Semantic priming in the lexical decision task: Roles of prospective prime-generated expectancies and retrospective semantic matching.

In semantic priming paradigms for lexical decisions, the probability that a word target is semantically related to its prime (the relatedness proportion) has been confounded with the probability that a target is a nonword, given that it is unrelated to its prime (the nonword ratio). This study unconfounded these two probabilities in a lexical decision task with category names as primes and with high- and low-dominance exemplars as targets. Semantic priming for high-dominance exemplars was modulated by the relatedness proportion and, to a lesser degree, by the nonword ratio. However, the nonword ratio exerted a stronger influence than did the relatedness proportion on semantic priming for low-dominance exemplars and on the nonword facilitation effect (i.e., the superiority in performance for nonword targets that follow a category name rather than a neutral XXX prime). These results suggest that semantic priming for lexical decisions is affected by both a prospective prime-generated expectancy, modulated by the relatedness proportion, and a retrospective target/prime semantic matching process, modulated by the nonword ratio. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived Facial Expressions of Emotion as Motivational Incentives: Evidence From a Differential Implicit Learning Paradigm.

Participants (N = 216) were administered a differential implicit learning task during which they were trained and tested on 3 maximally distinct 2nd-order visuomotor sequences, with sequence color serving as discriminative stimulus. During training, 1 sequence each was followed by an emotional face, a neutral face, and no face, using backward masking. Emotion (joy, surprise, anger), face gender, and exposure duration (12 ms, 209 ms) were varied between participants; implicit motives were assessed with a picture-story exercise. For power-motivated individuals, low-dominance facial expressions enhanced and high-dominance expressions impaired learning. For affiliation-motivated individuals, learning was impaired in the context of hostile faces. These findings did not depend on explicit learning of fixed sequences or on awareness of sequence-face contingencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist directiveness, client dominance, and therapy resistance.

Studied the interaction of client personality and therapist directive vs. nondirective techniques in producing client resistance. 40 high- and 40 low-dominance male undergraduates, while role-playing client problems, were required to make choices between 32 pairs of high- and low-resistant client responses following therapist statements. Results show that nondirective techniques elicited most client resistance, low dominance Ss tended to give more resistant responses, and both effects were most pronounced when Ss assumed hostile roles. S anxiety was also found indirectly to be related to resistance. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repeated Masked Category Primes Interfere With Related Exemplars: New Evidence for Negative Semantic Priming.

In 4 experiments, the authors found evidence for negatively signed masked semantic priming effects (with category names as primes and exemplars as targets) using a new technique of presenting the masked primes. By rapidly interchanging prime and mask during the stimulus onset asynchrony, they increased the total prime exposure to a level comparable with that of a typical visible prime condition without increasing the number of participants having an awareness of the prime. The negative effect was observed for only low-dominance exemplars and not for high-dominance exemplars. The authors found it using lexical decision (Experiments 1 and 2), lexical decision with a response-window procedure (Experiment 3), and the pronunciation task (Experiment 4). The results are discussed with regard to different theories on semantic priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence for multiple mechanisms of conceptual priming on implicit memory tests.

The authors examined effects of encoding manipulations on 4 conceptual implicit memory tasks: word-cued association, category-cued association, category verification, and abstract concrete classification. Study-phase conceptual elaboration enhanced priming for word-cued association with weakly associated words (Experiment 3), and for category-cued association with high- and low-dominance exemplars (Experiments 4 and 5), but did not enhance priming for word-cued association with strongly associated words (Experiments 1 and 2), for category verification with high- and low-dominance exemplars (Experiment 5), or for abstract/concrete classification (Experiment 7). Forms of priming that were unaffected by conceptual elaboration were not mediated by perceptual processes because they were unaffected by study-test modality changes (Experiments 6 and 8). The dissociative effects of conceptual elaboration on conceptual-implicit tasks suggest that at least 2 dissociable mechanisms mediate conceptual priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Freud's mid-life crisis.

