On interpreting the effects of transgression upon compliance.

Several recent experiments have shown that individuals induced to damage another person were subsequently more willing to comply in a simple request. Interpretation of this transgression-compliance effect in terms of "guilt" is considered premature because guilt has imprecise conceptual status, independent checks on alleged guilt manipulations have been lacking, and the obtained results do not fit derivations from a guilt formulation. An alternative explanation is proposed in which it is assumed that an individual who has affected the fate of another will do so again, if situationally appropriate, to maintain social consistency. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accentuating the positive: Eliciting generalized compliance from children through activity-oriented requests.

Investigated the effectiveness of activity-oriented requests as a technique for enhancing children's generalized subsequent compliance with other adult requests; 54 nursery school children, 3.7–5.9 yrs old, were studied. In Session 1, experimental Ss were asked to perform a chore and encouraged to make this task more enjoyable by either (a) generating a series of subgoals against which their own performance could be measured or (b) imagining the task to be part of a larger fantasy of inherent interest. Some Ss were offered a choice of particular goal-setting or fantasy-transformation strategies; others were assigned specific strategies. Two weeks later, Ss were asked to perform another task by a 2nd experimenter who was blind to the results of Session 1. Compared to appropriate controls, Ss who had been assigned either a goal-setting or a fantasy-transformation strategy showed increased compliance to the later adult request. Ss who chose their own strategies did not show enhanced compliance. Further analyses suggested that these effects on generalized compliance during Session 2 did not depend on differences in prior behavior during Session 1. Implications for enhancing children's compliance in home and school settings are discussed. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral contrast in pigeons depends upon the operant.

Reinforced 3 male Carneaux pigeons for depressing a foot treadle according to multiple VI/VI schedules. After rates of responding stabilized, the schedule in 1 component was changed to extinction. This manipulation resulted in either no change or a decrease in rate of responding in the unchanged component. The Ss were then reinforced for key pecking under the same procedure. When key pecking was the operant, the experimental manipulation resulted in behavioral contrast. Results are discussed in terms of Pavlovian * Instrumental interactions. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

If you need help, just ask: Underestimating compliance with direct requests for help.

A series of studies tested whether people underestimate the likelihood that others will comply with their direct requests for help. In the first 3 studies, people underestimated by as much as 50% the likelihood that others would agree to a direct request for help, across a range of requests occurring in both experimental and natural field settings. Studies 4 and 5 demonstrated that experimentally manipulating a person's perspective (as help seeker or potential helper) could elicit this underestimation effect. Finally, in Study 6, the authors explored the source of the bias, finding that help seekers were less willing than potential helpers were to appreciate the social costs of refusing a direct request for help (the costs of saying "no"), attending instead to the instrumental costs of helping (the costs of saying "yes"). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Congruity effects in the survival processing paradigm.

Five experiments were conducted to investigate a proposal by Butler, Kang, and Roediger (2009) that congruity (or fit) between target items and processing tasks might contribute, at least partly, to the mnemonic advantages typically produced by survival processing. In their research, no significant survival advantages were found when words were preselected to be highly congruent or incongruent with a survival and control (robbery) scenario. Experiments 1a and 1b of the present report show that survival advantages, in fact, generalize across a wide set of selected target words; each participant received a unique set of words, sampled without replacement from a large pool, yet significant survival advantages remained. In Experiment 2, we found a significant survival advantage using words that had been preselected by Butler et al. to be highly unrelated (or irrelevant) to both the survival and control scenarios. Experiment 3 showed a significant survival advantage using word sets that had been preselected to be highly congruent with both scenarios. Finally, Experiment 4 mixed congruent and incongruent words in the same list, more closely replicating the design used by Butler et al., and a highly reliable main effect of survival processing was still obtained (although the survival advantage for the congruent words did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance). Our results suggest that the null effects of survival processing obtained by Butler et al. may not generalize beyond their particular experimental design. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The direct effects of compliance on health outcome.

Six studies that randomized patients to drugs vs placebo and also made compliant/noncompliant determinations are reviewed to document the main effects of compliance on health outcome. While the studies varied in terms of demonstrating a main effect of drugs, in 5 of 6 cases a main statistical effect of compliance was observed. Possible mechanisms for this effect are briefly noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of methylphenidate on learning in children with ADDH: The stimulus equivalence paradigm.

