Empirical Psychological Research Research Articles

Auditors' Belief Revision: Recency Effects of Contrary and Supporting Audit Evidence and Source Reliability

Human belief revision, a process in which people update their initial beliefs when new pieces of evidence are presented, is ubiquitous in everyday life. Empirical research in psychology shows that humans display order effects in belief revision when evaluating conflicting pieces of evidence in a sequential mode. Auditors are no exception. The order effects phenomenon is especially important to auditors because many judgments in auditing involve sequential processing of evidence. Rather than making a judgment after all evidence is collected, auditors normally make judgments in a sequential manner as each piece of audit evidence is received. Although the sequential processing of evidence promotes cognitive economy, recent findings in auditing indicate that it can lead to non-normative responses. Consequently, order effects are generally classified as biases and considered as indications of irrational decision-making. Several prior studies in auditing and accounting have examined the impact of task variables (including 'temporal order' and 'mode of processing') and other situational variables (experience, hypothesis frames, accountability, task complexity, review process) on order effects and auditor judgments using the Belief-Adjustment Model. None of these studies, however, examine the order effects of contrary and supporting evidence with varying strengths. The objective of this research is to investigate the relation between audit evidence characteristics and the order effect phenomenon. This study investigates the effects of conflicting audit evidence and source reliability within a contradictory evidence paradigm. The research question is: Do auditors display order effects in their belief revisions when positive and negative (mixed) audit evidence of varying reliability is presented in a sequential mode? Four independent experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of four source reliability factors (source competence, nature of evidence, source objectivity, source mode) and conflicting audit evidence on auditor belief revision. A 23 mixed factorial design was employed to test the effects of positive audit evidence (high versus low reliability of source), negative audit evidence (high versus low reliability of source), and order of presentation (positive followed by negative and vice versa) on auditor judgment. Eighty-eight auditors from the three of Big Five CPA firms in Fiji participated in the experiment. The data were analysed using a 3-way ANOVA model. The results show three major findings. First, auditors only display significant order effects when they evaluate conflicting audit evidence from a source with high reliability in a sequential mode. Where either positive or negative audit evidence or both are received from a source with low reliability no significant order effects were observed. Second, the results show that source reliability is an important variable where conflicting audit evidence is evaluated sequentially. Application of a linear model also provides evidence on how auditors weigh conflicting pieces of audit evidence of varying source reliability. The linear model computed weights show that audit evidence from a source of high reliability is weighed more than evidence from a source with low reliability. Third, additional analysis shows that when auditors are presented with a first set of conflicting audit evidence of varying reliability, they pay less attention to source reliability when audit evidence is negative (i.e., without order effects). However, when presented with a second set of conflicting audit evidence with varying reliability, auditors do not weigh the pieces of evidence in the same manner. Order effect biases appear to affect the way auditors weigh conflicting pieces of audit evidence from sources with varying reliability. The results of this study further improve our understanding of the relation between conflicting audit evidence and source reliability. The results are likely to be helpful in validating and testing theories of evidence. The findings have important implications for audit engagements. For example, the weights computed using a linear model are likely to be useful in setting benchmarks for the validation of cue weights in expert systems. The results of this study have possible implications for regulators of auditing practice and for corporate governance. While the present audit practice statements emphasize source reliability factors, no mention is made of the direction of audit evidence. Regulators may need to provide guidelines for evaluating conflicting audit evidence.

Obsession with the Dark Side of Adolescence: A Decade of Psychological Studies

During the 20th century the whirlwind of beliefs and psychological theories of adolescence included divergent views such as a 'stage of storm and stress' and 'adolescents as criminals' as well as a 'stage of abstract and reflective thoughts' and 'adolescents as builders of society'. It is not clear, however, what role the empirical psychological research and the cultural myths have played in the formulation of this dual perspective of adolescence. Do the scientific empirical studies of adolescence generated from these perspectives help to reconcile the contradiction between these perspectives? To answer this question, the present article uses the dual perspective of adolescence as the back drop to examine the psychological research on adolescence as reflected in six human development journals in the decade between 1985 and 1995. A total of 2084 articles were examined for the topic areas researched and information regarding the participants. In summary, the findings show a persistent bias towards research on the negative aspects of adolescence such as risk-taking and adolescent turmoil, especially in the case of Black and Hispanic youth. At the end of the 20th century, the prevailing force within the field of psychology continues to be the view of adolescence as a 'stage of storm and stress'. These results are discussed in light of the need for changes in the empirical approaches to and cultural perspectives of adolescence.

