A test of the salience hypothesis of dream recall.

Tested the hypothesis that dream salience (subjective impact of the generated dream) would be greater for frequent than infrequent dream recallers. Dream recall data from 8 frequent and 8 infrequent recallers (male undergraduates) were obtained under 2 conditions: tape-recorded verbal reports given to the E after interruption of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and written diary reports after awakening by alarm clock in the absence of the E. Analysis of the verbal reports confirmed the hypothesis. The relatively greater difference between the 2 groups in mean percentage of dream diary recall for Stage 2 (non rapid eye movement; NREM) than for REM awakenings suggests that salience differences between the 2 groups may be greater following NREM than REM awakenings. Although salience may be affected by dream recall as well as dream generation processes (imagery ability seems related to both), the higher frequency of temporal references to past and future in the dreams of frequent recallers appears to relate to the generation process alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of several methods of teaching contour interpretation.

"Two companies of 162 Ss each were trained by the use of various combinations of concrete or abstract representations of terrain (a terrain board, two-dimensional slides and three-dimensional slides of the terrain), and concrete or abstract symbols (contour lines on two-dimensional or three-dimensional maps). Learning resulting from these methods was compared to the Standard Army method, and a No-Training (control) condition… the training method involving representation of terrain by two-dimensional slides, and presenting the symbols on a three-dimensional map, generally led to highest proficiency." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further investigation of the self-presentation hypothesis.

Discusses A. Fontana, E. Klein, E. Lewis, and L. Levine's data supporting their self-presentation hypothesis which maintains that "mental illness" is not an illness at all but a socially undesirable mode of behavior. Several methodological problems in the study are noted. A more reliable means of selecting healthy and sick presenters, as well as a 2 (healthy vs. sick presenter) * 2 (anticipation vs. no anticipation of evaluative feedback) * 3 (positive, negative, no feedback) design, was used in a study with 84 male schizophrenics. A critical mode of self-presentation by feedback interaction predicted by the self-presentation hypothesis was not found. The dependent measure was postscores minus prescores on the WAIS Digit Symbol tests. It is concluded that, at best, self-presentation effects are weak and unobserved by the current investigators (Beta error), or at worst the result of extraneous sources of variation. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of mental abilities: An investigation of the "differentiation hypothesis."

Attempted to determine the extent to which verbal, numerical, spatial, and perceptual speed abilities will be differentiated as a function of differing amounts of classroom learning. The hypothesis was tested that verbal and numerical abilities will be differentiated earlier than perceptual speed and spatial scanning, because learning requiring the former types of abilities is emphasized quite early in the school program. 3 groups (111 7th graders, 95 9th graders, and 75 11th graders) were given the tests measuring verbal, numerical, perceptual, and spatial-scanning abilities from the Kit of Reference Tests. The factor analyses of the correlation matrices yielded 4 factors for each sample associated with eigenvalues greater than 1. The verbal and number factors were identifiable at the Grade-7 level but neither of the other 2 was easily interpretable. The spatial-scanning factor emerged at the Grade-9 level and all 4 factors were distinctly defined at the Grade-11 level. Results support the hypothesis that mental abilities become differentiated as a function of increased learning experiences. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An hypothesis for the interpretation of the contractile response of vascular smooth muscle at the cellular level

The long preservation and recovery of functional (contractile) properties in cultured aortic smooth muscle cells, even after replating or deep-frozen storage and the measurement of their responses are now technically settled issues. We could thus study extensively the responses of single cultured cells from rat thoracic aorta. Responses were elicited by the addition of KCl 40 mmol/L without or with a calcium blocker PN 200-100 (10(-6) mol/L); angiotensin II (10(-11)-10(-6) mol/L) without or with antagonist (losartan 10(-5) mol/L); or serotonin (10(-9)-10(-4) mol/L) without or with antagonist (naftidrofuryl 10(-5) mol/L). Results thus obtained enabled us to propose a new hypothesis for the interpretation of the contractile responses of an elastic vascular smooth muscle. The different maximal effects of different agonists result mainly from the different proportions of cells they can mobilize; the agonist concentration-contraction relationship is mainly due to the increase of the proportion of cells involved up to a maximal value typical of the agonist used. An antagonist primarily reduce the proportion of cells an agonist can mobilize. Some of the consequences of this hypothesis are briefly outlined.     

Blade runner: An interpretation.

Reviews the film, Blade runner directed by Ridley Scott (1982). This movie was the forerunner of more recent film treatments of the relations between humans and androids such as A.I. Artificial intelligence (S. Spielberg, 2001) and Minority report (S. Spielberg, 2002). This juxtaposition is of particular interest to psychoanalysts because it stimulates thinking about what qualities are quintessentially human. By means of its rich symbolism and allusive cinematic vocabulary, the film explores such questions as the nature of the superego, the Oedipus complex, identity formation, and the eternal struggle between eros and thanatos. The author uses the material of the film to comment on some of the fundamental differences between Freud's worldview and that of the neo-Freudians. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scapegoating: An experimental investigation.