Investigated the effect of methylphenidate (MPH) on the ability of children with Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADDH) to learn both trained and untrained complex visual relationships and compared these findings to their school performance under identical dosage parameters. 26 children between the ages of 6 and 12 years with ADDH participated in a double-blind, placebo control, within-subjects design in which each child received four doses of MPH (5, 10, 15, 20 mg) and a placebo in a counterbalanced sequence. MPH enhanced children's learning of both taught and untaught visual relationships, and most changes were similar to, albeit less dramatic than, those obtained for the children's attention and academic performance in school. Results of group and single-subject analyses are presented and discussed with relevance to psychopharmacological research and understanding the complex relationship between learning and psychostimulants used in treating children with ADDH. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of psychotherapeutic practice upon psychotherapists.

60 psychotherapists (mean age 38 yrs) participated in 2 1-hr interview sessions that focused on their experiences of work and their perceptions regarding the interface between their personal and professional lives. In addition, Ss were asked to complete a rating scale measuring their perceptions of personality changes they have undergone since beginning therapeutic practice. Results indicate that, as a consequence of their practice, Ss became increasingly psychological-minded, self-aware, and self-assured. These changes were all in a positive direction and consonant with changes therapists often seek to promote in patients. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual contrast versus reciprocal concession as mediators of induced compliance.

Determined whether a reciprocal concessions approach or a perceptual contrast approach better explains the success of a compliance strategy in which a 2nd moderate-sized request is asked immediately after the refusal of a 1st large-sized request. One of 4 Es contacted each undergraduate S by phone and made 2 requests which were varied so that Ss were in 1 of 4 conditions: yielding plus gaining, gaining-only, yielding-only, and control. In the yielding strategy, the sacrifice of the requestor was emphasized while in the gaining strategy, the lessened cost to the S was emphasized. Data from 77 Ss support the view that the critical manipulation in eliciting compliance is the reduction of relative cost to the S, not personal concession shown by the requestor. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of sex-role identification upon problem-solving skill.

An experimental test of the hypothesis that sex differences in problem-solving skill may be, at least in part, a function of differences in sex-role identification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of pre-sleep suggestion upon REM sleep.

8 university students who spent 7 consecutive nights in a sleep lab were given presleep instructions on the 4th and 6th nights to either increase or decrease their dreaming time depending upon the order in which they were to receive the treatment conditions. Sleep records showed no changes from baseline sleep stage percentages, but the number of rapid eye movements (REMs) and eye movement density measures indicated increases (but not decreases) which were in accordance with the suggestions. Results cast further doubt on the equivalence of the REM state and dreaming and are in support of the notion that REMs themselves may be better indicators of dreaming than is the REM state. (French summary) (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some contrast effects in social perception.

The classical psychophysical experiment requiring S to make judgments comparing 2 stimuli re some dimension stands as the model for this research, only the traditional inanimate stimulus has been replaced by people. "The major hypothesis of this paper is that an anchorage or standard is formed on the basis of the experience with the first person and that subsequently contrast occurs in the perception of the second stranger when there is a great perceived difference between the two." Ss listened to recordings of a psychologist and a student who was asked to talk about himself, and then rated the students and the psychologist on 2 questionnaires. The results confirmed those derived from traditional psychophysical experimentse indicating the relevance of laboratory findings to everyday life. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3GE50H. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cue-availability paradigm: The effects of cigarette availability on cue reactivity in smokers.

Researchers have hypothesized that drug availability should influence addicts' reactions to drug-related stimuli. but manipulation of the extent to which drug users have access to their drugs following a session of exposure to drug cues have not produced strong availability effects. This study used within-session manipulations of drug availability to examine cigarette smokers' reactions to smoking cues. Smokers (N?=?60) were exposed to 48 trials of either a lit cigarette or a class of water while they were informed of the probability (0%, 50%, or 100%) that they would be able to consume the cue on each trial. Results from measures of craving, mood, skin conductance, and latency to access the cues indicated that the trial-by-trial manipulation of drug availability had a pronounced impact on reactivity to cigarette cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assimilation and contrast effects in the judgments of groups.

