Cerebral lateralization of deaf and hearing individuals for linguistic comparison judgments.

A group of congenitally deaf adults and a group of hearing adults, both fluent in sign language, were tested to determine cerebral lateralization. In the most revealing task, subjects were given a series of trials in which they were fist presented with a videotaped sign and then with a word exposed tachistoscopically to the right visual field or left visual field, and were required to judge whether the word corresponded to the sign or not. The results suggested that the comparison processes involved in the decision were performed more efficiently by the left hemisphere for hearing subjects and by the right hemisphere for deaf subjects. However, the deaf subjects performed as well as the hearing subjects in the left hemisphere, suggesting that the deaf are not impeded by their auditory-speech handicap from developing the left hemisphere for at least some types of linguistic processing.     

Career choice and orality

The field of vocational psychology is replete with schemata for the determinants of career choice in adulthood (e.g., A. Roe, The psychology of occupations. New York: Wiley, 1956; D. E. Super, The psychology of careers. New York: Harper &Row, 1957; J. O. Crites, Vocational psychology: The study of vocational behavior and development. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969). A view not given much weight in empirical research in this area is that of psychoanalytic theory relating career choice to unresolved childhood conflicts and their derivatives. To examine the validity of this psychoanalytic prediction, students' Rorschach protocols were analyzed to yield an index of frustrated oral needs. The students were given decks of careers to rank from most to least preferable. Results showed that the ranking of the oral careers was a function of the Rorschach index of frustrated oral needs for women only but not for men.     

Lexical knowledge in anterior and posterior aphasics

A semantic categorization task was used to assess the structure of lexical knowledge in anterior and posterior aphasics. In general responses were faster for typical category members than for atypical ones and slower for semantically related nonmembers than for unrelated ones. Both groups performed at a high level of accuracy when classifying typical category members and semantically unrelated nonmembers. Their performance diverged at the category boundary. Anterior aphasics maintained relatively high levels of accuracy when classifying atypical category members and semantically related nonmembers while posterior aphasics did not. These results point to differences in the status of lexical knowledge for anterior and posterior aphasics.     

The development of a measure to assess vocational maturity in adults with delayed career development

The development and validation of a measure of vocational maturity for educationally and economically “disadvantaged” adults who experience delayed career development is described. The Adult Vocational Maturity Assessment Interview (AVMAI) measures the attitudinal, cognitive, and behavior aspects involved in coping with exploratory and early entrance stage vocational development tasks. The measure employs a structured interview format accompanied by a detailed content scoring manual. It includes 120 items which yield scores for eight scales: Orientation to Education; Orientation to Work; Concern with Choice; Self-Appraisal: Interests and Abilities; Self-Appraisal: Personality Characteristics; Self-Appraisal: Values; Exploring Occupations; and Using Resources. Evidence for the measure's reliability, content, and construct validity is presented by examining the internal consistency of the scales, the reliability of its scoring procedures, its interscale correlations, and its performance in a pretest-post-test experimental situation. Research and counseling uses of the measure are discussed in the context of the need for vocational psychologists to develop and use measures that are appropriate for the specific career development problems of different groups in society.     

Semantic organization in the young child: Evidence for the development of semantic feature systems

In two experiments, 5-, 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children and college students were presented on each trial with a sentence followed by a probe word. Their task was to indicate whether the probe was in the sentence or not. Of primary interest were the false recognitions and the correct latencies that occurred when the probe word was a synonym or antonym of one of the words in the sentence (Experiment I) or when the probe was a subordinate, superordinate, part, or whole (Experiment II). The younger children were more affected by synonymy than antonymy, although the older children and adults were not. At all ages, the categorical relationships caused more recognition confusion than the partwhole relationships. Subjects were more affected when the probe was a superordinate than when it was a subordinate, and somewhat more affected when the probe was the whole than when it was the part. These results suggest that children as young as 5 years of age have well-organized conceptual systems based on shared meaning components.     

