The effects of group diffusion of cognitive effort on attitudes: An information-processing view.

232 undergraduates participated in 2 experiments that tested whether persons process a stimulus less extensively when they are part of a group that is responsible for the task than when they are individually responsible. In addition to a group size manipulation, the quality of the stimulus to be evaluated was varied to determine the mediator of the different evaluation of stimuli provided by group (GEs) and individual evaluators (IEs). When evaluating a high quality stimulus, IEs generated more favorable thoughts and evaluated the stimulus more positively than did GEs (Exps I and II); but when evaluating a stimulus of low quality, IEs generated more unfavorable thoughts and evaluated the stimulus more negatively than did GEs (Exp II). This result favors an information-processing view over dissonance, deindividuation, and commodity theory interpretations. Together the studies indicate that Ss will diffuse the responsibility for a cognitive task. The reduction in individual processing that accompanies an increase in the number of persons responsible can thus lead to either enhanced or reduced evaluations, depending on the subjective quality of the stimulus to be evaluated. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An information-processing perspective on childhood anxiety

In the past decade, cognitive theories of adult anxiety disorders have become increasingly complex, reflecting enhanced understanding of anxiety-related information-processing. This growth has fostered the development and enhancement of numerous assessment and treatment methods. Unfortunately, similar growth has been slower to occur in theories of childhood anxiety. This paper attempts to foster such growth by adopting an information-processing perspective. Doing so expands the extant cognitive perspective on childhood anxiety in four major ways. First, the division of cognitive processing into a sequence of steps provides a framework for organizing predictions regarding cognitive factors in childhood anxiety. Second, consideration of the cognitive operations active during each stage in the sequence facilitates elaboration of the types of cognitive deficits and distortions characteristic of anxious children. Third, it promotes development and application of performance-based assessment methodologies. Finally, an information-processing perspective highlights several targets for clinical intervention that may promote widespread change in an anxiety-supporting cognitive system.     

The various perceptions of distance: An alternative view of how effort affects distance judgments.

D. R. Proffitt and colleagues (e. g., D. R. Proffitt, J. Stefanucci, T. Banton, & W. Epstein, 2003) have suggested that objects appear farther away if more effort is required to act upon them (e.g., by having to throw a ball). The authors attempted to replicate several findings supporting this view but found no effort-related effects in a variety of conditions differing in environment, type of effort, and intention to act. Although they did find an effect of effort on verbal reports when participants were instructed to take into account nonvisual (cognitive) factors, no effort-related effect was found under apparent- and objective-distance instruction types. The authors’ interpretation is that in the paradigms tested, effort manipulations are prone to influencing response calibration because they encourage participants to take nonperceptual connotations of distance into account while leaving perceived distance itself unaffected. This in no way rules out the possibility that effort influences perception in other contexts, but it does focus attention on the role of response calibration in any verbal distance estimation task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of cognitive effort and word distinctiveness on learning disabled and nondisabled readers' recall.

Explored the notion that differences in word recall between skilled and learning disabled (LD) readers are related to cognitive effort in 3 experiments. Ss were 12 skilled readers (mean age 13.6 yrs) and 12 LD readers (mean age 13.5 yrs) in Exp I, 12 skilled readers (mean age 12.20 yrs) and 12 LD readers (mean age 11.63 yrs) in Exp II, and 24 skilled readers (mean age 8.75 yrs) and 24 LD readers (mean age 8.55 yrs) in Exp III. Cognitive effort represents the mental input to which a limited-capacity attentional system expands to produce a response. Manipulation of primary task difficulty (anagram solutions) and subsequent performance on a secondary task (word recall of correctly solved anagrams) was used to infer cognitive effort. The primary task included manipulations of word list organization and task orientation instructions. In general, after a difficult primary task, secondary task performance was higher for skilled readers than it was for LD readers. Ability group interactions occurred for word list organization and task orientation instructions. It is suggested that the amount of cognitive effort that can be effectively expended to produce a distinctive memory trace is related to individual differences in attentional capacity. Specifically, skilled readers' encoded memory traces under high-effort conditions contained more distinct semantic information than did the traces of LD readers. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An information-processing analysis of a Piagetian imagery task.

60 females at 3 age levels (4–6, 7–9, and 10–14 yrs) performed a reaction time (RT) version of J. Piaget and B. Inhelder"s rotating squares imagery task and a pivot and shape conservation recognition task. The 2 older groups generated more linear RT trends and lower RT task error rates than the youngest group. Data indicate that analog mental rotation was an effective strategy in achieving low error rates, but low error rates were also achieved by Ss not generating linear RT trends. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of magnification on a subminiature assembly operation.

