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    The closed-mindedness that wasn't: need for structure and expectancy-inconsistent information
    (Frontiers in Psychology, 2015) Kemmelmeier, Markus
    Social-cognitive researchers have typically assumed that individuals high in need for structure or need for closure tend to be closed-minded: they are motivated to resist or ignore information that is inconsistent with existing beliefs but instead they rely on category-based expectancies. The present paper argues that this conclusion is not necessarily warranted because previous studies did not allow individual differences in categorical processing to emerge and did not consider different distributions of category-relevant information. Using a person memory paradigm, Experiments 1 and 2 shows that, when categorical processing is optional, high need-for-structure individuals are especially likely to use this type processing to reduce uncertainty, which results in superior recall for expectancy-inconsistent information. Experiment 2 demonstrates that such information is also more likely to be used in judgment making, leading to judgmental moderation among high need-for-structure individuals. Experiments 3 and 4 used a person memory paradigm which requires categorical processing regardless of levels of need for structure. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrate that, whether expectancy-consistent or -inconsistent information is recalled better is a function of whether the majority of available information is compatible or incompatible with an initial category-based expectancy. Experiment 4 confirmed that the extent to which high need-for-structure individuals attend to different types of information varies with their distribution. The discussion highlights that task affordances have a critical influence on the consequences of categorical processing for memory and social judgment. Thus, high need for structure does not necessarily equate closed-mindedness.
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    They should have known: Hindsight and outcome biases in child abduction cases
    (2019) DeVault, Alicia; McDermott, Christine; Miller, Monica K.
    Child abductions have received wide spread public attention, much of which is sensationalized. In response, the AMBER Alert system was created.This system was designed to inform the public of information about the child and abductor to assist in the child's safe recovery. Despite limitations of the system, AMBER Alerts remain in public favor. Two biases that might account for this public favor are hindsight bias and outcome bias. Hindsight bias is a cognitive error in which people with outcome knowledge overestimate the likelihood that this particular outcome would occur; outcome bias is an error made in evaluating the quality of a decision once the outcome is known. Two experiments assessed whether hindsight and outcome bias occur in child abduction scenarios. Study 1 was a pre/post test experiment that examined whether hindsight bias occurs in situations in which the identity of the abductor (stranger or parent) is manipulated between groups, and all participants are told the child was killed. Study 2, a between subjects experiment, examined whether hindsight and outcome biases occur in situations in which no AMBER Alert was issued (because the situation did not meet the legal requirements to issue an Alert), and manipulated the identity of the abductor and the outcome (child safely returned, killed, or not outcome provided). Results from the two studies indicate that both hindsight bias and outcome bias occur given the correct set of circumstances. Implications for the AMBER Alert system are discussed.
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    Private Self-Consciousness as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Value Orientations and Attitudes
    (2001) Kemmelmeier, Markus
    The author examined implications of private self-consciousness (PrivSC; Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975) for the relationships between social values and issue attitudes. Indeed, the author expected that the value orientations of authoritarianism and individualism would shape attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide. Values and attitudes were consistent in the high-PrivSC participants, who tended to be more aware of different beliefs held simultaneously than were the low-PrivSC participants. However, for the low-PrivSC individuals, there was no relationship between values and attitudes. The results of 2 studies among U.S. undergraduate students confirmed these predictions.
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    Inept Reasoners or Pragmatic Virtuosos? Relevance and the Deontic Selection Task
    (2001) Girotto, V.; Kemmelmeier, Markus; Sperber, D.; van der Henst, JB
    Most individuals fail the selection task, selecting P and Q cases, when they have to test descriptive rules of the form “If P, then Q”. But they solve it, selecting P and not-Q cases, when they have to test deontic rules of the form “If P, then must Q”. According to relevance theory, linguistic comprehension processes determine intuitions of relevance that, in turn, determine case selections in both descriptive and deontic problems. We tested the relevance theory predictions in a within-participants experiment. The results showed that the same rule, regardless of whether it is tested descriptively or deontically, can be made to yield more P and Q selections or more P and not-Q selections. We conclude that the selection task does not provide a tool to test general claims about human reasoning.
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    A Preliminary Examination of Burnout among Counselor Trainees Treating Clients with Recent Suicidal Ideation and Borderline Traits
    (2011) Miller, Grant D.; Iverson, Katherine M.; Kemmelmeier, Markus; MacLane, Chelsea; Pistorello, Jacqueline; Fruzzetti, Alan E.; Watkins, Melanie M.; Pruitt, Larry D.; Oser, Megan; Katrichak, Barrie M.; Erikson, Karen M.; Crenshaw, Katrina Y.
    Treating suicidal clients with borderline traits can be conducive to burnout. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) may assuage this burnout in counselors. As part of a DBT treatment outcome study, 6 counselors in training collected their own salivary cortisol samples and completed self‐report measures of burnout and well‐being for 1 year. Findings indicate a significant interaction for cortisol levels by treatment condition, such that DBT counselors experienced less physiological stress over time relative to a control group of counselors. There were no group differences in self‐reported burnout or well‐being. DBT may have a salutary effect on trainees' physiological stress levels over time.