Changing correlates of job involvement in three career stages

The nature of correlates of job involvement over three career stages (i.e., early, mid, and late career) was explored in order to account for the lack of consistency of past empirical work in the job involvement area. Data relating to perceptions of job involvement, job characteristics, job satisfaction, rewards, and individual differences were collected from 332 Canadian transportation ministry employees. Utilizing correlational analysis, support was found for the hypothesis that career stage moderated the relationship of job involvement and various situational, individual difference, and outcome measures. These results are discussed in light of the current literature.     

The dimensions of career and work orientation in college women

The purpose of this study was to clarify the meaning of the construct, career orientation. Fourteen presumed measures of career orientation as well as Super's Work Values Inventory were administered to college women. Analysis of the relationships among these variables identified two relatively independent clusters. The first cluster most closely approximated the usual definition of career orientation. Career-oriented women were found to be highly career motivated and perceived the career role as primary in their adult lives. The second cluster was called work orientation. This orientation characterized women with well-defined occupational aspirations who placed a high value on both the career role and marriage-family responsibilities in their future. Work-oriented women tended to choose traditionally feminine occupations in contrast to the career-oriented women whose aspirations included higher level and less traditional occupations.     

A comparison of six methods for assessing the importance of perceived consequences in behavioral decisions: Applications from attitude research

Six different approaches to measuring the importance of perceived consequences in behavioral decisions were compared: (1) an elicitation approach, (2) a subjective probability model, (3) Jacoby's behavioral process technology, (4) a Bayesian model, (5) a direct rating approach, and (6) a correlational approach. The convergence among the methods was evaluated for two different decision topics: (1) emphasizing a career relative to marriage, and (2) use of birth control pills. Results indicated that the six approaches yielded estimates of importance that were, by and large, unrelated to each other.     

Speech versus sign comprehension in autistic children: analysis and prediction

Autistic children have severe problems in acquiring language. For this reason, special techniques have been developed to teach them speech and sign language. It is not known, however, whether these children will profit more from speech or sign training. The research literature implies that verbal imitative ability may predict language learning characteristics particularly in the speech modality. In view of this possibility, two groups of autistic children--good versus poor verbal imitators--were studied within the context of a receptive label acquisition task. Good imitators acquired receptive speech whereas poor imitators typically did not. Both groups acquired receptive signs. The results were discussed in terms of the role that imitative ability may play with respect to language acquisition in this population.     

Conditions under which thurstone case III representations for binary choice probabilities are also Fechnerian

By a Thurstone Case III representation for binary symmetric choice probabilities P_x,y we mean that there exist functions F, μ, σ > 0 such that $\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{x,y}}\text{= F[}\text{(μ(x) ? μ(y))}\text{(σ}{}^2\text{(x) + σ}{}^2\text{(y))}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{]}$. We show that the constraint σ = constant, or μ = ασ + β, α ≠ 0, is both necessary and sufficient for a Thurstone Case III representation to be Fechnerian, i.e., to be reexpressable as as P_x,y = G(u(x) ? u(y)) for some suitably chosen functions G, u.     

Perceived causality for success in occupations

A representative group of occupations was examined within an attributional framework, utilizing the concept of perceived causality for success. Specifically, it was hypothesized that (1) success in different types of occupations would be attributed to different causes, (2) the causal attributions of incumbents would differ from those of nonincumbents, (3) standard occupational categories could be derived on the basis of perceived causality for success, and (4) perceived causality for success could be used as a basis for generating a circular ordering of occupations.Holland's (1973) occupational classification was used as a basis for categorization. College students, as well as six types of occupational incumbents, were administered a questionnaire in which they attributed causality for success in 35 occupations. The results supported the first three hypotheses and also revealed some systematic relationships between causes and between perceived causality for success and occupational prestige.     

