"Out of my league": a real-world test of the matching hypothesis.

The matching hypothesis predicts that individuals on the dating market will assess their own self-worth and select partners whose social desirability approximately equals their own. It is often treated as well established, despite a dearth of empirical evidence to support it. In the current research, the authors sought to address conceptual and methodological inconsistencies in the extant literature and to examine whether matching occurs as defined by Walster et al. and more generally. Using data collected in the laboratory and from users of a popular online dating site, the authors found evidence for matching based on self-worth, physical attractiveness, and popularity, but to different degrees and not always at the same stage of the dating process.

Patients' experiences of Parkinson's disease.

Patients' (n = 101) experiences of Parkinson's disease (PD) were studied through structured interviews. Oblique factor analysis produced three moderately intercorrelated clusters of items reflecting reported severity of motoric, cognitive, and psychological problems, respectively. Scales formed from the factors were correlated with demographic, disease-related, and psychosocial variables. The demographic variables were not significantly correlated with the scales or with any other variables in the set. Hoehn and Yahr staging was significantly related to scores only on the motoric severity scale. Measures of functional capacity, in contrast, were significantly associated with all three scales. Although the addition of the psychosocial variables as a set significantly increased multiple Rs for each of the three scales, the specific patterns of correlation varied from scale to scale. The findings indicate that from the viewpoint of the patient the problems created by PD were not restricted to the motoric domain. Too narrow a focus by clinicians and researchers on medical symptomatology may give insufficient recognition to the multidimensional nature of the patient's experience.

The actor-observer effect revisited: effects of individual differences and repeated social interactions on actor and observer attributions.

This research examined several factors hypothesized to influence the actor-observer effect (AOE). Participants engaged in 3 successive dyadic interactions: after each interaction, they rated the importance of 4 causal factors in influencing their behavior and that of their partner. The AOE held for 1 external factor, interaction partner, and 1 internal factor, personality, but not for situation or mood. Actor and observer attributions changed in predicted ways across the 3 interactions: Actors increasingly emphasized the importance of their partner, whereas observers increasingly emphasized personality: both actors and observers substantially lowered their attributions to the situation. We found consistent individual differences in attributional tendencies that allowed us to predict who showed the AOE. Together, the findings demonstrate that A-O differences depend on: (a) the specific causal factor invoked, (b) the individual's history in the situation, and (c) individual differences among attributors. Discussion focuses on the limited generality of the AOE and the need for a more complex formulation of A-O differences in attribution.

Personality change in Parkinson's disease patients: chronic disease and aging.

Parkinson's disease patients (N = 41, mean age = 65 years) were described by themselves and their spouses as they were presently and before their illness using the Adjective Check List. Equivalent self- and spouse descriptions were obtained from the members of a matched community sample (N = 96). Descriptions of patients and their spouses converged, both reporting sharp, pervasive (e.g., on all of the Big Five dimensions), and uniformly negative change in personality. Similar, but much less marked change was found in the community sample. The data as a set suggest that the reported changes in the patients were veridical and that their magnitude was primarily the result of the disease rather than aging. Evidence of continuities in personality (for example, differential stability) was also noted. We argued that the illness accelerated and intensified changes normally expected in later life.

Subjective well-being in French and American samples: scale development and comparative data.

We introduce the English language version of a scale of subjective well-being that has proved reliable, valid, sensitive to change, and well suited to research on clinical populations in France. The internal consistency of both versions exceeds 0.80 and the data suggest that they are equivalent in meaning. In a comparative study of normal samples, American subjects scored significantly higher than French; the difference was greater for women than for men. Young French women in particular had lower scores, a finding interpreted in terms of contemporary socio-economic circumstances. We conclude that the two versions of the scale are useful for both within and cross-national research.

Patterns of adaptation to Parkinson's disease.

Forty-four 50- to 80-year-old Parkinson patients were interviewed about the effects of the disease on their lives. The Q-sort technique was used to analyze the interview data. In addition, the Symptom Checklist 90, the Mini-Mental State, and physician ratings of disease severity were obtained. Four clusters of patients were identified. Cluster I patients were sanguine and engaged; Cluster III patients were depressed and apprehensive about the future; Cluster III patients felt depressed, ashamed, and misunderstood; and Cluster IV patients were passive and resigned. Disease severity, but not demographic or other health variables, discriminated the groups. Patients with a mild to moderate impairment who adjusted effectively to their illness (Cluster I) were distinguished by an ability to put negative thoughts out of mind, by their belief that there are worse fates than having Parkinson's disease, and by efforts to influence certain aspects of their illness. The particular patterns of adaptation of the patients who were depressed and misunderstood (Cluster III) and passive and resigned (Cluster IV) seemed primarily a function of physical condition. This suggest that the degree to which personal attitudes can influence adaptation to somatic disease is limited by specific realities of the disease.

An hypothesis approach to the solution of anagrams.

The attempts of subjects to reorganize the letters of an anagram were construed as a series of hypotheses about the correct letter order. It was predicted, consequently, that variables which reduce the number of tenable hypotheses or influence the order in which hypotheses are generated will affect problem difficulty. Five such variables, plus solution word frequency, were used to predict solution probabilities in two studies. The multiple Rs obtained were .92 and .82 and the two regression equations were effectively interchangeable. The process of anagram solution was described as entailing the retrieval of words from memory storage on the basis of letter order cues generated by the subject or, less usually, present in the anagram itself.

The solution of anagrams: A reexamination of the effects of transition letter probabilities, letter moves, and word frequency on anagram difficulty.

Word frequency (WF), number of letter moves, and solution word transition letter probabilities (TP) were related to anagram solution. The solution word TP measure was based on the relative frequencies of correct to incorrect bigrams within the pool of bigrams defined by the letters of the anagram rather than on the absolute frequencies of the correct bigrams. This bigram rank measure, which also took word length and letter position into account, was a powerful predictor of anagram difficulty (p < .001). Likewise, number of letter moves predicted anagram solution strongly (p < .001), but WF was only a marginal predictor (.05 < p < .10). In addition, there were no significant interactions among the three variables, nor wasanagram TP consistently related to anagram difficulty. The results were interpreted in terms of an approach which combined elements of an hypothesis and an S-R mediational theory.