This experiment was designed to investigate the effects of magnification on the duration of elements of a subminiature assembly operation. The task consisted of grasping a metal dot .010 in. in diameter wtih a tweezers, transporting it to a hole, and dropping it into the hole. Ss used a binocular type industrial microscope and performed under 3 magnifications, 20X, 30X, and 40X. Precision of the task was varied by changing the diameter of the hole into which the dot was assembled. Results indicated that no single magnification was optimum for all elements. For pick up and travel loaded, 30X was optimum while for travel unloaded, 20X was optimum. Results for the assemble element were inconclusive. There was no evidence that the optimum magnification is dependent upon the precision requirements of the task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evolved cognitive–behavioral view of the case of David.

A cognitive–behavioral conceptualization of depression is presented, identifying distorted perceptions, ineffective actions, and/or an unresponsive environment as possible causative factors. Acknowledging that information about a patient’s early history can inform the cognitive–behavior therapist about possible areas of vulnerability that are triggered by current life events, a transtheoretical case formulation model is presented and illustrated for the case of David. The case formulation highlights the intrapersonal and interpersonal issues that should be the focus of the therapeutic intervention, and an integrated cognitive–behavioral intervention that follows from this formulation is described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An information-processing approach to leniency in performance judgments.

The traditional rendering-bias explanation of leniency in performance judgments was postulated to be incomplete. To demonstrate this insufficiency, an encoding-bias model of leniency was proposed, and hypotheses generated from both models were tested in a laboratory experiment. 60 students viewed a videotape of a lecture, and their expectations of providing face-to-face feedback to the instructor were manipulated preobservation, postobservation, or not at all. Dependent variables included measures of encoding, private appraisals, retrieval, and public appraisals. As expected, results supported both explanations of leniency. However, the pattern of results suggests that a retrieval bias may also contribute to leniency in performance judgments. A more complex view of leniency effects is proposed on the basis of principles of motivated cognitive processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of stereotypes in decision making and information-processing strategies.

Investigated the effects of stereotyping on reactions to a behavioral transgression and the recall of information bearing on it in 2 experiments with 112 undergraduates. Ss read a case file describing a transgression (a job-related infraction in Exp I, a criminal act in Exp II) committed by a target. In some cases, the target's transgression was stereotypic of the target's ethnic group (conveyed through his name), and in other cases it was not. After reading the case file, Ss judged the likelihood that the transgression would recur and recommended punishment for the offense. These judgment data supported the hypothesis that stereotypes function as judgmental heuristics. Ss used a stereotype of the target to infer the reasons for the transgression and based their punishment decisions on the implications of these inferences, considering other relevant information only when a stereotype-based explanation of the behavior was not available. However, recall data suggest that, once a stereotype-based impression of the crime and its determinants was formed, Ss reviewed other available information to confirm the implications of this impression. This led to differential recall of presented information, depending on whether its implications were consistent with, inconsistent with, or irrelevant to those of the stereotype. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An information-processing model of the decision to seek professional help.

Despite the presence of quality mental health care in many communities, people tend to avoid seeking help and wind up languishing in their problems unnecessarily. For the professional to better understand how to reach these individuals, an information-processing model is presented that examines the effects of people's interpretation of their environment and their symptoms on their decision to seek mental health services. Using the model as a guide, suggestions are presented for practitioners who wish to provide services to those who are in need of professional help, yet are hesitant to obtain it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of task variety on generalized effort.

96 female undergraduates were given a training task involving easy or difficult anagrams, mathematics problems, perceptual identifications, or a combination of all 3 problems. To test for the generalization of effort across tasks, all Ss were next asked to write a short essay. The use of a single task throughout training failed to produce an effect of required effort, whereas the combination of all 3 training tasks yielded a greater subsequent essay length and quality by high- than low-effort Ss. Results support the view that increasing the variety of training tasks at high or low required effort contributes to the student's abstraction of a general rule of principle concerning the degree of effort required for successful academic performance. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Termination of therapy: An effort at integration.

This article explores convergences and divergences among 3 different approaches to termination in therapy. Of particular concern are questions of what constitutes the "reality" of termination. Is refusal to taper off sessions or to keep the door open for potential resumption of the work a useful aid in helping the patient come to terms with the reality of termination's finality? Or is it a needless imposition on the patient of a particular view of the therapeutic process that happens to be held by the therapist? Also examined are the complexities of what it means for the process of termination to be pursued collaboratively and the implications for termination decisions of contemporary insights into the 2-person nature of the therapeutic process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in self-assessed health: An information-processing investigation of health and illness cognition.

