Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Some Simple Apple Ii Software For The Collection And Analysis Of Observational Data, John H. Flowers

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Two general-purpose software packages for collecting and analyzing observational data from a variety of settings are discussed. One package is designed for coding mutually exclusive behavioral states using the Apple’s keyboard as an input device. The other is designed to monitor temporally overlapping behaviors, and it makes use of the Apple II’s built-in game-control button inputs to indicate up to three behavioral states that may occur simultaneously.

Effects Of Contextual Information On Behavior Of Calidris Sandpipers Following Alarm Calls, Daniel W. Leger, Jami L. Nelson

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Two classes of individuals-signalers and recipients -xist in all animal communication systems (Wilson 1975, Smith 1977). Signals make information available and recipients use this information when "choosing" a response (e.g., Leger and Owings 1978; Seyfarth et al. 1980a, b). Contextual information, which exists outside signals, is also usually available to recipients and may be appraised by them when selecting a response (Smith 1965, 1977). Consequently, to fully understand the responses of recipients we must identify contextual information in addition to signal-conveyed information.

Vertebrate "alarm" signals (signals emitted in the presence of potential predators) may be multi-functional and appear to vary …

The Effect Of Flanking Context On Visual Classification: The Joint Contribution Of Interactions At Different Processing Levels, John H. Flowers, Noreen Wilcox

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Flanking characters that surround a target character may cause either facilitation of or interference with target classification, depending on experimental context. In three different experiments, the patterns of facilitative priming and interference were shown to change systematically as a function of onset asynchrony between flankers and target, illustrating differing time courses of the overlapping processes that each contributes to overall reaction time performance.

Exercise And Stress Tolerance, Richard A. Dienstbier, James Crabbe, Glen O. Johnson, William Thorland, Julie A. Jorgensen, Mitchel M. Sadar, Dennis C. Lavelle

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Presented in this paper is research designed in part to show that although moderate running by well-trained runners plays a significant role in reducing stress response to subsequently introduced stressors, running at the level of marathon competition alters psychological and physiological dispositions in a manner not conducive to reduced stress responses. In these demonstrations, the choice of our psychological and physiological dependent measures was guided by a larger theoretical framework concerning the relationship of exercise to temperament. We will discuss this larger view first because it provides a theoretical perspective that is useful in considering our specific hypotheses. We believe …

Mobbing Calls Of The Phainopepla, Daniel W. Leger, Laura F. Carroll

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

When mobbing potential predators, male Phainopeplas (Phainopepla nitens) utter smoothly upswept vocalizations, unlike the harsh, staccato mobbing calls of other birds and mammals. A Phainopepla repeats this call as it approaches the bottom of its diving arc over the predator. We suggest that these calls do not serve to attract additional mobbers to the scene. Rather, they appear to emphasize the diving attacks directed toward the predator.

The Impact Of Moral Theories On Cheating: Studies Of Emotion Attribution And Schema Activation, Richard A. Dienstbier, Lynn R. Kahle, Keith A. Willis, Gilbert B. Tunnell

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This research series began as a test of an emotion-attribution approach to moral behavior. However, in the early studies, college students who read about morality were subsequently more likely to cheat on a vocabulary test than were control subjects who read materials irrelevant to morality. We hypothesized that resentment toward the test constructors interacted with the moral schemas activated by the reading task. To reduce resentment, in Study III the vocabulary test was presented as the experimenter's doctoral research. As predicted, compared to controls, those subjects who read about morality cheated less. Study IV was a quasi-experiment that confirmed the …

Female Sexual Arousal And The Menstrual Cycle, Paula Englander-Golden Ph.D., Horng-Shing Chang, Mary R. Witmer, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Self-reports of sexual arousal were significantly affected by conditions under which they were elicited. Such self-reports in women not taking oral contraceptives were congruent with a hormonal basis for such arousal only when the women were “unaware” that the study investigated sexual arousal as a function of the menstrual cycle. The “unaware” condition was operationalized by means of daily self-reports elicited from males and females for 11 weeks under the guise of a study of biological rhythms. A composite of one to three menstrual cycles for 26 women not taking oral contraceptives showed that sexual arousal during the luteal phase, …