In a series of four experiments, we examined the impact of varying the salience of an extremely different out-group on subjects' evaluations of a moderately different out-group. Evaluations of the moderately different out-group were accentuated when the extreme out-group was present: In a preliminary study and in Experiment 1, the moderate out-group was rated more poorly; in Experiments 1, 2, and 3, it was rated more favorably. Results were interpreted in a social judgment framework. Evidence from Experiment 3 indicated that salience of the extreme out-group was associated with a shift in the positions subjects thought the moderate out-group espoused. This shift in judgment may have brought about or at least justified the change in subjects' evaluations of the moderate out-group. Implications for intergroup relations are considered in the discussion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Importance of contrast effects in employment interviews.

Examined contrast effects by having 80 students watch 3 videotaped interviews of job applicants and rate them in terms of their job qualifications. 2 videotapes were used to establish a frame of reference; ratings of the 3rd were evaluated for contrast effects. It was found that contrast effects were statistically significant, but they accounted for a small part of the total variance in ratings when high- or low-suitability applicants were seen in the 3rd position. When an average applicant was preceded by 2 high- or 2 low-suitability applicants, however, contrast effects accounted for a substantial part (80%) of the total variance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information requests in the context of escalation.

Staw's (1981) theory of escalation, that decision makers who are responsible for a failure will be more retrospectively oriented than those who are not responsible for a failure, was tested by monitoring the information requests of subjects performing the Adams and Smith decision case (Staw, 1976). A total of 72 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students completed a computer-administered version of the case, in which they were permitted to request information files that had been preclassified as retrospective or prospective on the basis of the results of data collected from a different sample of MBA students. We found that 75% of the subjects who were responsible for a previous failure requested retrospective information, compared to about 25% of the subjects who were not responsible for a failure. This significant difference (i.e., p?     

Long-term perceptual specificity effects in recognition memory: The transformed pictures paradigm.

The effects of a study/test mismatch in the viewing mode of natural scenes on recognition memory performance were examined. At both encoding and retrieval, scenes were presented either by being divided into quarters that were displayed in a sequential cumulative fashion or by scrolling the images through the screen, thereby gradually revealing the content of the images. Half of the participants were tested immediately after encoding and the other half after 48 hours. For both the immediate and delayed retrieval conditions, better recognition memory was demonstrated when viewing modes matched across study and test than when they mismatched. Implications for current processing and multiple systems views of memory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Turning up the contrast: Self-enhancement motives prompt egocentric contrast effects in social judgments.

Contrast effects occur when people judge the behavior and attitudes of others relative to their own. We tested a motivational account suggesting that these effects arise because people tailor their judgments of others to affirm their own self-worth. Consistent with that interpretation, participants displayed more egocentric contrast in their judgments of another person's intelligence (i.e., their evaluation of his score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test was more negatively related to their own score) after their self-esteem was threatened than after it was bolstered (Studies 1 and 2). High-self-esteem individuals displayed more judgmental contrast overall than did their low-esteem counterparts (Study 2). Strongly pro-choice participants whose esteem was threatened also displayed more contrast in their judgments of another person's attitude on abortion, relative to esteem-bolstered participants (Study 3). Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for theory on social comparison, self-affirmation, and social judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of group expectations and self-esteem upon self-evaluation.

This study explores the effect of a specific level of achievement upon an individual's evaluations of his performance when the achievement is relative to an aspiration level set by a group and to the member's stabilized expectations about himself as represented by his self-esteem. Ss were assigned to one of 4 conditions, composed of the combinations of high and low group expectations and relevance and non-relevance of task to the purposes of the group. Half of the Ss within each experimental condition were allowed to succeed and the other half made to fail. Several specific hypotheses within this framework were tested. "The group's expectations appear to have been more potent as a scale of reference than the individual's self-esteem in determining his evaluation of his performance. When the influence of the group was weakest (task was non-relevant) persons high in self-esteem… differed in the way they evaluated their performance. When the influence of the group was strongest (task was relevant) there was no difference in the way that persons high or low in self-esteem rated their achievement." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)