A response set analysis of developmental differences in children's moral judgments

The study tested the hypotheses that 1) children may not adopt a moral response set when faced with moral dilemmas and 2) their knowledge of what constitutes a moral constellation of behaviors may differ from that of adults and may lead to developmental differences. To test these hypotheses, the study examined children's responses to a multiple choice moral dilemmas questionnaire under neutral instructions, instructions to answer as a good child or as a bad child. Subjects in fourth and seventh grade were asked whether a story hero would transgress and were required to justify their answers. In addition, questions regarding affective reactions to transgressions, confessions, and due punishment were asked. Fourth grade children answering in the good child instructions condition tended to give significantly different responses than under neutral instructions, while seventh grade subjects did not tend to differentiate between these two instruction conditions. While adult theories of morality would predict a differentiation between good and bad child instructions, on some of the measures no differences were found between good and bad child instructions. The implications of these results for cognitive-developmental theory were discussed and a general framework for interpreting the data was offered.     

The elimination of learned helplessness deficits as a function of induced self-esteem

The efficiency of induced self-esteem in reducing various deficits caused by learned helplessness was tested in this study. Sixty undergraduate students were divided into three equal groups. The first group received uncontrollability treatment, the second received controllability treatment, and the third received no treatment. The subjects in the first two groups were asked to reduce the anxiety reaction of a confederate, as shown on an oscilloscope, by talking to him. The anxiety waves were shown on the oscilloscope and were preprogrammed so that subjects in the uncontrollability treatment group experienced lack of control over the results, while the ones in the controllability group were led to belive that they successfully controlled the changes of the confederate's anxiety. Then, half of the subjects in each of the three groups received positive feedback on their personality, while the other half received no feedback. In the last phase all subjects participated in a word recognition task using a tachistoscope operated by a combined push-button and microphone device. Response latency, number of correct identifications, and persistence in the task were recorded. In addition, the subjects completed a mood scale. The results indicate that subjects who received induced self-esteem treatment showed significantly more deficit reversal as reflected in response latency, persistence, feelings of potency, and sadness. The results are discussed in relation to (a) the assumption regarding the similarities between learned helplessness and depression, and (b) the usefulness of induced self-esteem as a form of treatment for helplessness depression.     

Commitment to work in immigrants: Its functions and peculiarities

It was assumed that in order to cope with the crisis of immigration, immigrants would have low expectations regarding their vocational future while maintaining a high commitment to work. The meaningfulness and the centrality of work (as components of the commitment to work), work values, and work attitudes were tested in samples of 74 immigrants, of 66 old-time white-collar employees, and of 35 ongoing executives, by means of the semantic differential technique and by a projective personality test. An adaption of Eysenck's neuroticism test was also administered. Immigrants evaluated career and work-related objects in a less positive manner in comparison with the other samples, but scored higher in work centrality and job involvement, and held more positive attitudes toward authority figures in the place of work. No significant differences in neuroticism were found.     

The generality of learned helplessness in the rat

Two experiments were simultaneously conducted in which two different groups of 40 rats each were exposed to one of two different stressors. In both experiments half the subjects were pretreated with shock, half with underwater exposure. For each pretreatment stressor, half the subjects were allowed to escape, the other half were not. The experiments differed in the test task used. Approximately 24 hr after pretreatment, one-half the subjects from each pretreatment group received 20 water-escape trials in an underwater maze, the other half received 20 shock-escape trials in a two-way shuttle box. The subjects in each of the inescapable pretreatment conditions were slower to escape in the subsequent shock-escape and water-escape tasks when compared with subjects in the corresponding escapable pretreatment condition. The “learned helplessness” effect appeared to be no smaller when aversive stimuli were changed between pretreatment and test than when they remained the same.     

Reference groups and professional self-image: The case of architects

The two objectives of this study are: (1) to investigate empirically the relationships between reference groups and the individual's self-image, as part of understanding the process of self-image development; and (2) to increase our understanding of architects' professional identity dilemma of whether to identify themselves as artists or as engineers. The study demonstrated that reference groups which were not membership groups, and even not dominant references, were significantly associated with self-image. Focusing on architectural students, it showed that although reference to artists was not dominant for most of the subjects (i.e., they did not select artists as one of the two most important groups of evaluators of one's professional work), a significant difference was found between the self-image of students who referred to artists and those who did not. The image of the former was closer to that of the artist, while the latter was closer to that of the engineer.     

