Why listeners hear less than they are told: attentional load and the teller-listener extremity effect.

Prior research (T. Gilovich, 1987; M. Inman, A. Reichl, & R. Baron, 1993) indicated that individuals (tellers) who directly observe an actor (on video tape) rate that actor less extremely than other individuals (listeners) who hear the tellers' secondhand accounts of the actor's actions. Evidence has suggested that this teller-listener effect is due at least in part to listeners' failure to encode and consider mitigating circumstances contributing to the actors' actions (Inman et al., 1993). The present research examined several explanations for this phenomenon. Study 1 found stronger teller-listener differences (and less recall of mitigating information) when listeners heard the teller's account in the presence of noise. Studies 2 and 3 found listener's interpretations to be more extreme when the verbal accounts they heard were verbally disorganized. These results support an attentional load explanation for teller-listener differences.

Knowledge of male and female midwestern college students about baby bottle tooth decay.

The purpose of this bellwether study was to establish the level of knowledge a group of young men and women college students had about baby bottle tooth decay (BBTD) and the associated risk factors. The results show that knowledge about BBTD is very limited even among a well-educated group of young adults. Overall 39% of the respondents had heard of BBTD whereas 87% had heard of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Thirty-two percent thought BBTD was a fictional (vs. "real" or "unsure") health problem, while 3% of the respondents thought SIDS was a fictional health problem. Knowledge about overall risk factors for oral disease was greater than that for BBTD. Further, these subjects report that if they believed that adopting a certain feeding practice would reduce the risk of tooth decay for their babies, they would be likely to adopt it. Men and women significantly differed on the age at which a child should first see a dentist (chi sq = 19.56, df = 5, P < 0.01). Forty-five percent of the men selected either when the first tooth erupts or between 6-18 months as the time a child should first be seen by a dentist. Only 11% of the women thought a child should be seen that early. Forty-five percent of the women students selected 2-3 years as the earliest age at which a child should be seen by a dentist. Implications of this research are discussed.

Influence of prototypes on perceptions of prejudice.

Two studies examined the influence of cultural stereotypes and personal factors (one's race, gender) on perceptions of racial and gender discrimination. Overall, the data suggest that our perceptions of prejudice are strongly influenced by specific expectations regarding who are the prototypic perpetrators and victims of prejudice. More general expectations regarding out-group conflict or regarding only the characteristics of the perpetrator appear to have less of an impact on such perceptions. Additionally, women were found to be more likely than men to perceive sexism directed against men and racism directed at African Americans and Caucasians. Also, African Americans were more likely than Caucasians to perceive racist events against Whites and Blacks. The implications of these data are discussed.

Sensory focus as therapeutic treatments for acute pain.

This study examined the hypothesis that instructing patients to focus on their sensations (sensory focus) during root canal therapy reduces painful response. Before dental treatment, patients were randomly assigned to one of four audiotaped conditions: sensory focus with and without procedural information, procedural information, or no-intervention. Patients were categorized as to how much control they desired and felt. The "high desire for control/low felt control" subgroup's sensory pain intensity scores in the sensory focus condition were significantly lower than the "high desire for control/low felt control" subgroup's sensory intensity scores in the no-intervention comparison condition. This was true immediately after treatment (F(1,303) = 13.37; p < or = .001) and 1 week after treatment (F(1,303) = 14.30; p < or = .001). Immediately after treatment, the high desire for control/low felt control subgroup in the sensory/procedural condition was significantly lower on sensory pain intensity scores than the high desire/low felt subgroup in the no-intervention condition (F(1,303) = 3.75; p < or = .001). This difference was not observed on the 1-week recall of pain. Adding procedural information to the instructions to focus on sensation did not increase the pain-reducing effects. Results extend prior findings that sensory focus significantly reduces sensory pain intensity only among patients who are classified as having a high desire for control and low perceived control. These results are congruent with theoretical arguments that coping preferences moderate the reaction of patients to various therapeutic strategies.

Desire for control, felt control, and stress inoculation training during dental treatment.

