The effects of a communication on attitude change and scale judgments.

"The purposes of this study were to assess the effects of a persuasive communication on attitude change and on judgments of the scale values of opinion items and to examine the relationship between attitude change and evaluations of the communication. An experimental group of subjects was exposed to a communication advocating abolution of capital punishment, after which they evaluated the communication, judged the scale values of 36 opinion statements, and revealed their own attitudes by responding to 20 opinion items… . The major results are: The communication changed attitudes in the direction advocated. But the groups were alike in their judgments of the scale values of the related opinion statements. Hence, a change in scale judgments is not a necessary condition for attitude change." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3GD33W. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between probability of endorsement and social desirability scale value for a set of 2,824 personality statements.

A group of 47 male and 48 female judges rated 2824 personality statements for social desirability using a 9-point rating scale. Another group of 110 male and 111 female Ss described themselves in terms of the same set of 2824 statements by answering each "true" or "false." The correlation between probability of a "true" response and social desirability scale value for the combined sex groups was .892. The distribution of the social desirability scale values of the 2824 statements was distinctly bimodal. These results are in accord with another large-scale study in which 1647 personality statements were investigated. In view of the large number of personality statements involved in these 2 studies, it is suggested that a correlation of .90 between probability of endorsement and social desirability scale value and a bimodal distribution of the scale values of personality statements may be characteristic of the population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A factor-analytic approach to object-sorting behavior.

Rapaport's (1945) modification of the Object Sorting Test from the Goldstein-Scheerer (1941) battery has two parts. On Part I, which involves active concept formation, the subject must sort the objects and then define his sortings; on Part II, involving passive concept formation, he need only define the examiner's sortings. The aim of the present study was to explore further the structure of the Object Sorting Test, and the relationship between intelligence and performance on this test. The data utilized were those reported by Rapaport for three groups: normals, neurotics, and schizophrenics. Thirteen measures from the Object Sorting Test and the Wechsler-Bellevue Full Scale IQ were selected for analysis. All the distributions were dichotomized, tetrachoric correlations were determined, and the resulting correlation matrices, one for each group, were factor analyzed by the principal components method. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A technique for increasing the reproducibility of cumulative attitude scales.

From a set of 40 statements for which Thurstone Scale values had previously been determined, a set of 9 statements were presented in paired-comparison form (36 pairs) to 370 psychology students. "… using the method of paired comparisons in conjunction with a set of opinion statements with known scale values… has promise for the construction of attitude scales with a relatively high degree of reproducibility and satisfactory reliability." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Irregularities in judgment data collected by the method of equal-appearing intervals.

"The purpose of this note is to report an analysis of the various types of irregularities found in the sortings made by 712 college students of the 130 Thurstone-Chave statements of attitude toward the church. Hypotheses relative to the causes of some of these irregularities are suggested." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social desirability ratings of personality variables by Norwegian and American college students.

The statements in Edwards Personal Preference Schedule were used to determine the degree of relationship between social desirability judgments made by Norwegian and American college students. 86 Norwegian Ss averaging 17 years of age and 152 college students of somewhat higher age rate the statements on a 9-point scale ranging from extremely socially desirable to extremely socially undesirable. The correlation between the scale values of the 2 ethnic groups was .78 which indicates a high agreement with 61% of the variance being common. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus spacing and successive interval scale values.

An attempt was made to determine the extent to which the interval properties of attitude scales constructed by the method of successive intervals are dependent upon the stimulus spacing properties of the statement group that is judged. 4 stimulus spacing conditions were used. 312 Ss were asked to judge on a 9-category scale sets of statements that had been extracted from the Thurstone and Chave scale measuring attitudes toward the church. The results of the study showed a straight line fit could accommodate scale values coming from paired experimental groups. Dispersion estimates did not permit a linear fit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scale judgments of triplets of opinion statements.

115 students at Boston University evaluated the attitude positions of anonymous sources when different sets of 3 opinion statements were attributed to them. The triplets varied in the extent to which their constituent statements reflected strongly favorable to strongly unfavorable sentiments in regard to capital punishment. The results indicate that the scale judgment of a triplet and confidence concerning judgment are affected by the mean of the scale values of the component statements and by the dispersion of the scale values around the mean. The extreme triplets are judged even more pro or con than any of their constituents. The judges' own positions on the issue did not affect their evaluations of the triplets. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A scale for the measurement of attitudes toward French Canadians.

