From dispositions to behaviors: The flip side of attribution

The implicational relations between dispositional levels and relevant categories of behavior were investigated. Observers were asked questions about the extent to which persons occupying moderate or extreme positions on an attribute (dispositional) continuum (a) attempt various behaviors, (b) are potentially able to perform various behaviors, and (c) generally emit those same behaviors. Three determinants—central tendency, ability, and social desirabliity—offer a reasonable account of the observed implicational relations. First, persons with a given disposition are not expected to emit behavior that is widely discrepant with that disposition. Second, ability considerations dictate that persons with skillful dispositions are believed capable of unskillful behavior, but unskillful persons are thought relatively incapable of skillful behavior. Third, persons are believed to more frequently attempt socially desirable than socially undesirable behavior. Also, persons with moderate dispositions are believed to actually emit socially desirable behavior more frequently than socially undesirable behavior. Finally, the determinants noted above may be of differing relevance for morality, ability, and preference attributes.     

Finger localization and reading ability in three groups of children ages three through twelve

Developmental norms for eight finger-localization (FL) tasks similar to those used by Lindgren are extended to include 140 children ages 3 through 12. The strength of the relationship between these scores and two specific reading tasks is explored. Regression analyses reveal statistically significant correlations between FL ability and the ability to match spoken with printed words, as well as between FL scores and scores for silent reading and retelling of a paragraph. Three groups of children are used: children with normal language, those with dysphasia, and those with language impairments other than dysphasia. Performance scores of these three groups on other language tasks are compared.     

Internal external control of reinforcement as a determinant of study habits and academic attitudes

This study tested Rotter's hypothesis that internals would show more achievement-striving behaviors than externals using a direct measure of such behavior. Rotter's I-E scale and the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA) were administered to 123 male and 130 female undergraduate subjects. Significant sex differences were found on the SSHA scales but not on the I-E scale. Results indicated significant differences between internals and externals within each sex in terms of the average SSHA profiles and the individual SSHA scales. Using H. L. Mirels' (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1970, 34, 226–228) I-E subscales, similar results were obtained with the personal-control scale but not the political-control scale. Results provide additional evidence supporting the multidimensional interpretation of the I-E scale.     

Dimensional asymmetry in attributional inference

A number of bipolar personality dimensions were investigated, some of which were selected a priori as being primarily concerned with interpersonal differences in skill (such as unintelligence-intelligence), and others of which were thought to describe differences in preferences (such as indoor-outdoor). Two findings emerged. First, persons at opposite poles of skill dimensions were assumed to possess differential role-taking ability: a skillful person was perceived as relatively more competent at portraying the opposite behavior than was an unskilled person. Second, attributions based upon skillful behavior tend to be less affected by contextual factors than attributions based upon unskillful behavior. An alternative interpretation of the results is discussed.     

The effects of two stressors on state anxiety for students who differ in trait anxiety

The role of individual differences in speech trait anxiety as they related to the magnitude of A-State responses in two stressful situations was examined. Measures of anxiety were obtained before, during, and immediately after Ss gave a speech (ego-stressor) and blew up a balloon until it burst (physical stressor). While exposure to each stressor resulted in dramatic changes in A-State, it was found that differential A-State increases for the high and low speech trait anxious Ss occurred only during the ego-stressor condition. These findings were discussed in terms of Trait-State Anxiety Theory with particular reference to the differential stressful effects of ego and physical stressor on A-State for Ss who differ in A-Trait.     

Recognition memory in hearing-impaired children: A levels-of-processing approach

Eighty-nine hearing-impaired children ranging in age from 6 years to 12 years, 11 months were given a recognition task comprised of items from the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices and the Raven Learning Potential Test following administration of the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices. The study was designed to determine whether recognition memory varied as a function of item type. The analysis indicated that performance on items involving analogous reasoning exceeded recognition for items requiring pattern completion through closure, which, in turn, exceeded performance for items involving simple pattern completion. Results are discussed in light of levels-of-processing.     

