Showing papers in "Psychological Bulletin in 1991"

Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review.

Abstract: The literature on interference in the Stroop Color-Word Task, covering over 50 years and some 400 studies, is organized and reviewed. In so doing, a set of 18 reliable empirical finding is isolated that must be captured by any successful theory of the Stroop effect. Existing theoretical positions are summarized and evaluated in view of this critical evidence and the 2 major candidate theories ―relative speed of processing and automaticity of reading― are found to be wanting. It is concluded that recent theories placing the explanatory weight on parallel processing of the irrelevant and the relevant dimensions are likely to be more sucessful than are earlier theories attempting to locate a single bottleneck in attention

Conventional wisdom on measurement: A structural equation perspective.

Abstract: The applicability of 5 conventional guidelines for construct measurement is critically examined: (a) Construct indicators should be internally consistent for valid measures, (b) there are optimal magnitudes of correlations between items, (c) the validity of measures depends on the adequacy with which a specified domain is sampled, (d) within-construct correlations must be greater than between-construct correlations, and (e) linear composites of indicators can replace latent variables. A structural equation perspective is used, showing that without an explicit measurement model relating indicators to latent variables and measurement errors, none of these conventional beliefs hold without qualifications. Moreover, a "causal" indicator model is presented that sometimes better corresponds to the relation of indicators to a construct than does the classical test theory "effect" indicator model.

Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: The mobilization-minimization hypothesis.

Abstract: Negative (adverse or threatening) events evoke strong and rapid physiological, cognitive, emotional, and social responses. This mobilization of the organism is followed by physiological, cognitive, and behavioral responses that damp down, minimize, and even erase the impact of that event. This pattern of mobilization-minimization appears to be greater for negative events than for neutral or positive events. Theoretical accounts of this response pattern are reviewed. It is concluded that no single theoretical mechanism can explain the mobilization-minimization pattern, but that a family of integrated process models, encompassing different classes of responses, may account for this pattern of parallel but disparately caused effects.

Binge eating as escape from self-awareness.

Abstract: This article proposes that binge eating is motivated by a desire to escape from self-awareness. Binge eaters suffer from high standards and expectations, especially an acute sensitivity to the difficult (perceived) demands of others. When they fall short of these standards, they develop an aversive pattern of high self-awareness, characterized by unflattering views of self and concern over how they are perceived by others. These aversive self-perceptions are accompanied by emotional distress, which often includes anxiety and depression. To escape from this unpleasant state, binge eaters attempt the cognitive response of narrowing attention to the immediate stimulus environment and avoiding broadly meaningful thought. This narrowing of attention disengages normal inhibitions against eating and fosters an uncritical acceptance of irrational beliefs and thoughts. The escape model is capable of integrating much of the available evidence about binge eating.

Parental divorce and the well-being of children: a meta-analysis.

Abstract: This meta-analysis involved 92 studies that compared children living in divorced single-parent families with children living in continuously intact families on measures of well-being. Children of divorce scored lower than children in intact families across a variety of outcomes, with the median effect size being .14 of a standard deviation. For some outcomes, methodologically sophisticated studies yielded weaker effect sizes than did other studies. In addition, for some outcomes, more recent studies yielded weaker effect sizes than did studies carried out during earlier decades. Some support was found for theoretical perspectives emphasizing parental absence and economic disadvantage, but the most consistent support was found for a family conflict perspective.

What is beautiful is good, but…: A meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype.

Abstract: This review demonstrates that the physical attractiveness stereotype established by studies of person perception is not as strong or general as suggested by the often-used summary phrase what is beautiful is good. Although subjects in these studies ascribed more favorable personality traits and more successful life outcomes to attractive than unattractive targets, the average magnitude of this beauty-is-good effect was moderate, and the strength of the effect varied considerably from study to study Consistent with our implicit personality theory framework, a substantial portion of this variation was explained by the specific content of the inferences that subjects were asked to make: The differences in subjects* perception of attractive and unattractive targets were largest for indexes of social competence; intermediate for potency, adjustment, and intellectual competence; and near zero for integrity and concern for others. The strength of the physical attractiveness stereotype also varied as a function of other attributes of the studies, including the presence of individuating information.

Diathesis-stress theories in the context of life stress research: Implications for the depressive disorders.

