Preparing auditory task switching in a task with overlapping and non-overlapping response sets.

We used a variant of cued auditory task switching to investigate task preparation and its relation to response-set overlap. Previous studies found increased interference with overlapping response sets across tasks relative to non-overlapping motor response sets. In the present experiments, participants classified either pitch or loudness of a simple tone as low or high, hence, both tasks were constructed around common underlying integrated semantic categories ranging from low to high. Manual responses overlapped in both category and modality for both tasks in Experiment 1A, whereas each task was related to a specific response category and response modality (manual vs. vocal) in Experiment 1B. Focusing on the manual responses in both experiments, the data showed that non-overlapping response sets (Experiment 1B) resulted in a decreased congruency effect, suggesting reduced response-based crosstalk and thus better task shielding, but at the same time switch costs were increased, suggesting less efficient switching between task sets. Moreover, varying preparation time (cue-stimulus interval, CSI) showed that long CSI led to better performance overall. Our results thus suggest that when non-overlapping response sets share common semantic categories across tasks, there is no general benefit over overlapping response sets.

Effects of Prehypnotic Instructions on Hypnotizability and Relationships Between Hypnotizability, Absorption, and Empathy.

Although hypnotizability exhibits high across-time and across-test consistencies, it is not clear (a) how different preambles to a hypnotic procedure (metasuggestions) influence responsiveness to suggestions and the strength of the association between two hypnotizability scales and (b) how hypnotizability relates to absorption and empathy. In Experiment 1, nonclinical participants (N = 152 women) were administered the Modified Tellegen Absorption Scale (MODTAS), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP), and Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C). In Experiment 2, nonclinical participants (N = 188; 105 women and 83 men) were administered the MODTAS, IRI, and Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A). The induction scores of the HIP (HIP-IND) and the SHSS:C scores showed a significantly stronger correlation when the HIP was introduced to the participants after hypnosis metasuggestion (HIP-H-IND) than after imagination metasuggestion (HIP-I-IND). Metasuggestion was a moderator of the association between HIP-IND and SHSS:C scores. Participants with low and medium, but not with high, hypnotizability levels on the SHSS:C showed significantly higher scores on the HIP-I-IND than on the HIP-H-IND. The strong correlations between the SHSS:C, HIP-H-IND, and HIP eye-roll (HIP-ER) scores indicate that both the HIP-H-IND and HIP-ER are robust measures of hypnotizability. Absorption and empathy were not significantly associated with hypnotizability. Women were more hypnotizable than men, as assessed by the HGSHS:A. The clinical relevance of metasuggestions, intended to increase responsiveness to suggestions, is discussed as a strategy to improve treatment outcomes.

Trial type mixing substantially reduces the response set effect in the Stroop task.

The response set effect refers to the finding that an irrelevant incongruent colour-word produces greater interference when it is one of the response options (referred to as a response set trial), compared to when it is not (a non-response set trial). Despite being a key effect for models of selective attention, the magnitude of the effect varies considerably across studies. We report two within-subjects experiments that tested the hypothesis that presentation format modulates the magnitude of the response set effect. Trial types (e.g. response set, non-response set, neutral) were either presented in separate blocks (pure) or in blocks containing trials from all conditions presented randomly (mixed). In the first experiment we show that the response set effect is substantially reduced in the mixed block context as a result of a decrease in RTs to response set trials. By demonstrating the modulation of the response set effect under conditions of trial type mixing we present evidence that is difficult for models of the effect based on strategic, top-down biasing of attention to explain. In a second experiment we tested a stimulus-driven account of the response set effect by manipulating the number of colour-words that make up the non-response set of distractors. The results show that the greater the number of non-response set colour concepts, the smaller the response set effect. Alternative accounts of the data and its implications for research debating the automaticity of reading are discussed.

The conceptual link between social desirability and cultural normativity.

