The "eidetic image" and "hallucinatory" behavior: A suggestion for further research.

Both theoretical and experimental ambiguities have long harassed our understanding of eidetic imagery and hallucinatory behavior. The major issues creating the ambiguities are examined and recommendations are made concerning a fruitful research approach to the problem. 32 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Halo and performance appraisal research: A critical examination.

The different conceptual and operational definitions of halo are reviewed, and problems when using halo as a dependent measure in performance rating research and practice are pointed out. Four major points are emphasized: (1) There is no agreed on conceptual definition of halo; (2) the different conceptual definitions of halo are not systematically related to different operational definitions (i.e., measures) of halo; (3) halo measures may be poor indexes of rating quality in that different halo measures are not strongly interrelated and halo measures are not related to measures of rating validity or accuracy; and (4) although halo may be a poor measure of rating quality, it may or may not be an important measure of the rating process. The utility of assessing halo to determine the psychometric quality of rating data is questioned. Halo may be more appropriately used as a measure to study cognitive processing, rather than as a measure of performance rating outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic age regression and eidetic imagery: A failure to replicate.

Notes that N. S. Walker et al (see record 1976-23467-001) reported the restoration of eidetic imagery in hypnotically age-regressed Ss. In an attempted replication of that study, 60 Ss who previously scored high on hypnotic susceptibility were "hypnotically regressed" to age 7. Before administration of the hypnotic procedures and again after age regression, Ss were tested for eidetic imagery using the random-dot stereograms employed by Walker et al. None of the Ss, including those who were age regressed according to standard criteria and who reported having been eidetikers as children, were successful at the stereogram tasks. Although these results fail to replicate those of Walker et al, they are consistent with the available evidence concerning the performance of children on stereogram tasks. Contrary to the impression conveyed by Walker et al, children tested to date, including those classified as eidetikers by R. N. Haber and R. B. Haber's (1964) criteria, have been unsuccessful at stereogram tasks. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego involvement: A critical examination of some methodological issues.

To further explore the parameter of ego involvement, college Ss were given tasks on conditions of high and low ego involvement. The results confirmed that degree of ego involvement can facilitate task performance, but not to the degree heretofore thought. Ss have a higher level of aspiration on tasks in which they are ego-involved, but ego-involvement instructions are most effective when S realizes he is participating in an experiment where the dimension of ego-involvement is being explored, i.e., he has the appropriate set. Interest in doing well on a task was seen as a valid measure of ego involvement for at least some Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A critical examination of the dendrite growth models: Comparison of theory with experimental data

Dendrite tip temperature, dendrite tip radius and primary arm spacing data, and their variation with the growth speed and temperature gradient for directionally solidified succinonitrile-acetone, succinonitrile-salol, aluminum-copper, and lead-paladium alloys have been examined against their qualititative and quantitative fit with predictions from several dendrite growth models. The Burden and Hunt analysis while predicting the proper quantitative behavior, does not in general, yield a good quantitative agreement with experimental data. Models due to Trivedi, and more recently, Laxmanan (minimum dendrite tip undercooling approach as well as the tip stability approach) show a very good quantitative fit with the experimental data. Predictions of dendrite tip temperature and tip composition in the liquid have been shown to be inadequate to distinguish between the models within the experimentally feasible directional solidification conditions. Therefore, in order to determine which model is most appropriate, additional directional solidification experiments involving simultaneous measurements of dendrite tip radius, tip temperature, tip composition, and primary arm spacing in the low growth velocity regime are suggested.     

Narcissism, affect, and gender: An empirical examination of Kernberg's and Kohut's theories of narcissism.

The activation of narcissistically affirming and disaffirming early memories were used to assess Kernberg's and Kohut's propositions regarding the roles of hostile, depressive, and positive affect in narcissistic character structures. After completing the Narcissistic Personality Inventory participants wrote either an early memory of pride, an early memory of shame, an unspecified memory, or no memory before completing the Projective Affect Scale and Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. ANOVAs were conducted on participants ratings of hostile, depressive, and positive affect. The results indicated that for high relative to low narcissists, prideful and nonspecific memories resulted in less hostility, less pride, and more positive affect. Shameful memories resulted in higher projected hostility for high narcissists. Shame was negatively related to narcissism for males and positively related for females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Restoration of eidetic imagery via hypnotic age regression: A preliminary report.

