A re-examination of the mere exposure effect: The influence of repeated exposure on recognition, familiarity, and liking.

To evaluate the veracity of models of the mere exposure effect and to understand the processes that moderate the effect, we conducted a meta-analysis of the influence of repeated exposure on liking, familiarity, recognition, among other evaluations. We estimated parameters from 268 curve estimates drawn from 81 articles and revealed that the mere exposure effect was characterized by a positive slope and negative quadratic effect consistent with an inverted-U shaped curve. In fact, such curves were associated with (a) all visual, but not auditory stimuli; (b) exposure durations shorter than 10 s and longer than 1 min; (c) both homogeneous and heterogeneous presentation types; and (d) ratings that were taken after all stimuli were presented. We conclude that existing models for the mere exposure effect do not adequately account for the findings, and we provide a framework to help guide future research. (PsycINFO Database Record

A parsimonious weight function for modeling publication bias.

Quantitative research literature is often biased because studies that fail to find a significant effect (or that demonstrate effects in an undesired or unexpected direction) are less likely to be published. This phenomenon, termed publication bias, can cause problems when researchers attempt to synthesize results using meta-analytic methods. Various techniques exist that attempt to estimate and correct meta-analyses for publication bias. However, there is no single method that can (a) account for continuous moderators by including them within the model, (b) allow for substantial data heterogeneity, (c) produce an adjusted mean effect size, (d) include a formal test for publication bias, and (e) allow for correction when only a small number of effects is included in the analysis. This article describes a method that we believe helps fill that gap. The model uses the beta density as a weight function that represents the selection process and provides adjusted parameter estimates that account for publication bias. Use of the beta density allows us to represent selection using fewer parameters than similar models so that the proposed model is suitable for meta-analyses that include relatively few studies. We explain the model and its rationale, illustrate its use with a real data set, and describe the results of a simulation study that shows the model's utility. (PsycINFO Database Record

A survey of publication practices of single-case design researchers when treatments have small or large effects.

The published literature often underrepresents studies that do not find evidence for a treatment effect; this is often called publication bias. Literature reviews that fail to include such studies may overestimate the size of an effect. Only a few studies have examined publication bias in single-case design (SCD) research, but those studies suggest that publication bias may occur. This study surveyed SCD researchers about publication preferences in response to simulated SCD results that show a range of small to large effects. Results suggest that SCD researchers are more likely to submit manuscripts that show large effects for publication and are more likely to recommend acceptance of manuscripts that show large effects when they act as a reviewer. A nontrivial minority of SCD researchers (4% to 15%) would drop 1 or 2 cases from the study if the effect size is small and then submit for publication. This article ends with a discussion of implications for publication practices in SCD research.

Publication bias as a function of study characteristics.

Researchers frequently conceptualize publication bias as a bias against publishing nonsignificant results. However, other factors beyond significance levels can contribute to publication bias. Some of these factors include study characteristics, such as the source of funding for the research project, whether the project was single center or multicenter, and prevailing theories at the time of publication. This article examines the relationship between publication bias and 2 study characteristics by breaking down 2 meta-analytic data sets into levels of the relevant study characteristic and assessing publication bias in each level with funnel plots, trim and fill (Duval & Tweedie, 2000a, 2000b), Egger's linear regression (Egger, Smith, Schneider, & Minder, 1997), cumulative meta-analysis (Borenstein, Hedges, Higgins, & Rothstein, 2009), and the Vevea and Hedges (1995) weight-function model. Using the Vevea and Hedges model, we conducted likelihood ratio tests to determine whether information was lost if only 1 pattern of selection was estimated. Results indicate that publication bias can differ over levels of study characteristics, and that developing a model to accommodate this relationship could be advantageous.

The varieties of speech to young children.

This article examines caregiver speech to young children. The authors obtained several measures of the speech used to children during early language development (14-30 months). For all measures, they found substantial variation across individuals and subgroups. Speech patterns vary with caregiver education, and the differences are maintained over time. While there are distinct levels of complexity for different caregivers, there is a common pattern of increase across age within the range that characterizes each educational group. Thus, caregiver speech exhibits both long-standing patterns of linguistic behavior and adjustment for the interlocutor. This information about the variability of speech by individual caregivers provides a framework for systematic study of the role of input in language acquisition.

Recovering stimuli from memory: a statistical method for linking discrimination and reproduction responses.

