Ego involvement: A critical examination of some methodological issues.

The effects of type and strength of induced conflict on conflict generalization and later preference for conflict stimuli1

“…interest in these analyses was the fact that performance differences between the APAP and AVAV groups persisted even after the two groups were apparently equated for absolute strength of coiiflict experience A number of possible explanations for this efiFect may be examined One is that there may be something about avoidance itself which produces different kinds of reactions than approach, even though both are of the same absolute strength Thus, individuals may learn more intense reactions to avoidance (eg, stronger hesitation, blockmg, or qualitatively diflFerent reactions such as startle, etc ) It IS also possible, however, that the avoidance choices were m fact generally more equivalent than the approach choices Since our ratmg scale provides an mdication of tiie relative strength of approach or avoidance that is roughly graded mto the three categories of slight, moderate, or strong, although an mdividual may place two descriptive adjectives mto the moderate category, this does not msure that these are as equivalent m strength as two other paired adjectives also rated as moderate It seems clear that the problem of absolute strength should be considered in future research In contrast to the mterpretive diflBculties here, the contnbution of relative strengths of competing tendencies to behavior seems clear. Thus, as the subjective value of two words began to approximate each other m strength, behavior became significantiy more conflictual An aspect of the findmgs which requires more detailed attention IS the somewhat mconsistent results of the two major analyses performed to test for the generalization of conflict effects Although generalization of conflict was found m both analyses, the analyses which controlled for frequency of exposure to weak conflict stimuli indicated that the WC2 group was significantly slower than the WC4 group, whereas this was not found m the analyses of performance durmg postconflict This difference in responding by the WC2 group requires explanation, and exammation of the expenmental procedure suggests at least one plausible explanatory factor It IS possible, although there is only indirect evidence, that smce the WC2 group received an immediate second exposure to the same weak conflict stimuli, this may have led to a variety of attitudes which altered responses Thus, on the second presentation Ss may have felt that they had made a mistake or that they were bemg tricked, etc, so that they became more hesitant However, smce performance m the postconflict phase was not different from that of the WC4 group, it seems that whatever factors were contributmg to altered performmg were not operatmg on the third presentation Fmally, the findmgs for the mstructional ego mvolvement vanable revealed that its effects were not consistent for the vanous stages of conflict expenence It is possible that the expenmental situations mitially were suflBciently arousing that the addition of the mstructional set was superfluous It may be noted, moreover, that the findmgs here comcide with those obtamed m other studies that have used mstructions where an effect IS sometimes found and sometimes not found (Ferguson, 1962). SUMMARY Ss were exposed to a three-stage experimental conflict paradigm consistmg of pretrammg (weak conflict), conflict trammg (either approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, double approach-avoidance strong conflict, or one of two varieties of weak conflict) and postconflict performance (weak conflict) The major findmgs were the followmg (1) Performance m a weak conflict situation was markedly affected by previous conflict exposure.…”

Studies in efficiency: Muscle-action patterns in reaction time as related to GSR conditioning.

“…Instructions, as a means of inducing certain psychological states, however, may not always be effective, and may be related to motivational and task characteristics in a complex fashion (cf. Ferguson, 1962). An alternative approach is to relate efficiency in reaction time directly to rate of GSR conditioning.…”

Anxiety drive, anxiety habit, and achievement: a theoretical reformulation in terms of optimal motivation1

“…Half of the Ss were given Form A first, the other half received Form A preceded by Form B There was a rest mterval of approximately two mmutes between tasks. In addition, there was a rest mterval of approximately lo to 15 seconds between tnals, with the mterval extended to approximately 20 seconds on the third tnal of each task Before begmnmg each task the Ss were mstructed to state the number of symbols they expected to successfully complete on the first tnal of the respective task Probabihties of obtammg a particular score, based upon the performance of 130 mtroductory psychology students, were provided for the Ss Pnor to the begmnmg of tiie expenment, each S was presented the followmg wntten mstructions which he was asked to read along with the E You are bemg asked to take a bnef mtelhgence test This test, which has been abstracted from the Wechsler Adult Intelhgence Scale, is a very sensitive test This is because the test IS relatively culture free, since your score does not depend on how much you know Results of this test give a very good mdication of a person's intelhgence and of the hkehhood of career success [Ferguson, 1962]. Smce this is a study of the relationship between mtelhgence and leammg, there wJl be two sections to the test At this pomt the E showed the Ss a WAIS Record Form and illustrated, usmg symbols difEerent from those appearmg in the Ss' test, how the Ss were to fill m the correct symbols under the appropnate numbers.…”