The retrieval of sentences from memory: A speed-accuracy study

A speed-accuracy tradeoff method was used to study the retrieval dynamics for recognition memory of parts of sentences. All sentences contained a subject, verb, object, location, and time. Recognition accuracy increased from chance at a processing time of about 0.5 sec to asymptotic accuracy at about 3 sec. The asymptotic accuracy levels for subject-verb, subject-object or verb-object recognition probes exceeded those of pair probes containing times or locations. This result suggests that the former may be more closely associated in semantic memory. The only difference among speed-accuracy curves was in asymptotic accuracy. The chance intercept and the rate of increase in accuracy were similar for all pair probes. A second finding was that the speed-accuracy curves for triple probes (e.g., subject-verb-object) were virtually identical to those of the comparable pair probes. These results appear to contradict a serial search hypothesis for the access of information from semantic memory. They support a parallel, direct-access hypothesis.     

Compounds of conditioned fear stimuli

A differential conditioning procedure was used with rats to establish different levels of suppression to two different stimuli. One stimulus was paired with shock every time it was presented, while the other stimulus cued shock on only 25% of its presentations. When these two component stimuli were subsequently tested as a simultaneous compound, two different types of component-compound relationships were observed. Some subjects showed greater suppression to the compound than they did to either component stimulus, while other subjects showed an intermediate level of suppression to the compound. The difference in type of component-compound relationship appeared to be related to the degree of stability (over trials) of each subject's reaction to the probabilistic (25%) cue.When a similar discrimination was established based on the intensity of the shock, rather than its probability of occurrence, all subjects showed more suppression to the compound than to its individual component stimuli. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for choice of model for characterizing the interaction of conditioned states.     

Effects of two levels of stimulus complexity upon hypothesis sampling systems among second and sixth grade children

Groups of second and sixth grade children each solved a series of discrimination-learning problems involving four and eight dimensions that contained blanktrial probes for the S′s hypothesis (H). There were significant effects of grade level on three dependent measures (learning, generating consistent H patterns, sampling locally consistent Hs). Main effects of stimulus complexity were significant on five measures (the three above, rejecting disconfirmed Hs, maintaining confirmed Hs). There were no interactions involving any of these measures. The hypothesis sampling system (Sy) observed in each problem was also determined. Among sixth grade Ss this measure was unaffected by stimulus complexity level. Second grade Ss generated logically structured Sys in 65% of four-dimensional, but only 30% of eight-dimensional problems. They generated stereotyped behaviors or unsystematic sequences of Hs in 70% of eight-dimensional, but only about 35% of four-dimensional problems. Detailed analyses revealed that among second grade Ss good information processors (in terms of four component processes above) usually imposed a logical structure on four-dimensional, but generated unsystematic sequences of Hs in many of eight-dimensional problems. Poor processors generated stereotyped behaviors in both four- and eight-dimensional problems.     

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.     

Decision processes in verifying category membership statements: Implications for models of semantic memory

Current models of semantic memory assume that natural categories are well-defined. Specific predictions of two such models, the Smith, Shoben, and Rips (1974a) two-stage feature comparison model and the Glass and Holyoak (1974/75) ordered search model, were tested and disconfirmed in Experiment I. We propose an alternative model postulating fuzzy categories represented as sets of characteristic properties. This model, combined with a Bayesian decision process, accounts for the results of three additional experiments, as well as for the major findings in the semantic memory literature. We argue that people verify category membership statements by assessing similarity relations between concepts rather than by using information which logically specifies the truth value of the sentence. Our data also imply that natural categories are fuzzy rather than well-defined.     

Some implications for psychological research of early versus late term participation by college subjects

Several surveys of recent psychological literature have indicated that a large percentage of human subjects are introductory psychology students who are given the option of selecting when to participate in research which is either implicitly or explicitly required of them. The present study was conducted to investigate the possibility that those subjects who choose to participate early in the term differ in personality and in attitudes toward research from later term participants. Results indicated that early term males and females, as expected, were more academically oriented and more internally controlled than late term subjects; and early term males were more achievement oriented than their late term counterparts. Additionally, females were found to feel more positive toward research participation than males; while a large percentage of all subjects reported both suspiciousness of experimenter intent and a general and unexpected willingness to voluntarily participate as subjects. Possible effects of these findings on research results and conclusions were discussed, and suggestions for improvements aimed at reducing self-selection bias in college subject pools were made.     

