Propositional self-control in children

The scope of Dulany's (1968) Theory of Propositional Control was examined using 54 $\text{11}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-, 8}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-,}\text{and 4}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-year-olds}$. Significance of the reinforcer was manipulated orthogonally to value of the reinforcer. With a six attribute concept attainment task $\text{4}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-}\text{year-olds}$ did not learn in either of two significant ways: a performance change over blocks, nor the acquisition of a rule of reinforcement. Children of $\text{8}\text{1}\text{2}$ and $\text{11}\text{1}\text{2}$ learned in both of the above senses. In addition, for the latter subjects the central equations of the theory held with strength and subjects' intentions accounted for more variance in performance than did the experimental manipulations. In supplementary experiments using a simplified task some $\text{4}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-}\text{year-olds}$ learned. When only the $\text{4}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-}\text{year-olds}$ who learned to a criterion were examined the central equations of the theory were nearly as strong as for subjects at ages $\text{8}\text{1}\text{2}$ and $\text{11}\text{1}\text{2}$. There was no evidence for learning without awareness at any age level.     

On the scales of measurement

Let $\text{X}$ = 〈X, ≧, R₁, R₂…〉 be a relational structure, 〈$\text{X, ≧}$〉 be a Dedekind complete, totally ordered set, and n be a nonnegative integer. $\text{X}$ is said to satisfy n-point homogeneity if and only if for each x₁,…, x_n, y₁,…, y_n such that x₁ ? x₂ ? … ? x_n and y₁ ? y₂ … ? y_n, there exists an automorphism α of $\text{X}$ such that α(x₁) = y_i. $\text{X}$ is said to satisfy n-point uniqueness if and only if for all automorphisms β and γ of $\text{X}$, if β and γ agree at n distinct points of $\text{X}$, then β and γ are identical. It is shown that if $\text{X}$ satisfies n-point homogeneity and n-point uniqueness, then n ≦ 2, and for the case n = 1, $\text{X}$ is ratio scalable, and for the case n = 2, interval scalable. This result is very general and may in part provide an explanation of why so few scale types have arisen in science. The cases of 0-point homogeneity and infinite point homogeneity are also discussed.     

The relationship between Eysenck's major personality dimensions and simultaneous and sequential processing in children

The present study reexamined Eysenck's hypothesis that intelligence and personality are uncorrelated. Intelligence was measured with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, yielding scores for simultaneous and sequential processing and achievement, and the Woodcock-Johnson Brief Scale. Personality was assessed with the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Ss were 105 children, ages 8$\text{1}\text{2}$10$\text{1}\text{2}$yr. Although a process as well as a product-oriented intelligence test was employed, the correlational and discriminant analyses supported Eysenck's original hypothesis.     

Long-term predictive validity of the WPPSI: An 11-year follow-up study

As part of a longitudinal study, a control group of 85 children were tested on the WPPSI at 5$\text{1}\text{2}$ years and the WISC-R at 16$\text{1}\text{2}$ years. Educational attainment was also assessed in adolescence. Data are presented illustrating the long-term predictive validity of the WPPSI. The Full Scale IQs on the two tests intercorrelated +0.86.     

The emergence of functional play in infants: Evidence for a major cognitive transition

Sixty-four infants, eight boys and eight girls at each of four ages, $\text{9}\text{1}\text{2}\text{, 11}\text{1}\text{2}\text{, 13}\text{1}\text{2}\text{,}\text{and}\text{15}\text{1}\text{2}$ months, were observed during a 15-minute free play session. Three types of play (stereotypical, relational, and functional) and the number of appropriate uses for specific realistic toys were recorded. Stereotypical play (87% of total active play at $\text{9}\text{1}\text{2}$ months) gave way to relational (35% at $\text{13}\text{1}\text{2}$ months) and functional play (52% at $\text{15}\text{1}\text{2}$ months) as the dominant activity. Both functional play and the number of different appropriate uses of toys were rare at $\text{9}\text{1}\text{2}$ months, appeared reliably at $\text{11}\text{1}\text{2}$ months and increased lineraly through $\text{15}\text{1}\text{2}$ months. A change in the quality of play from indiscriminate mouthing, waving, banging, and fingering of objects to the matching of appropriate uses for a large array of toys indicates that the child's manipulations become more object specific and functional over this 6-month age span. Among possible explanations for the linear increase in the frequency and diversity of appropriate toy uses is the suggestion that an important cognitive change occurs toward the end of the first year of life. A case study is presented to illustrate the application of the play procedure for both assessment and treatment.     

