Archiv fur Psychologie最新文献

In comparison judgments of two successively presented time intervals ranging from 30 to 70 msec a time-order error (TOE) as well as a systematic effect depending on the constant position error (CPE) were demonstrated. The effects proved to be independent. Contrary to Vierordt's law, a negative TOE was found. When presenting the standard interval first, an increased hit rate resulting in a positive CPE was established. Furthermore, a test statistic is introduced that allows analysis of experiments utilizing all available information of a subject's psychometric function.

Overspecified referential descriptions of objects contain attributes necessary for unambiguous object identification by a listener as well as additional attribute specifications. In a re-analysis of location data and a naming experiment it was demonstrated that approximately 50% of first-reference descriptions are overspecified, whereas follow-up descriptions of the same object tend to be shorter. There a lower degree of overspecification and a higher percentage of non-discriminative referential expressions was found. An influence of partner characteristics on the elaboration of noun phrases for first and follow-up reference could only be found with regard to non-discriminative expressions: There are significantly less secondary object references which do not contain sufficient information for children than for adults.

Social sciences need to supplement the traditional methods of cross-sectional or static analysis by dynamic analysis. The analytic utility of the Box & Jenkins-method is demonstrated by an application in the area of legal psychology. As observers of an entire trial by jury on attempted murder fourty-one law students continuously rated their impression of the defendants guilt any time they experienced a just noticeable change in guilt perception. With the transcript of the trial recorded on tape a detailed content analysis was performed as to extralegal vs. legal evidence, abstract vs. concrete presentation of information, factual vs. emotional emphasis, compassion for defendant and attribution of responsibility (external vs. internal). It was found that legal relevance, attribution of responsibility, and abstract vs. concrete information are the best predictors of the time series of guild perception.

A laboratory study was conducted to examine the role of explorative decision making for interpersonal conflict resolution. Participants were 64 male students, who had to negotiate for an outcome distribution against bogus enactment of two confederates. Questionnaire and observational data, which were taken before, during and after the negotiation revealed strong support for hypothesized effects of coping with situational antagonism. Results indicate that substantial shifts take place according to locus of decision control and that behavior is determined by different decision preferences as conflict resolution proceeds.

Effects of learning can show in a direct, i.e., explicit way, or they can be expressed indirectly, i.e., in an implicit way. It is investigated whether hepatic information shows implicit effect, and whether implicit haptic memory effects are based primarily on motor or on sensory memory components. In the first phase blindfolded subjects had to palpate objects in order to answer questions about the objects' distinct properties as fast as possible. In the following phase this task was repeated with the same objects and additional control items. Additionally, recognition judgements were required. Results demonstrate reliable effects of implicit memory for haptic information in terms of reaction times to old vs. new objects. Subjects who had to wear plastic gloves in the first stage showed comparable effects of repetition priming. Changing the questions--and, thus, hand movements--during the palpitation of objects known from the first stage, however, abolishes implicit memory expression. It is concluded, therefore, that implicit memory for haptic information is based on motor processes. On the other hand, explicit memory is hampered in subjects wearing gloves during the first phase, as revealed in terms of recognition performance while changing the questions about objects' properties has no effect on recognition judgements. Thus, explicit memory for haptic information seems to be based on the sensory processes when touching objects.

It is first asked how Hofstätter's (1986) personality dimension dyskolos-eukolos could be validated without directly using self-assessments of subjective well-being. It is argued that internal and external locus-of-control beliefs could be tied to this construct. A study with 264 respondents shows that internal beliefs lead to well-being ratings that are higher in every life aspect than those associated with ratings of external beliefs. The effects are only marginally greater for control beliefs directly related to the different life aspects. It is hypothesized that internal control beliefs and high satisfaction are both generated by experiences of behavior that is both successful and causally self-attributed.

In this experiment anxiety is understood as an indicator for specific structures in the semantic memory. In order to prove this hypothesis a number of positive (12) and negative (11) events were associated. Furthermore the events have been classified the scale "anxious--non anxious". In the experiment 69 subjects took part. Previously the subjects completed the STAI-Trait-part; these data were used to divide the subjects into groups of high (HA) and low (LA) anxious persons (median of the sample). Those associations were analysed in a qualitative and quantitative way. ANOVAS were calculated as well as overlap coefficients and Type-Token-Ratios. HA have more negative associations. LA produce more positive associations. LA show a significantly higher overlap coefficient with positive events, respectively a smaller TTR. The results are discussed in context with psycholinguistic theories.

In binocular brightness perception a phenomenon called Fechner's paradox can be observed. This paradox implies non-monotonicities in the psychometric functions of binocular brightness. Lehky (1983) proposed a model that describes such non-monotonicities. He suggested that Fechner's paradox also exists in binaural loudness perception. However, until now no sufficient data have been collected to test this hypothesis. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in which 36 psychometric functions were obtained using binaural stimuli in the range of intensities in which Fechner's paradox supposedly occurs. As a result, no significant non-monotonicities were found. However, it is shown that jnds derived from the psychometric functions contradict predictions derived from the limited binaural additivity model of Gigerenzer and Strube (1983).

Thirty inmates of an Austrian (high-security) prison for men, ranging from those with sentences from two years to life, have recorded in the form of a structured diary (time sampling, approx. four times a day) for the period of thirty days whether they were feeling good or bad, how they would describe their mood, where they were at that moment, what they where currently occupying themselves with and who else was present. Data regarding personality characteristics, demographic data and descriptions of their physical and social surroundings were collected separately. The hypothesis is formulated here that the experience of a prison sentence, i.e. the coping strategies for dealing with the various stresses arising from the complete social control and the diverse deprivations within the "total institution" of a prison, is determined by personality characteristics (extraversion, neuroticism) and by the interaction between individual needs and that which the environment offers to the individual. The results show that the emotional condition in confinement can be better explained by factors of person-environment interaction than merely by personality or by environment factors alone. The results are discussed in the context of the motivational person-environment-fit model on the one hand, and with regard to the task of resocialisation on the part of the prison on the other hand.