Developmental changes in death anxiety in childhood

A sample of 49 children divided into three age groups (3–4 years, 7–8 years, and 10–11 years) responded to a pictorial derivation of Spielberger's State Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC). Three pictures were used as stimuli, in addition to words, for the measure of death anxiety. The intensity measure was the response to six Hebrew mood adjectives as the child chose one of seven schematic face drawings ranging from positive to negative expressions. Reliabilities were comporable to the longer versions of the Hebrew STAIC with older children. Findings indicated significant differences in anxiety scores between the age groups, with older subjects showing higher levels of anxiety. The advantage of a single measure of death anxiety appropriate for a wide age range is discussed, as well as the implication for a developmental pattern of death anxiety.     

Field dependence/independence and mental capacity: A developmental approach

In this study we tested a central theoretical assumption of J. Pascual-Leone's (1970, Acta Psychologica, 32, 301–345) model of cognitive development, that same-age field-dependent and field-independent children have the same developmental mental capacity. The study was conducted on a very heterogeneous population, regarding both social class and age, to allow for a large variance of performance scores. The theoretical assumption was strongly supported.     

Learned helplessness and the schedule-shift hypotheses

The critique of learned helplessness research and theory and the alternative schedule-shift discrimination hypothesis offered by McReynolds (Journal of Research and Personality, 1980,14, 139–157) are considered. Each point made by McReynolds is discussed and a variety of recent experimental evidence is reviewed. It is concluded that McReynolds' critique is without substance and that the schedule-shift discrimination explanation of the learned helplessness effect is contradicted by existing data.     

Relationship with people as the underlying dimension for Roe's classification of occupations

One hundred eleven subjects were asked to indicate how much relationship with people is involved in 48 occupational titles. The results support Roe's (1956) classification of occupations: differences within occupational fields were found to be smaller than differences between occupational fields (F = 8.53, P < .01). The homogeneity of Arts and Entertainment is discussed.     

Individual differences among children in spelling and reading styles

Previous studies have found differences among children in their relative reliance on spelling-sound rules and word-specific associations in reading words. Children at one end of the continuum ("Phoenicians") rely heavily on spelling-sound rules; children at the other end ("Chinese") are more likely to use specific associations. This study found evidence for a Phoenician-Chinese continuum in spelling as well as in reading. Ability to spell nonsense word (e.g., "prunt") correlated more highly with ability to spell regular words (e.g., "grunt") than with ability to spell exception words (e.g., "front"). Children who were skilled at rules tended to overgeneralize them to exception words. In addition, a measure of rule use in spelling correlated with measures of rule use in reading.     

Learned helplessness as a schedule-shift effect

The essentials of learned helplessness theory are described and supporting evidence surveyed. It is shown that two main empirical phenomena are associated with learned helplessness: a low rate of responding in laboratory animals following numerous discrete trials with continuous free relief and in human subjects following continuous nonrelief/reward or traditional extinction. The explanation Seligman and Maier give for these findings is critically analyzed and found to be unsupported at several critical points. The “patchwork” nature of the theory and observations is considered and it is contended that what is new in learned helplessness research is a schedule-shift effect like that observed when extinction follows partial reinforcement. A schedule-shift discrimination theory of “learned helplessness” effects is offered which is closely parallel to a widely accepted explanation of other schedule-shift effects, notably the partial reinforcement extinction effect. Although the behavioral effects of some schedule shifts resemble clinical depression, the latter is a more complex behavioral phenomena than the former which in turn has broader relevance to human behavior than just depression.     

Measuring women's interests using Holland's vocational classification

A Hebrew interest inventory for females in Israel, based on Holland's 1966 1973 vocational classification, was examined on 322 female pupils and 167 working females. Results showed that: (a) with the exception of the Conventional and Enterprising fields, subjects occupied in a field had their highest interest score in that field; (b) for all six interest fields, the highest interest score was the score of those who were engaged in that field; (c) in a smallest space analysis, the activities, competencies, and occupation sections of the interest inventory formed the Investigative, Realistic, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional circular arrangement; (d) a correlation of .38 between interest score and job satisfaction was found.     