Abstract: Advances in the conceptualization and measurement of life stress in the past 2 decades raise several questions concerning traditional diathesis— stress theories of psychopathology. First, comprehensive measures of life stress force investigators to become more precise about the particular stressful circumstances hypothesized to interact with diatheses. Second, the influence of the diathesis on a person's life is typically ignored, which results in several types of possible bias in the assessment of life stress. Finally, information is available on diatheses and stress for specific disorders to provide a foundation for more empirically based hypotheses about diathesis—stress interactions. This possibility is outlined for depression. Such an approach provides the basis for developing broader, yet more specific, frameworks for investigating diathesis—stress theories of psychopathology in general and of depression in particular.

Parents' differential socialization of boys and girls: A meta-analysis.

Abstract: A meta-analysis of 172 studies attempted to resolve the conflict between previous narrative reviews on whether parents make systematic differences in their rearing of boys and girls. Most effect sizes were found to be nonsignificant and small. In North American studies, the only socialization area o

The affective organization of parenting: Adaptive and maladaptative processes.

Abstract: This article presents a 3-component model of parenting that places emotion at the heart of parental competence. The model emphasizes (a) child, parent, and contextual factors that activate parents' emotions; (b) orienting, organizing, and motivating effects that emotions have on parenting once aroused; and (c) processes parents use to understand and control emotions. Emotions are vital to effective parenting. When invested in the interest of children, emotions organize sensitive, responsive parenting. Emotions undermine parenting, however, when they are too weak, too strong, or poorly matched to child rearing tasks. In harmonious relationships emotions are, on average, positive because parents manage interactions so that children's and parents' concerns are promoted. In distressed relationships chronic negative emotion is both a cause and a consequence of interactions that undermine parents' concerns and children's development.

Culture and the categorization of emotions.

Abstract: Some writers assume--and others deny--that all human beings distinguish emotions from nonemotions and divide the emotions into happiness, anger, fear, and so on. A review of ethnographic and cross-cultural studies on (a) emotion lexicons, (b) the emotions inferred from facial expressions, and (c) dimensions implicit in comparative judgments of emotions indicated both similarities and differences in how the emotions are categorized in different languages and cultures. Five hypotheses are reviewed: (a) Basic categories of emotion are pancultural, subordinate categories culture specific; (b) emotional focal points are pancultural, boundaries culture specific; (c) emotion categories evolved from a single primitive category of physiological arousal; (d) most emotion categories are culture specific but can be defined by pancultural semantic primitives; and (e) an emotion category is a script with both culture-specific and pancultural components.

Stress and infectious disease in humans.

Abstract: This article reviews research on the role of stress in infectious disease as measured either by illness behaviors (symptoms and use of health services) or by verified pathology. Substantial evidence was found for an association between stress and increased illness behavior, and less convincing but provocative evidence was found for a similar association between stress and infectious pathology. Introverts, isolates, and persons lacking social skills may also be at increased risk for both illness behaviors and pathology. Psychobiological models of how stress could influence the onset and progression of infectious disease and a psychological model of how stress could influence illness behaviors are proposed.

Costs and benefits of judgment errors: Implications for debiasing.

Abstract: Some authors questioned the ecological validity of judgmental biases demonstrated in the laboratory. One objection to these demonstrations is that evolutionary pressures would have rendered such maladaptive behaviors extinct if they had any impact in the «real world» attempt to show that even beneficial adaptations may have costs. I extend this argument to propose three types of judgment errors-strategy-based errors, association-based errors, and psychophysical based errors-each of which is a cost of a highly adaptive system

Developmental change in speed of processing during childhood and adolescence

Abstract: Throughout childhood and adolescence, there are consistent age differences in speed of processing Here 72 published studies yielded 1,826 pairs of response times (RTs) in which each pair consisted of adults' mean RT for a condition and the corresponding mean RT for a younger group The primary results were that (a) children's and adolescents' RTs increase linearly as a function of adult RTs in corresponding conditions and (b) the amount of increase becomes smaller with age in a manner that is well described by an exponential function These results are consistent with the view that age differences in processing speed reflect some general (ie, nontask specific) component that changes rapidly during childhood and more slowly during adolescence Possible candidates for the general component are discussed

Empirical status of cognitive theory of depression

Abstract: Studies testing cognitive theory of depression (Beck, 1963, 1987) and defining depression as a clinical syndrome are reviewed. Many aspects of the theory's descriptive claims about depressive thinking have been substantiated empirically, including (a) increased negativity of cognitions about the self, (b) increased hopelessness, (c) specificity of themes of loss to depressive syndromes rather than psychopathology in general, and (d) mood-congruent recall. Evidence that depressive thinking is especially inaccurate or illogical, however, is weak. Fewer studies have tested the theory's causal (diathesis-stress) hypotheses, and there is no strong evidence supporting them.