Some types of stability in the study of students' work values

It is suggested the concept of “stability” in the study of work values has at least three facets: (1) hierarchical stability, (2) response pattern stability, and (3) factor stability. These three facets are investigated using a sample of 165 Australian students, assessed using a work values list initially in Grade 12 and then $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}$ years later during which time all had engaged in full-time tertiary study. Of the 13 work values assessed only independence and intellectual stimulation increased in importance and surroundings decreased. Canonical correlation analysis revealed four significant response patterns which indicated that the same work value may sometimes be stable or changeable in combination with other work values. It was also found using factor analysis that two rotated principal components appeared stable over time. They were identified as an Intellectual Concern factor and People Concern factor. An Extrinsic Concern factor for subjects as high school students was found to differentiate into a Status/Power Concern factor and a Co-workers Concern factor by the time of the second assessment. A Freedom Concern factor found in the Grade 12 assessment was not discovered until $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}$ years later. The results confirm the need for further theoretical and methodological refinement of the notion of stability in the study of work values.     

Black-white differences at ages 212−812 on the McCarthy scales of children's abilities

Comparisons were made between matched groups of black and white children on the new McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities. Using the standardization sample as the data source, 148 matched pairs were obtained. These were grouped as follows: ages $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}\text{?3}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(}\text{N}\text{= 60), 6}\text{1}\text{2}\text{8}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(}\text{N}\text{= 45)}$. The blacks and whites did not differ significantly on any of the cognitive scales at ages $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}\text{?3}\text{1}\text{2}\text{and}\text{4?5}\text{1}\text{2}$, although at ages $\text{6}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-8}\text{1}\text{2}$ the whites scored about $\text{1}\text{2}\text{SD}$ higher. The blacks scored significantly higher on the Motor Scale at ages $\text{4?5}\text{1}\text{2}$ but there were no differences at other ages. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The modification of racial bias in preschool children

In previous studies using the Preschool Racial Attitude Measure (PRAM) and other measurement procedures, preschool children have displayed a tendency to evaluate light-skinned (Euro-American) persons more positively than dark-skinned (Afro-American) persons. Both Euro- and Afro-American children demonstrate this pro-Euro/anti-Afro ($\text{E+}\text{A?}$) bias, though it is less pronounced among Afro children.Two experiments designed to modify this racial bias are reported. The first study involved 39 Euro- and Afro-American preschool children and employed operant learning principles to modify $\text{E+}\text{A?}$ bias via a teaching machine procedure which provided reinforcement for pro-Afro/anti-Euro responses. Following training, the children showed a reduction in $\text{E+}\text{A?}$ bias on a test procedure not associated with the training. Follow-up testing of 30 of the children approximately 1 yr after the posttest revealed a tendency for the pro-Euro bias to be partially reestablished. The second study involved 70 Euro-American kindergarten children and was concerned with the modification of $\text{E+}\text{A?}$ bias via a classroom curriculum procedure and the possible influence of the race of the teacher associated with the curriculum. The experimental curriculum, designed to develop positive associations to dark-skinned persons and to the colors black and brown, was shown to have no effect on $\text{E+}\text{A?}$ bias, nor was race of teacher a variable of significance. Possible explantations for the findings of both experiments were discussed.     

