Browsing by Author "Perloe, Sidney"
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- ItemAll in the family: learning about human society from observing gorilla social structure(1992) Cohen, Melanie; Perloe, SidneyAn observational study of a captive group of gorillas (G.g. gorilla) was conducted over a seven month period in response to the birth of an infant on July 4, 1991. Observations began when the infant was two months old and continued until she was eight months of age. The development of infant independence and how infant independence corresponded with the development of play were the main foci of the study. Another aspect of the study involved the analysis of family cohesion and silverback-immature interactions. The amount of time the infant spent in contact with the mother decreased over the course of the study, although the difference was not significant. The type of solitary play the infant was involved in more often significantly changed from object to locomotor play over the course of the study (x²=26.86, p<.01). These results and others suggest that the infant's social development relies upon a decrease in the amount of time spent in close proximity with the mother and on active exploration of the environment.
- ItemAn assessment and comparison of the cognitive structures of experts and novices: An explanation of expert-novice differences(1996) Salomon, Amanda R.; Perloe, SidneyThis study investigated expert-novice differences in cognitive structure. Levels of complexity, unity, and organization were measured from performances on tasks modified from Zajonc (1960). Subjects, who were expert in one domain and novice in another, completed tasks in the domains of American history, European history, American current events, and international current events. The sorting task required subjects to create a hierarchical outline using 30 domain terms. The interrelationship task required subjects to indicate the dependency of the terms on one another. We predicted that experts would have more complex, unified, and organized structures. Results tended to support the predictions for the expert-novice differences in complexity and organization. This finding suggests that there are expert-novice differences in cognitive structure, but that this procedure or other potential problems prevented clear expert-novice differences from emerging. Suggestions for further procedural improvements and research are suggested.
- ItemBehavioral and Conceptual Measures of Intentional Understanding in Typical Children and Children with Autism(2002) Weissman, Alison; Perloe, Sidney; Cassidy, Kimberly WrightTwo main lines of research support the contention that individuals with autism lack the ability to attribute mental states to themselves and others. Some researchers compare the behaviors of typical children and children with autism (CW A) or each population's use of eye stimuli. Others investigate CWA's performance on the "litmus test" of mind understanding, the false belief task. Both directions of research, stemming from the typical child's development of mind understanding, show deficits among CW A. This study investigated the appropriateness of these measures for individuals with autism. The research measured CWA's and typical children's conceptual understanding of the mind, at the level of intent, as well as their behavioral displays of "mind understanding." A 2 (Group/ Autistic, Typical) x 2 (Measure/Concept, Behavior) ANOVA indicated an interaction. Planned effects indicated that CW A were as competent as typical children in utilizing an understanding of intent to guide their spontaneous judgments, but were less able to show behavioral displays of mind understanding than typical children. The results are contrasted to the theory of mind hypothesis of autism and compared to the behavioral research to support this hypothesis. It is suggested that the methodological approaches for typical subjects are less appropriate measures of mind understanding for children with the social and behavioral deficits characteristic of individuals with autism.
- ItemComputer-mediated communication: a study of linguistic variation in Instant Messenger(2002) Miller, Rashidah N.; Davis, Douglas A., 1943-; Perloe, SidneyIn a two-part study of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), researchers examined patterns of use by over 200 college-aged subjects. In the first study, a questionnaire on overall AIM use was administered, in which researchers found that AIM users spent on average 75 minutes a day actively using Instant Messenger. Of these conversations, approximately 31% were reported as "serious" while 50% were considered "casual." Observations of sex differences showed that a larger percentage of males than females agreed that discussing intimate issues and engaging in arguments online were appropriate. In the second study conducted, logs of AIM conversations were collected, and manual and mechanical coding processes employed to determine the frequency of use of features such as emoticons, abbreviations/slang, and profanity by males versus females. Based on prior research, it was hypothesized that significant differences would be found indicating more frequent use of emoticons by females than males, more frequency of profanity use by males than females and differences in the use of abbreviations/slang with unspecified directional effects. No significant results were found for the first two hypotheses, but significant results did indicate that males not only used abbreviations/slang more than females but that they are highly affected by the sex of their interlocutor in their frequency of use. Hypothesized gender differences in communication style were not found in the collected logs, perhaps because the sample was composed primarily of U.S. college students who communicated mostly with friends. Future studies on this phenomenon should broaden the sample population to include subjects of varying ages, socio-cultural backgrounds and degrees of affiliation.
