Can pigeons really make transitive inferences?

L. von Fersen et al (see record 1991-29523-001) claimed that pigeons are able to make transitive inferences that are logically comparable to the kinds of transitive inferences that have been examined in children. Without putting their methodology or their results into question, analysis of the reinforcement conditions they used indicates that what was actually examined was not transitive inference and that this study does not provide evidence that pigeons are in fact capable of transitive inference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive processes in implicit personality trait inferences.

The cognitive processes by which people infer whether individuals who possess one trait also possess another were examined in 2 reaction time experiments with a total of 66 undergraduates. Ss took less time to affirm and more time to deny that 2 traits co-occurred, the greater the semantic similarity of the traits. As the amount of recalled evidence required to affirm that 2 traits co-occurred was increased by altering the nature of the co-occurrence statements, true response times increased and false response times decreased. Although it was not possible to determine whether the stored semantic "features" of a trait are locations on meaning dimensions, specific behaviors, known people characterized by the trait, or something else, results strongly suggest that implicit personality inferences result from a 2-stage process in which the 2nd and more detailed memory search stage is entered only if the similarity of the semantic features of the traits falls between 2 task-established decision criteria. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young children's emerging ability to make false statements.

This study examined the origins of children's ability to make consciously false statements, a necessary component of lying. Children 2 to 5 years of age were rewarded for claiming that they saw a picture of a bird when viewing pictures of fish. They were asked outcome questions (“Do you win/lose?”), recognition questions (“Do you have a bird/fish?”), and recall questions (“What do you have?”), which were hypothesized to vary in difficulty depending on the need for consciousness of falsity (less for outcome questions) and self-generation of an appropriate response (more for recall questions). The youngest children (2? to 3? years old) were above chance on outcome questions, but it was not until age 3? that children performed above chance on recognition questions or were capable of maintaining false claims across question types. Findings have implications for understanding the emergence of deception in young children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the evaluative factor in the trait scales of Peabody's study of trait inferences.

In 2 factor analyses of trait inferences, an analysis of antecedent terms and an analysis of trait scales, D. Peabody (see record 1968-03876-001) did not find an evaluative factor. S. Rosenberg and K. Olshan (see record 1971-04168-001) criticized Peabody's analysis of antecedent terms, having found an evaluative dimension by the use of distance measures. The present reanalysis of Peabody's data also yielded a clearly evaluative dimension in the trait scales. The resulting factors, except the evaluative one, were identical to Peabody's antecedent term factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young children and adults use lexical principles to learn new nouns.

In 2 experiments, adults and children were tested in an object-selection task that examined whether Ss would (1) map a novel word onto a previously unnamed object and (2) extend the newly learned word to another exemplar. Exp 3 was a control study. Ss overwhelmingly selected the novel object as the referent for the novel term, even though the new label was never explicitly linked to the novel object. Ss also extended the new term and allowed it to preempt yet another novel label from applying to the just-named object. The existence of several lexical principles and the power of indirect word learning is supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of discipline techniques on children's personality trait inferences.

Investigated the effects of task-focused and approval-focused desists under conditions of limited information. 64 8th graders heard 1 of 2 tape-recorded desists. They then rated the target of the desist and the teacher administering the desist on personality trait and degree of confidence scales. A 2(Sex of Rater) * 2 (Type of Desist) multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the use of a negative approval-focused desist resulted in both the target of the desist and the teacher administering the desist being rated as having significantly less desirable personality traits than when a task-focused desist was used (p     

Children's use of frequency information for trait categorization and behavioral prediction.

Two experiments examined young children's use of behavioral frequency information to make behavioral predictions and global personality attributions. In Experiment 1, participants heard about an actor who behaved positively or negatively toward 1 or several recipients. Generally, children did not differentiate their judgments of the actor on the basis of the amount of information provided. In Experiment 2, the actor behaved positively or negatively toward a single recipient once or repeatedly. Participants were more likely to make appropriate predictions and attributions after exposure to multiple target behaviors and with increasing age. Overall, children's performance was influenced by age-related positivity and negativity biases. These findings indicate that frequency information is important for personality judgments but that its use is affected by contextual complexity and information-processing biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The referents of trait inferences: The impact of trait concepts versus actor–trait links on subsequent judgments.