A group of 48 high prejudice (HP) Ss and 48 low prejudice (LP) Ss were studied, with ? of each group exposed to an aggression including film and ? to a control film. When a measure of fantasy aggression (Objective Apperception Test) was employed, LP Ss exceeded HP Ss in expression of prejudice. However, when a verbal measure of prejudice (Triandis and Triandis Social Distance scale) was employed, an increase in prejudice always followed instigation to aggression, HP Ss always exceeded LP Ss in expression of prejudice, and scapegoating was specifically isolated towards the Chinese. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The marathon group hypothesis: An unanswered question.

Criticizes J. Guinan and M. Foulds's (see record 1970-08431-001) use of the Personal Orientation Inventory in an attempt to evaluate the effects of marathon groups. The research design, statistical analysis, and extrapolations are challenged. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An alternative interpretation of oneness.

Comments on L. H. Silverman and J. Weinberger's (see record 1986-15022-001) interpretation of their data as supporting the concept that subliminally induced gratification of wishes can enhance adaptation in both schizophrenic (SCZ) and non-SCZ individuals. This interpretation was strongly biased by Silverman and Weinberger's original intent. An alternative interpretation of their data is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of late closure: The role of syntax, thematic structure, and pragmatics in initial interpretation.

Four reading-time experiments investigated the application of the late closure principle in Italian. The experiments tested the principle governing the initial attachment of different types of modifiers (relative clause, adjectival phrase, and prepositional phrase) to a complex noun phrase. By manipulating the type of preposition within the complex noun phrase, the authors investigated the role of the thematic structure in initial and final parsing. The results show that the late closure principle applies to initial parsing in Italian without being affected by the thematic structure of the complex noun phrase. Final interpretation, however, shows an effect of pragmatic preference and an effect of thematic structure on syntactic revisions. The results are discussed in terms of a parsing model that adopts syntactic parsing strategies and makes modular use of linguistic information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of dimensional salience and salience of variability on problem solving: A developmental study.

Presented a matching task to 120 6-20 yr olds to investigate the relative influence of dimensional salience and salience of variability on problem solving. The task included 4 dimensions: form, color, number, and position. On each problem, 1 dimension was relevant and the other 3, which could be either constant or variable, were irrelevant for solution. Ss were asked to find which of 2 stimuli was more similar to a standard stimulus. Results show the same dimensional hierarchy for both reaction time and error scores. The effect of variability, as measured by reaction time and error scores, increased with increasing number of variable irrelevant dimensions and decreased with age. The effect of variability proved to be greater than the effect of dimensions. The implications of the relative influence of dimensional salience and salience variability for problem solving are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An experimental study of the double bind hypothesis.

The primary aim of the study was to assess whether persons highly conversant with the double bind concept could reliably identify such communication in letters, and, if so, whether its presence or absence was related to the fact of the letter having been written by the parent of a schizophrenic or nonschizophrenic person. The interjudge correlations of the double bind judges were very low, indicating that their judgments regarding presence or absence of double bind communication were not reliable. Other judges achieved statistically significant interjudge reliability and were able to differentiate between letters written by parents of patients and a comparison group. It was concluded from these results that a more critical appraisal of the double bind concept is indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of the salience asymmetry interpretation of the Implicit Association Test: Comment on Rothermund and Wentura (2004).

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) requires responding to category contrasts such as young versus old, male versus female, and pleasant versus unpleasant. In introducing the IAT, A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, and J. L. K. Schwartz (1998) proposed that IAT measures reflect mental structures involving the nominal features of the IAT's categories (e.g., age, gender, or valence features). In contrast, K. Rothermund and D. Wentura (see record 2004-14313-001) proposed that IAT performance is dominated by salience asymmetries of the IAT's pairs of contrasted categories. To assess relative contributions of nominal feature contrasts versus salience asymmetries, the authors (a) briefly summarize the extensive evidence now available to support construct validity of the IAT as a measure based on nominal category features and (b) present 2 new experiments that yielded results problematic for the salience asymmetry interpretation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interactional model of anxiety: An evaluation of the differential hypothesis.

Tested the interactional model of anxiety that states that individuals who score high on a trait anxiety measure for a specific situation dimension will respond with elevated state anxiety only in reaction to encounters with congruent situations. 40 undergraduates who scored high or low on ego threat, physical danger, novelty ambiguity, and daily routine trait measures of the S-R Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness were presented with stressors representative of the 4 situation dimensions. The interactional model was partially supported for ego threat trait anxiety. However, results generally support the influence of the situation rather than the trait or interaction on anxiety response. The lack of trait factor independence for the novelty ambiguity and daily routine trait dimensions is discussed as a potential reason for the nonsupport of the interactional model. It is suggested that the experimental design used in this study is a more accurate test of the differential hypothesis than past research. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Covert auditory spatial orienting: An evaluation of the spatial relevance hypothesis.