Response Priming Effects In A Digit Naming Task As A Function Of Target-Noise Separation, John H. Flowers

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Oral naming latencies were measured for visually displayed digits that were flanked by either compatible (identical) or incompatible (different) noise digits. When target-noise spatial separation was "narrow" (1.1-deg visual angle), substantially longer latencies were observed for incompatible target-noise combinations than for compatible combinations, and this effect was greatest when the onset of the noise preceded the target by 150 msec. When target-noise spatial separation was increased to 3.3 deg, noise-compatibility effects were substantially attenuated when the noise preceded the target by 100 msec or less, but the effects reappeared with longer SOA values and reached a maximum when the noise …

Attraction Increases And Decreases As A Function Of Emotion-Attribution And Appropriate Social Cues, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

To study the impact of startle-induced arousal on attraction, blindfolded subjects in a “vestibular function” study were startled by a loud noise accompanying the sudden backward tilt of the dental chair in which they were seated. In Study I startled male subjects indicated (on a “postexperimental” questionnaire) greater attraction toward a pretty female experimenter than did control subjects. Study II demonstrated the reverse, with startled male subjects disliking a male experimenter more than controls. In Study III, female subjects startled by a male experimenter indicated greater attraction than controls, although the pattern of their responses differed from males. While an …

An Economical Microcomputer Design For The Generation And Display Of Timed Visual Stimuli: The Tdl Vdb, John H. Flowers, Mark H. Murphy

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Recent developments in microprocessor-based technology should be of particular interest to psychologists concerned-with perceptual and cognitive processes. This paper describes the advantages of a Z-80-based system that uses the Technical Design Labs video display board (VDB) for the generation and control of visual stimuli.

Response And Encoding Factors In "Ignoring" Irrelevant Information, John H. Flowers, Jack L. Warner, Michael L. Polanski

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Subjects classified either the numerosity or numeric value of elements in successive stimulus displays. In separate experiments, responses were indicated by oral naming, card sorting, manual tapping, and oral "tapping." Incongruent levels of numeric value slowed naming and sorting, but not tapping, when numerosity was the cue for responding. Incongruent numerosity slowed tapping, but not naming and sorting, when numeric value was the cue. Changes in stimulus response mapping may thus critically alter the ability to ignore an irrelevant stimulus dimension.

Attribution, Socialization, And Moral Decision Making, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The position developed in this chapter resembles that taken by Aristotle more than that taken by most modern psychology theorists, for our discipline has tended to approach moral behavior and thought as if two quite different topics were at issue. Modern psychological approaches to moral behavior have tended to focus almost entirely on the emotional mediation of avoidance and upon avoidance behavior, whereas moral judgment theorists have tended to isolate themselves from both emotion and behavior, concentrating instead on verbal expressions of moral judgments. Aristotle suggested a more integrated view - that effective moral training should first involve the young …

Intellectual Performance As A Function Of Repression And Menstrual Cycle, Paula Englander-Golden, Keith A. Willis, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Performance on complex (Space Relations and Verbal Reasoning) and simple (Digit Symbol) tests was investigated as a function of Byrne's Repression-Sensitization (RS) dimension, phase of menstrual cycle and premenstrual-menstrual (PM) symptomatology in a group of females not taking oral contraceptives. Two control groups, consisting of males and females taking oral contraceptives, were included. Equivalent tests were given at two sessions two weeks apart. Analysis of the Space Relations Test as a function of menstrual phase and Repression-Sensitization indicated the predicted interaction effect of phase by RS with poorest performance for the menstruating repressor group (p < .02), but the predicted deterioration by the premenstrual repressor group was not observed. Similar analysis for the Verbal Reasoning Test yielded an interaction effect of phase by RS (p < .03) and a main effect for phase (p < .05). As predicted, differences on the Digit Symbol test did not reach significance. Substituting PM symptomatology for RS, a significant effect was obtained only for phase on Verbal Reasoning Test (p < .05). Results were interpreted as indicating a reactive nature of repression, so that during menstruation, repression may interfere particularly with performance on complex tasks. The three subject groups did not differ significantly on any of the three tests; however, trends in the present data corroborated those quoted in the literature.