The authors investigated the hypothesis that when trait inferences refer to abstract behavior labels they act as a general interpretation frame and lead to assimilation in subsequent judgments of an ambiguous target, whereas when they refer to a specific actor–trait link they will be used as a scale anchor and lead to contrast. Similar to G. B. Moskowitz and R. J. Roman's (see record 1992-31124-001) study, participants who were instructed to memorize trait-implying sentences showed assimilation, and participants who were instructed to form an impression of the actors in these sentences showed contrast. However, exposure to trait-implying sentences that described actors with real names and were accompanied with photos of the actors resulted in contrast under both memorization and impression instructions (Experiment 1). Furthermore, contrast ensued when trait-implying sentences were accompanied with information that suggested a person attribution, whereas assimilation ensued when that information suggested a situation attribution, independent of processing goals (Experiment 2). These findings are interpreted as support for referent-based explanations of the consequences of trait inferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal inferences by young children.

48 4–5 yr olds were taught to perform temporal operations with pairs of toys chosen from a set and tested with novel pairs of toys from the same set. For example, they might be taught to place Toy A through a trap door followed by Toy B, and Toy B followed by Toy C. Then they might be given the novel pair of Toys A and C to determine whether or not they make the transitive inference of placing A in the box before C. Results of 6 experiments show that Ss with little initial training made transitive temporal inferences of greater complexity than the transitive inference described above. Inferential strategies other than temporal transitivity, which were used by preoperational Ss when logical transitive inferences were impossible, were identified. These are discussed as the use of internal vs external serial boundaries. It is demonstrated how the methodology used in this study can be transformed into a test of children's linguistic competence. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous trait inferences are bound to actors' faces: Evidence from a false recognition paradigm.

A false recognition paradigm showed that spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) are bound to the person performing a trait-implying behavior. In 6 experiments, participants memorized faces and behavioral sentences. When faces were paired with implied traits in a recognition test, participants falsely recognized these traits more often than unrelated traits paired with the same faces or the same traits paired with familiar faces. The effect was obtained for a large set of behaviors (120), each presented for 5 sec, and for behaviors that participants did not subsequently recognize or recall. Antonyms of the implied traits were falsely recognized less often than unrelated traits, suggesting that STIs have extended implications. Explicit person-trait judgments predicted both false recognition and response times for implied traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement motive and test anxiety conceived as motive to approach success and motive to avoid failure.

"… the following hypotheses are investigated: persons in whom the motive to achieve success is stronger than the motive to avoid failure (a) should prefer tasks of intermediate difficulty, (b) should show greater persistence in working at an achievement related task, and (c) should show more efficiency, or a higher level of accomplishment, than persons in whom the motive to avoid failure is stronger… . [Results] support the hypotheses." 3 measures of achievement related motives were not found to be correlated. "These results highlight the importance of discovering why different methods of measuring apparently the same human motive do not yield comparable results." 30 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transitive inferences by 4-year-old children?

Data from 2 experiments with 20 4-yr-old children show that when adequate precautions are taken to prevent problems of memory, young children can make transitive inferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When stereotypes get in the way: Stereotypes obstruct stereotype-inconsistent trait inferences.

There is a growing body of evidence indicating that people spontaneously make trait inferences while observing the behavior of others. The present article reports a series of 5 experiments that examined the influence of stereotypes on the spontaneous inference of traits. Results consistently showed weaker spontaneous trait inferences for stereotype-inconsistent behavioral information than for stereotype-consistent and stereotype-neutral information. Taken together, the current results suggest that specific spontaneous trait inferences become obstructed by inhibitory processes when behavior is inconsistent with an already activated stereotype. These findings are discussed in relation to stereotype maintenance processes and recent models of attribution in social judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous trait inferences as self-generated primes: Implications for conscious social judgment.