Coping style research has typically assessed subjects' desire for a coping resource, but ignored whether subjects possess that resource. In this study 110 dental patients were categorized as to their desire for and feelings of control and were randomly assigned, just prior to dental treatment, to a 20-minute Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) session or a Filler condition. SIT significantly reduced pain and increased control only for patients who initially reported a high desire for control coupled with low perceived control. This finding supports the view that the discrepancy between high desire for control and low perceived control plays a causal role in the elevated distress and pain initially reported by patients with such control perceptions. These data indicate that consideration of patients' perceived coping resources as well as their coping preferences adds to our ability to predict reactions to stress reduction manipulations.

Specificity in social support: perceptions of helpful and unhelpful provider behaviors among irritable bowel syndrome, headache, and cancer patients.

Perceived social support was assessed among 53 patients suffering from non-life-threatening chronic illnesses (i.e., irritable bowel syndrome or recurrent headache). Subjects recalled predominantly helpful support interactions and reported the three major types of social support as equally helpful. In addition, irritable bowel syndrome patients, who experience embarrassing physical symptoms, reported fewer instances of tangible assistance than chronic headache patients. Comparisons to cancer patients studied by Dakof and Taylor (1990) revealed differences in perceived social support as a function of diagnosis. These results offer insight into the needs of patients with noncatastrophic illnesses and suggest that the challenges and tasks confronting these individuals are unique from those encountered by patients with catastrophic diseases.

Emotional and sensory focus as mediators of dental pain among patients differing in desired and felt dental control.

Giving patients instructions to focus on sensory (vs. emotional) stimuli during a root canal procedure significantly reduced self-reported pain, but only among patients who were classified as having strong desire for control and low felt control in dental situations. Among patients with low felt control and low desire for control, sensory-focus instructions produced greater pain reports than did emotion-focus instructions. Finally, high desire-low felt patients reported higher levels of expected pain before treatment than did other patient subgroups. These data suggested limiting conditions for H. Leventhal's (1982) theory of emotion and supported the idea that desire for control might moderate the effects of perceived control.

The effects of short-term social support from dentists on the stress experienced by parents of pediatric dental patients.

Parents of pediatric dental patients were observed in a university clinic waiting room as they were greeted by student dentists. Soon after the dentist left with the child, the parents completed a series of scales assessing their perceived social support from the dentist, their anxiety and distress levels, and their confidence in the dentist. Regression analysis indicated that perceived social support from the dentist was associated negatively with parental distress regarding the dental treatment (beta = .-45, P < .01) and parental state anxiety (beta = .-37, P < .01). In addition, social support was associated positively with parent's confidence in the dentist beta = .54, P < .01). Possible mediational paths and clinical implications are discussed.

Desired control and felt control as mediators of stress in a dental setting.

Control-related variables have clearly affected stress responses in previous research (Thompson, 1981). Prior work, however, has primarily emphasized the amount of control that subjects perceive they have. In the three studies reported here, we examined the added predictive utility of assessing subjects' desire for control. Data from all three studies indicate that subjects who have a high desire for control coupled with a low feeling of control are characterized by particularly high degrees of dental distress. These results were found both in settings where patients anticipated immediate dental treatment and where treatment was not imminent. In addition, the results indicate that this "at risk" group reported greater distress before and immediately after actual dental treatment. Furthermore, they remembered their dental treatment as being more aversive 1 week after treatment. The practical implications and theoretical significance of these data are considered.

Social support and immune function among spouses of cancer patients.

This study investigated whether social support was related to immune function among spouses of cancer patients. Effects of depression and negative life events were examined as potential mediators. Results showed evidence of greater immunocompetence on 2 of 3 dynamic measures: natural killer cytotoxicity and proliferation response to phytohemagglutinin among spouses who reported high levels of social support. All six components of social support assessed by the Social Provisions Scale (Cutrona & Russell, 1987) were strongly related to these indices of immune function. No evidence was found for mediation by either life events or depression.

Rudimentary physiological effects of mere observation.

