GRAZING TASKINSIGHTS

Changes in writing style: Battle-fatigued soldiers referred to as "burdens to the Army"

Changes in permissible topics "The vampire kith and kin" Nature, 1929

Evolution of field, e.g. neuroimaging starts with animals, now address musicality,Rate of change in 10-15 yrs.

Obsolescence of hard-copies: new volumes no longer offered in stacks.

Sensory aspect of library: "The 'feel' of touching embossed letters of books", "the smell of old books filled the air."

Grazing and serendipity: From "Learning and memory" to "American Sea Songs"

Serenity of library search: "Look...without the blaring '10,000 articles returned'", "Calming to sit and read."

The poignancy of "forgotten work" : "the older volumes were stuck together; it was as if they hadn't been touched in years."

The price of on-line "efficiency": loss of "what it felt like to ...search...the stacks."

THEORY AND SEEING HMAS Sydney Sunk in Indian Ocean 1941;

Found (in part) Via Cog. Psychology 2008http://www.npr.org/2011/09/27/140816037/how-psychology-solved-a-wwii-shipwreck-mystery

Bartlett's War of the Ghosts schema research, ca. 1930

Create "deviation maps" from Bartlett's original subjects

Apply same method to German sailors' stories

Class 6

Concepts and Variables (concluded)

Experiments as Expressions of Hypotheses

Most General Hypothesis 

Interracial feedback is biased.

General Hypothesis 

Feedback from whites to blacks is positively biased.

Specific Hypothesis 

When whites provide performance feedback for sub-standard work, their feedback will be positively biased if they believe that the feedback recipient is black rather than white. 

Experimental Hypothesis 

White undergraduates instructed to critique poorly written essays for purposes of feedback will provide more positive feedback if informed that the essay writer is black rather than white.

Diagramming the Experimental Sentence

Construct

White undergraduate students

instructed to critique

poorly written essays

for … feedback

will provide more positive feedback if

informed that the writer is Black rather than White

White undergraduate students instructed to critique poorly written essays for ...feedback will provide more positive feedback if informed that the writer is Black rather than White.

Operational Definition

Students who identify themselves as White, not Hispanic, on a survey.

write comments on spelling, content, etc. on the essay

essays contain 5 spelling errors, 14 grammar errors, 5 content errors

subjects’ copy edited comments on essays are supposedly returned to the writer

no. of positive comments – no. of neg. comments

subjects read “self description sheet” supposedly completed by writer that indirectly indicates race, and confirmed by post-expt. manipulation check.

Lending a Hand: Social Regulation of the Neural Response to Threat

[Coan, J., Schaefer, H., & Davidson, R., (2006) Psych. Science, 17, 1032-1039]

...For this fMRI study, 16 married women were subjected to the threat of electric shock while holding their husband’s hand, the hand of an anonymous male experimenter, or no hand at all. Results indicated an attenuation of activation [in systems regulating threat] when women held their husband’s hand. Most strikingly, the effects of spousal hand-holding on neural threat varied as a function of marital quality ... .

What’s the hypothesis? What are the constructs, the IV, the DV, the operations?

Attributes and Aliases of IV and DV

Independent Variable (IV)

Dependent Variable (DV)

Cause

Antecedent

Event that E. controls or selects

Change in “X”

Effect

Consequent

Event that E. tries to predict

Change in “Y”

Examples of Independent and Dependent Variables

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Race of feedback partners Feedback bias

Social context Moral choices

(NY vs. Ghakistan)

NOTE: IV can be DV can be IV

IV DV

Group pressure Conformity

Conformity Feedback bias

Active vs. Attributive Variables

Active (manipulated): Variables that are manipulated by the experimenter

Friendliness of the confederate

Quality of essay

Attributive (measured): Variables that cannot be manipulated, but are inherent properties.

AKA "organismic variables."

Gender of confederate

Age of subject

Latent VariablesLatent variables are variables that cannot be directly

measured.

Latent variables are “emergent” – they arise from the joint association of more particular, measurable variables.

Latent variables are sometimes referred to as “factors”

Factor analysis is method used to discover and confirm latent variables.

Latent Variables in Feedback Study:

Essay Mechanics = ??????