Constructed a scale (FC scale) for the measurement of attitudes toward French Canadians and its reliability and validity were assessed. 50 judges rated 45 statements for their favorableness-unfavorableness toward French Canadians. The method of successive intervals was used to derive scale values. 26 statements were included in the FC scale. Administering this scale to an English Canadian sample (n = 304) and a French Canadian sample (n = 208) yielded split-half reliability coefficients of .78 and .72, respectively. The scale was found to have considerable empirical validity when assessed. 1st, the correlations of the FC scale with the preference and the identity scales were significant and in the predicted direction for both samples. 2nd, as predicted, the French sample showed a highly favorable attitude toward themselves, while the English sample showed only a mildly favorable attitude toward the French Canadians. (French summary) (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of concept training on interproblem transfer in rats.

Assigned 24 hooded rats, matched for intelligence on the Hebb-Williams maze, to 3 groups. Groups I and II were trained on 10 2-choice simultaneous discrimination problems (56 trials/problem); for Group I, positive discriminanda had the feature of curvature in common. Group III were untrained controls. On transfer to 10 unrelated discrimination problems (20 trials/problem), Group III ran at 50% correct. Group I was significantly superior to all other groups and Group II was significantly superior to Group III. It is concluded that training on related problems leads to a more efficient reduction of error tendencies than training on unrelated problems. (French summary) (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Militant extremist mind-set: Proviolence, Vile World, and Divine Power.

In the present article, the authors report on the development of a scale for the measurement of the militant extremist mind-set. A previous pilot study identified 56 statements selected from writings of various terrorist groups as well as from psychological, historical, and political texts on terrorism. These statements, together with measures of personality, social attitudes, values, and social cynicism, were administered to participants from 9 countries (N = 2,424). A series of exploratory factor analyses of 56 statements produced 3 factors: Proviolence, Vile World, and Divine Power. Correlations of these factors with external variables indicate that Divine Power is a traditional religiosity scale, whereas Proviolence and Vile World scales cannot be accounted for by the existing psychological constructs. The distribution of scores on the Proviolence scale is skewed, indicating that the majority of participants disapprove of this attitude. The authors also present means for the countries included in the analysis. Participants from Malaysia endorse Vile World and Divine Power statements stronger than participants from other countries. The 3 Asian countries (China, Korea, and Malaysia) endorse Proviolence more strongly than countries from other parts of the world. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generalizing the illusory correlation effect.

We used two experiments to examine the influence of one's own attitude on the perception of group attitudes. In the first experiment, subjects viewed opinion statements, supposedly made by residents of two towns, on the issue of building a local nuclear power station. One town was large and had frequently occurring statements and the other was small with infrequently occurring statements; there was an equal proportion of pro and anti statements in both towns. The prediction that subjects would perceive an illusory correlation between attitude positions similar to their own (self-relevance) and the infrequently cited (distinctive) town was supported for anti subjects only. Subsequent investigation indicated that this was due to the confounding effect of a prior expectation associating small towns with more antinuclear attitudes. Experiment 2 eliminated the variable of town size by informing subjects that towns of equal size had been more heavily or lightly sampled. Consistent with the hypotheses, both pro and anti subjects perceived an illusory correlation between their own attitude and the town providing the smaller sample, this effect increasing with attitude extremity. The consequences of these findings for the generalizability of illusory correlation explanations of stereotyping are discussed. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of own attitude on polarization of judgment.

Previous research has shown that the more favorable a group's attitude, the more polarized its judgments of others' attitude statements. Two experiments that surveyed 298 undergraduates on the issue of abortion suggested no satisfactory explanation for the phenomenon. Response distributions revealed that judgments by neutral and "anti" raters were more likely to be bimodal than judgments by "pro" raters. This bimodality resulted in a reduction of polarization for anti and neutral groups. When only normatively correct responses were considered, differential polarization between anti and pro groups largely disappeared. A final experiment with 65 undergraduates indicated that a certain proportion of raters misinterpreted the task as one requiring the rating of their own rather than the statements' attitude. In consequence, anti raters, and to some extent neutral raters, produce response inversions. Results are consistent with a semantic interpretation (accentuation theory) under the assumption that pro and anti scale labels differ in connotation across rating groups. They are also consistent with the perceptual interpretation (assimilation-contrast theory) that neutral raters are more likely to assimilate extreme statements to their own attitude position. Researchers need to take more care that respondents understand the requirements of experimental tasks and that data reflect unimodal response tendencies across conditions. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Induction of labor by endocervical application of prostaglandins and intravenous infusion of oxytocin in postterm pregnancy