Explanation, imagination, and confidence in judgment.

Abstract: This article concerns a class of experimental manipulations that require people to generate explanations or imagine scenarios. A review of studies using such manipulations indicates that people who explain or imagine a possibility then express greater confidence in the truth of that possibility. It is argued that this effect results from the approach people take in the explanation or imagination task: They temporarily assume that the hypothesis is true and assess how plausibly it can account for the relevant evidence. From this view, any task that requires that a hypothesis be treated as if it were true is sufficient to increase confidence in the truth of that hypothesis. Such tasks cause increased confidence in the hypothesis at the expense of viable alternatives because of changes in problem representation, evidence evaluation, and information search that take place when the hypothesis is temporarily treated as if it were true.

Suppression situations in psychological research : definitions, implications, and applications

Abstract: In 1941, Horst noticed that a variable can be totally uncorrelated with the criterion and still improve prediction by virtue of being correlated with other predictors. He christened such variables suppressors, a title that implies that such variables suppress criterion-irrelevant variance in other predictors. During the 50 years that have passed since Horst's original analysis, the concept of suppression has been extended and reanalyzed. What follows provides a general approach to the analysis of suppression situations. This approach is based on coupling the analysis of 3 variate suppression situations with the applications of the concept of suppressor to the general linear model. The implications of the analysis are discussed, and some applications of the concept of suppression are provided.

Do parent-child relationships change during puberty?

Abstract: This article reviews changes in parent-child relationships during puberty, emphasizing the developmental processes that might be implicated in these changes. Evidence suggests increases in conflict and less warm interactions in relationships between parents and children during puberty. Changes are assumed to be short term, although little longitudinal research has directly addressed the issue of long-lasting effects. Other developmental changes occurring for the adolescent, the parent, or both (such as social cognitive or self-definitional change), as well as other relationship changes, personality characteristics, and the sheer number of life events or transitions have all been posited as potential contributors to changes in the parent-child relationship for young adolescents. These possible contributors, however, have seldom been studied in conjunction with pubertal changes. Such integrative research is necessary to test various models through which puberty, social relationships, social cognitive, self-definitional, and other processes influence one another and are influenced by one another during the transition to adolescence.

Psychological impairment in the wake of disaster: the disaster-psychopathology relationship.

Abstract: The present review examines the relationship between disaster occurrence and psychopathology outcome for 52 studies that used quantitative measures of such a relationship. Descriptive and inferential techniques were used to examine relationships among four sets of variables: (a) the characteristics of the victim population, (b) the characteristics of the disaster, (c) study methodology, and (d) the type of psychopathology. A small but consistently positive relationship between disasters and psychopathology was found. The distribution of effect-size estimates was significantly heterogeneous, and this heterogeneity was partially accounted for by methodological characteristics of the research. When controlling for methodology, victim and disaster characteristics also contributed variance to the disaster-psychopathology relationship. Implications for future research are outlined in view of these results.

A review of the tip-of-the-tongue experience.

Abstract: The tip-of-the-tongue experience (TOT) has intrigued psychologists for nearly a century. R. Brown and McNeil (1966) provided the first systematic exploration of the phenomenon, and the findings since their seminal study suggest that TOTs (a) are a nearly universal experience, (b) occur about once a week, (c) increase with age, (d) are frequently elicited by proper names, (e) often enable access to the target word's first letter, (f) are often accompanied by words related to the target, and (g) are resolved during the experience about half of the time. Important questions remain concerning TOTs: (a) Are emotional reactions necessary, (b) do only low frequency targets elicit TOTs, (c) do TOTs reflect incomplete target word activation or interference from related words, and (d) do spontaneous retrievals really occur? A more precise definition of the TOT experience is needed, as well as greater uniformity in the information gathered during TOTs.