????? = Development of argument, clarity of ideas, quality of evidence, interestingpresentation, persuasive

Latent Variables in Feedback Study: Mechanics vs. Content

Mechanics: Spelling, grammar, word choice

Content: Development of argument, clarity of ideas, quality of evidence, interestingpresentation, persuasive

SPSS Factor Analysis Results

Factor Loadings of Two Factor Measure: Social Support Opinion Survey

Social Support Opinion Survey (Harber, et al., JASP, 38, 1463-1505)

NAME THAT VARIABLE

Left-handed vs. Right handed Attributive Variable

Like self + believe in self + rely on self + listen to self = Esteem

Latent Variable

Health is affected by exercise. Health is?

Dependent Variable

Arousal induced by 50 jumping jacks. Arousal is?

Active Variable

Age induces wisdom. Age is? Independent Variable

Moderators and Mediators

Class 7

Breaking News: Mud Improves Memory!!!

FLASH! Explorers in the Amazon have discovered an amazing “memory mud”. When smeared on the forehead it vastly improves short term memory. However, it appears that “mem-mud” works only for certain kinds of people in certain places at certain times. The mud appears to have its powerful effects because it ……[SIGNAL LOST].

What questions arise? Who does it work for, under what conditions, at what times?

Why does it work?

Moderators, Mediators, and Mem-mud

Moderator: What are the conditions under which Mem-mud works, and for whom does it work?

Mediator: Why does Mem-mud work

Moderator: The limiting conditions that determine and effect or outcome (e.g., when, or for whom)

Mediator: The underlying cause; Why something occurs.

MODERATOR DEFINED A moderator is a variable that affects the direction or strength of the relationship between a predictor (IV) and an outcome (DV).

A B, if C is a moderator model.A = PredictorB = OutcomeC = Moderator

Changes in the moderator will affect the relation between IV and DV.

Moderators directly explain how and when events occur (but can also indirectly indicate why they occur).

Moderator can be:

* qualitative variable (race, sex, etc.)* quantitative variable (perceived risk, mood)

Moderator is always an Independent Variable Moderator should be un-correlated to DV Moderators sought when there is weak or inconsistent relationship between IV and DV. Moderator confirmed only if interaction between moderator and main IV is significant.

MODERATOR DEFINED, Cont.

Moderation: Correlation Between IV and DV is High in One Condition But Not in Another.

Uncontrollable Event(World Economy Fails)

  Controllable Event(Made Bad Investments)

Event ↔ illness

r = .56

 

  Event ↔ illness

r = .18

 

Moderator is? CONTROLLABILITY

Major life events increased illness, IF event is uncontrollable.

These two results say what about bad events and illness?

Predictor (IV)

Moderators (IV)

Predictor X Moderator

Outcome Variable (DV)

Recipient race (IV)

Self-image risk(IV)

Race X Risk

Feedback Positivity (DV)

P X M Interaction Must be significant

p < .005

MODERATOR MODEL

Feedback Bias With and Without Content/Mechanics as Moderator

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Black Writer White Writer0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Black Writer White Writer

ContentMechanics

Moderator “Recipes”

a. IV is qualitative (dichotomous, polychotomous, Mod. is qualitatitve (dichotomous, polychotomous)

b. IV is qualitative, Mod. is quantitative

c. IV is quantitative, Mod. is qualitative

d. IV is quantitative, Mod. is quantitative

Social Context, Disclosure, and Baby Cries

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

PositiveContact

NeutralContact

NegativeContact

Ratin

g of

Bab

y Di

stre

ss

No DisclosureDisclosure

IV is Qualitative, and Moderator is QualitativeRecipe?

Primary IV?

DV?

Social Contact Moderator Disclosure

Distress Rating

Height Perception as Function of Social ContactAdapted from Schnall, Harber, Stefanucci, & Proffitt, 2008;

Results amplified for purposes of illustration

2527293133

3537394143

Friend NeutralContact

Deg

rees

hil

l sl

an

t

Short DurationMod. DurationLong. Duration

IV is Qualitative, and Moderator is QuantitativeRecipe?

Primary IV?

DV?

Social Contact Moderator Duration

Hill slant

Endorsement of Directive Support as a Function of Depression and Gender

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Low Depression High Depression

Endo

rses

Dire

ctive

i Men

Women

IV is Quantitative, and Moderator is QualitativeRecipe?

Primary IV?

DV?

Depression Moderator Gender

Endorsement of Directive Support

Self Esteem and the Use of Affect as Information(Harber, 2005)

Mild upset = 1 SD < mean, Moderate upset = mean, Extreme upset = 1 SD > mean.

