GRAZING TASK

INSIGHTS
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 2008
http://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 substandard 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

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.

Construct

Operational Definition

White undergraduate
students

Students who identify themselves as White, not Hispanic,

on a survey.

instructed to critique

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

poorly written essays

essays contain 5 spelling errors, 14 grammar errors, 5

content errors

for feedback

subjects copy edited comments on essays are supposedly

returned to the writer

will provide more positive

feedback if

no. of positive comments no. of neg. comments

informed that the writer is

Black rather than White

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
husbands 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 husbands hand. Most strikingly,
the effects of spousal hand-holding on neural threat varied
as a function of marital quality ... .
Whats 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

Effect

Antecedent

Consequent

Event that E. controls or

selects

Event that E. tries to predict

Change in X

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 Variables
Latentvariablesarevariablesthatcannotbedirectly
measured.
Latentvariablesareemergent theyarisefromthejoint
associationofmoreparticular,measurablevariables.
Latentvariablesaresometimesreferredtoasfactors
Factoranalysisismethodusedtodiscoverandconfirm
latentvariables.

Latent Variables in Feedback Study:

Essay Mechanics

?????

??????

Development of argument, clarity of

ideas, quality of evidence, interesting
presentation, persuasive

Latent Variables in Feedback Study:

Mechanics vs. Content
Mechanics:

Spelling, grammar, word choice

Content:

Development of argument, clarity of

ideas, quality of evidence, interesting
presentation, 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

Age induces wisdom. Age is?

Independent Variable

Arousal induced by 50
jumping jacks. Arousal is?

Active 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

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:Whataretheconditionsunderwhich
Mem-mudworks,andforwhomdoesitwork?
Mediator:WhydoesMem-mudwork

Moderator:Thelimitingconditionsthatdetermine
andeffectoroutcome(e.g.,when,orforwhom)
Mediator:Theunderlyingcause;Whysomething
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 = Predictor
B = Outcome
C = 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 DEFINED, Cont.

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.

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

Event illness

r = .56

r = .18

These two results say what about bad events and illness?
Major life events increased illness, IF event is uncontrollable.
Moderator is?

CONTROLLABILITY

MODERATOR MODEL
Predictor (IV)
Moderators (IV)

Outcome Variable (DV)

Predictor X Moderator
P X M Interaction
Must be significant
Recipient race (IV)
Self-image risk(IV)

Race X Risk

Feedback Positivity (DV)

p < .005

Feedback Bias With and Without

Content/Mechanics as Moderator
4

3.5

3.5
3

Content
Mechanics

2.5

2.5

1.5

1.5

0.5

0.5

BlackWriter

WhiteWriter

BlackWriter WhiteWriter

Moderator Recipes
a.IVisqualitative(dichotomous,polychotomous,
Mod.isqualitatitve(dichotomous,polychotomous)
b.IVisqualitative,Mod.isquantitative
c.IVisquantitative,Mod.isqualitative
d.IVisquantitative,Mod.isquantitative

Social Context, Disclosure, and Baby Cries

Primary IV? Social Contact

DV?
Recipe?

Moderator Disclosure

Distress Rating
IV is Qualitative, and Moderator is Qualitative

Height Perception as Function of Social Contact

Adapted from Schnall, Harber, Stefanucci, & Proffitt, 2008;
Results amplified for purposes of illustration

Primary IV? Social Contact

DV?
Recipe?

Moderator Duration

Hill slant
IV is Qualitative, and Moderator is Quantitative

Primary IV? Depression

DV?
Recipe?

Moderator Gender

Endorsement of Directive Support

IV is Quantitative, and Moderator is Qualitative

Self Esteem and the Use of Affect as Information

(Harber, 2005)
Mild upset = 1 SD < mean, Moderate upset = mean, Extreme upset = 1 SD > mean.

Primary IV? Upset

DV?
Recipe?

Moderator Esteem

Baby Cry Ratings

IV is Qualitative and Moderator is Qualitative

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
Mediator
a

IV

DV

When Mediation is present:

r (a) is significant
r (b) is significant
r ( 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

Self-Image Concerns
a

Race of Recipient

Positive Bias

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. . .
X
____Moderator

____Mediator

Greenberg, et al. 2000

Scary Images

+
Self Esteem

+++
Scary Images X Self Esteem

Anxiety

Anxiety as a Function of
Threat Salience and Level of Self Esteem
Greenberg, et al., 2000

60

Anxiety

50

NeutralEsteem
PositiveEsteem

40
30
20
10
0

NeutralVideo

DeathVideo

VisceralPerceptionandNonconsciousFear
Conditioning

Katkin, Wiens, & hman, 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. [ABSTRACTMODIFIED]

____Moderator

X
____Mediator

Katkin, Wiens, & hman, 2001

Heartbeat Monitors
a

Conditioned Fear

Stimuli Sensitivity

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 --> [????] --> coping
Disclosure --> self-affirmation --> coping (Cresswell, et al., 2007)
Disclosure --> self-affirmation --> [????] --> coping

Path Analyses and Causal Models

Attend.in21stCenturyprogramimproved
performancebyminoritystudents.
21stCenturyprogrambasedontheoryofstereotypethreat.Whenthreatishigh,minoritystudentsdoless
well.
Stereotypethreatisitselfaproblembecauseitcauses
minoritystudentstodisidentifywithacademics.

Whatisthecausalmodel?Whatwouldbestrongand
weakcorrelationallinksinthismodel?

First Semester Grades as Predicted by Stereotype Threat,

Identification with School, and Participation in 21 st Century Program

Stereo. Threat

ID with School

21st Cent. Prog.

Grades
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