Attitudes and behavior: An information integration perspective

The relationship between attitudes, beliefs, and behavior was investigated in the context of a behavioral alternative model of attitudes and Anderson's information integration theory. Forty teenagers indicated their attitudes toward using each of seven methods of birth control. The attitudes were used to predict self-reports of contraceptive behavior. Functional measurement methodology was applied to understand the informational bases of the attitudes. In general, the data were supportive of the theoretical framework.     

Career development of special populations: A framework for research

In view of the recent interest in the career behaviors of diverse groups of individuals, this article presents a model for conducting research on the career development of special populations. Available research paradigms are reviewed in terms of their potential impact on such efforts. An alternative framework, designed to make maximum use of available data sources while minimizing potential theoretical bias, is offered. An illustration of research conducted within the recommended framework is presented in which the impact of a variety of career-related variables on the attitudinal and cognitive aspects of vocational maturity is examined from the perspective of two special population groups, disabled and disadvantaged college students. Drawing upon previous research findings, variables under consideration included level of scholastic achievement and endorsement of rational, intuitive, and dependent decision-making styles. Also included were two population-specific variables related to the characteristics of membership in each of the two special groups. The regression analyses conducted to explore the relationships between vocational maturity and these predictor variables indicate, in general, that variance in the attitudinal and cognitive factors of vocational maturity can be at least partially explained by the variables considered. However, the relative contributions of the predictors and the resulting proportions of variance explained differs according to which population and which criterion factor is under examination. These findings are compared with those emerging from previous research, and implications for future efforts are discussed.     

Vocational interests of career and homemaker oriented women

Women who had completed the SVIB-W as freshmen in college were contacted 13 to 21 years later and were classified as career (N = 236) or homemaker (N = 527) oriented on the basis of their actual work experiences. Significant differences between the groups were found on 25 of the 44 occupational scales, one of the three nonoccupational scales, and four of the 19 basic interest scales. The interests of the homemaker oriented women were more similar to the interests of women in business, nonprofessional, and home economics occupations while the interests of the career oriented women were more similar to the interests of women in the verbal-linguistic, verbal scientific, and scientific occupations. The results are discussed in terms of previous research and Holland's Occupational Classification system.     

Career roles,psychological success,and job attitudes

D. T. Hall's (Careers in organizations. Pacific Palisades, Calif.: Goodyear Pub., 1976) psychological success-based model of career development was investigated using path analyses across three faculty member roles and several performance indices. The model received moderate support for each role. While alternative paths from performance to job involvement and satisfaction with promotional opportunities were observed, they did not contradict the portions of the psychological success model studied.     

Nature of spelling errors in transcortical sensory aphasia: A case study

The nature and extent of spelling errors in a patient with transcortical sensory aphasia were investigated. The two experimental conditions required the patient to spell monosyllabic and polysyllabic words both verbally and in written form. Analysis of the spelling errors revealed partially preserved knowledge of the visual image of a word as a whole, as well as preserved knowledge of temporal order. Our patient's error patterns in both conditions were more similar than dissimilar. These findings in conjunction with results reported in the literature indicate that patients exhibiting different aphasia syndromes use separate spelling strategies.     

Sex-role self-concept and persistence in a traditional vs nontraditional college major for women

This article reports a 3-year follow-up study of a sample of women engineering and home economics majors who were previously studied as freshmen. It was hypothesized that persistence in the two curricula would be related to sex roles, with feminine-typed women more likely to leave engineering and masculine-typed women more likely to leave home economics. The findings did not generally support this hypothesis, however. Women in the two majors who persisted were not found to differ significantly from women who changed majors or dropped out on either sex roles or on ratings given as freshmen of their satisfaction with and certainty of college major. Persisters in engineering had higher college entrance SAT math scores than changers or dropouts. Those who changed majors from home economics tended to go into less traditional fields than home economics. Nearly all of the women who changed from engineering chose another nontraditional or male-dominated field as their second major.