Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology

Raven, Bertram H.; Eachus, H. Todd.

doi: 10.1037/h0047597pmid: 14049508

A task was presented to 40 male triads wherein the performance of each participant was maximally determined by the behavior of the other 2. 20 triads received cooperative instructions, 20 received competitive instructions. As predicted the differences between cooperative and competitive groups were particularly great in such a task: cooperative triads, as compared to competitive triads, were more rapid in solving the problem, evaluated fellow team members more favorably, showed less indication of hostility, were more attracted to the task, were more likely to develop leaders. In addition, and contrary to prediction, there was greater concern for personal performance in the cooperative triads. Hypotheses regarding concern for team performance, coalition formation, and the effects of interference with the operations of one member were not supported. (20 ref.)

Miller, Henry; Bieri, James

doi: 10.1037/h0048641pmid: 14049509

Information theory was used as a theoretical model and methodological tool for the study of certain aspects of the clinical judgment process. By means of such a model, the capacity of a group of clinicians to process case information was studied. 3 types of input conditions were systematically varied with 3 types of judgments. It was found that the number of discriminations made by each group was close to the maximum of 3.00 bits, although the number of reliable discriminations was more limited, ranging from .88 to 1.49 bits. An increase in reliable discriminations as a consequence of adding more case information was rather slight. The 3 judgment systems were found to be highly interrelated, suggesting a common underlying response dimension. (17 ref.)

Allen, Vernon L.; Crutchfield, Richard S.

doi: 10.1037/h0042074pmid: 14049510

The study investigated whether experimentally reinforced conformity, using objective stimuli, would generalize to subjective stimuli. Using the Crutchfield apparatus, E informed Ss that the false group consensus was correct on objective stimuli. Enhanced conformity to group pressure was exhibited on objective stimuli receiving such authoritative confirmation of the group. Results further showed that this experimentally reinforced conformity generalized to other objective and subjective material on which feedback was not given. An attempt to produce greater generalization by creating, through instructions, high psychological similarity among stimuli proved inconclusive. Females showed greater generalization of conformity than males. (16 ref.)

Centers, Richard

doi: 10.1037/h0041861pmid: 14049511

In an attempt to adapt the conversational procedure initiated by Verplanck to the conditioning of verbal operants under laboratory conditions, an experiment was performed with each of 49 Ss who were unaware of the true nature of the experiment. While supposedly merely waiting with another S, who was in reality the investigator's assistant, their responses during their conversations with the assistant were subjected to a variety of reinforcing and deterring stimuli. The attempt was made to condition opinion, information, and question operants, with positive results being achieved for the opinion and information responses, while negative results were obtained for question operants. Under extinction conditions there was a decrease of all these operants. The results are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that verbal operants can be conditioned in conversations which are contrived in laboratory settings.

Ford, Leroy H.

doi: 10.1037/h0046469pmid: 14049512

The hypothesis that the strength of reaction to goal-response blocking is a positive monotonic function of expectancy for goal attainment was investigated. The Ss, 1119 6th-grade boys, responded to a buzzer by pushing a plunger. Failure produced an increase in the latency and a decrease in the force of pushing. Expectancy, measured by a betting technique, was nonmonotonically related to the increase in latency, Ss with intermediate expectancies showing the smallest increase. In 2 groups differing in experimentally manipulated expectancy, the high group showed the greater increase in latency. No reliable relationships were found between force and expectancy. Implications for theories of frustration produced drive and of risk taking were discussed. (22 ref.)

Levy, Leon H.; Richter, Martin L.

doi: 10.1037/h0040100pmid: 14049513

Beginning with a model of social perception in which the perceiver is assumed to operate according to the conventional canons of statistical inference, it was hypothesized that trait judgments of groups of individuals represented by facial photographs would match the mean values of these photographs judged individually and that confidence and the amount of information required before a judgment is reported will vary inversely with the variance in the set of photographs comprising the group, and directly with the significance of the judgment for the judge. Using different procedures and measures of the dependent variables, 2 experiments were performed which agreed in supporting the hypotheses.

Ruebush, Britton K.; Byrum, Mildred; Farnham, Louise J.

doi: 10.1037/h0048151pmid: 14049514

The performance of 2 groups of 16 5th-grade boys, one low defensive and low anxious (LD) and the other high defensive and low anxious (HD) on the Defensiveness and Test Anxiety Scales for Children, was compared on the Porteus Maze Test taken with mothers absent and on a different form of the Porteus plus a jigsaw puzzle test with mothers present. Mothers were rated on a set of rating scales as they helped their sons with the puzzle. The results suggest that (a) discrepancies between ability and qualitative performance in defensive boys are a function of defensiveness whereas such discripancies in quantitative performance are a function of certain salient components of the test situation, and (b) communication is less effective in families of HD boys than in families of LD boys.

Schulman, Robert E.; London, Perry

doi: 10.1037/h0048366pmid: 14049515

Rigidly standardized hypnotic procedures were used in a double-blind experiment which examined the acquisition ability of Ss who differed in hypnotic susceptibility for the learning of both meaningful (poems) and meaningless (nonsense syllables) material when hypnotized and when unhypnotized. Regression analyses indicated that: (a) Differences in relative degree of hypnotic susceptibility among Ss did not influence the learning of nonsense syllables or poems; (b) S's degree of manifest anxiety and verbal intelligence did not contribute significantly to performance scores; and most important, (c) the application of hypnosis did not significantly influence performance on either nonsense syllables or poems when compared to performance in the unhypnotized treatment. (22 ref.)

Milgram, Stanley

doi: 10.1037/h0040525pmid: 14049516

This articles describes a procedure for the study of destructive obedience in the laboratory. It consists of ordering a naive S to administer increasingly more severe punishment to a victim in the context of a learning experiment. Punishment is administered by means of a shock generator with 30 graded switches ranging from Slight Shock to Danger: Severe Shock. The victim is a confederate of the E. The primary dependent variable is the maximum shock the S is willing to administer before he refuses to continue further. 26 Ss obeyed the experimental commands fully, and administered the highest shock on the generator. 14 Ss broke off the experiment at some point after the victim protested and refused to provide further answers. The procedure created extreme levels of nervous tension in some Ss. Profuse sweating, trembling, and stuttering were typical expressions of this emotional disturbance. One unexpected sign of tension––yet to be explained––was the regular occurrence of nervous laughter, which in some Ss developed into uncontrollable seizures. The variety of interesting behavioral dynamics observed in the experiment, the reality of the situation for the S, and the possibility of parametric variation within the framework of the procedure, point to the fruitfulness of further study.

Rosenberg, Seymour

doi: 10.1037/h0041391pmid: 14049517

8 pairs of Ss were run in each of 4 different dyadic reward systems using a continuous response task. The 2 Ss within each pair were made interdependent in their rewards by imposing a functional relationship between the responses made by one S and the outcomes delivered to the other S, and vice versa. Each pair was given 100 consecutive trials. 3 influence responses were appended to the task for 4 of the 8 pairs in each reward system. These appended responses permitted an S to communicate a request to the other S concerning the latter's continuous response on the next trial. Results from systems with no communication confirm the predictions of reward stability based on a stochastic model. Without communication, 1 of the 4 systems stabilize; with communication, 2 systems stabilize.