Eidetic imagery involves the ability to examine a visual stimulus briefly, such as a picture or a design, and later project onto a neutral surface an image that represents an exact duplication of the original. This phenomenon is reliably found in a minority of children (8-20%), but is essentially nonexistent in adults. The present study used the differential frequency of eidetic imagery ability between children and adults as a basis for testing the validity or efficacy of hypnotic age regression. It was hypothesized that hypnotized adult Ss, given suggestions to regress to an earlier age, would revert to earlier modes of information processing, which for a small minority would include the ability to form eidetic images. Results indicate that 2 of the 20 undergraduate Ss achieved the criterion by identifying the correct figure in 3 10,000-dot stereograms while age regressed. None of the Ss correctly identified any stereogram figures while awake or merely hypnotized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of psychotherapy supervision on client outcome: A critical examination of 2 decades of research.

The supervision of counselors-in-training has become an important area of psychotherapy research. Through supervision, one expects that trainees will gain the knowledge and clinical skills needed to work effectively with clients. Much research has been dedicated to understanding trainee skill development through supervision, but relatively few studies in the literature have addressed whether clinical supervision leads to improved client outcome. The current article presents a review of 2 decades of research into the question of whether clinical supervision improves client outcome. Ten studies conducted between 1981 and 1997 are reviewed in detail. Caveats and criticisms, as well as suggested directions for future research, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A critical examination of the national information system for psychology.

Reviews issues surrounding apa's efforts to improve communication among its scientists, professional members, and larger constituency of readers and user groups. The views of various individuals are included as part of the report, including those of D. A. Grant, S. E. Seashore, R. R. Holt, J. J. Jenkins, G. A. Miller, J. Senders, A. Brayfield, J. Loevinger, and J. A. Ziman. The nature of innovations in the national information system in psychology (nisp) is outlined and plans for further work described. Findings from the trial of the experimental publications system are reported in brief. The channels within the governance of apa that are involved in the decisions about nisp are described. Included with the report is the projected budget for nisp for the calendar year 1971. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The fan effect: A tale of two theories.

This article addresses J. R. Anderson and L. M. Reder's (see record 1999-05245-004) account of the differential fan effect reported by G. A. Radvansky, D. H. Spieler, and R. T. Zacks (see record 1993-16287-001). The differential fan effect is the finding of greater interference with an increased number of associations under some conditions, but not others, in a within-subjects mixed-list recognition test. Anderson and Reder concluded that the differential fan effects can be adequately explained by assuming differences in the weights given to concepts in long-term memory. When a broader range of data is considered, this account is less well supported. Instead, it is better to assume that the organization of information into referential representations, such as situation models, has a meaningful influence on long-term memory retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automated image registration: I. General methods and intrasubject, intramodality validation

The question of whether bees can take novel short cuts between familiar sites has been central to the discussion about the existence of cognitive maps in these insects. The failure of bees to show this capacity in the majority of previous studies may be a result of the training procedure, because extensive training to one feeding site may have eliminated or weakened memories for other sites that were previously trained. Here we present a novel approach to this problem, by rewarding honey bees, Apis mellifera carnica, at two feeding sites, one (Sm, 630 m southeast from the hive) at which they could feed in the morning, and the other (Sa, 790 m northeast) at which they could feed in the afternoon. We then displaced bees to Sa in the morning and to Sm in the afternoon either from the other feeding site or from the hive. Bees were also displaced to two novel sites, one at a completely unfamiliar location (S4) and another that was located halfway between the two feeding sites (S3). Bees displaced from either of the feeding sites never took novel short cuts; instead, they used the homeward directions that would have been correct had they not been displaced. Bees caught at the hive entrance, however, chose the correct homeward direction not only when displaced to both feeding sites, but also when displaced to S3, although not from S4. Control bees that had been trained to only one of the feeding sites were not able to travel directly home from S3 excluding the possibility that bees used landmarks close to the hive. This is the first evidence that bees take a novel short cut by activating two vector memories simultaneously. The potential mechanisms of integrating the two memories are discussed. Since bees took novel short cuts in only one direction (to the hive) and only when displaced from the hive (not the feeders), we conclude that inference of a cognitive map in bees would be premature. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.     

Implicit theories, attributions, and coping: A meaning system approach.