Between ages 39 and 44, Freud 1st tried to create a neuronal psychology, then focused his efforts on finding the origins of neurosis. With the seduction theory, Freud thought he had resolved the problem of etiology, as well as secured the means for the realization of his dream of great scientific discovery. However, he was unable to suppress recurring doubts about the theory, and his inability to do so precipitated a mid-life developmental crisis. Unable either to settle his mind about seduction or to solve the problem of neurosis along other lines, he reluctantly turned to The Interpretation of Dreams. As Freud grew comfortable with a more feminine subject matter and a more feminine way of working, he was able to see that his work on The Interpretation of Dreams would also illuminate the problem of neurosis, albeit in purely psychodynamic terms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning to outwit a competitor in mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus torquatus).

To investigate whether monkeys would be able to acquire the location of hidden food from the experimenter and later from an informed conspecific, a group of 7 mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus torquatus) was tested in an experimental design comparable to E. W. Menzel's (1974) with chimpanzees. Food was hidden in the presence of particular animals. An informed young male repeatedly lost his food to a dominant male. Accordingly, the young male developed a pattern, when he alone was informed, of moving in an indirect route to the goal, which generally functioned to mislead the dominant male to the young male's advantage. When the dominant male was also informed, the young male observed the dominant male taking the food or headed straight to the remaining hidden goal. His taking an indirect route, when he alone was informed, cannot therefore be considered his expected response to a competitive situation but rather is a case of tactical deception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Grant Colossal--Is It Overdone?

Today there seem to be two unverbalized assumptions about funds for social research: (1) If enough is spent on a problem it can be solved promptly, the speed of solution being in direct proportion to the amount spent; (2) significant findings must be expensive. Samples from the recent past suggest that it may be treason to question the enormous sums so cheerfully contributed for such noble purposes. However, could a little consideration achieve more economical results? Could those millions be spread more widely? In an era of multi-thousand-dollar grants, does not the ordinary researcher pale when he recalls what he has accomplished in one year, perhaps without secretarial help, and in addition to his regular duties? How many APA committees--some operating painfully with less than a million-dollar budget!--come up with admirable results? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problem solving in video-based microworlds: Collaborative and individual outcomes of high-achieving sixth-grade students.

The effect of collaboration on problem-solving performance and learning was investigated in the context of a complex, video-based mathematics problem. Ninety-six high-achieving 6th-grade students were randomly assigned to collaborative or individual problem-solving conditions. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) that triads would perform better than individuals when first presented with the problems and (b) that students who had first worked in triads would perform better than students who had worked individually when asked to solve the same problem and a near-transfer problem on their own. Three measures of problem solving and planning were used. Students in the collaborative condition outperformed students in the individual condition on their initial attempt at the problem. In addition, students in the collaborative condition performed better on the mastery and near-transfer problems on 2 out of 3 performance measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mark R. Rosenzweig (1922–2009).

Mark R. Rosenzweig, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, died on July 20, 2009, shortly before his 87th birthday. Born in Rochester, New York, on September 12, 1922, the son of a lawyer and a homemaker mother, Rosenzweig entered the University of Rochester in 1940, where he first encountered his lifelong professional theme: physiological psychology. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1943 and a master’s degree in psychology in 1944. His master’s thesis led him to a first discovery: that, contrary to notions at the time, large-scale removal of auditory cortex would not impair a cat’s responsiveness to the full auditory frequency range. While serving in China with the Navy, he became close with the foreign culture—a second theme that would shape his life. His wife's French origin and her background in cultural anthropology further reinforced Mark Rosenzweig’s internationality, both professionally and in his private life. In his 1949 doctoral thesis, on electrophysiological potential interaction in the auditory cortex under varying conditions of dichotic stimulation, he employed a form of signal averaging similar to that used in later evoked potential work. He then began researching the neuropsychology of learning and memory and it would become his core field of research. Initial work with Krech and the biochemist Edward L. Bennett revealed differences in brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity not only between rat strains and various regions of the cortex but also between rats trained in different testing apparatuses. This led to the innovative conclusion that cortical AChE level not only is a significant independent variable but can change in response to an animal’s prior experience. On the personal side, respect for and protection of human rights were close to Mark Rosenzweig’s mind and heart. This and the international widening of personal horizons he experienced early in life may have played a role in his becoming an early advocate and a devoted promoter of international cooperation and exchange in psychology. Those who had the opportunity, like the present authors, to work closely with Rosenzweig share a lasting gratitude for this collaboration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dominance, prosocial orientation, and female preferences: Do nice guys really finish last?