Menstrual Cycle As Focus Of Study And Self-Reports Of Moods And Behaviors, Paula Englander-Golden, Mary R. Whitmore, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Retrospective questionnaires show cyclical variations in moods and behaviors across the menstrual cycle. However, results obtained from daily mood questionnaires are inconsistent. In the present study, which ran for 11 weeks, self-report measures of menstrual symptomatology, using the 8-factor Moos (1968, 1969 a, c) Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ), were investigated. The MDQ was administered under conditions that made the menstrual cycle a salient (retrospective questionnaire) or not a salient (daily questionnaire) part of the study. The study included women who were taking and not taking oral contraceptives. A 2 × 3 analysis of variance (with the two groups of women …

Sex And Violence: Can Research Have It Both Ways?, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

During the last decade, the literature on media exposure has been dominated by a single theoretical system of personality functioning—the social learning model. The model emphasizes that the disinhibition of already-learned behavior, the learning of new behaviors, and the establishment of patterns of personality result from observing the behavior of other people (models) and from vicarious reinforcement upon viewing those models successfully engaging in rewarded sequences of behavior.

It is a tribute to the degree to which social learning oriented psychologists have successfully influenced intellectual and governmental thinking that the model is seldom questioned as providing the appropriate basis for …

Stability Of Perceived Tension As A Function Of The Menstrual Cycle, Paula Englander-Golden, Keith A. Willis, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The stability of tension judgments among males and females who were either taking or not taking combination low-progestin oral contraceptive pills was investigated. Judgments of interpersonal pressure in videotaped vignettes provided tension measures. The vignettes were presented in two sessions separated by two weeks. Correlations between pressure judgments of .94 for males, .79 for pill females and .40 for non-pill females (all sig < .002) supported the prediction that non-pill females experience the largest fluctuations in tension across the menstrual cycle. A significant number of non-pill females who changed their scores and who changed from midcycle to premenstrual-menstrual phases or vice versa between the two experimental sessions shifted their tension scores in the predicted direction (p < .04). As predicted, non-pill females scoring in the lower half on premenstrual-menstrual symptomatology were more consistent in pressure judgments than those high on symptomatology, with correlations of .51 (sig < .004) and .24 (NS) respectively. Analysis of pressure judgments as a function of menstrual phase and high-low symptomatology indicated a main effect for symptomatology (sig < .01) with the high group perceiving more pressure. Lack of a main effect for menstrual phase was attributed to large individual variations in tension scores. Results were interpreted as indicating physiological causality underlying the variability in tension across the menstrual cycle. Substituting the Repression-Sensitization dimension for symptomatology yielded no significant results which could lead to a psychological interpretation of such variability.

Exceptions To The Rule: A Review Of The Criminal Personality, Volume I: A Profile For Change, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The major purpose of the first volume of an intended three-volume series by Samuel Yochelson and Stanton E. Samenow (1976) is to provide evidence that understanding the thought processes of chronic criminals provides the major key to understanding criminal behavior. Volumes II and III will deal, respectively, with the techniques of therapy developed for the analysis and correction of criminal thought patterns, and with the special problems of therapy with criminals who are chronic drug users. This review of Volume I is divided into three parts, the first being a review of the content and major points of the book, …

Selective Attention Between Words, Shapes And Colors In Speeded Classification And Vocalization Tasks, John H. Flowers, Charles M. Stoup

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The presence of irrelevant words (incongruent color and shape names) substantially slowed the sorting of shapes and colors. This interference was maintained over four sessions of practice for color sorting, but essentially vanished for shape classification and color classification using stimuli in which the word and color were physically separated. Interference with oral naming was maintained over 4 days of practice for all types of stimuli, demonstrating that spatial selectivity of attention is highly dependent upon the response requirements of the task.