A follow-up developmental study of hypothesis behavior among mentally retarded and nonretarded children

To clarify the roles of IQ and mental age (MA) in hypothesis behavior, MA-matched subjects at three levels of IQ (70, 100, and 130) and three levels of MA ($\text{5}\text{1}\text{2}\text{, 7}\text{1}\text{2}\text{,}\text{and}\text{9}\text{1}\text{2}\text{years}$) received blank-trial discrimination learning problems using procedures designed to discourage position-oriented responding. With position responding discouraged, earlier findings were contradicted in that no hypothesis measure showed a main effect of IQ. This suggest that previously reported IQ group differences in hypothesis behavior may not reflect cognitive deficits inherently linked to low IQ, but instead may reflect the influence of specific methodological factors. The finding and interpretation are consistent with Zigler's (American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1969, 73, 536–556) “developmental” theory of retardation and inconsistent with the general “difference” position. In additional findings, the predictions that subjects at all three MA levels would use hypotheses, and that retarded children from special-education classes would use hypotheses more often than retarded children “mainstreamed” in classes for the nonretarded were confirmed.     

Developmental change in early representational intelligence: Evidence from spatial classification strategies and related verbal expressions

The procedures 1- to 3-year-old children use to group simple sets of objects are analyzed in an investigation of cognitive change in early representational intelligence. Forty children spontaneously manipulated two-class arrays and participated in two experimental probes of object grouping. Children 1 to 2 years of age group classes by looking for one kind of thing at a time. Consistent with this, they verbally mark single classes. Children from $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}$ to 3 years old employ spatial grouping procedures that require simultaneous consideration of two classes, and they refer to relations between classes. Advances made during the second year are consistent with other initial signs of representational-symbolic intelligence. The advances in the third year are unaccounted for by traditional cognitive-developmental theories, but they are congruent with late-emerging patterns in natural representational systems such as language, suggesting the presence of broad changes in mental organization shortly after the onset of representational intelligence.     

The effect of couples training and partner co-operativeness in the behavioral treatment of obesity

To evaluate the influence of spouse co-operativeness and couples training in the treatment of obesity, 29 obese men and women were assigned to three experimental conditions: (1) Co-operative spouse-couples training: subjects attended all meetings with spouses. Spouses were trained in modeling, monitoring, and reinforcement techniques; (2) Co-operative spouse-subject alone: subjects attended meetings alone even though their partners had agreed to become involved in treatment; (3) Non-cooperative spouse: subjects had spouses refusing to participate in the program, and attended sessions alone. At the 3-month and 6-month maintenance assessments. subjects in the spouse training condition lost significantly more weight than subjects in the other two conditions. Weight losses compared favorably to those of any controlled study with subjects in the couples training group averaging nearly 30 lbs lost after 8$\text{1}\text{2}$ months of treatment. In the absence of spouse training, subjects with co-operative spouses did no better than subjects with non-co-operative spouses. The findings suggest that spouse training may have a potent facilitative effect in weight reduction, and that this effect may promote long-term maintenance of weight loss.     

Restricted thresholds for interval orders: A case of nonaxiomatizability by a universal sentence

Let $\text{P}$_n be the class of all finite interval orders that can be interval-represented using no more than n interval lengths or threshold levels. Thus $\text{P}$₁ is the class of finite semiorders, and $\text{P}$, the union of the $\text{P}$_n, is the class of finite interval orders. While each of $\text{P}$₁ and $\text{P}$ is axiomatizable by a universal sentence in first-order logic, no $\text{P}$_n for $\text{n ≧ 2}$ is axiomatizable in the same sense.     

Response-contingent stimulation as a treatment for developmental failure in infancy

An 8-month-old infant with a developmental quotient of $\text{1}\text{1}\text{2}$ months was given response-contingent stimulation using a pressure-sensitive pillow which turned an overhead mobile. The subject learned to control the mobile by kicking the pillow, and concurrently began smiling at both the mobile and her mother for the first time. After mastering three contingencies on arm, head, and leg movement, she displayed what appeared to be a Piagetian coordinated secondary circular reaction, in which one response provided 4 seconds of access to another contingency. Although the subject remains severely retarded, the results suggest that some forms of developmental delay may be treated at least in part as a failure to develop contingency awareness.     