The study compares two contemporary modes of labor induction: intravenous application of Syntocinon and endocervical application of prostaglandins and examines their efficacy and safety. Ninety women were divided according to the degree of cervical maturation (shown by Bishop score) into two groups. In group I there were 60 women with unripe cervix (Bishop score < or = 5) and induction was performed by endocervical application of 0.5 mg Dinoprostone, and in group II there were 30 women with ripe cervix (Bishop score < or = 6) in which the induction was performed by intravenous application of Syntocinon (500 ml of 5% glycose with 10 iu of Syntocinon). After three hours the initially significantly different Bishop score values were equalized and it was possible to correlate the duration of the labor (Group I 545 min, Group II 338 min). The correlation of initial Bishop score values and the total duration of the labor was negative and high in both groups. All the neonates from both groups were in good condition and no serious complication was noted. Both methods of labor induction appear similarly effective and safe both for the fetus and the mother.     

Increased myocardial ultrasonic reflectivity is associated with extreme hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy: a tissue characterization study in humans

We assessed myocardial reflectivity pattern in a large spectrum of left ventricular mass values, covering the extremes from absent to severe myocardial hypertensive hypertrophy. Quantitatively assessed ultrasonic backscatter is an index of ultrasonic tissue characterization directly related to the morphometrically evaluated collagen content in humans. We enrolled 88 essential hypertensives. With an echo prototype implemented in our Institute, integrated values of the radiofrequency signal of myocardial walls were obtained and normalized for those of the pericardium (Integrated Backscatter Index, IBI, %). Left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was measured by Devereux formula. There was a weak correlation between septal IBI and LVMI (r = 0.35; P < .001). On the basis of LVMI values, three groups of hypertensives were identified, with absent (Group I, n = 23; LVMI < 125 g/m2), mild to moderate (Group II, n = 44; LVMI from 125 to 174 g/m2), or severe (Group III, n = 21; LVMI > 175 g/m2) left ventricular hypertrophy. The Integrated Backscatter Index in the septum was lower in patients of Group I (IBI = 23.3% +/- 3.6%) and II (IBI = 26.5 +/- 7.6; P = NS v Group I), in comparison with patients of Group III (IBI = 31.1 +/- 5.9; P < .02 v II; P < .0001 v I). An increased myocardial wall reflectivity is detectable only in the presence of extreme forms of hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy.     

Sampling of similar and dissimilar comparison persons and objects as a function of the generality of attribution goal.

Conducted an information-search procedure in which Ss were asked to seek information regarding persons and objects in order to validate a given person or object cause. Four hypotheses were tested: When asked to validate a person cause, Ss are more likely to select distinctiveness information than target-object consensus information. When asked to validate an object cause, Ss are more likely to select target-object consensus information than distinctiveness information. As the generality of person inference increases, progressively dissimilar object comparisons are sought. As the generality of object inference increases, progressively dissimilar person comparisons are sought. In Exp I, 26 undergraduates read attitude statements and answered judgment goals or questions about the statement's generality or object inference. 52 undergraduates in Exp II completed a similar task. The first 3 hypotheses were supported in both Exp I and Exp II, whereas the 4th hypothesis received only mixed support in Exp I and was not supported in Exp II. Unlike Exp I, Exp II did not include cues suggesting the relevant type of information to be sought. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Perception of Social Attitudes.

The purpose of this study, is first of all to see whether a set of perceived attitude relationships can be adequately represented in dimensional terms and, secondly, to see if two groups, which probably differ with respect to these attitudes, perceive them as being structured in different ways. In the present study a multidimensional method of successive intervals (1, 6) was applied to a set of attitude statements in an attempt to discover the number and the nature of the relevant dimensions perceived. The attitude statements were chosen from three of Thurstone's scales--attitude toward war, attitude toward capital punishment, and attitude toward the treatment of criminals. The procedure was applied using two diverse groups in an attempt to discover any differences which may exist in the structuring of these perceived relationships. The groups chosen for this purpose were a theological seminary class and an Air Force officer candidate class. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes of endothelin-1 and atrial natriuretic peptide during dobutamine stress echocardiography