A Secure Base from Which to Explore Close Relationships

The theory of attachment as a secure-base relationship integrates insights about affect, cognition, and behavior in close relationships across age and culture. Empirical successes based on this theory include important discoveries about the nature of infant-caregiver and adult-adult close relationships, the importance of early experience, and about stability and change in individual differences. The task now is to preserve these insights and successes and build on them. To accomplish this, we need to continually examine the logic and coherence of attachment theory and redress errors of emphasis and analysis. Views on attachment development, attachment representation, and attachment in family and cross-cultural perspective need to be updated in light of empirical research and advances in developmental theory, behavioral biology, and cognitive psychology. We also need to challenge the theory by formulating and testing hypotheses which, if not confirmed, would require significant changes to the theory. If we can accomplish these tasks, prospects for important developments in attachment theory and research are greater than ever, as are the prospects for integration with other disciplines.

Experience, instruction and knowledge acquisition: a study in taxation

Abstract This study examines the effects of direct work experience, gained through internships and cooperative educational experiences, on subsequent knowledge acquisition. In particular, theoretical and empirical research in education, cognitive psychology and accounting suggests that experienced individuals develop organizational knowledge structures which allow them to better assimilate new information into memory than inexperienced individuals. Consistent with this notion, the research investigates whether the benefits of prior direct work experience on knowledge acquisition is a function of the nature of the learning tasks (structured versus unstructured) used in subsequent educational experiences. As hypothesized, the results indicate that inexperienced subjects were assisted to a greater extent in the knowledge acquisition process by structure oriented tax return preparation tasks than by relatively unstructured tax research assignments. Also consistent with expectations, the opposite was true for experienced subjects. When experienced subjects were provided with instruction supplemented by unstructured tax research assignments, they demonstrated a greater level of tax knowledge than when assigned structured tax return problems. Further, the knowledge level of experienced subjects was found to be greater than that of inexperienced subjects only when unstructured tax research assignments were provided. These findings suggest that all benefits of direct work experience on the knowledge acquisition process cannot be realized without the specific consideration of such experiences on the design of educational and firm training materials. Finally, the study also indicates that the benefits of direct work experience on subsequent knowledge acquisition are generally greater for individuals with low versus high learning aptitudes.

Preference ratings of images representing archetypal themes: an empirical study of the concept of archetypes

Archetype Theory is consistent with the full range of empirical psychological research, yet has not itself been empirically studied. As part of a project to integrate psychological theory, especially psychotherapeutic theory, with empirical research, I asked 151 subjects to rate their preferences for images representing archetypal themes and factor analysed their responses. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that archetypal themes determine affective responses in adults. Archetype theory may prove itself to be useful in operationalizing a number of contemporary psychological theories.

Health psychology: Bibliometrical results on the emergence and rapid consolidation of a new field of research and application

Presents bibliometrical research results on the history of health psychological publications. With reference to psychological literature databases, the emergence of health psychological publications in international psychology (database PsycLit) as well as in the German-speaking countries (database PSYNDEX) was analyzed. The topics included the relevant index terms (e.g., “health care psychology”, “health behavior”, “health education”). Besides results on the first occurrence and the annual frequencies of those terms between 1970 and 1995 in the databases, bibliometrical comparisons were conducted with reference to other psychological subdisciplines and to the relative proportions of empirical and experimental studies, case and experience reports, as well as overviews and textbooks in health psychological publications. The results point to (1) a rather sudden emergence of health psychological publications in the mid-eighties (with only some weak forerunners), (2) the rapid consolidation of the number of health psychological publications on a relative high level within a few years, (3) the relative supremacy of literature overviews and textbooks in comparison to empirical research reports in health psychology, and (4) a good agreement between German-language and international publication trends. These results point to the necessity of further promotion of genuine empirical research in health psychology to assure its long-term consolidation as well as to prevent its medium-term devaluation and debasement as being not more than a brief main stream topic in psychology and health politics.

The Effect of Set Composition on Stopping Behavior in a Finite Search Among Assortments

The process by which individuals make sequential searches among choice sets prior to choosing a single item is examined. Economic search theory prescribes that such searches should be made by focusing on expectations of the maximum utility likely to be found in each set, ignoring external features of sets such as their complexity. Empirical research in psychology, however, suggests that search behavior may be highly influenced by set features, most notably a tendency to defer choices from sets that are perceived as difficult to evaluate. An experimental investigation of choice-set search reveals that stopping decisions are indeed influenced by normatively irrelevant external features of sets, but not in a way that is completely consistent with previous work on context effects. In particular, we find that individuals are likely to stop sooner in search when encountering larger versus smaller choice sets (holding their maximum utilities constant), and decisions to stop are unaffected by two traditional measures of difficulty: whether a choice set lacks dominant options and the similarity of overall utilities of options in a set. Implications of the work for the ability to generalize findings in static choice to dynamic task settings are explored.