Decision making in a case of mixed uncertainty: A normative model

We consider a case of uncertainty which is frequently met in various fields, e.g., in parametric statistics: Events {θ}, θ ∈ ∵, are members of family $\text{E}$ on which the decision maker possesses no information at all; however, conditionally on the realization of {θ}, he is able to affix probabilities to all members of another family of events, $\text{F}$. We assume that the decision maker: (1) has a rational behavior under complete ignorance, for decisions whose results only depend on events of $\text{E}$; (2) with {θ} known, maximizes his conditional expected utility for decisions whose results only depend on events of $\text{F}$; (3) has (unconditional) preferences which are consistent with his conditional ones. These assumptions are shown to be sufficient to ensure an approximate representation of the decision maker's preference by a real-valued function W which has the form $\text{W(f) = v[}\text{Inf}{}_{\mathrm{\theta \in \because }}\text{E}{}_{\mathrm{\theta }}\text{(u°f),}\text{Sup}{}_{\mathrm{\theta \in \because }}\text{E}{}_{\mathrm{\theta }}\text{(u°f)]}$, where u and v, respectively, characterize the decision maker's attitudes toward risk and toward complete ignorance.     

On the basis of early transitivity judgments

This research had two aims. The first was to test three explanations of performance on N-term series tasks by young children: the labeling model of B.DeBoysson-Bardies and K. O'Regan (1973), Nature (London), 246, 531–534, the sequential-contiguity model of L. Breslow (1981, Psychological Bulletin, 89, 325–351), and the ordered array or image model of C. A. Riley and T. Trabasso (1974, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 17, 187–202). In the first experiment, 5-year-old children were taught additional premises which would interfere with labeling and sequential-contiguity processes, but not with forming an ordered array. Reasoning performance was essentially comparable to previous results with the paradigm, thus supporting the ordered array model. The second aim was to reexamine children's ability to learn sets of premises which can be assembled into an ordered array, since there was reason to believe that previous studies had created false positives. In the second experiment, 3- to 7-year-old children were taught either overlapping (a > b, b > c, …) or nonoverlapping (a > b, c > d, …) premises. Overlapping premises can be integrated into an ordered array (a, b, c, d, e), but nonoverlapping premises cannot. However, the overlapping condition proved more difficult, and the success rate for preschoolers ($\text{3}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-}\text{to 4}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-year-olds}$) was of zero order. This raises doubts about their ability to learn a set of premises of the kind required for transitive inference. These doubts were strengthened by the third experiment which showed that when premises were not presented in serial order, preschool ($\text{3}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-}\text{to 4}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-year-old}$) children could not learn the premises of an N-term series task.     

Sex and handedness differences in EEG measures of hemispheric specialization

EEG alpha asymmetry was studied in 90 normal adults: right-handed, left-handed, and ambidextrous, male and female. Recordings were made from homologous central, parietal, and occipital leads, referenced to vertex, while subjects engaged in writing, speaking, reading, listening to speech, singing, and block design construction. These data confirm our previous findings that alpha asymmetry is task-dependent and extend them to a broader range of tasks, subjects, and leads. Among right-handers significant differences were found between the language tasks and the musical and spatial tasks: the $\text{R}\text{L}$ alpha ratio is higher in the language tasks. In addition, significant ordering of $\text{R}\text{L}$ alpha ratios was found among the language tasks themselves: WRITE å SPEAK > READ > LISTEN. No one “verbal” task can be considered representative of all language behaviors. Task differences in asymmetry were greater at the central than at the parietal leads, and no differences were found at the occiput. Differences among the handedness groups were found in $\text{R}\text{L}$ alpha ratio in specific tasks, in the relationship among tasks, and in alpha power level. Non-right-handers showed less task-dependent asymmetry. On some measures ambidexters appear to be a distinct group, not simply representing the middle range of a left-handed/right-handed continuum. Reversal of the “expected” right-handed pattern (SPEAK $\text{R}\text{L}$ ratio > BLOCKS $\text{R}\text{L}$ ratio) was seen in 10% of right-handers, and in 36% of left-handers, particularly among left-handed females (46%), suggesting a possible sex difference among non-right-handers. No sex difference was found among right-handers on any task with any measure at any lead.     