Psychologists have a recurrent concern that socially desirable responding (SDR) is a form of response distortion that compromises the validity of self-report measures, especially in high-stakes situations where participants are motivated to make a good impression. Psychologists have used various strategies to minimise SDR or its impact, for example, forced choice responding, ipsatization, and direct measures of social desirability. However, empirical evidence suggests that SDR is a robust phenomenon existing in many cultures and a substantive variable with meaningful associations with other psychological variables and outcomes. Here, we review evidence of the occurrence of SDR across cultures and tie SDR to the study of cultural normativity and cultural consonance in anthropology. We suggest that cultural normativity is an important component of SDR, which may partly explain the adaptiveness of SDR and its association with positive outcomes.

Hypnosis, suggestion, and suggestibility: an integrative model.

This article elucidates an integrative model of hypnosis that integrates social, cultural, cognitive, and neurophysiological variables at play both in and out of hypnosis and considers their dynamic interaction as determinants of the multifaceted experience of hypnosis. The roles of these variables are examined in the induction and suggestion stages of hypnosis, including how they are related to the experience of involuntariness, one of the hallmarks of hypnosis. It is suggested that studies of the modification of hypnotic suggestibility; cognitive flexibility; response sets and expectancies; the default-mode network; and the search for the neurophysiological correlates of hypnosis, more broadly, in conjunction with research on social psychological variables, hold much promise to further understanding of hypnosis.

Random Responding from Participants is a Threat to the Validity of Social Science Research Results.

Research in the social sciences often relies upon the motivation and goodwill of research participants (e.g., teachers, students) to do their best on low stakes assessments of the effects of interventions. Research participants who are unmotivated to perform well can engage in random responding on outcome measures, which can cause substantial mis-estimation of results, biasing results toward the null hypothesis. Data from a recent educational intervention study served as an example of this problem: participants identified as random responders showed substantially lower scores than other participants on tests during the study, and failed to show growth in scores from pre- to post-test, while those not engaging in random responding showed much higher scores and significant growth over time. Furthermore, the hypothesized differences across instructional method were masked when random responders were retained in the sample but were significant when removed. We remind researchers in the social sciences to screen their data for random responding in their outcome measures in order to improve the odds of detecting effects of their interventions.

Recording of dissimulation and denial in the context of the psychosomatic evaluation at living kidney transplantation using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).

OBJECTIVE: Living organ donation involves interference with a healthy organism. Therefore, most transplantation centres ascertain the voluntariness of the donation as well as its motivation by means of a psychosomatic evaluation. The circumstance that the evaluation is compulsory and not a primary concern of the donor-recipient pair may occasion respondents to present only what they consider innocuous and socially adequate. Thus, the information value of the results can be considerably affected. METHODS: In the context of a psychosomatic evaluation prior to living kidney transplantation, 71 donor-recipient pairs were screened at the transplantation centre of Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. Using the validity scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) ("infrequency" (F), "lie" (L) and "correction-scales" (K)) and the Dissimulation Index according to Gough ("F-K"), we tried to find traits of dissimulation and denial. RESULTS: About 50% of the participants showed an infrequency raw score of zero. This means that at least half of the sample is apprehensive which may cause a cautious and controlled attitude towards the examination. The K-value (T>/=59) and the Dissimulation Index (F-K

The acquiescence effect in responding to a questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE: Since the acquiescence effect can distort assessments, it is important to test techniques to quantify this effect. METHODS: The tendency of acquiescence is tested by means of a questionnaire. 2037 representatively selected subjects filled in the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20), which consists of five subscales with positively and negatively formulated items. For each subject and for each subscale an acquiescence score was calculated based on the simple sum of the answers to the items of both orientations. RESULTS: Extreme acquiescence scores were rare (about 0.5%). All correlations between the acquiescence scores of the subscales were positive with mean values of 0.24, which indicates a certain degree of individual consistency in the acquiescence behavior. In the exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses the polarity of the items was at least as meaningful as the contents of the subscales. Persons with high degrees of acquiescence were principally older and more depressed. By means of Rasch scaling procedures differences in threshold parameters for the response categories between positively and negatively oriented items were found. CONCLUSION: The acquiescence scores derived by simple addition of item values proved to be well suited to clarify amount and conditions of the acquiescence effect.