Ecological content

The paper has a negative and a positive side. The negative side argues that the classical notions of narrow and wide content are not suitable for the purposes of psychological explanation. The positive side shows how to characterize an alternative notion of content (ecological content) that is suitable for those purposes. This account is supported by (a) a way of conceptualizing computation that is constitutively dependent upon properties external to the system and (b) empirical research in developmental psychology. My main contention is that an adequate computational explanation of the behavior involved in cognitive activities should invoke a concept of content that can capture the intimate dynamical relationship between the inner and the outer. The notion of content thus reaches out to include the set of skills, abilities and know-hows that an agent deploys in a constantly variable environment. The assumption underlying my attempt to characterize this ecological notion of content is that cognition is better understood when treated as embedded cognition and that the idea of cognitive significance ought to be cashed out in non-individualistic and pragmatic terms.

Commentary: pitfalls in the use of brief screening measures of coping.

The construct of coping has become a central component of empirical research in pediatric psychology. This burgeoning interest in coping reflects a shift in the field towards assessing adaptive functioning in both chronically ill children and children with acute medical conditions. Unfortunately, there is no consensus about a measure to assess coping in pediatric psychology. The lack of a gold standard is due, at least in part, to the fact that there are many different definitions of coping and that the emphasis on type of coping varies markedly from study to study. Even in circumstances where two studies examine the same coping strategy or coping style, the items tapping this coping strategy are often quite different. Clinical researchers also are typically interested in examining a number of factors (e.g., the health care delivery system, family factors, and certain individual traits) in addition to adaptive mechanisms, such as coping, when studying adjustment in pediatric patients. Thus, brief measures of coping are often desired. The Kidcope (Spirito, Stark, & Williams, 1988) is an example of a screening measure of coping for the clinical researcher. The Kidcope contains 10 common cognitive and behavioral coping strategies designed to cut across situations. At the same time, it was recognized that these coping strategies would not be appropriate for all situations, and that there would be times when additional items would be needed to examine certain questions. The items were not categorized into any higher order structure because the function of a particular coping strategy was believed to vary by situation. Clearly, the brevity of the Kidcope has been its greatest appeal.

The limits of empirical studies on research ethics.

The results of empirical research in psychology and psychiatry are increasingly being used to formulate as well as understand problems at the interface of law and psychiatry. There has been a proliferation of studies, such as the determinants of individual competence or threat to self or others, the results of which are influencing policy and legislative decisions as well as buttressing holdings in court cases. In this article, I explore the issues of interpretation of epidemiological studies, particularly the role of ideological positions on the design and results of empirical findings, the importance of the way data are interpreted, and the role of ideologies in the way research findings are presented to provide support for policy positions. Two levels of analysis are involved in determining the validity of a study. The first addresses the questions of whether the study meets the statistical and epidemiological requirements for reliable results. These include considerations such as the appropriateness of the study design and methods for gathering and interpreting data. The second focuses on the underlying framework of the study. This involves factors such as the perspectives and values of those conducting the study, the explicit and implicit dominating ideologies where they operate, and the extent to which the study is constructed to reaffirm specific ideologies. This level of analysis is essential for disclosing the influences of ideologies on the results of studies and the way in which data are interpreted. In this article, I try to demonstrate through critiques of selected studies that the first stage of analysis is insufficient without an examination of underlying preconceived values to establish the meaningfulness of results.

Decision making under time pressure: A model for information systems research

Time pressure affects decision making and, therefore, should be considered in the design of decision support systems. Although long recognized as an important variable, time pressure has received little attention from information systems researchers. A model of decision making under pressure is developed here. Drawing from existing theory and empirical research in psychology and human behavior, the model defines the role and relationship of relevant variables.

In Search of the Happy/Productive Worker: A Longitudinal Study of Affect and Performance.

Empirical research in organizational psychology has generally failed to support the popular notion that happy employees are also productive employees. This study examined the relationship of state and dispositional measures of affect to performance ratings. Results showed that dispositional but not state affect was a significant predictor of subsequent performance.