The spatial relevance hypothesis (J. J. McDonald & L. M. Ward, 1999) proposes that covert auditory spatial orienting can only be beneficial to auditory processing when task stimuli are encoded spatially. We present a series of experiments that evaluate 2 key aspects of the hypothesis: (a) that “reflexive activation of location-sensitive neurons is not sufficient to produce attentional facilitation” and (b) that “any task constraint that makes space important for the listener will produce auditory spatial cue effects” (p. 1236). Experiment 1 showed significant reflexive-orienting benefits on a nonspatial task, refuting the first claim. However, Experiments 2 to 4 reveal that informative spatial cues can improve performance on a nonspatial task, consistent with the second claim. Auditory spatial-cue benefits found with nonspatial tasks appear smaller and less reliable than those found in visual spatial-orienting studies, possibly due to differences in the coding of spatial information in vision and audition. The final experiments consider the mechanisms by which auditory spatial orienting might facilitate auditory processing and provide tentative evidence that attention enhances processing at one ear rather than influencing neurons tuned to the attended location. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An impression management interpretation of the self-handicapping strategy.

Explored the impression-management underpinnings of the self-handicapping strategy of S. Berglas and E. E. Jones (see record 1979-05889-001). 64 male undergraduates were given success feedback after completing soluble or insoluble analogies. While anticipating a 2nd test, Ss were allowed to choose between drugs that would enhance or encumber their performance. Ss who had worked on insoluble problems chose the debilitating drug, but only when the experimenter (E) witnessed the choice. They were most likely to choose the debilitating drug when the E was present and when they believed that the E would have access to their score on the anticipated 2nd test. The data are cautiously interpreted as consistent with an impression management view of self-handicapping. The authors suggest that although it appears that self-handicapping is an impression management strategy at least under some circumstances, the exact nature of the strategy needs further specification. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contrast effects in attitude judgment: An examination of the accentuation hypothesis.

A common finding in attitude judgment is that attitude positions discrepant from an extreme judge's own position are judged as more discrepant than in fact they are. The 2 studies in this article suggest that these contrast effects may be due to accentuation phenomena, as outlined by H. Tajfel (see record 1958-04920-001). Judges may make more polarized pro/anti judgments if they perceive the attitude positions as also differing on an agree/disagree (peripheral) dimension and if the judgment dimension and the peripheral dimension are correlated. In Study 1, a survey was conducted of 290 members of the National Organization for Women and the Massachusetts Federation of Republican Women to test the hypothesis. Strong support was found for the accentuation explanation of contrast effects. To rule out an individual difference alternative explanation for these results, Study 2 with 44 undergraduates experimentally manipulated the salience of the agree/disagree peripheral dimension. Greater contrast was found when the dimension was salient. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transcendental interpretation: An alternative approach to psychological inquiry.

Presents the transcendental interpretation approach to psychological inquiry based on the use of the Kantian transcendental argument, which relies on the criterion of consistency. Kant's purpose in employing this argument was as a means for justifying particular knowledge claims. Use of this approach is illustrated by examining the intersubjective and moral conditions necessary for the practice of selfhood. It is argued that phenomena of interest to psychological study differ fundamentally from those of natural science, rendering some of the methods applied in the latter inappropriate to the study of the former. The transcendental argument can provide a direction for psychological research in 2 ways: By helping it to lend intelligibility to its subject matter, and extending ordinary practices by making explicit the goods and norms that motivate them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overjustification, assumed consensus, and attitude change: Further investigation of the incentive-aroused ambivalence hypothesis.

We conducted two experiments to examine the influence on attitudes of an oversufficient payment for belief-consistent actions. In Experiment 1, subjects recorded a proattitudinal statement. Then the effects of attitudinal extremity, payment, and provision of a countercommunication were investigated. Dependent measures tapped attitude, assumed consensus, recall, and information processing efficiency. Attitude change was most evident among paid subjects exposed to the countercommunication. These subjects' estimates of consensus were also diminished. Covariation of the attitude and consensus measures was significant. Auxiliary analyses suggested that overpayment attenuated consensus, which heightened susceptibility to attitude change. Experiment 2 considered the effects of payment and timing of measures on attitudes, assumed consensus, and recall. Results disclosed that payment for proattitudinal advocacy attenuated consensus even before such advocacy was undertaken. Attitudes were not influenced in this condition. Consensus and attitude were diminished among paid subjects exposed to a countercommunication. Implications of these findings for the incentive-aroused ambivalence hypothesis (Crano & Sivacek, 1984) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of synesthesia.

This study was designed to investigate relations between synesthesia (the occurrence of imagery in one sense modality in response to sensations in another) and intellectual and personality functioning. Female (n?=?204) and male (n?=?170) subjects completed a visual-auditory synesthesia battery, paper-and-pencil synesthesia tests, the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), and a brief intelligence test. The findings indicate generalized and continuously distributed individual differences in the tendency to represent sounds as colors in accordance with empirically derived norms. However, this ability is not related to individual differences in the reported vividness of the associated imagery or to intelligence. A moderate relation was found between vividness measures, particularly vividness of visual images associated with sound, and a tendency to enjoy and become involved in imaginative experiences as measured by the Absorption scale of the MPQ. Contrary to existing beliefs, vividness of synesthetic imagery was not found to be associated with personality dysfunction or with intelligence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)