- ItemExposure to atypical exemplars : implications for stereotypic judgments of the group and the individual(2004) Grayer, Julia; Perloe, SidneySocial judgment research indicates that the direction of social judgments is dependent upon how a judge categorizes both the contextual stimuli and the target. Specifically, when a target is included in the representation of the contextual information, the target judgment will be assimilated towards the implications of the context, and vice versa. If the target is excluded from the representation of the context, the implications of the context will be contrasted away from the target, and vice versa. Exposure to a member of a stereotyped group thus affects subsequent judgments of both the group and the individual, but in opposite ways, and the direction is dependent upon whether the judge includes the individual in the stereotyped group or excludes the individual from the group. The present research builds upon these findings in three significant ways. First, unlike most previous studies, the exemplar we are examining is atypical in that it does not manifest all the expected traits associated with its group. Further, we examine not only the effect on the stereotyped group, but also the effect on the exemplar to which participants were originally exposed. Third, the contextual information is more complex than it has been in previous studies, with the intent of making such a presentation more naturalistic. The results revealed that including a well-integrated but atypical individual in, or excluding this individual from, a stereotyped group did not influence subsequent judgments of the stereotypicality of the group or of the individual. However, the order in which participants answered questions about the target (either group followed by individual, or individual followed by group), did influence judgments of stereotypicality. The factors that influence judges' categorization decisions are discussed in relation to these findings.
- ItemFacial display when alone: An experiment which contrasts the views of Paul Ekman and Alan Fridlund(1989) Chen, Michael Anthony; Perloe, SidneyIn order to test the merits of Paul Ekman's neurocultural (1975) versus Alan Fridlund's Behavioral-Ecology (in press) views of facial expression, an experiment was done to test the affects of what Fridlund calls "imaginary interactants" on subjects' responses (smiling and laughing) to humorous stimuli (clips from well known comedies film) which the subjects watched while alone. 50 male subjects were randomly assigned to the two experimental groups: anticipated interaction (told that they would be talking about the tape with someone else) and completely alone. Neither group knew that watching the clips was the actual experimental task. There was also a post-watching interview which was designed to determine the amount of thought about "potential imagined interactants" which took place in the minds of the subjects. The results showed no difference between the two groups' smiling and laughing. The data were then divided on the basis of subjects' responses to certain interview questions. ANOVAs were run based on the interview data and revealed that subjects laugh with high intensity most when they are not thinking about particular other people (p<.Ol). This-finding is in direct conflict with Fridlund's theory. It was also discovered, however, that when people wished for others' presence they laughed and smiled more (p<.Ol). The results are discussed in detail, and seem to support adoption of an Ekmanian perspective, but the author calls for more work in the area.
- ItemInclusion and Exclusion: Implications for Stereotypic Judgments of Groups and Individuals(2004) Nussbaum, Jane; Perloe, Sidney; Le, BenjaminThis paper presents a broad overview of various models of the judgment process, in an effort to place the present research within a larger theoretical context. Particular attention is paid to theories proposed by Parducci, Kahneman and Miller, Martin, Schwarz and Bless, Stapel and Koomen, and Mussweiler. The present research aimed to extend the prior finding that categorization of a moderately atypical exemplar as either within or without a group affects subsequent evaluations of both the group and the exemplar, but in opposite ways (Bless, Schwarz, Bodenhausen and Thiel, 2001). In this prior study, both assimilation and contrast effects were found. The present research, a methodologically similar study to Bless et al., employed a new method of presenting exemplar information (i.e., through film clips), intended to increase the ecological validity of the study, allowing participants to gather exemplar information from both auditory and visual domains. As well, the present research utilized a stereotyped group (i.e., the elderly) not used in the previous research. The results of this research did not support the main hypothesis. While people did evaluate the exemplar and the group differently, such evaluative differences were not the effect of differential categorization of the exemplar. It is hypothesized that the lack of empirical support for the main effects may have been due to the fact that the manipulation of the dependent variable was weak; alternately, the measure of the dependent variable may not have been effective. One strong and surprising--although interesting--interaction did emerge from the data analyses: an interaction between the order in which the targets were evaluated, and the evaluations of the targets themselves. Specifically, when the exemplar was evaluated first, evaluations of the exemplar and group were contrasted away from each other. It is suggested that this finding may be able to be accounted for by several factors--such as distinctiveness and category width--presented in prior judgment theories.
- ItemInclusion/Exclusion Model Applied to Facial Stereotypes(1999) Greer, Christine E.; Perloe, SidneyThis study investigates the effects of facial stereotypes on subjects' judgments of a target person using Schwarz and Bless's inclusion/exclusion model (1992). This model states that the inclusion of a contextual stimulus in a target category results in assimilation toward the contextual stimulus and that the exclusion of a stimulus from a target category yields contrast away from the contextual stimulus. Subjects were presented with three ambiguous behavior descriptions each paired with either a baby, mature, or neutral-faced target female. Subjects then were asked to judge the target female along certain personality-trait dimensions relevant to the facial stereotypes. The hypothesis for this study was that by including the female target's behavior as part of her personality, assimilation to the facial stereotype would occur, and that by excluding the target's behavior from her personality, contrast against the facial stereotype would result. Our results did not show significant effects that supported this hypothesis; however we did find significant main effects for face type and story condition.