Introduction

Contemporary theoretical and empirical psychological research is often broken down into narrow areas, and develops within the very restricted framework of specific concepts. The accumulated empirical material requires the development of new concepts on a multidisciplinary basis.

Toward an expanded and updated conceptualization of termination: Implications for short-term, individual psychotherapy.

This article examines a loss metaphor that has been used to conceptualize clients' experience of termination for over 40 years. Review of contemporary theoretical and empirical research in clinical and developmental psychology implicates directions for revising, expanding, and modernizing this approach to termination for short-term psychotherapy. Specifically, the predictions that termination is inherently a crisis for clients and therapists were not confirmed in research.

The Quality and Credibility of Research Reviews: What the Editors Say

This research examines the comments on research reviews of a group of editors of journals that focus on summaries and integrations of theoretical and empirical research in education and psychology. The issues that review editors find important in review manuscripts coincide with their beliefs about what makes reviews credible. Editors value clarity in all aspects of the research review and believe that the use of scholarly and replicable methods for summarizing primary research promotes the credibility of reviews. These same issues have also been identified as important in the evaluation of reports of primary research and are mentioned in the literature on methods for research reviews.

Motivation: The Crucial but Unexplored Component of Social Work Practice

Motivation is an important construct in social work, yet it is one that has been relatively unexplored. In this article, motivation is defined, the social work literature on the subject is briefly reviewed, and the recent empirical re search in psychology is summarized. The most significant findings that relate motivation to theories of locus of control and self-determination are dis cussed in terms of applications to social work practice. Further empirical study in this area is strongly recommended. THE IDEA of motivation is everyNora Gold and thus illustrate the difficulty in arriv where in social work. Cutting ing t some common, ag eed-upon

Max Wertheimer's university career in Germany

This paper presents archival and related material bearing on the German university career of Max Wertheimer. It is shown that many factors interacted to shape that career. What drew Wertheimer to psychological science was its potential philosophical relevance, as expounded by his mentors Christian von Ehrenfels and Carl Stumpf. Once his career had begun, however, he faced the challenge of maintaining intellectual independence in a system where patronage counted, and also the problem of producing systematic philosophical work as well as empirical research in psychology at appropriate points in his career. These difficulties, compounded by Wertheimer's highly personal style of thinking and writing, appear to have been at least as inhibiting to Wertheimer's career as was Anti-Semitism. Thanks to unusual circumstances created in part by Kurt Riezler at the University of Frankfurt, Wertheimer became full professor there in 1929 — only to be forced into exile in 1933, on obviously anti-Semitic grounds.

Criminal justice and distributive justice: Has the wall of separation been reduced to rubble?

Traditionally, high walls have existed to separate different areas of the field of justice. Theorists who constructed the wall between criminal justice and distributive justice were never able to complete it and deliberately created many gates. Recently multidisciplinary theorists have leveled parts of the wall and have let other parts fall into disrepair. This article suggests that criminal justice theorists and practitioners could benefit by more commerce with their neighbors in distributive justice. Specifically, I suggest that the ten canons of distributive justice, which have induced rich theoretical and empirical research in political science, psychology, economics, law, and sociology, should be included in the first exchange with our distributive justice neighbors. The purpose of this article is to describe each of the ten canons to criminal justice personnel and to suggest one or two examples of how each canon has already penetrated the wall. I conclude that parts of the wall may be secure but tha...

A Course to Develop Competence in Critical Reading of Empirical Research in Psychology

A course designed to train students to read original empirical articles independently and critically is described. The course, conducted as a seminar, uses a case-study approach to help students develop data-reading skills and habits. Students learn to concentrate on the Method and Results sections of articles and to guard against unquestioning acceptance of authors' biases. They discover that limited statistical competence need not be an impediment to independent examination of results. Above all, they gain confidence in their ability, even as novices, to read critically the contributions of published researchers.

Mediating Learning: Pedagogic Issues in the Improvement of Cognitive Functioning

This paper examines notions culled from my own field study and clinical practice in light of relevant theory and empirical research in psychology and education. The field context was, initially, that of teacher/researcher of cognitive curricula, particularly Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment (1980), with low functioning preadolescents and adolescents. The larger portion of ideas, however, came from my subsequent role as cognitive education trainer/researcher with several dozen teachers of these students in a variety of remedial educational settings. My major endeavor will be to identify and illuminate the issues that challenge the researcher and practitioner in the field of cognitive training. In doing so, I hope to offer some direction to the burgeoning effort to train minds.