A note concerning Kendall's Tau.

The use of the Tau statistics when there are ties may lead to significance tests yielding spurious results. A correction formula for this situation is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note concerning sensory deprivation.

Argues that in the short span of a few years the topic of sensory deprivation has become fashionable in psychological society. It has generated considerable experimental research, has proven itself worthy of foundation support, and has been a popular theme at APA and regional meetings. An excerpt from Melville's "Moby Dick" is presented to provide a literary precedence for this topic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note concerning the history of testing.

By tabulating all the references to each test mentioned in the several "Mental measurements yearbooks" by O. K. Buros a perspective into the history of psychometric emphasis is achieved. Comparisons were made as to the total number of publications for each test through 1936 and through 1951, and for the periods 1937-1940 and 1948-1951. These results were related to reports of tests clinics use and divergences between the usage and number of publications were noted and discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on the developmental nature of reflection–impulsivity.

The hypothesis that children become more reflective as they get older was tested using the norms developed for the Matching Familiar Figures Test. For both sexes up through age 10 yrs, a decrease in errors and an increase in latency were found. After that age, errors stabilized and latency decreased. Correlations between errors and latency also peaked at age 10 (and were lowest for the youngest and oldest groups), suggesting a maximization of trade-off between speed and accuracy. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note concerning homogeneity of membership and group problem solving.

Effect of group structure on group efficiency in problem-solving situations was investigated primarily to test the assumption of a previous investigator that his results were generalizable beyond the limited (college) sample employed. The present research suggests that they are not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Editors' note on debate concerning emotional intelligence.

This issue of Emotion opens with a feature that we intend to become a regular institution in the publication of the journal: an article followed by invited peer commentary. Our underlying principle for such commentary is to invite a small number of eminent scholars to provide brief comments on an article that is likely to generate debate. We believe this practice will serve to broaden the debate as well as to foster the exchange of arguments in an open and available forum. The debate in this issue focuses on the topic of emotional intelligence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Note taking versus note having.

Studied the relationship of note taking and review to retention of information presented by lecture. Performance of 172 undergraduates was measured immediately and/or 1 wk following the lecture by free recall and verbatim and paraphrase completion tests. Taking and reviewing notes yielded maximum retention and recall efficiency, while listening-only without review resulted in poorest performance. The benefit of note taking appeared to be derived from having an opportunity to subsequently review notes, and not from the act of note taking itself. Encoding differences as a function of note taking were minimal, while the external storage function assumed primary importance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral self-handicaps versus self-reported handicaps: A conceptual note.

An examination of the literature on self-handicapping reveals that the construct has been operationalized in two different ways. Some writers have regarded self-handicapping as a behavioral strategy that would be expected to make success on a task more difficult, thereby augmenting a nonability explanation for failure. Other writers have treated self-handicapping as a verbal claim that one's performance has been handicapped by factors beyond one's control. These two uses of the term are discussed, and recommendations are made regarding ways of resolving the conceptual confusion resulting from using a single term to refer to both phenomena. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of message framing on mammography utilization.

This experiment compared the effectiveness of gain- versus loss-framed messages to persuade women to obtain mammography screening. One hundred and thirty-three women 40 years and older and not adhering to current guidelines for obtaining mammography screening were assigned randomly to view either gain-framed (emphasizing the benefits of obtaining mammography) or loss-framed (emphasizing the risks of not obtaining mammography) persuasive videos that were factually equivalent. Attitudes and beliefs were measured before and immediately following the intervention. Mammography utilization was assessed 6 and 12 months later. Consistent with predictions based on prospect theory, women who viewed the loss-framed message were more likely to have obtained a mammogram within 12 months of the intervention. These findings suggest that loss-framed messages may have an advantage in the promotion of detection behaviors such as mammography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological versus spatial determinants of social schema distance: A methodological note.

Notes that recent applications of J. Kuethe's (see pa, vol. 37:2972) "social schema" technique to the measurement of interpersonal relationships among normal and disturbed persons have assumed that schematic figure placements indicate the psychological closeness a person feels toward given others. 2 experiments were conducted with 32 male undergraduates and 36 male hospital employees to investigate the possible confounding of psychological and spatial distance. In a factorial design, the effects of these 2 variables were examined both separately and in interaction. Psychological distance was varied by having ss interact with either a warm or a cold e, while spatial distance was varied by how far s sat away from E. Objective spatial distance exerted a significant influence on schematic placement distance, I.e., the distance placed between figures representing self and E. This influence was especially strong before ss and e had had appreciable interaction. E's psychological distance showed no effect on the figure placements. (11 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cautionary note.