Assessing phonological awareness in kindergarten children: Issues of task comparability

Ten different phonological awareness tasks were administered to a group of kindergarten children whose reading ability was assessed 1 year later. The extraneous cognitive requirements inherent in the tasks varied widely. The children's performance on three tasks that involved a rhyming response was at ceiling, and these tasks did not correlate with subsequent reading progress. The other seven measures were all moderately related to later reading ability and, employed in sets, were very strong predictors. The relative predictive accuracy of the phonological tasks was equal to or better than more global measures of cognitive skills such as an intelligence test and a reading readiness test. The phonological tasks had a large amount of common variance. Factor analysis revealed only one factor on which all the nonrhyming phonological tasks loaded highly. The results bolster the construct validity of phonological awareness, indicate considerable comparability and interchangeability among the tasks used to measure the construct, and are encouraging as regards the possible use of such tasks in predictive test batteries.     

Yesterday,today and tomorrow

1260 American subjects were timed as they responded to one of the three questions (‘What day of the week is today?’ (Tod question), ‘What day of the week was yesterday?’ (Y question), and ‘What day of the week will tomorrow be?’ (Tom question)) at one of three times of the day (early morning, mid-day and the late evening). Response times as a function of the day on which the question was posed defined an inverted U-curve for all questions in all three conditions. The Tod question always triggered the fastest responses. In the morning, responses to the Y question were faster than responses to the Tom questions, whereas in the evening the converse was the case. At mid-day responses to the Y question were faster than responses to the Tom question at the beginning of the week and slower than those at its end. The patterns of introspection associated with the responses also defined reversed U-functions. The results are interpreted in the framework of a multi-channel spreading activation model.     

Task differences on conservation and transitivity problems

Task differences were assessed with 120 first graders in a 2 × 3 × 3 factorial design combining Socioeconomic level (middle vs lower), Concepts (conservation of length, transitivity of length, and conservation of continuous quantity), and Tasks (three tasks for each concept selected on the basis of frequency of usage). As predicted, task by concept interactions were found on all four task response measures. This finding is consistent with Piaget's concept of horizontal decalage and with Flavell and Wohlwill's competence-performance model, which proposes that intermediate phases of stage transition are characterized by considerable intertask differences and initial and final phases by intertask consistency in performance. The importance of investigating the effects of task variables on multiple dependent measures at various age levels and points in time was emphasized. Concept, task, and socioeconomic class differences were also found on some of the measures.     

Saccade latency in children and adults: Effects of warning interval and target eccentricity

Saccadic response latency to the onset of an eccentric target was studied in children (mean age = 8.7) and adults. The independent variables investigated were fixation-light offset to target-light onset warning interval (0, 100, 300, and 600 msec) and target eccentricity (5° or 15°). Both children and adults showed shorter saccade latencies under warning-interval conditions. Children were found to have longer latencies than adults with 0 or 100 msec warning intervals but to respond with as short or shorter latencies with 300 or 600 msec warning intervals. Target eccentricity effects did not interact with age, and occurred only with a lower target intensity. Children defined as poor readers could initiate a response as quickly as good readers but were less able to maintain fixation-light fixation prior to target onset.     

Parental antecedents of need for approval—A longitudinal study

The present study examined the antecedents of the two components of need for approval (the approach component and the avoidance component) on a longitudinal basis. The subjects were approximately 31 years old and were the children of the original mothers interviewed by Sears et al. (1957) 25 years earlier. For females, the approach component of need for approval was found to be positively related to the mothers' use of the withdrawal of the love and the avoidance component was negatively related to mothers' encouragement of their daughters to fight back (reinforcement of cross-gender behavior). No significant results were found for males. It was suggested that use of withdrawal of love enhances fear of rejection and increases the girl's need for approval. It was further argued that reinforcement of cross-gender behavior teaches the girl to behave according to her own interests rather than according to others' expectations. Possible explanations are offered as to why no significant results were found for males.     

Congruency,consistency, and differentiation of vocational interests as predictors of vocational satisfaction and preference stability

The Ramak interest inventory (Meir, E. I. Manual for the Ramak and Courses interest inventories, 1975; Barak, A. & Meir, E. I. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1974, 4, 377–387), together with an occupational choice satisfaction (OCS) inventory, was administered to 158 males and 202 females who had responded to the Ramak 7 years before. The results of the study show: (a) congruence (Holland, J. L. Making vocational choices, 1973) correlated positively with males' and females' OCS (p < .01), while consistency and differentiation correlated with males' OCS when vocational interests were congruent with occupational field; (b) congruency, consistency, and differentiation all had a positive effect on OCS of males (p < .05); (c) when there was incongruency, no negative correlations between consistency and differentiation on the one hand and OCS on the other were found; (d) for males and females, positive correlations (p < .05) were found between congruency, consistency, differentiation, and stability of occupational interests; and (e) differentiation measured in percentages was found valid twice. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.