Analysis of Response Time Distributions: An Example Using the Stroop Task

Abstract: The shape of a response time (RT) distribution can be described by a 3-parameter model consisting of the convolution of the normal and exponential distributions, the ex-Gaussian. Analyses based on mean RT do not take the distributions shape into account and, for that reason, may obscure aspects of performance. To illustrate the point, the ex-Gaussian model was applied to data obtained from a Stroop task. Mean RT revealed strong interference but no facilitation, whereas the analysis based on the ex-Gaussian model showed both interference and facilitation. In short, analyses that do not take the shape of RT distributions into account can mislead and, therefore, should be avoided. Response time (RT) distributions typically have a positively skewed unimodal shape that contains information that cannot be derived from the distributions mean and variance. A number of studies using a variety of tasks have exploited the extra information to test models (Hacker, 1980; Hockley, 1984; Ratcliff, 1978, 1979). A distributional analysis was used, for instance, to reject the class of models for recognition memory that assumes serial processing at a constant rate: Such models predict mean RT (MRr) but do not account for the shape of the distribution in both the study-test and prememorized-list paradigms (Hockley & CorbaUis, 1982; Ratcliff& Murdock, 1976). In spite of its proven utility, however, the literature appears to treat a distributional analysis as an esoteric supplement to the traditional analysis, namely, the analysis of MRr. In this article, we argue that a distributional analysis should not be treated as a supplementary technique. Rather, we contend that RT measures should always be analyzed using a distributional analysis and that the traditional analysis of MRr risks serious misinterpretation of the data. We start by describing difficulties associated with an analysis of MRr. Next, we discuss

Heuristics and biases: Expertise and task realism in auditing.

Abstract: Important issues concerning generalizations drawn from heuristics research that depict humans as highly prone to a number of judgmental biases have been raised in recent years. Some researches have argued that the tasks and subjects examined do not adequately represent the contexts to which generalizations are made, citing evidence of improved performance for expert judges working realistic, familar tasks. This article presents additional evidence on these issues by reviewing experimental research on certain heuristics and biases in professional auditor judgments.

Modeling the days of our lives : using survival analysis when designing and analyzing longitudinal studies of duration and the timing of events

Abstract: Psychologists studying whether and when events occur face unique design and analytic difficulties. The fundamental problem is how to handle censored observations, the people for whom the target event does not occur before data collection ends. The methods of survival analysis overcome these difficulties and allow researchers to describe patterns of occurrence, compare these patterns among groups, and build statistical models of the risk of occurrence over time. This article presents a unified description of survival analysis that focuses on 2 topics: study design and data analysis

Beyond attentional strategies : a cognitive-perceptual model of somatic interpretation

Abstract: The meaning people assign to physical sensations can have profound implications for their physical and psychological health. A predominant research question in somatic interpretation asks if it is more adaptive to distract one's attention away from a potentially unpleasant sensation or to focus one's attention on it. This question, however, has yielded equivocal answers. Many apparent ambiguities in this research can be traced to a failure to distinguish the content of a person's attention from its mere direction or degree. A model of somatic interpretation is discussed, incorporating not only perceptual focus but also the attributions, goals, coping strategies, and prior hypotheses of the perceiver, thus delineating the psychobiological conditions under which various attentional strategies should be adaptive. In contrast to the prevailing concern with when and why somatic distraction doesn't "work," this conceptual analysis also considers when and why somatic attention does. Theoretical and methodological issues are discussed, as is the potential utility of somatic attention in cardiac rehabilitation and multiple sclerosis.

Manual laterality in nonhuman primates : a distinction between handedness and manual specialization

Abstract: This article examines individual and group manual lateralization in nonhuman primates as a function of task's demands. It is suggested to distinguish low- from high-level manual activities with respect to the novelty variable and to the spatiotemporal scale of the movements. This review shows that low-level tasks lead to (a) symmetrical distributions of hand biases for the group and (b) manual preferences that are not indicative of the specialization of the contralateral hemisphere. In contrast, behaviors expressed in high-level tasks (a) show asymmetrical distribution of hand biases for the group and (b) seem to be related to a specialization of the contralateral hemisphere. Two types of lateralization, handedness and manual specialization, correspond to the 2 levels of tasks that are distinguished.