This research sought to integrate C. S. Dweck and E. L. Leggett's (1988) model with attribution theory. Three studies tested the hypothesis that theories of intelligence—the belief that intelligence is malleable (incremental theory) versus fixed (entity theory)—would predict (and create) effort versus ability attributions, which would then mediate mastery-oriented coping. Study 1 revealed that, when given negative feedback, incremental theorists were more likely than entity theorists to attribute to effort. Studies 2 and 3 showed that incremental theorists were more likely than entity theorists to take remedial action if performance was unsatisfactory. Study 3, in which an entity or incremental theory was induced, showed that incremental theorists' remedial action was mediated by their effort attributions. These results suggest that implicit theories create the meaning framework in which attributions occur and are important for understanding motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On data, methods, and theory: An epistemological evaluation of psychology.

Argues that psychology, in virtue of its strict hypotheticalism and faithful adherence to scientific conventionality, had foreclosed the possibility of discovery in its own practice. Psychology's "scientific" character has rendered it less scientific. In light of its ambiguous philosophical underpinning in the assumption of positivism and scientific realism, psychology has tended to disqualify other competing epistemologies out of hand; consequently, it has generated very little coherent theory. Psychology's extant failure to disambiguate its fundamental postulates, combined with its relative methodological exclusivity, has rendered it somewhat blind to its past and augurs poorly for its future. Transcendental realism is discussed as possibly a more apposite philosophical substrate, which, if understood and faithfully applied, would liberalize psychology epistemologically and render it more philosophically coherent. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Restoration of eidetic imagery via hypnotic age regression: More evidence.

Investigated the restoration of eidetic imagery in a population of adult Ss with the aid of hypnotic age regression. Since such imagery reliably occurs in a minority of children, the employment of hypnosis to regress adults to a time when they were children indicated that this procedure can restore, temporarily, eidetic imagery in a minority of adults. From a larger pool of 482, 24 highly hypnotizable undergraduates, determined by their scores on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, reported having had eidetic images as children. From this volunteer sample, only 2 (or 8.33% of the 24 or .42% of the 482) were able to succeed with an eidetic combination of 10,000 dot stereograms when hypnotically regressed. No other S, regardless of condition, succeeded. It is concluded that to demonstrate eidetic imagery an S must have an ability to be hypnotically age-regressed and a history of childhood eidetic imagery. It is suggested that the proportion of Ss meeting this criterion is much smaller than previously thought. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stepping up to the challenge: A critical examination of face-to-face and computer-mediated team decision making.

The stepladder technique was designed to improve team decision making by staggering members' entry into a discussion (S. G. Rogelberg, J. L. Bames-Farrell, & C. A. Lowe, 1992). After examining the real and perceived influence exerted by members joining the discussion at different stepladder stages, the authors compared the technique's effects on face-to-face versus computer-mediated teamwork. They also tested the impact of electronic communication on members' perceptions of their collaborative processes. Results did not support the hypothesis that stepladder members joining the discussion early in the procedure enjoy disproportionate amounts of perceived influence, yet a prediction concerning the stepladder technique's incongruent effects across different communication media was partially upheld. As expected, face-to-face participants felt more influential and satisfied than their computer-mediated counterparts, regardless of decision technique. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of stereotypes: A comparison and integration of three theories.

In the present research we examined predictions derived from the following three theoretical approaches to stereotyping: complexity-extremity theory, assumed characteristics theory, and expectancy-violation theory. In order to assess these predictions, we manipulated the race, personal appearance, and dialect style of target job applicants. White judges rated these applicants of a set of characteristics relevant to hiring decisions. Results were consistent with all three theories. Specifically, the range of judges' evaluations of black applicants was larger than the range of their evaluations of white applicants; the effects of personal appearance and dialect style were larger that the effects of race; and black applicants, on average, received more favorable ratings than white applicants. We present a model integrating all three perspectives, and we demonstrate its usefulness for explaining our results and for understanding past research on stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The generation effect: A test between single- and multifactor theories.

Single- and multifactor accounts of the generation effect (better memory for internally generated items than for externally presented items) were tested. Single-factor theories suggest that generation induces either stimulus–response relational processing or response-oriented processing. Multifactor theories suggest that generation induces both types of processing. In the first 3 experiments Ss either read or generated responses, and the degree of categorical structure within the list was manipulated. When categorical structure was minimal, large generation effects were observed for free recall and recognition, but not for cued recall. When categorical structure was high, however, a generation effect was observed for cued recall but not for recognition or free recall. A 4th experiment was performed to eliminate an uninteresting interpretation of the results. It is argued that a multifactor account is needed to explain these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)