4.6

5

5.4

5.8

Mild Upset Mod. Upset Extreme Upset

Participants' Level of Upset

Baby

Cry

Ratin

gsHigh EsteemMed. EsteemLow Esteem

IV is Qualitative and Moderator is QualitativeRecipe?

Primary IV?

DV?

Upset Moderator Esteem

Baby Cry Ratings

MEDIATION

1. History: S R explanations do not address full range of psychological phenomena. In many cases, SOR makes more sense.

2. Function: Mediational analyses designed to test for SOR causal paths. 3. Mediation Defined: “the effects of stimuli on behavior are mediated by various transformations internal to the organism.” 4. Utility: Mediators directly explain why events occur (but can also provide

clues to how and when they occur). 5. Character: Mediators are latent variables, or latent constructs.

Attributes of Mediators

1. Changes in IV account for changes in mediator 2. Changes in mediator account for changes in DV. 3. When links between IV to Mediator, and between Mediator

to DV are established, the link between IV and DV becomes non-significant, or becomes significantly decreased.

Mediational Model

IV

Mediator

DV

a b

c

When Mediation is present:

r (a) is significantr (b) is significantr ( c ), which was significant before the mediator was included, is either not significant or is much weaker after mediator is included.

Mediational Model and Feedback Studies

Race of Recipient

Self-Image Concerns

Positive Bias

a b

c

RELATION BETWEEN MODERATORS AND MEDIATORS

Moderator to mediator: Knowing how external variables

affect outcomes can imply the existence of mediators. Mediator to Moderator: Knowing why underlying mechanism

affects outcomes can suggest ways of addressing, remedying, altering the outcome.

Why Do People Need Self Esteem? Converging Evidence that Self Esteem Provides an

Anxiety-Buffering Function

Greenberg, et al., 2000

Three studies were conducted to assess the proposition that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function. In Study 1, it was hypothesized that raising self-esteem would reduce anxiety in response to vivid images of death. In support of this hypothesis, subjects who received positive personality feedback reported less anxiety in response to a video about death than did neutral feedback subjects. …. .

____Moderator ____MediatorX

Greenberg, et al. 2000

Scary Images

Self Esteem

Scary Images X Self Esteem

Anxiety

+

0

+++

Anxiety as a Function of Threat Salience and Level of Self Esteem

Greenberg, et al., 2000

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Neutral Video Death Video

Anx

iety

Neutral Esteem

Positive Esteem

Visceral Perception and Nonconscious Fear Conditioning

 

Katkin, Wiens, & Öhman, 2001 

Previous research shows that people conditioned to fear certain kinds of stimuli such as snakes or spiders are subsequently better able to detect hidden images of these stimuli compared to people who are not conditioned. The current research predicts that this heightened sensitivity is restricted to people who are good at detecting their own heartbeats (good heartbeat monitors). This prediction was confirmed; when good heartbeat monitors are excluded from analysis the effect of fear conditioning on stimuli sensitivity disappears. [ABSTRACT MODIFIED ]

____Moderator ____MediatorX

Conditioned Fear

Heartbeat Monitors

Stimuli Sensitivity

a b

c

Katkin, Wiens, & Öhman, 2001

Ultimate Mediation? The Epistemological Challenge of Science

Multiple underlying causes: Disclosure --> Emotional resolution --> less stress --> immune boost --> health Race of recipient --> egalitarian concerns --> self-image concerns --> bias Ultimate underlying causes: Disclosure ---> coping (Pennebaker, 1989)Disclosure --> [????] --> copingDisclosure --> self-affirmation --> coping (Cresswell, et al., 2007)Disclosure --> self-affirmation --> [????] --> coping

Path Analyses and Causal Models

Attend. in 21st Century program improved performance by minority students.

21st Century program based on theory of stereotype-threat. When threat is high, minority students do less well.

Stereotype threat is itself a problem because it causes minority students to disidentify with academics.

What is the causal model? What would be strong and weak correlational links in this model?

First Semester Grades as Predicted by Stereotype Threat, Identification with School, and Participation in 21st Century Program

Stereo. Threat

Grades

ID with School

21st Cent. Prog.

Task: What are IVs, DVs?

What are moderators (if any)?

What mediators (if any)?

Put these in correct path

Estimate relations between variables, outcome

21st Century Program, Stereotype Threat, and Identification with School