Three multimethod studies (total N?=?348) probed the hypothesis that women's attraction to men would be influenced by male prosocial orientation. In Study 1, prosocial men were rated as more physically and sexually attractive, socially desirable, and desirable as dates than were nonprosocial men. Dominant men were no more attractive than low-dominance men, and male dominance did not interact with male prosocial orientation in eliciting attraction from women. In Study 2, prosocial orientation was manipulated to avoid "personalism," but still affected attraction. Across all measures attraction was an interactive function of dominance and prosocial tendencies. Dominance alone did not increase any form of attraction measured. In Study 3, male prosocial tendencies and dominance interacted to affect women's attraction to men. Results are discussed in terms of the place of altruism and dominance in evolutionary approaches to human interpersonal attraction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Fate of John Condry.

John Condry (see record 1990-57073-001) has introduced a solution to the communication explosion in psychology. While his solution is unique, creative, and possesses a certain appeal, he has unwittingly failed to assess the potential impact that acceptance of such a proposal would have on his career. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cooperation and competition in means-interdependent triads.

A task was presented to 40 male triads wherein the performance of each participant was maximally determined by the behavior of the other 2. 20 triads received cooperative instructions, 20 received competitive instructions. As predicted the differences between cooperative and competitive groups were particularly great in such a task: cooperative triads, as compared to competitive triads, were more rapid in solving the problem, evaluated fellow team members more favorably, showed less indication of hostility, were more attracted to the task, were more likely to develop leaders. In addition, and contrary to prediction, there was greater concern for personal performance in the cooperative triads. Hypotheses regarding concern for team performance, coalition formation, and the effects of interference with the operations of one member were not supported. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex bias in language use: "Neutral" pronouns that aren't.

Terms such as "his," "he," and "man" refer to males but are also used as putative gender-neutral terms to refer to persons of unspecified sex. It is argued that male terms sometimes fail to be gender-neutral and may therefore be a cause of sex bias as well as a vestige of past inequality. In an experiment with 226 male and 264 female college students on the interpretation of pronouns, male terms such as "his," even in explicitly gender-neutral contexts, caused Ss to think 1st of males significantly more often than did "his or her" appearing in the same place. It is concluded that male terms can fail to be gender-neutral even when it is clear that a person of either sex is referred to, and males may have an advantage in contexts where they are referred to by a putative neutral term. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Saul B. Sells (1913–1988).

Saul Sells was born in New York City on January 13, 1913. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1933, after studying philosophy and psychology, and three years later earned a PhD degree from Columbia University. His dissertation work, supervised by Robert S. Woodworth, was on the atmosphere effect in syllogistic reasoning, an often-cited study. While a student at Columbia, he also worked closely with Edward L. Thorndike. Throughout his career, Saul stressed the significance of organism-environment interactions in understanding and predicting behavior; he also emphasized the need to study behavior in its natural setting. He devoted himself to bridging science and practice in psychology through three major and interrelated research domains. In addition to his 22 books and over 400 articles, Saul's breadth of professional interest and influence is reflected in his numerous awards and organizational affiliations (he was a fellow in 10 different APA divisions). He served on many editorial boards, but special dedication went into his founding efforts and over 20 years as Managing Editor for Multivariate Behavioral Research. On February 4, 1988, at age 75, Saul died of a heart attack while preparing to attend an early morning meeting on another new project. His work was his life and hobby, and he devoted himself to it fully. He and Helen had no children. A brother was his only surviving family member. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective certainty and resistance to change.

"Ss were led to believe that they were exchanging numbered counters with one another, through a messenger, to the end that all six members could achieve simultaneous solutions to a problem… . The crucial determination was whether or not S would break his own solution to yield to a simulated request from another group member for one of the numbers he was using… . evidence is used to support an interpretation of yielding to group pressure which takes account of Ss' perceptual modes of organizing complex, ambiguous situations." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frank Landy (1942–2010).