Psychological reactivity to discrepant events: Support for the curvilinear hypothesis

80 male and 60 female infants were observed under 5 a priori judged levels of discrepancy to assess whether sustained attention was linearly or curvilinearly related to degree of discrepancy from an experimental standard. Following habituation, $\text{7}\text{1}\text{2}$-month-old infants were exposed to either the repetition of the standard, a minimal, first- or second-level moderate discrepancy, or a novel stimulus having no relation to the standard. The related stimuli, varying in elongation, were sphere, pear, club, and cylinder-shaped objects; the novel stimulus was a different colored, tooth-like object. 80 infants observed the sphere as the standard and the cylinder as the second-level moderate discrepancy; 60 infants were exposed to the reverse order with the cylinder as the standard. The use of different stimuli at each discrepancy level controlled for specific stimulus effects. Habituation and recovery of responding were observed in an operant paradigm. Lever pressing, fixation, and vocalization increased most to the second-level moderate stimuli and decreased most to the familiar and novel objects; fretting was highest to the redundant stimuli and lowest to the moderate objects. There were no stimulus main effects or interactions. The results support the hypothesis of a curvilinear relation between stimulus discrepancy and sustained attention, excitement, and preference.     

Keeping track of locations during movement in 8- to 10-month-old infants

Infants of $\text{8}\text{1}\text{2}$ and $\text{9}\text{1}\text{2}$ mo of age were tested for the ability to “keep track,” i.e., to determine the location of an object hidden in one of two covered containers before their left-right positions were reversed. Infants in both age groups for whom the covers were the same color and younger infants for whom the covers were different colors were generally unable to keep track. Only the older infants provided with different colored covers were able to do so. An analysis which separated keeping track from the sensorimotor stage 4 error indicated that (a) there was no contingency between the two and (b) there were developmental differences in the nature of the error.     

Cultural differences on WISC-R verbal items

The item difficulty patterns of four groups of nonreferred, average children— Anglos, Blacks, Chicanos and Bermudians—were compared on each of the verbal subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. The analysis was done for $\text{7}\text{1}\text{2}$ years old and $\text{10}\text{1}\text{2}$ year olds separately. Although this procedure identified a small number of items differentially difficult for one group of children or another, the item difficulty curves for the four groups were remarkably parallel, considering the differences in the children's cultures.     

Difference measurement and simple scalability with restricted solvability

Let A, B be two sets, with B ? A × A, and ≤ a binary relation on B. The problem analyzed here is that of the existence of a mapping u: A → R, satisfying:

$\text{(a,b) ? (}\text{a}\text{?}\text{,}\text{b}\text{?}\text{)}\text{iff}\text{∨∧ μ(b) ? μ(a) ? μ(}\text{b}\text{?}\text{) ? μ(}\text{a}\text{?}\text{)}$

whenever (a, b), (a′, b′) ∈ B. In earlier discussions of this problem, it is usually assumed that B is connected on A. Here, we only assume that B satisfies a certain convexity property. The resulting system provides an appropriate axiomatization of Fechner's scaling procedures. The independence of axioms is discussed. A more general representation is also analyzed:

$\text{(a,b) ? (}\text{a}\text{?}\text{,}\text{b}\text{?}\text{)}\text{iff}\text{∨∧ F[μ(b), μ(a)] ? F[μ}\text{b}\text{?}\text{]}$

, where F is strictly increasing in the first argument, and strictly decreasing in the second. Sufficient conditions are presented, and a proof of the representation theorem is given.