Complex social factors can influence physiological activity, behavior, and health, but little is known about how essential components of these factors (e.g., human association, observation) affect human physiology. To begin to address this issue, an experiment was conducted to contrast predictions from social facilitation, distraction/conflict, and physiological reactivity formulations regarding the physiological effects of mere observation. Skin conductance and heart rate were measured surreptitiously from 27 women during a period in which they believe that the experimenter was simply calibrating auditory and physiological recording equipment. Approximately half of the subjects were led to believe that they could be observed by the experimenter during this period, and the remainder were led to believe that they could not be observed. Following baseline recordings, a series of 10 orienting tones were presented. Predictions from the physiological reactivity formulation were supported: (a) no differences in basal levels of somatovisceral activity were found as a function of mere observation; (b) mere observation enhanced the skin conductance response to the initial orienting tone; and (c) these physiological differences were punctate, quickly dissipating and quickly habituating. Hence, mere observation has subtler physiological effects than thought previously. Implications are discussed regarding the possible mechanism underlying the stress-enhancing and stress-buffering effects of human association, and regarding the effects social and contextual factors may have in psychophysiological research. Results from an international survey, based on the responses of 57 authors of articles that have appeared in Psychophysiology since 1983, are reported to inform the latter discussion. Results suggest that, even when social factors in psychophysiological research are minimized or held constant within studies, subtle differences in the social context across studies within and across laboratories may contribute to the appearance that psychophysiological relationships are unreliable.

Some variables affecting dentists' assessment of patients' distress.

Dental students estimated the pain distress and discomfort of their patients after patients received a Class II restoration (simple filing). Dentist's estimates of patient pain accounted for 36% of the variance in patient self-report responses. Dentist accuracy was significantly lower, however, for estimates of anxiety and distress. Dentist accuracy was unaffected by patient's degree of self-monitoring. There was a tendency for female dentists to demonstrate greater accuracy than male dentists, but this effect was nonsignificant. In addition, dentists' accuracy in assessing overall patient discomfort was significantly lower in that segment of the treatment procedure that was most stressful for the dentists. This article discusses theoretical explanations for this latter effect.

Pain cues and uncertainity as determinants of aggression in a situation involving repeated instigation.

In contrast to the Buss aggression paradigm, a situation was employed in which subjects were given an expanded range of response options and were exposed to instigation throughout their response period. It was found that (a) despite these changes pain cues depressed aggressiveness in the present situation as they generally do in the Buss paradigm, but that this effect only occurred where the subjects' aggression was initially ineffective in changing their target's behavior; (b) situational uncertainity, which is minimal in a Buss-type situation, was related to aggressiveness; (c) subjects tended to match rather than attempt to control the responses of the target; and (d) the present paradigm is capable of isolating a personality variable related to overall aggressiveness. These data are discussed in terms of other recent paid cue studies that deviate from the standard Buss situation. Generally, the findings suggest the potential of increasing the range of situations in which aggression is studied.

Attribution theory, insomnia, and the reverse placebo effect: a reversal of Storms and Nisbett's findings.

Storms and Nisbett found that insomniacs got to sleep faster than usual on nights when they took placebos believed to be arousal pills. Our study attempted: (a) to replicate the reverse placebo effect using a method of measurement considered more accurate than the original technique, (b) to evaluate the effect of an arousal pill therapy after therapy is discontinued, and (c) to clarify which of two hypotheses better accounts for the effect. Using 42 insomniacs, the design varied whether pills were administered (pill) or withheld (no pill) and whether or not high justification was provided for taking the pills. The high-justification-pill and the high-justification-no-pill groups were given information intended to justify their participation, while the no-justification-pill and no-pill-no-justification groups were treated like the original arousal and control groups. Instead of a decrease in latency to sleep, the no-justification-pill group but not the high-justification-pill troup displayed a typical placebo reaction on nights they took the pills. Our results cast suspicion on the original finding. The lack of response by the high-justification-pill group is discussed in terms of Bem and Kelley's views of attribution theory.