Douglas P. Peters

Peer-review practices of psychological journals: The fate of published articles, submitted again

A growing interest in and concern about the adequacy and fairness of modern peer-review practices in publication and funding are apparent across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Although questions about reliability, accountability, reviewer bias, and competence have been raised, there has been very little direct research on these variables. The present investigation was an attempt to study the peer-review process directly, in the natural setting of actual journal referee evaluations of submitted manuscripts. As test materials we selected 12 already published research articles by investigators from prestigious and highly productive American psychology departments, one article from each of 12 highly regarded and widely read American psychology journals with high rejection rates (80%) and nonblind refereeing practices. With fictitious names and institutions substituted for the original ones (e.g., Tri-Valley Center for Human Potential), the altered manuscripts were formally resubmitted to the journals that had originally refereed and published them 18 to 32 months earlier. Of the sample of 38 editors and reviewers, only three (8%) detected the resubmissions. This result allowed nine of the 12 articles to continue through the review process to receive an actual evaluation: eight of the nine were rejected. Sixteen of the 18 referees (89%) recommended against publication and the editors concurred. The grounds for rejection were in many cases described as “serious methodological flaws.” A number of possible interpretations of these data are reviewed and evaluated.

Perceptions of peer sexual harassment among high school students

Perceptions of peer social–sexual interactions were examined in a group of high school students (N=150). Participants were presented with six brief vignettes that described three types of sexual harassment between adolescent peers: physical, verbal/visual, and derogatory. Two vignettes were written for each type of behavior to reflect either a sexually explicit or implicit behavior. Participants responded to Rosenbergs Self-Esteem Scale and the Attitudes toward Women Scale for Adolescents (AWSA), and then rated the sexually harassing nature of the behaviors. Sexual harassment ratings varied as a function of the type of behavior and the sexual explicitness with which it was displayed. Although consensus was reached regarding the sexually harassing nature of both the sexually implicit and explicit physical forms of behaviors, only when the verbal/visual behavior was explicitly displayed was it perceived as sexually harassing. Interactions among self-esteem, gender attitudes, and type of behavior were also noted. Irrespective of the explicitness with which it was displayed, rater characteristics were influential for both the verbal/visual and derogatory forms of harassment.

Effects of prenatal nutritional deficiency on affiliation and aggression in rats

Abstract Adult male rats were allowed to choose between two different target rats in a T-maze. The experimental animals and targets experienced prenatal zinc deficiency (Z), undernutrition, or normal nutrition (A) via their mothers diet during the last third of pregnancy. In social encounters between the experimental and target animals, the Z animals were the most aggressive rats. The choice data indicated that animals preferred to affiliate with the A targets. The Z target rats were the social partners most often avoided. The results suggest long-term effects of early nutritional deprivation on social behavior, specifically affiliation and aggression.

Effects of prenatal nutrition on learning and motivation in rats

Abstract The results of two learning experiments revealed that adult male rats whose dams suffered either prenatal zinc deficiency or undernutrition showed, as compared to rats whose dams were fed ad lib, normal diets during pregnancy (1) more resistance to extinction following partial reinforcement, and (2) a faster occurring negative contrast effect when shifted from large to small reward. An incentive-motivation interpretation of the data suggests that the nutritionally deprived and normal animals differ with respect to the incentive value of the consummatory reward. This effect appears to be long-term.

Effects of Prenatal Nutritional Deficiency on Discrimination Learning in Rats: Acquisition and Retention

Infant male rats whose dams received dietary conditions of zinc deficiency or undernutrition during their last trimester of pregnancy showed, as compared to rats from normal-diet mothers, no differences in learning a spatial discrimination, deficits in relearning following a retention interval of 14 days, and no differences in relearning and no evidence of retention (when compared to maturational controls) following a retention interval of 70 days.