Cognitive style and elaboration of logical abilities in hearing-impaired children

Ninety-seven hearing-impaired children ages 8–12 were given the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) and a Piagetian battery under one of six conditions of testing: (a₁) standard, (a₂) simple feedback, (a₃) “verbalization” after problem solution (a₄) “verbalization” during and after solution, (a₅) differential feedback, and (a₆) conditions a₄ and a₅ combined. Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) and the Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Control scale were also administered. Performance under conditions a₅ and a₆ was greater than performance under conditions a₃ and a₄, which in turn exceeded performance in conditions a₁ or a₂. MFFT errors, MFFT latency, and locus of control score were differentially related to performance in the different testing conditions. A significant prediction equation was found for both the CPM and Piagetian battery under a₂, a₃, and a₆ and for the CPM under a₄. All analyses indicated consistency of findings across both criterion measures. The findings of this investigation may be used as an aid in the development of diagnostic instruments and procedures which take individual differences along dimensions of personality and cognitive style into account.     

Habituation,memory, and the evaluative dimension of meaning

Two groups of subjects were exposed to a series of 20 either positively evaluated words (E⁺ group) or negatively evaluated words (E^? group). On the twenty-first trial, half the subjects in E⁺ group (the E^+? group) received a negatively evaluated word while the other half of the subjects received a further positively evaluated word (E⁺⁺ group). A similar subdivision was made with the E^? group to yield E^?+ and E^?? groups. Skin conductance responses to all stimulus words were measured. The responses of the E^+? and E^?+ groups were compared to those of their control groups (E⁺⁺ and E^??) for stimulus words 21 and 22. The results of these analyses, and the data concerning responses prior to stimulus word 21, indicated that subjects habituated to semantic stimuli of the same evaluative meaning. Memory for the words was assessed postexperimentally and its relationship to the orienting response in discussed.     

Selective processing in encoding and memory: an analysis of resource allocation by kindergarten children.

This study investigated the extent to which kindergarten children (mean age 5.8 years) allocate their processing resources selectively to the relevant components of a visual array. On each trial the child was presented with an array containing either one, two, or four items, and a verbal cue designating either one, two, or four of these items as relevant. For different groups of children the cue occurred either before or after the stimulus array, in order to investigate the stages of processing at which kindergarteners are able to initiate selection. The results indicated that kindergarteners are able to exert considerable control over the allocation of resources during the initial perceptual processing of a visual stimulus, but they have only limited ability to initiate such selective allocation in memory, after initial encoding has taken place.     

Coalition formation in characteristic function games: Competitive tests of three theories

Two experiments tested the bargaining, minimum resource, and minimum power theories of coalition formation in situations involving different payoffs for some of the winning coalitions (characteristic function games). In the first experiment, a triadic resource distribution was employed and payoffs for the coalitions were specified in such a way that each of the three theories predicted the formation of a different coalition. The coalition predicted by minimum power theory formed the most frequently, and the mean divisions of the payoffs among coalition members were also closest to the predictions of minimum power theory. However, the most frequent coalition was not only the one predicted by minimum power theory, it was also the one having the largest payoff per member. There-fore, a second experiment was conducted, which employed a tetradic resource distribution and specified the coalition payoffs in such a way that (a) each of the theories predicted the formation of a different coalition and (b) none of the predicted coalitions was the one with the largest payoff per member. Although the mean payoff divisions in the coalitions in this experiment were closest to those predicted by bargaining theory, the coalition that formed most frequently was not one of those predicted by any of the theories. Rather, it was the one having the largest payoff per member. None of the three theories is able to account adequately for the results of both experiments. The difficulties that the theories have in dealing with coalition formation in situations in which there are different payoffs for winning are discussed.     

The effects of exposure duration and practice on the immediate memory spans of children and adults

Immediate memory spans for alphabetic items were determined for second-grade, fifth-grade, and adult subjects. Subjects were tested on three days, ten trials per day at each of three exposure durations: 15, 50, and 200 msec. One half of the subjects were presented with exposure durations in an ascending order, the other half in a descending order. The results indicated that immediate memory span increases with age and practice. The exposure duration effect depended on the order and day in which durations were presented. There was a suggestion that the exposure duration effect was also dependent upon the age and sex of the subject. The ordering of array positions from most accurately reported to least accurately reported was identical for all three age levels, indicating that scanning strategies are well established at an early age.