David Hines

REGULAR AND OCCASIONAL SMOKING BY COLLEGE STUDENTS : PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTIONS OF SMOKERS AND NONSMOKERS

Recent reports show an increase in smoking among college students and suggest that occasional smoking is now initiated by previously nonsmoking students This study evaluated whether this apparent increase in smoking by students is associated with positive self-images associated with smoking. Regular and occasional smokers rated how smoking “changes the way you feel about yourself” on 18 self-attributes that may be associated with smoking, e.g., from cigarette advertisements. Nonsmokers also rated smokers on the same 18 attributes All three groups rated three attributes in the negative direction with at least a moderate effect size: that being a smoker was less healthy, that smokers were less desirable as a date and that smokers were less attractive while smoking. On only one other attribute regular smokers differed from neutral with at least a moderate effect size: that smoking made them feel less feminine. As hypothesized, the occasional smokers also rated some attributions positively with at least a moderate effect size: that smoking made them feel more daring and more adventurous and did not make them feel like an outcast. The non-smokers rated a number of additional attributes about smokers negatively with at least a moderate effect size: that smokers are less sexy, less feminine less sophisticated, less masculine, and less mature. Thus, the results suggest that smoking shows at best mixed associations with self-attributions of college students who smoke and is viewed negatively by those who do not smoke. Other results suggest that the recent increase in occasional smoking may be related to smoking with friends who smoke and smoking while drinking alcohol.

Young smokers' attitudes about methods for quitting smoking: Barriers and benefits to using assisted methods

There is currently little information about how smokers choose a particular method to stop smoking. Young adult smokers rated likelihood of success as the most important criteria for choosing a stop-smoking method but saw only a small difference in likelihood of success between common assisted and unassisted methods. They rated cost, convenience, and quitting on own as other important criteria. Almost all would choose an unassisted method for their next quit attempt. The smokers then rated their probability of using a stop-smoking program or a nicotine patch under various conditions of cost, convenience, and increased likelihood of success. The results showed that the smokers indicated a moderate-high probability of using the two assisted methods under assumptions of convenience and likelihood of success that are currently realistic. However, they were extremely sensitive to cost of the method. When the stop-smoking program or nicotine patch was free, the estimated probability of use was over 50% for all tested conditions; however, at a cost of +25 the estimated probability dropped below 20% for all conditions. Young smokers would be likely to choose assisted methods when attempting to stop if they appreciated the increased likelihood of success with these methods and if the cost was not high.

Hemispheric visual processing in face recognition

Two experiments tested how facial details are used in recognizing face drawings presented to either the left or right visual field (VF). Subjects used inner and outer features about equally in both the left and right VFs. The major finding was a very strong tendency to recognize the upper facial features more accurately than the lower facial features. The top-to-bottom recognition difference occurred in both VFs, in contrast to an earlier study by J. Sergent (1982, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 8, 1-14). Methodological differences between the present experiments and Sergents studies were discussed. It was concluded that both the left and right hemispheres recognize novel faces using top-to-bottom serial processing.

Hemispheric asymmetry in use of semantic category information

When two pictures of common objects were presented sequentially, the second was named more quickly if both were members of the same semantic category. This semantic priming effect occurred only when both pictures went directly to the left hemisphere. If the target or prime stimulus was presented to the left visual field--right hemisphere, no priming effect was observed. These results suggest that semantic category information is activated and used by the left hemisphere of the brain.

Effect of Masked Picture Primes on Semantic Priming for Easy- and Difficult-to-Name Words

Abstract Words can be named more rapidly when they occur in a related context than in an unrelated context. This improvement is more pronounced for words that are initially more difficult to recognize. Stanovich and West (1983) attributed both of these semantic priming effects to the process of automatic spreading activation. Experiments 1 and 2 supported this interpretation by demonstrating that an increased semantic priming effect occurred for the more difficult words when the prime was masked below recognition threshold. Experiment 3 replicated this effect with above-threshold primes. The adequacy of the thresholds for the masked primes in Experiments 1 and 2 was tested through a block of posttest forced-choice trials. Analysis of these trials strongly supported the conclusion that the magnitude of the semantic priming effect was not positively related to the ability of the subjects to recognize the masked primes.

Admissions Criteria for Ranking Master's-Level Applicants to Clinical Doctoral Programs

All APA-approved doctoral programs in clinical psychology were surveyed to determine their admissions and credit transfer policies for students from masters-level programs. The results indicated that Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, recommendations, and research involvement were consistently rated as most important in ranking applicants for admission. The doctoral programs varied in the weights assigned to graduate versus undergraduate grade point averages (GPAs). Most programs indicated that students with a masters degree could reduce the time needed to complete their doctoral requirements by about a year. However, about one third of the schools indicated that little or no reduction in time was possible.

Order of feature recognition in familiar and unfamiliar faces.

Three experiments measured order of processing for single faces presented to the left or right visual field (VF) using a same-different matching task. In contrast to earlier studies, the stimuli in the present experiments were carefully matched for overall similarity prior to the actual experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a significant top-to-bottom order of processing occurred for line drawings of unfamiliar faces but not for line drawings of familiar faces. Experiment 3 found evidence supporting top-to-bottom processing for unfamiliar photographic face stimuli. The photographic stimuli in Experiment 3 were matched more quickly when presented in the left VF (right hemisphere); however, this VF asymmetry was not related to previously reported differences in order of processing. It is suggested that under some conditions faces presented to the right hemisphere may be processed more like familiar faces than faces presented to the left hemisphere; however, this difference is not critical for the left VF (right hemisphere) superiority often found in face recognition tasks.

Position response bias in visual field recognition

In testing the ability of the two hemispheres to recognize nonverbal visual stimuli, a common procedure is to present the visual stimulus to one visual half-field (VF) and to then require the subject to choose the VF stimulus from an answer array. However, this study shows that VF presentation is associated with a large position response bias. Subjects tended to choose the alternative in the left position on the answer sheet when a face or random shape was presented to the left VF, and the right position when the stimulus was presented to the right VF. Vertical alignment of the alternatives on the answer sheet eliminated this bias.

Perceptual interference and hemispheric specialization

Two experiments evaluated the effect of stimuli presented at fixation on the recognition of faces or random shapes presented to the left or right visual half-field (VF). Increasing the processing demands of the center stimulus produced a large, linear decrease in recognition from both VFs for both faces and shapes. Recognition of random shapes was decreased more in the right visual field by center digits and in the left VF by center faces and shapes. In addition, interference was found between the VF faces and the center digits to the left of fixation. It was concluded that differences in the processing capacity of the two hemispheres are a function of the verbal-nonverbal nature of the stimuli at a later stage in processing but that the two hemispheres may also differ along other perceptual dimensions at an earlier stage of visual recognition.

Subthreshold semantic priming: Not a context effect

Bernstein, Bissonnette, Vyas, and Barclay (1989) showed that masked primes can be recognized more often when followed by a related target than when followed by an unrelated target. They suggested that this effect may allow subjects in subthreshold semantic priming experiments to recognize the masked primes on the related semantic priming trials, even when the subjects cannot recognize masked primes presented alone. The present experiment found that when masked primes are presented at recognition rates comparable to those used in published studies of subthreshold masked priming, the forced choice recognition of masked primes followed by related targets was similar to that of masked primes presented alone (25% vs. 22%). In addition, the recognition of masked primes on the forced choice trials was highly predictive of masked prime recognition on the semantic priming trials.