus dissimilarity from the original conflict situation.

An earlier study (see 30: 4198) studied the behavior of rats running down alleys in which they had been shocked in comparison to alleys resembling, to various degrees, the original shock alley. Since the least similar alley was always furthest away from the original, alley similarity and distance were confounded. The present investigation was an attempt to correct this confounding. It was shown that the rat's capacity to overcome the inhibitory effects of shock experienced in one alley was related to distance from the original alley, not dissimilarity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prejudice as a function of self-organization.

This article reviewed the traditional psychoanalytic theories of the development and maintenance of prejudiced attitudes and affects. To this body of understanding, the authors offered a self psychological perspective. They described the treatment of Sandy, a woman who presented with extreme expressions of prejudice, to illustrate how self psychology provides a framework for understanding the narcissistic roots of her prejudice and a therapeutic stance for promoting the transformation of her prejudiced attitudes and affects. From this perspective, prejudice is understood not as the displacement or projection of aggression, but as an expression of a vulnerable, fragmentation-prone self-organization struggling to overcome a traumatic developmental history. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Displacement as a function of conflict.

"Miller's theory of displacement was extended by integration with his conflict theory into a three-dimensional model… . To test deductions from this model rats were first trained to get food at one end of an alley and then shocked while eating until they no longer approached the food cup. They then left this alley and entered other alleys differing slightly from the original alley. Here they went closer to the food end than in the original alley. Tracings of their movements followed a pattern predicted from the model… . After making goal responses in the generalized alleys, the rats returned to eat in the original alley, showing a 'therapeutic' effect." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Actuarial versus actual risk of porcine structural valve deterioration

Actuarial analysis, using nonparametric (e.g., life table or Kaplan-Meier) or parametric (statistical modeling) methods, is used to describe and compare survival probabilities by allowing for partial survival times (censoring). Although devised to describe freedom from death, this method has been extended to nonfatal complications, such as freedom from tissue valve failure. However, the risk described for nonfatal events is that which a patient would experience provided he were immortal. And patients with valve disease have a relatively high risk of dying, generating the question: "What is the chance the valve will fail before the patient dies?" To answer this more practical (for individual patient management and population resource allocation) question requires an estimate of what we call actual failure, that is, the percentage of patients whose valve will actually fail before they die. This risk is less than the risk which the usual actuarial curve describes. This difference increases with patient age, because older patients have a lower risk of tissue failure and a higher risk of death than younger patients.     

Repetition versus luminance as a determinant of recognition.

Studied the effect of repeated brief exposures of single-letter stimuli on 4 normal hearing adults to determine whether the number of repetitions of a stimulus may be varied inversely with its luminance to produce a constant level of recognition performance. This postulated reciprocity relationship was refuted: performance always declined when the luminance was reduced (even though the number of repetitions increased). However, the deviation from reciprocity was small for stimuli at or above threshold luminance, and the facilitatory effect of repetition upon recognition was clearly shown for all luminance levels employed. Implications of the findings for models of visual information processing are discussed. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Planned versus actual duration of drug abuse treatment. Reconciling observational and experimental evidence

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the associations of planned versus actual duration of drug abuse treatment with psychosocial outcomes and drug use at follow-up. A randomized trial was conducted in a modified therapeutic community in which 444 clients were assigned to programs with planned durations of either 3 or 6 months. Outcomes were psychosocial measures assessing changes in mood and in stage of behavior change between admission and exit and return to drug use and patterns of use 2 to 6 months after exit. Planned duration was not associated with any of the outcomes. A longer actual length of stay was, however, associated with greater improvements in the mood variables; lower rates of drug use at follow-up; and, among those using drugs at follow-up, a longer time from exit to first drug use. Intention-to-treat analyses supported these results. Randomized controlled trials are needed to distinguish the effects of planned duration and actual length of stay.     

Volunteering as a function of field structure.

It was predicted that significantly more volunteering would occur when test Ss observed the invitation (to participate in an experiment) being accepted prior to their being asked than would occur in the control condition (where S had no opportunity to observe the behavior of others in the invitation situation); and significantly less when refusal was observed, as compared with the control condition. The results support the predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mathematics achievement as a function of language.

The superior mathematics performance of Asian Americans has been documented by recent reports of standardized test results and supported by cross-national comparisons of mathematics achievement. Cultural emphasis on education, parental support for learning, and innate ability have been cited as factors contributing to this exceptional performance. In this study, in which American and Japanese children residing in the United States were compared, variations in cognitive representation of number were examined in an attempt to understand these cultural and ethnic differences in students' mathematics scores from the perspective of differential cognitive organization of number resulting from differences in primary-language characteristics. Results showed that the cognitive representation of number for children whose only language was English differed from those whose primary language was Japanese. The relation between cognitive representation of number and mathematics achievement was also explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior as a function of the situation.

The power of several well-known and important situational factors to affect behavior is assessed in terms usually reserved for measuring the power of dispositions. The linear effects of incentive for counterattitudinal advocacy on attitude change, of degree of "hurry" and number of onlookers on bystander intervention, and of proximity of authority and "victim" on obedience average slightly less than .40. This magnitude is comparable to that of important dispositional effects. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Errors as a function of noun concreteness.

Conducted 2 experiments to investigate the effects of stimulus and response noun concreteness in paired-associate learning. In Exp. I, error-success protocols were examined with the aid of a 2-stage Markov model. 64 undergraduates and spouses served as Ss. The 2 stages of the model have been interpreted in terms of storage and retrieval processes. In Exp. II, the production, retrieval, and decoding of mediators were examined. 15 undergraduates served as Ss. The model analysis indicated that the primary effect of noun concreteness, whether manipulated in the stimulus or response terms, was on the retrieval process. The data from Exp. II were consistent with this conclusion, in that concreteness affected the retrieval and decoding of mediators rather than the number of mediators generated. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)