The priming literature has documented the influence of trait terms held outside of conscious awareness on later judgment relevant to the primed trait dimension. The present research demonstrated that spontaneous trait inferences can serve as self-generated primes. In Exp 1, Ss instructed to memorize trait-implying sentences (thus spontaneously inferring traits outside of consciousness) showed assimilation effects in judgment. Ss instructed to form inferences from these sentences (thus consciously inferring traits) showed contrast effects. Exp 2 demonstrated that these findings were due to semantic activation rather than to a general evaluative response. When evaluatively inconsistent trait constructs were primed, similar patterns of assimilation and contrast were found. Implications for the ubiquitous occurrence of priming through the process of social categorization are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young infants' sensitivity to optical information for collision.

Four experiments explored the properties of the stimulus event that will evoke blinking and backward head movements in 100 3–4 wk old infants. Measured by a sensitive pressure transducer, backward head movements did not occur when Ss viewed displays that specified an object approaching on a collision course, except when some of the object's contours rose in the S's visual field. Thus, such head movements may reflect a tendency of young infants to fixate and pursue contours that move upward. In contrast, displays specifying collision evoked more frequent blinking than displays specifying an object's withdrawal, whether or not rising contours were present. The reliability of the blink response suggests that very young infants are sensitive to some optical information for collision. (French abstract) (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous trait inferences and organisational actions: The formation of organisation personality perceptions.

Organisation personality perceptions, or the attribution of human personality characteristics to an organisation, have been found to affect organisational attraction, job pursuit intentions, and organisational reputation. Although the presence and potency of these attributions have been established, little is known about the manner in which these attributions come about, particularly whether the process is consistent with personality attributions made about human targets. In the current paper, we extend previous work by investigating the underlying social–cognitive mechanism by which organisation personality perceptions are formed. Specifically, we tested the proposition that organisation personality perceptions are spontaneously inferred in a manner that is functionally isomorphic with individual personality perceptions. Study 1 used a cued-recall paradigm, with results indicating that implied trait words improved recall for both individual and organisational actors. Study 2 extended these findings using a lexical decision paradigm; results showed improved performance when making a lexical decision about trait words regardless of whether the actor in a behaviour presented just prior was an individual or an organisation. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When are social judgments made? Evidence for the spontaneousness of trait inferences.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 50(2) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2008-10962-001). There are errors in the labeling of Figure 1 on p. 244. The ordinate percentages should be three times greater than indicated. In addition, the algebraic formula in the note for Table 2 on p. 245 is incorrect. The correct ordinate percentages and the correct algebraic formula are provided in the erratum.] Adapted E. Tulving and D. M. Thomson's (see record 2005-09647-002) encoding specificity paradigm for 2 recall experiments with 153 undergraduates to investigate whether Ss would make trait inferences without intentions or instructions at the encoding stage of processing behavioral information. Under memory instructions only, Ss read sentences describing people performing actions that implied traits. Later, Ss recalled each sentence under 1 of 3 cuing conditions: a dispositional cue (e.g., generous); a strong, nondispositional semantic associate to an important sentence word; or no cue. Results show that recall was best when cued by the disposition words. Ss were unaware of having made trait inferences. Interpreted in terms of encoding specificity, findings indicate that Ss unintentionally made trait inferences at encoding. It is suggested that attributions are made spontaneously, as part of the routine comprehension of social events. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

TV guide: Two-year-old children learn to use video as a source of information.

Learning to use symbols is a challenge for young children even when the symbol in question (e.g., a live video image) is iconic and seems transparent to adults. This research examined the effect of experience on children's use of video-presented information. Two-year-old children saw themselves "live" on their family television for 2 weeks and then participated in an object-retrieval task. The children reliably used a live video presentation of an adult hiding a toy in an adjoining room to find the toy. Most also transferred what they learned to a task involving another symbol (pictures) that typically is very difficult for this age group. The results reveal flexibility in 2-year-olds' symbol use that follows from successful representation of a symbolic relation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)