Social cognition and object relations.

Abstract: Social cognition research and psychoanalytic object relations theory both address the cognitive and affective processes that mediate interpersonal functioning. Each approach faces a number of difficulties that could be more readily addressed by examining the methods, assumptions, metaphors, and models of the other. Social cognitive research could benefit from the psychoanalytic understanding of affective processes, defensive processes, and unconscious representations; object relations approaches could benefit from social cognitive methodologies and developemental findings. Current research suggests that despite certain incompatibilities between the two approaches, integrative methods and models are both possible and potentially useful in exploring phenomena such as poor social functioning in borderline personality disorder

Alcoholism and memory: broadening the scope of alcohol-expectancy research.

Abstract: Current biopsychosocial research on the etiology of alcoholism has begun to focus on memory processes as a possible common pathway for drinking decisions The alcohol-expectancy construct is rooted both in cognitive psychology and alcohol research and can serve as a vehicle for this study Reexamination of one recent review of issues in alcohol-expectancy research provides an opportunity to broaden the scope of this research with theoretical and methodological alternatives to those suggested in that review Most importantly, this article shows that expectancy findings, discussed by Leigh (1989a) as reflecting "psychometric" limitations, are instead quite consistent with recent network models of memory structure Such models can provide an informative guide to future research activities It is also recommended that alcohol-expectancy research remain open to inputs from expectancy theories already developed in several psychological domains, as well as to theories of social cognition and attitude structure in addition to those advanced by Leigh

Left-handedness: a marker for decreased survival fitness.

Abstract: Life span studies have shown that the population percentage of left-handers diminishes steadily, so that they are drastically underrepresented in the oldest age groups. Data are reviewed that indicate that this population trend is due to the reduced longevity of left-handers. Some of the elevated risk for sinistrals is apparently due to environmental factors that elevate their accident susceptibility. Further evidence suggests that left-handedness may be a marker for birth stress related neuropathy, developmental delays and irregularities, and deficiencies in the immune system due to the intrauterine hormonal environment. Some statistical and physiological factors that may cause left-handedness to be selectively associated with earlier mortality are also presented.

New developments in pairwise multiple comparisons : some powerful and practicable procedures

Abstract: Recent developments in procedures for conducting pairwise multiple comparisons of means prompted an empirical investigation of several competing techniques. Monte Carlo results revealed that the newer multistage sequential procedures maintain their familywise Type I error probabilities while exhibiting power that is superior to the traditional competitors. Of all procedures examined, the modified Peritz (1970) procedure (Seaman, Levin, Serlin, & Franke, 1990) is generally the most powerful according to all definitions of power

Effectiveness of cognitive-behavior therapy for maladapting children: a meta-analysis.

Abstract: This review aims to identify variables that moderate the outcomes of cognitive-behavior therapy for dysfunctional children. Theoretical considerations led to the hypothesis that children's cognitive developmental level would moderate treatment effectiveness, and analyses confirmed this hypothesis. The effect size (0.92) for children presumably functioning at the formal operational level (ages 11-13) was almost twice that for children at less advanced cognitive stages (for ages 5-7, 0.57; for ages 7-11, 0.55). However, changes in cognitive processes and behaviors were not significantly related, indicating the need for further work delineating the specific mechanisms of therapeutic change. Finally, an analysis of the practical significance of outcomes indicated that treatment had produced a meaningful impact on adjustment, although further behavioral improvement was still possible and desirable.

Effects of media violence on viewers' aggression in unconstrained social interaction.

Abstract: This article provides a meta-analytic review of the experimental effects of media violence on viewers' aggression in unstructured social interaction. In the reviewed experiments, children or adolescents were exposed to violent or control presentations and their postexposure behavior was coded for aggression during spontaneous social interaction. Exposure to media violence significantly enhanced viewers' aggressive behavior when the findings were aggregated across studies, but the effect was not uniform across investigations. Only suggestive evidence was obtained concerning moderators of the effect: Marginally stronger relations were obtained in those studies using a cross-section of the normal population of children (vs. emotionally disturbed children) and in those studies conducted in laboratory settings (vs. other contexts).