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that plasma endothelin-1 (ET-1) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) concentrations in patients with ischemic heart disease are related either to myocardial ischemia or left ventricular (LV) dysfunction during dobutamine stress echocardiography. Plasma concentrations of ET-1 and ANP were measured in three patient groups. Group I (n = 21) patients had normal stress echocardiography and a resting LV ejection fraction (LVEF) of 40% or more. Group II (n = 32) had positive stress echocardiography and a resting LVEF of more than 40%. Group III (n = 18) had positive stress echocardiography with a resting LVEF of less than 40%. All three groups were subjected to thallium 201 scintigraphy and coronary angiography studies. The resting LV end-diastolic pressure was significantly higher in groups II and III than in Group I. The LVEF decreased significantly in group III compared to groups I and II. In the resting state, groups II and III had higher ET-1 concentrations than Group I (p = 0.021 and p = 0.039, respectively). The plasma ANP concentration was higher in group III than in groups I and II (p = 0.005 and p = 0.054, respectively). During peak dobutamine infusion, the ET-1 concentration dropped 8.7% from the baseline in group I, 10.2% in group II, and 10.5% in group III. The ANP concentrations were increased in all three groups but only the increase in Group II reached statistical significance. In conclusion, in patients with suspected ischemic heart disease, the concentrations of ET-1 and ANP may predict significant anatomic and functional coronary artery disease. However, ET-1 does not play a pathophysiologic role during an ischemic attack.     

Interferon-gamma-inducing factor gene transfection into Lewis lung carcinoma cells reduces tumorigenicity in vivo

The operative mortality and morbidity in patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction who undergo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) remain high. The low ejection fraction is the major risk factor for operative mortality. However, ejection fraction (EF) alone may not necessarily be an accurate predictor of operative mortality. We studied the correlation between indices of left ventricular volume and operative mortality. One thousand patients undergoing isolated coronary bypass operations were divided into three groups according to their preoperative ejection fraction. Fifty patients (group I) had severe left ventricular dysfunction (EF < or = 0.3), 56 patients (group II) had moderately left ventricular dysfunction (0.3 < EF < or = 0.4) and 894 patients (group III) had good left ventricular function (EF > 0.4). We analyzed the relationship between hospital mortality and left ventricular volume in 106 patients with an EF < or = 0.4. RESULTS: Cardiac index was not significantly different among the three groups. The left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and mean pulmonary artery pressure in groups I an II were higher than those in group III. The left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) was 146 +/- 44 ml/m2 in Group I, 112 +/- 31 ml/m2 in Group II and 82 + 30 ml/m2 in Group III, respectively (Group I versus II, p < 0.05, Group I and II versus III, p < 0.01). The left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) was 111 +/- 38 ml/m2 in Group I, 72 +/- 21 ml/m2 in Group II and 30 +/- 14 ml/m2 in Group III, respectively (Group I versus II, p < 0.05, Group I and II versus III, p < 0.01). The LVEDV and LVESV were higher in Group I than in Group II and both in Groups I and II were higher than in Group III. The hospital mortality of any cause before discharge was 8.0% (4/50) in Group I, 3.6% (2/56) in Group II, and 2.0% (18/894) in Group III. The mortality in Group I was higher than that in Group III, but the mortality between Groups I and II was not different. We assessed correlations between large left ventricle with left ventricular dysfunction and operative mortality in 106 patients with ejection fractions of < or = 0.4. The hospital mortality in patients with both under fraction 0.4 and an LVESV > or = 140 ml/m2 was 50% (4/8). This rate was higher than in patients with an LVESV between 80 and 140 ml/m2 (1.8%, 1/55) (p = 0.0006) and an LVESV less than 80 ml/m2 (2.3%, 1/43), (p = 0.0013). The hospital mortality in patients with an LVEDV > or = 200 ml/m2 was 67% (4/6). It was also higher than that in patients with an LVEDV between 200 and 120 ml/m2 (1.7%, 1/58), (p = 0.0001), and an LVEDV less than 120 ml/m2 (2.4%, 1/42), (p = 0.0004). We conclude that patients with a low ejection fraction and an elevated LVESV or LVEDV are at increased risk for hospital death following CABG.     

The relationship between judgments of a communicator's position and extent of opinion change.

3 groups of Ss, college students, were formed: 2 exposed to a communication on juvenile delinquency and a control group that was not. One group read an appeal for the adoption of a punitive policy toward delinquents; the other group read the same basic communication with the addition of a few introductory statements. Both groups then responded to a modification of Form A of the Wang-Thurstone scale of attitude toward the treatment of the criminal. Judgment of the communicator's position was not found to be related to own opinion on the treatment of delinquents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)