Pictorial Interference With Geometric Shapes And Achromatic Shades, Richard P. Compton, John H. Flowers

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

In two experiments, subjects were required to match printed names with subsequently displayed achromatic shades or geometric shapes. The presence of incongruent shades or shapes at the time of word display substantially slowed the RT for performing the match.

Verbal Interference With Visual Classification: Optimal Processing And Experimental Design, John H. Flowers, Beccy Blair

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The speed of classification of six alternative ink colors into two categories of three colors each was measured in tasks for which the colors were displayed as either XXXX patterns or incongruent words (Stroop stimuli). Substantial interference from the words occurred when the classification required grouping nonadjacent hues (red, yellow, and blue vs. orange, green, and purple) regardless of whether subjects received exclusive practice with this classification. Interference also occurred when the classification required grouping adjacent hues (red, orange, and yellow vs. green, blue, and purple), but only if this classification was intermixed within blocks of trials with the nonadjacent …

The Use Of Visual And Name Codes In Scanning And Classifying Colors, John H. Flowers, Susan Dutch

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The effect of incongruent color words on speed of classifying ink colors was measured in visual scanning tasks and in card sorting tasks. In both cases, little or no interference effects were noted when the classification allowed focusing on a single ink color or a set of highly similar colors (adjacent hues). Substantial interference occurred when the task required grouping of three dissimilar colors (nonadjacent hues). These findings suggest that the relative efficiency of name and visual codes in making perceptual classifications is largely dependent upon the memory requirements imposed by the task.

An Emotion-Attribution Approach To Moral Behavior: Interfacing Cognitive And Avoidance Theories Of Moral Development, Richard A. Dienstbier, Donald Hillman, John Lehnhoff, Judith Hillman, Maureen C. Valkenaar

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A theory is presented concerning the impact of attributions about the causes of emotional responses as they influence self-control in temptation situations. Research is reviewed indicating a high level of adult sensitivity to external influence in making such causal attributions. Two studies are presented in which the post transgression emotions of second-grade children are labeled shame (because of being found out) or guilt (due to the transgression itself); when a similar situation was subsequently represented as safe from detection, shame-condition children transgressed 60–80% more than guilt-condition subjects. It is suggested that emotional arousal elicited in temptation situations because of past …

"Sensory" Interference In A Word-Color Matching Task, John H. Flowers

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Two experiments measured RTs for matching sequentially displayed color names to color patches. Experiment I demonstrated that printing the name in an incongruent color produced longer RTs than when the name was printed in black ink or a congruent colored ink, provided the time interval between the name display and the color patch display was brief (less than 100 msec). This interference was attenuated with longer delays. In Experiment II, a wider range of irrelevant colors was combined with the name display, and RT was found to be correlated with the colorimetric dissimilarity between the name and the irrelevant color. …

The Effect Of Correlated Linguistic Dimensions On Speeded Classification Of Visually Presented Trigrams, John H. Flowers

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The influence of two types of linguistic dimensions, word-nonword and consonant pronunciation, on classification speed of trigrams in card-sorting tasks of two levels of complexity was examined. In complex grouping tasks, which required the evaluation of more than one letter to classify each stimulus, sorting times were faster when the linguistic dimension was correlated with, rather than orthogonal to, the response categories. For tasks in which each stimulus could be classified on the basis of a single letter, no effect of the correlated vs orthogonal linguistic dimension was observed, even when performance was degraded by visual noise. These results provide …

The Effect Of Simultaneous And Sequential Presentation Of Stimulus Dimensions On Absolute Judgment Accuracy, John H. Flowers