Cautions psychologists to reexamine the desirability of exporting to other cultures the motivational traits that may be responsible for the environmental threats facing technologically advanced nations. Socially concerned scientists have an ethical responsibility to examine the consequences of applying their knowledge before pursuing the means of implementation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cautionary note.

In response to B. Gillen's (see record 1974-11898-001) readability and human interest scores of textbooks, R. A. Youth comments that Gillen overlooked the fact that at least 6 of the evaluated books have come out in revised editions, which may be more readable and human-interest oriented than the original editions. The author suggests a comparison of Flesch ratings of original vs revised editions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Turnover functionality versus turnover frequency: A note on work attitudes and organizational effectiveness.

Tested whether work attitudes, widely praised as predictors of turnover frequency (i.e., the number of separations), are also useful predictors of turnover functionality (i.e., the nature of separations). Measures on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job involvement, motivation to turnover, and turnover frequency and functionality were obtained from 112 retail salespersons. Results indicate that (a) the traditional measure of turnover frequency overstates the detrimental effects of turnover on organizational effectiveness, in that 53% of the turnover was functional and (b) turnover functionality, which emphasizes the performance levels of stayers and leavers, is unrelated to work attitudes. Findings suggest that organizations should not devote resources to programs designed to improve employee attitudes, based solely on the expectation that decreasing turnover frequency will result in beneficial consequences. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-deception: A postmodern reflection.

The traditional perspective on self-deception, which assumes that the mind can be simultaneously involved in contradictory stories and that there is an integrated understanding of the "truth" somewhere inside, is apparent in most contemporary theories of psychology. A critique of the phenomenon from a postmodern perspective raises questions regarding these assumptions. Ideas from evolutionary biology and research concerning hypnotically induced amnesia are used to support the thesis that self-deception is more a cultural phenomenon maintained by the observer, than a natural phenomenon situated in the individual mind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on class effects in Aptitude?×?Treatment interactions.

Results pertaining to methodological aspects of an Aptitude?×?Treatment interaction study previously conducted by the author (1977) with 271 5th graders are presented. One treatment group in the study was given imagery instructions, the other had no imagery instructions. Among the aptitude variables were 2 versions of a paired-associates learning task. Within-class analyses and analyses in which class effects were allowed to have influence were conducted. In the latter analyses there were several significant Aptitude?×?Treatment interactions with subscores derived from the paired-associates tasks, but this was not the case in the within-class analyses. The interactions found are interpreted as being consequences of class effects with respect to errors of measurement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cautionary note on the effects of range restriction on predictor intercorrelations.

The purpose of this research report is to highlight a unique set of issues that arise when considering the effects of range restriction in the context of estimating predictor intercorrelations. Three approaches are used to illustrate the issue: simulation, a concrete applied example, and a reanalysis of a meta-analysis of ability-interview correlations. The general conclusion is that a predictor intercorrelation can differ dramatically from the population value when both predictors are used in a composite that is used operationally for selection. The compensatory nature of a composite means that low scorers on one predictor can only obtain high scores on the composite if they obtain very high scores on the other predictor; this phenomenon distorts the correlation between the predictors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of message framing and ethnic targeting on mammography use among low-income women.

The authors examined the effects that differently framed and targeted health messages have on persuading low-income women to obtain screening mammograms. The authors recruited 752 women over 40 years of age from community health clinics and public housing developments and assigned the women randomly to view videos that were either gain or loss framed and either targeted specifically to their ethnic groups or multicultural. Loss-framed, multicultural messages were most persuasive. The advantage of loss-framed, multicultural messages was especially apparent for Anglo women and Latinas but not for African American women. These effects were stronger after 6 months than after 12 months. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note about IUPS.

This brief note congratulates the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPS), to which APA and national psychological societies from 44 other countries belong, on its special international issue of the American Psychologist (November 1977). Readers interested in the contents of this special issue should also know about the International Journal of Psychology, founded by IUPS in 1966. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on projection.

Projection if defined as "unwittingly attributing one's own traits to others" may be either defensive or predictive. It still needs much research effort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)