- ItemProgesterone influences on fluctuations in cognitive asymmetry and interhemispheric communication across the menstrual cycle: comparison of naturally cycling women and oral contraceptive users.(2002) Diepold, Julia A.; Compton, Rebecca J. (Rebecca Jean); Perloe, SidneyThis study examines how progesterone modifies functional cerebral asymmetries across the menstrual cycle in college age women, in comparison with peers taking the oral contraceptive OrthoTri-cyclen. A typical left hemisphere task (lexical decision), a typical right hemisphere task (figural comparison) and an interhemispheric communication task were each performed during the menstrual and luteal phases and corresponding times of the oral contraceptive users' cycles. This study was based on a previous study and the proposed hypothesis of progesterone mediated interhemispheric decoupling (Hausmann and Gunturkun, 2000). According to this hypothesis, high levels of progesterone decrease asymmetry because progesterone inhibits the interhemispheric cross talk that allows one hemisphere to take over a task. In conflict with previous findings, this study's results point towards increasing asymmetry as progesterone levels rise for naturally cycling women, but offers some support for previous findings of increased left hemisphere advantage in the luteal phase. Significant differences between oral contraceptive users and naturally cycling women indicate that oral contraceptive users have better right hemisphere performance relative to right that of naturally cycling women. Collectively, findings provide evidence to support hormonal influences on cognitive asymmetry.
- ItemSocial dynamics in a group of captive lowland gorillas(1992) Waanders, Christine; Perloe, SidneyThree months of systematic observations were done on the gorilla group at the Philadelphia Zoo, using focal animal sampling, proximity maps, and ad lib. notes. The researchers were interested in the social relationships in the group, especially examining the mother-infant relationship. It was determined that the infant was more responsible for increasing independence between herself and her mother, as she developed both physically and socially. The different types of play engaged in by all the immatures were examined. The relationships among immatures were evaluated, as well as their relationships with the silverback male. The adult male was found to be much less involved with the juveniles than expected. Family cohesion was observed: the group split down matrilines in terms of spatial proximity to each other. General social dynamics were noted, and implications for future research were mentioned.
- ItemSocial Judgments and Attitudes: Are the Two Related and if so How?(1989) Smith, Kevin C.; Perloe, Sidney
- ItemThe Effects of Distance and Number of Categories on Assimilation and Contrast in Social Judgment(1990) Freeman, Edmund; Perloe, SidneyThis experiment focused on the roles that distance and alternative categories play in social judgement, and whether these variables create assimilation effects or contrast effects. The distance between a category and target stimuli and the number of categories were varied to assess their effects on judgment. We predicted that increasing the distance between a context and target stimuli increases the likelihood of a contrast effect. We also expected to find that the presentation of an alternative category will accentuate judgments of test stimuli toward the categories with which the test stimuli are associated. The results of the two experiments run revealed an effect of distance but one which we did not predict. The only significant effect of number of categories is not explained in terms of our hypotheses but in terms of Parducci's Range-Frequency Compromise (1965)
- ItemThe Effects of Gender Category Accessibility and Task Presentation on Speed of Categorization(1995) Montoya, Patricia N.; Perloe, Sidney; Boltz, MarilynThis study investigated a subject's speed of gender categorization as a function of their category accessibility (high/low) as determined by their masculinity and femininity scorings by questionnaire. Two tasks (1-picture and 2-picture, between subjects) required them to judge pictures that were congruent or incongruent for gender. Hypotheses predicted that high gender subjects would have faster RTs than low gender subjects in the 1-picture task. High gender subjects in the 2-picture task would be slower than low gender subjects to respond to incongruent pictures, when gender was not being asked, due to having gender as chronically accessible. Results were inconclusive with regards to categorization of gender being an automatic process, however, they suggest that a hierarchy in category accessibility may exist with gender, race, and age. These findings open new avenues for future research.