Investigations of sensory memory have often relied on discrimination processes: participants judge whether a reference stimulus is identical to a remembered stimulus. Recently, investigators have used response modes in which participants directly reproduce stimuli. Findings using reproduction tasks have suggested new ways of thinking about biases that pervade psychophysics. To allow an assessment of whether results obtained using reproduction responses persevere for discrimination tasks, this paper presents a statistical model that links the two approaches. The model uses the pattern of discrimination judgements to estimate parameters that represent the means and standard deviations that would have occurred under a reproduction task. An analysis of stimuli that have been previously studied using reproduction responses illustrates the method. Simulations investigate bias and efficiency, large-sample confidence intervals and the performance of likelihood-ratio tests of the adequacy of special submodels.

Pancultural self-enhancement reloaded: a meta-analytic reply to Heine (2005).

C. Sedikides, L. Gaertner, and Y. Toguchi (2003) reported findings favoring the universality of self-enhancement. S. J. Heine (2005) challenged the authors' research on evidential and logical grounds. In response, the authors carried out 2 meta-analytic investigations. The results backed the C. Sedikides et al. (2003) theory and findings. Both Westerners and Easterners self-enhanced tactically. Westerners self-enhanced on attributes relevant to the cultural ideal of individualism, whereas Easterners self-enhanced on attributes relevant to the cultural ideal of collectivism (in both cases, because of the personal importance of the ideal). Self-enhancement motivation is universal, although its manifestations are strategically sensitive to cultural context. The authors respond to other aspects of Heine's critique by discussing why researchers should empirically validate the comparison dimension (individualistic vs. collectivistic) and defending why the better-than-average effect is a valid measure of self-enhancement.

Publication bias in research synthesis: sensitivity analysis using a priori weight functions.

Publication bias, sometimes known as the "file-drawer problem" or "funnel-plot asymmetry," is common in empirical research. The authors review the implications of publication bias for quantitative research synthesis (meta-analysis) and describe existing techniques for detecting and correcting it. A new approach is proposed that is suitable for application to meta-analytic data sets that are too small for the application of existing methods. The model estimates parameters relevant to fixed-effects, mixed-effects or random-effects meta-analysis contingent on a hypothetical pattern of bias that is fixed independently of the data. The authors illustrate this approach for sensitivity analysis using 3 data sets adapted from a commonly cited reference work on research synthesis (H. M. Cooper & L. V. Hedges, 1994).

Beyond the group mind: a quantitative review of the interindividual-intergroup discontinuity effect.

This quantitative review of 130 comparisons of interindividual and intergroup interactions in the context of mixed-motive situations reveals that intergroup interactions are generally more competitive than interindividual interactions. The authors identify 4 moderators of this interindividual-intergroup discontinuity effect, each based on the theoretical perspective that the discontinuity effect flows from greater fear and greed in intergroup relative to interindividual interactions. Results reveal that each moderator shares a unique association with the magnitude of the discontinuity effect. The discontinuity effect is larger when (a) participants interact with an opponent whose behavior is unconstrained by the experimenter or constrained by the experimenter to be cooperative rather than constrained by the experimenter to be reciprocal, (b) group members make a group decision rather than individual decisions, (c) unconstrained communication between participants is present rather than absent, and (d) conflict of interest is severe rather than mild.

The "I," the "we," and the "when": a meta-analysis of motivational primacy in self-definition.

What is the primary motivational basis of self-definition? The authors meta-analytically assessed 3 hypotheses: (a) The individual self is motivationally primary, (b) the collective self is motivationally primary, and (c) neither self is inherently primary; instead, motivational primacy depends on which self becomes accessible through contextual features. Results identified the individual self as the primary motivational basis of self-definition. People react more strongly to threat and enhancement of the individual than the collective self. Additionally, people more readily deny threatening information and more readily accept enhancing information when it pertains to the individual rather than the collective self, regardless of contextual influences. The individual self is the psychological home base, a stable system that can react flexibly to contextual influences.

Truancy, grade point average, and sexual activity: a meta-analysis of risk indicators for youth substance use.

Society increasingly holds schools responsible for the effectiveness of health promotion activities, such as drug abuse prevention efforts funded through the federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools program. Consequently, school districts use student surveys as a method for assessing trends and evaluating effects of programs on behavior. Because cost and practical concerns often preclude consistent population-based school survey sampling, risk indicators can provide an essential tool in analyzing needs assessment and program evaluation data. In this paper, three risk measures associated with substance use were selected from among commonly used school surveys. These measures--truancy, grade point average, and recent sexual intercourse--were compared, using meta-analysis techniques, to assess the reliability of risk measures across different survey instruments, different communities, and different points in time. Truancy was judged superior, because of its strong predictive value, particularly among younger students, and because rates can be compared to school records to assess sampling validity over time.