Robert L. Montgomery

Psychological Correlates of Optimism in College Students

This study assessed optimism held by 300 college students at a mid-western university using Scheier and Carvers Life Orientation Test. Optimism ratings were compared to measures of psychological functioning. Analysis showed that optimism was significantly associated with all of the adjustment measures (social, academic, personal, and goal commitment) assessed with Baker and Siryks Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire, higher self-esteem measured with Rosenbergs Self-esteem scale, and with lower ratings of loneliness as assessed with the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale.

Social support, perceptions of attractiveness, weight, and the CPI in socially anxious males and females.

To see how socially anxious people function in a number of domains, Watson and Friends (1969) Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SAD) was administered to 101 undergraduates along with the California Personality Inventory (CPI) and the Psychosocial Support Inventory (PSI), a measure of social support. Additionally, a perceived attractiveness measure and various measures related to being overweight were taken. SAD scores correlated significantly in a negative direction with 13 of the 18 CPI scales, and those with high SAD scores had poorer social support networks. High SAD scores also were related to the perception of being overweight, but not to perceived physical attractiveness or to actually being overweight. Gender differences showed that females had more intimate social interactions and that socially anxious females relied more on their family for social support than did other people. Overall, the results suggested that the socially anxious person may have deficits in a variety of personal and interpersonal domains.

Arbitrary norms and social change in high- and low-authoritarian societies.

Following Jacobs and Campbells methodology for replacing confederates and naive subjects over 11 successive generations, this study considered the impact of authoritarianism on the rate of social change of arbitrary norms in laboratory societies. Subjects were 116 college students scoring high and low on the California F scale who participated in an autokinetic experiment either with no confederates (control), confederates who made estimates in a range of 9 to 15 inches (22.86-38.10 cm) (moderately arbitrary), or those who estimated in a range of 15 to 21 inches (38.10--53.34 cm) (extremely arbitrary). Results indicated: (a) High-F societies perpetuated arbitrary norms (both 9-15 and 15-21) for more generations than low-F societies; (b) in low-F societies, the 9-15- and 15-21-inch norms rapidly declined; and (c) in high-F societies, the 15-21-inch norms gradually declined, while the 9-15-inch norm declined very little. Overall, the results suggested that an interaction model would better described social change than do presently existing theories of social change.: Following Jacobs and Campbells methodology for replacing confederates and naive subjects over 11 successive generations, this study considered the impact of authoritarianism on the rate of social change of arbitrary norms in laboratory societies. Subjects were 116 college students scoring high and low on the California F scale who participated in an autokinetic experiment either with no confederates (control), confederates who made estimates in a range of 9 to 15 inches (22.86-38.10 cm) (moderately arbitrary), or those who estimated in a range of 15 to 21 inches (38.10--53.34 cm) (extremely arbitrary). Results indicated: (a) High-F societies perpetuated arbitrary norms (both 9-15 and 15-21) for more generations than low-F societies; (b) in low-F societies, the 9-15- and 15-21-inch norms rapidly declined; and (c) in high-F societies, the 15-21-inch norms gradually declined, while the 9-15-inch norm declined very little. Overall, the results suggested that an interaction model would better described social change than do presently existing theories of social change.

Silencing the Self in College Settings and Adjustment

The correlations among several measures of silencing the self and scores on the College Adjustment Scale were assessed for male and female students at a midwestern university (N = 143). Analysis showed that high scores on Jacks 1991 Silencing the Self Scale and on one of three new measures designed to extend silencing the self to social group settings were associated with scores indicating poorer college adjustment. Also, men scored higher than women on Jacks 1991 measure, and no significant interactions were found for sex and adjustment for any of the silencing the self measures. Thus, silencing the self was generally associated with poorer adjustment scores and similarly for both women and men.

Predicting Behavior in a Social Influence-Situation from Attitude-Scale Measures of Prejudice

To determine whether Ss with high or low scores on attitude scales measuring prejudice would be influenced differently by black and white confederates, 40 high- and 40 low-scoring white college students participated in an autokinetic study for two sessions. In Session I, Ss participated alone and were anchored to see the light move 1 to 5 in. During Session II, Ss participated with either a black or white confederate who made estimates in a range of 6 to 10 in. Results indicated that (a) highly prejudiced people were influenced more (p < .005) by a white confederate than by a black one, (b) low-prejudiced people accepted influence about as readily from a black confederate as a white, and (c) highly prejudiced people were more (p < .025) easily influenced than low-prejudiced people by a white confederate.

Role Conflict for Aides in a Homemaker Aide Program for Frail Elderly Persons

To determine whether aides in a homemaker program for the frail rural elderly experienced role conflict, the views of clients, aides, and staff were examined by means of an 18-item Likert-type test which assessed the difficulty of an aide in various possible problematic situations. While consensus existed among the three groups on a few items, a significant interaction of clients, aides, staff × item indicated that, for the most part, whether or not a situation was perceived as a difficult problem depended upon who did the rating. What aides saw as a difficult problem situation for themselves often differed markedly from what the staff and clients saw. Clients and staff often differed significantly from one another. This lack of consensus suggests that a direct service worker in a program such as this one might often not only find himself in an uncomfortable situation, but even worse, such a situation will not necessarily be recognized by either the programs clients or staff.

REFERENCE GROUPS AS ANCHORS IN JUDGMENTS OF OTHER GROUPS: A BIASING FACTOR IN "RATING TASKS"?

A phenomenon which might bias rating tasks (the reference group as an anchor phenomenon) was explored by having 144 male undergraduate members of Greek, eating club, and independent organizations, and students belonging to none of these organizations rank 28 campus organizations in terms of relative prestige. In general, members of groups consistently overestimated the prestige of their own (assimilation effect), under-estimated the prestige of organizations dissimilar to their own (contrast effect), and had more pronounced assimilation and contrast effects than did subjects not belonging to the rated organizations. Moreover, members of groups placed a greater number of organizations dissimilar to their own into objectionable categories. These results suggest that it might be extremely difficult for highly ego-involved persons to maintain an appropriate judgmental set in such tasks when the ratings are made on the basis of the quality, prestige, and other such ill-defined criteria. Over-all, the results strongly supported predictions made from social judgment theory.

Self-Report and Behavioral Measures with Heterosocially Anxious Subjects

The present study examined two behavioral indicators, i.e., the number of initiations of conversation and the number of personal statements uttered in a brief conversation, for 26 heterosocially anxious males as they interacted with a female confederate and correlated these measures with scores on five self-report scales. Most self-report measures correlated well with one another and the personal statements measure correlated with two of the self-report measures.

Infrared and Intertial Tracking in the Immersive Audio Environment for Enhanced Military Training

The Immersive Audio Environment (IAE) was designed to provide an effective military training facility. Its efficacy at synthesizing sounds from desired directions and also the ability to synthesize moving sounds has been previously reported. This paper discusses the addition of a tracking system to evaluate subject training performance. Numerous tracking systems have been developed for tracking in immersive environments. Some examples include using head mounted web cams, visible light cameras mounted on the support structure, or even single camera tracking as in commercially available entertainment. Our system uses a combination of an existing infrared tracking system and a specially designed system of inertial tracking. This paper presents tests and results to evaluate the accuracy of the tracking system with respect to our application and verifies the efficacy of using the IAE for training enhancement.

The “Imaginary Audience,” Self-Handicapping, and Drinking Patterns among College Students

A study of 80 midwestern college students indicated that higher scores on Lapsleys 1990 Imaginary Audience scale were associated with lower grades, greater use of immature self-handicapping strategies, and several negative consequences associated with drinking alcohol.