- ItemThe Influential Nature of Stereotypes in the Formation of Judgments: The Evaluation Bias(1995) Steisel, Paula H.; Cassidy, Kimberly Wright; Perloe, SidneyThe evaluation bias occurs when the same piece of work is judged differently depending on the sex of the author or producer of the work. The purpose of this experiment was to see whether men and women rate articles differently depending upon the gender of the author of the article. This experiment was conducted to examine the effects of the gender of the author, the school environment, and the gender of the rater on evaluations of three different articles in a male dominated, female dominated, and neutral field. Subjects read three articles with a male author, female author, and author with an initial in the three fields. Subjects from a coeducational and all female college rated the articles on five different dimensions: writing style, competency of the author in the subject area, persuasiveness, depth of the article, and quality of the article. There was no evidence of the evaluation bias in our study. Overall effects between male and female raters resulted in a main effect of gender of the rater for the female article so that women evaluated the female domain more favorably than men. It was hypothesized that women at all female schools would be more aware of discriminatory behavior and evaluate articles authored by males and females equally. Results showed that women from an all female school rated the female author of a feminine article less favorably than the women from a coeducational school. Another hypothesis was based upon the centrality of gender where individuals who find gender to be central are more likely to see themselves as part of the in-group, the category of female and therefore rate other females as individuals rather than base the ratings on stereotypes of the category, female. Due to the few subjects who placed their gender on the Who am I? test, this hypothesis could not be tested in this experiment.
- ItemThe Psychology of Cult Movements(1989) Rabin, Jonathan; Perloe, Sidney
- ItemThe Role of Clarity of the Self in Adolescent Self-Concept Change(1995) Johnstone, Cove; Perloe, SidneyThis study examined the effect of clarity and consistency of the self-concept on adolescent self-concept change. Television commercials were used as stimuli to influence the subject's self-concept in terms of gender. Commercials were chosen that were either highly traditionally stereotyped in terms of gender, counter-traditionally stereotyped, or neutral. The hypothesis was that subjects who had more clear self-concepts would have a contrast result while the subjects with ambiguous self-concepts would assimilate the commercials into their self-concepts. A contrast effect would mean that the subject would move their self-concept away from the model in order to reaffirm their own beliefs, whereas assimilation would mean that the subject would adjust their self-concepts to accommodate in information. The subject's self-concept clarity and consistency was measured by the Consistency and Clarity of the Self Measure (Campbell, 1990). The subjects scores on the Bern Sex Role Inventory (Bern, 1974) were measured before and after to determine the amount and the direction of change. None of the studies' hypotheses proved to be significant. This was attributed the defects in the study's design and to problems incurred during the testing.
- ItemThe Role Of Consistency And Clarity of the Self in Adolescent Self-Concept Change(1995) Wilde, Erika; Perloe, SidneyThe purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between clarity of the self and gender self-concept change in female adolescents, as a result of exposure to either traditionally sex-stereotyped, counter-stereotyped, or neutral television commercials. It was hypothesized that subjects in the traditional or counter-traditional condition should demonstrate more gender change than those in the neutral condition. The second prediction was that subjects with unclear self-concepts would exhibit more change than those with consistent self-concepts. The third hypothesis was that ambiguous subjects should move in the direction of the commercial personality, but clear, certain subjects, if they move at all, should move away from the model. The degree of change should be dependent upon subjects' Bern gender scores. Results indicated a significant effect of condition but not of clarity, and no interaction between the two variables.
- ItemVariables Affecting the Occurrence of Assimilation and Contrast: The Role of Category Number and Distance(1990) Mitchell, Rebecca Lynn; Perloe, SidneyTwo experiments were conducted to study the role of two factors as determinants of contrast and assimilation in judgment: the presence of one vs. two categories in the context and the distance between stimuli and the context established. In the first experiment, subjects (n=96) judged a series of squares based on the density of characters within the squares; in the second experiment, subjects (n=36) judged the pathology evidenced in a series of definitions. Subjects in both experiments were initially exposed to an induction series of stimuli. This induction series involved one of three numbers of categories: 1) one category (restricted range); 2) two categories, created by a superimposed correlated cue (full range); 3) zero categories (full range). In the first experiment, the induction series was either a small distance or a large distance from the test items. Following this induction series, all subjects judged mid-range test stimuli that were outside the range of the induction items. In the two-category condition, the test items were associated with one of the categories. The results from ANOVAs for both experiments revealed that the one-category subjects contrasted the test items with the preceding context and judged them significantly higher than did subjects in the other two conditions (p > .01). The two-category subjects did not assimilate the test items toward the category to which they belonged. Additionally, the results for the first experiment revealed surprisingly that the subjects in the large distance condition rated the test stimuli as closer to the preceding context (assimilation) than did the subjects in the small distance condition (contrast). It was suggested that the differing ranges of the induction stimuli may have had an important impact on the effects of both the category number and distance manipulations. Finally, the differences between assimilation and contrast processes were discussed, in light of the findings of these two experiments.