Frank Landy died peacefully with his family by his side on January 12, 2010. His legacy to the education, research, and practice of industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology will live on in his students, his books and articles, and his ability to define and shape science and practice. Landy believed that good practice followed from good science and spent his career applying what he learned from his own research and the work of others to diverse problems related to selecting employees, managing performance, creating successful human–machine interfaces, and ensuring fair employment practices through his litigation-related work. He was the definition of a scientist–practitioner. Landy was born in Philadelphia on December 30, 1942. He began his study of psychology at Villanova University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1964. He earned a master’s degree (1966) and his doctorate (1969) from Bowling Green State University. Landy joined the faculty at Pennsylvania State University, and during his 26 years there he helped to build one of the most successful I/O psychology programs in the country. He was a member of many professional organizations and won many awards for his outstanding contributions to the field. He began his consulting career in 1965 and helped hundreds of organizations by applying psychological research to the solution of practical problems in human resource management, employee relations, and work motivation. Landy was an avid runner, completing more than 60 marathons, and he often participated in runs at the SIOP conferences. He played and collected guitars and was a great lover of music, often playing and singing publicly. He is survived by his wife Kylie Harper, his two daughters Erin and Elizabeth, his son-in-law George, and his four grandchildren. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of dominance on group decision making: Toward a stress-reduction explanation of groupthink.

Investigated the effects of procedural guidelines for decision making and a personality trait (dominance) on state anxiety and decision quality. 112 undergraduate students who served as Ss were administered the EPPS to determine high or low dominance. Ss participated in 28 4-person, mixed-sex groups and were audiorecorded while they completed a group decision-making task. Results indicate that groups composed of highly dominant members made higher quality decisions, exhibited lower state anxiety, and took more time to reach a decision. They also tended to make more statements of disagreement and agreement and to report more group influence on the members. Results provide support for a stress-reduction explanation of I. L. Janis's (1972) "groupthink" hypothesis with respect to groups composed of either high- or low-dominance individuals. Despite the support of the groupthink hypothesis with respect to dominance, the manipulation of decision-making procedures affected only decision time. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Norman Garmezy (1918–2009).

Norman Garmezy, a pioneer in research on risk and resilience, died in Nashville, Tennessee, on November 21, 2009, at the age of 91. He was a legendary mentor as well as an eminent scientist in clinical psychology. Norm was born on June 18, 1918, in New York City and grew up in the Bronx in a Jewish neighborhood where educational attainment was highly valued. The scientific study of resilience as conceived by Norman Garmezy, his peers, and students has transformed the science and practice of multiple disciplines, from the molecular level to the global ecosystem, infusing a strength-based and recovery-oriented approach into psychology, education, social work, and psychiatry. Current research on resilience ranges from studies of plasticity in brain development to effective planning for resilience in the context of disaster. Norm’s influential ideas and research earned him international acclaim and many honors for lifetime achievements in science. Throughout his career, Norm held many leadership roles. Throughout his life, Norm spoke with great love about his wife of 63 years, Edie Garmezy (who died just months before him in 2009), and their children. In addition to his work and his family, Norm had three abiding passions—theater, movies, and politics. During the last two decades of his life, Norm and those who loved him endured his long decline from Alzheimer’s, which slowly stole his brilliant mind and hilarious sense of humor. Nonetheless, the incredible spirit and humanity of this giant scholar continued to shine through this terrible disease. To the end of his life, Norm’s face would light up with a smile as he greeted the people he loved, and he would often exclaim, “Wonderful!” Norman Garmezy was a remarkable person and scholar who left an extraordinary legacy of love and work to inspire future generations in their efforts to understand and promote the human capacity for competence and resilience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Obituary: Angus Campbell (1910-1980).

Presents an obituary for Angus Campbell (1910-1980). Angus Campbell's career corresponds closely to the development of survey research, a development in which he played a major part for almost 40 years. Although he was trained as an experimental psychologist, early in his career Campbell moved toward social psychology and large-scale quantitiative research. The scope and methods of such research gave him the opportunity to pursue his major substantive interests in political behavior, race relations, and the subjective quality of life. Campbell's best known research may be his work on voting behavior, which dates from 1948. Campbell was also influential in establishing the Interuniversity Consortium for Political Research, a remarkable organization of universities that create and share an international computer-readable archive of social and political data. Many of Campbell's values can be readily inferred from the main themes of his research and writing--minorities, political participation, and the quality of life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)