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The effects of spatial stimulus repetition, sequential stimulus repetition, spatially separated dimensional redundancy, and sequentially presented dimensional redundancy on absolute judgment accuracy of hue and brightness were compared. Two exposure durations, 0.1 and 2.0 sec, were used. While spatial repetition did not improve accuracy for either dimension, the sequential repetition of brightness produced a small increase in accuracy. The spatial presentation of correlated values of both dimensions increased accuracy only at the 2.0-sec duration. The sequential presentation of both dimensions increased accuracy, but only at the 2.0-sec duration was this gain substantial and greater than that provided by the sequential …

The Role Of Anxiety And Arousal Attribution In Cheating, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Previous research indicated that anticipating arousal symptoms (rather than benign) from a placebo pill reduced inhibiting emotion in men, resulting in more cheating. The effect did not occur for women. Using 180 males, Study I tested whether the placebo effect was due to mere attention to arousal symptoms, or whether attribution to the pill was required. In the placebo- attribution condition the arousal placebo facilitated cheating (p < .02). The effect did not occur for symptom-attention controls who received no pill, and the conditions differed (p < .02).Study II tested whether women failed to respond to the placebo manipulation due to higher anxiety. Under one of four stress levels, each of 240 women received the benign or arousal placebo. More cheated with the arousal placebo only under low stress (p <.035), and stress conditions differed (p < .025). The interaction of attribution manipulations with the conflicting emotions of the cheating situation is discussed.

A Modified Belief Theory Of Prejudice Emphasizing The Mutual Causality Of Racial Prejudice And Anticipated Belief Differences, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The belief theory of prejudice introduced by M. Rokeach stated that racial prejudice is the result of the anticipation of belief differences. The unidirectional causal relationship implied is criticized as oversimplified. Research, supporting the belief theory is examined, with conceptual and experimental deficiencies noted. A new formulation is proposed which emphasizes mutual causality between racial prejudice and anticipated belief differences. Two studies supporting that view are presented in which belief communications were presented as tape-recorded interviews or speeches, with the race and social class of the communicator first having been manipulated. The interrelationships between communicator’s race, specific communication topic, and …

The Effect Of Stimulus Element Redundancy On Speed Of Discrimination As A Function Of State And Process Limitation, John H. Flowers, W. R. Garner

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The effect of spatially repeated stimulus elements on the speed of discrimination, measured in a sorting task, was determined under conditions of low stimulus visibility (state limitation) and high stimulus similarity (process limitation). A significant increase in speed of sorting stimuli was found when the stimuli were state limited but not when process limited, even though base speeds were the same in both cases. It is concluded that element redundancy will improve discrimination performance only when the need for the improvement is a state limitation.

Cheating As A Function Of The Labeling Of Natural Arousal, Richard A. Dienstbier, Pamela Osbourne Hunter

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

One hundred and five college freshmen were given one of two different side-effects lists associated with a placebo pill. In a “second” experiment, subjects experienced failure on a vocabulary test, supposedly predictive of college success, and received an opportunity to cheat on the test by changing answers. Although it was anticipated that all subjects who considered cheating would experience some arousal, it was predicted that those subjects told to expect drug-induced side effects related to sympathetic arousal would not label their experienced arousal as fear or guilt, and would cheat more than the subjects who anticipated benign side effects. Of …

Positive And Negative Prejudice: Interactions Of Prejudice With Race And Social Desirability, Richard A. Dienstbier

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Two studies were conducted in order to investigate positive prejudice toward Negroes. By defining positive prejudice as favoritism toward Negro stimulus persons over white stimulus persons of identical personality descriptions, it was possible to compare patterns of Negro bias on a variety of measures. The results of Study I indicated that positive Negro prejudice was more likely when stimulus persons at the positive personality level were compared. The results of Study II indicated that dogmatism and rigidity and attitudes associated with authoritarian ism are negatively related to positive prejudice. Dimensions of formality of relationships and antisubordination of Negroes were useful …