In 2 studies, the relation between measures of self-assessed health (SAH) and automatic processing of health-relevant information was investigated. In Study 1, 84 male and 86 female undergraduate students completed a modified Stroop task. Results indicated that participants with poorer SAH showed enhanced interference effects for illness versus non-illness words. In Study 2, 27 male and 30 female undergraduate students completed a self-referent encoding task. Results offered a conceptual replication and extension of Study 1 by confirming the specificity of the relation between SAH measures and automatic processing of health (vs negative or positive general trait) information. These studies provide evidence that individual differences in SAH are reflected in schematic processing of health-relevant information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of desegregation on racial attitudes.

Examined the determinants of changes in the racial attitudes of 65 White elementary school children during school desegregation. A multiple regression analysis showed that increases in children's self-esteem, increases in children's interethnic contact, low parental authoritarianism, and nonpunitive parental child-rearing practices were all significantly related to positive changes in racial attitudes. In addition, data are presented that indicate that parental opposition to integration is an indirect determinant of change in children's racial attitudes because of its impact on children's interethnic contact. (2? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbalization, cognitive effort, and heart rate alteration.

Assigned 30 undergraduates to 6 experimental conditions involving 3 levels of posttask verbalization requirement and 2 sensory presentation modalities. Task consisted of a complex essay. Heart and respiratory rates were recorded during 5 phases: baseline, instructions, task, cognitive organization, and recall of facts. Heart rate varied as a function of cognitive demand of task and the interaction of verbalization requirements and cognitive task demand. Respiration rate varied as a function of experimental phase and the interaction of modality of presentation and experimental phases. Results are discussed with reference to J. Lacey's (see P. Knapp, PA, Vol. 38:9615) paradigm and general activation theory. (French summary) (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The information-processing theory of mind.

H. A. Simon expresses his thanks for receiving the American Psychological Association citation for outstanding lifetime contribution to psychology. He describes cognitive psychology as a progressive science that, building on behaviorist and Gestalt foundations, has continually broadened and deepened the phenomena that it can predict and explain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective cognitive effort: A model of states, traits, and time.

Self-regulation theories were used to develop a dynamic model of the determinants of subjective cognitive effort. The authors assessed the roles of malleable states and stable individual differences. Subjective cognitive effort and perceived difficulty were measured while individuals performed an air traffic control task. As expected, Conscientiousness moderated the effort trajectory. Individuals with high Conscientiousness maintained subjective cognitive effort at high levels for longer than their counterparts. There were also individual differences in reactions to perceptions of task difficulty. The intra-individual relationship between perceived difficulty and subjective cognitive effort was stronger for individuals with low ability or low Conscientiousness than for their counterparts. A follow-up study showed that the measures of perceived difficulty and subjective cognitive effort were sensitive to a task difficulty manipulation as well as that the relationship between perceived difficulty and subjective cognitive effort held after controlling for self-set goal level. These findings contribute to the self-regulation literature by identifying factors that influence changes in subjective cognitive effort during skill acquisition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduction of cognitive dissonance through task enhancement and effort expenditure.

This study tested the hypothesis that task performance can facilitate dissonance reduction. It was predicted that dissonance induced by compliance with a negatively valued task setter would be reduced by task enhancement and high effort expenditure. Increased effort was assumed to aid dissonance reduction by validating the initial enhanced valuation of the task. A concept-attainment task was given to 50 undergraduate students who "chose" to comply with an inconsiderate E for no experimental credit (NC), and to 50 students who received credit (C). The NC group persisted longer on an insoluble problem, completed more trials, scored fewer penalty points, and forgot less information than the C group. They also maintained a more performance-anchored level of aspiration and rated the experiment as more interesting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective and cognitive meta-bases of attitudes: Unique effects on information interest and persuasion.

The authors investigated the predictive utility of people's subjective assessments of whether their evaluations are affect- or cognition driven (i.e., meta-cognitive bases) as separate from whether people's attitudes are actually affect- or cognition based (i.e., structural bases). Study 1 demonstrated that meta-bases uniquely predict interest in affective versus cognitive information above and beyond structural bases and other related variables (i.e., need for cognition and need for affect). In Study 2, meta-bases were shown to account for unique variance in attitude change as a function of appeal type. Finally, Study 3 showed that as people became more deliberative in their judgments, meta-bases increased in predictive utility, and structural bases decreased in predictive utility. These findings support the existence of meta-bases of attitudes and demonstrate that meta-bases are distinguishable from structural bases in their predictive utility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning.

Researchers interested in academic self-regulated learning have begun to study processes that students use to initiate and direct their efforts to acquire knowledge and skill. The social cognitive conception of self-regulated learning presented here involves a triadic analysis of component processes and an assumption of reciprocal causality among personal, behavioral, and environmental triadic influences. This theoretical account also posits a central role for the construct of academic self-efficacy beliefs and three self-regulatory processes: self-observation, self-judgment, and self-reactions. Research support for this social cognitive formulation is discussed, as is its usefulness for improving student learning and academic achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)