dvances in clinical psychology critically depend on methods researchers use for investigating the causal relationships among variables. Research questions commonly include issues about the putative mechanisms associated with various forms of psychopathology (e.g., do dysfunctional beliefs cause depression?) and questions about the effects of treatments (e.g., does cognitive therapy cause a grea...

A quasi-experimental design (W=113) was employed to investigate the effect of evaluative and nonevaluative feedback and goal setting on performance and satisfaction in a large telephone company. Three experimental groups received either extrinsic feedback, intrinsic feedback, or extrinsic and intrinsic feedback in addition to goal setting, while a fourth group received only goal-setting instruc...

We present evidence from a natural field experiment designed to shed light on the efficacy of alternative fundraising schemes. In conjunction with the Bavarian State Opera House, we mailed 25,000 regular opera attendees a letter describing a charitable fundrais-ing project organized by the opera house. Recipients were randomly assigned to one of six treatments designed to explore behavioral res...

In their search for generalizable behavioral patterns and design principles, cognitive field researchers should reflect on the epistemological limitations of empirical studies. In this paper we describe a framework for epistemological analysis that can help serve this purpose and discuss its application to two prototypical cases of cognitive engineering research: laboratory experiments and fiel...

The purpose of this study was to construct a reliable indicator of the 5 functions of identity proposed by Adams and Marshall (1996). Following Loevinger’s (1957) method of test construction, 2 related studies were completed to test the substantive, structural, and external validity of the Functions of Identity Scale. Study 1 provides support for the substantive validity (factor structure, inte...

Attention demands were also addressed in previous work specifically on text entry where, for example, a distinction was drawn between text copy tasks and text creation tasks [7]. In a text copy task, the user’s attention switches between the source text and the interface. Experimentally, the shift poses a problem because the time taken for the gaze shift and for visual and cognitive processing ...

Objective: To evaluate the process of a health promotion programme, aiming to improve physical activity levels and diet among construction workers. Methods: The process evaluation was conducted following the RE-AIM framework for the evaluation of the public health impact of health promotion interventions. Effectiveness was assessed on motivational stage-of-change, self-efficacy and decisional b...