The 1928 Carlisle conference: Knight Dunlap and a national laboratory for psychology

In late March 1928, 32 experimental psychologists met in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The National Research Council (NRC) sponsored the conference, which was organized by Knight Dunlap, chair of the NRC's Division of Anthropology and Psychology. The purpose of the Carlisle conference was to examine the status of experimental psychology, and Dunlap used it to propose a national laboratory for psychology, to be created in Washington, DC. This vision clashed with the traditional university-centered research model and the group resisted Dunlap's plan. Dunlap persisted, the eventual result being a National Institute of Psychology, which accomplished little. The Carlisle conference did succeed in being the impetus for small NRC-funded grants-in-aid to researchers, and it set in motion events that eventually led to the American Psychological Association publication manual.     

Pitfalls in computing and interpreting randomization testp values: A commentary on Chen and Dunlap

Chen and Dunlap (1993) added to the growing list of papers promoting the use of randomization tests in statistical testing. Their particular contribution was an SAS program that could bring computation of these tests to a wider audience. The present paper points to several problems with the presentation of Chen and Dunlap and provides solutions to these problems. It is concluded that randomization tests deserve more attention, but that they are best computed by programs written in a low-level programming language or, if using SAS on a mainframe, by using the MULTTEST procedure.     

Issues in Factor-Analyzing Ipsative Measures: The Learning Style Inventory (LSI-1985) Example

This paper reviews the statistical issues in factor analyzing ipsative measures and then illustrates the issue using ipsative data from Kolb's revised Learning Style Inventory (LSI-1985) and Dunlap & Cronwell's (1994) recommended procedures. The statistical findings underscore the problem of determining the valid underlying factor structure of ipsative measures.     

An adaptive linear filter model of procedural category learning

Cognitive Processing - We use a feature-based association model to fit grouped and individual level category learning and transfer data. The model assumes that people use corrective feedback to...     

Testing the Adult Development Tower of Babel Hypothesis: Homogeneous by Perry Position Collaborative Learning Groups and Graduate Student Satisfaction

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate what appears to be a grounding assumption in some adult developmental and educational research: persons of differing epistemologies who are grouped together will understand one another less well than persons who are grouped homogeneously. A robust effect is discussed within the context of adult development theory, research on collaborative learning groups, and Bruffee's social constructionist challenge (K. A. Bruffee, 1993) to Perry and to cognitive development theory. Collateral research questions relating to covariates of developmental position (according to the Perry scheme) are entertained; confirmatory qualitative data are presented.     

EFFECTS OF CHOOSING ACADEMIC ASSIGNMENTS ON A STUDENT WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

The effects of choosing academic assignments on the undesirable behaviors manifested by a second-grade student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were analyzed. This study extended Dunlap et al.'s (1994) research on choice making as a form of antecedent control. A reversal design showed that undesirable behaviors decreased when the student was given a choice of academic assignments.     

An exploration of the relationship between academic and experiential learning approaches in vocational education

Background. Research on individual learning approaches (or learning styles) is split in two traditions, one of which is biased towards academic learning, and the other towards learning from direct experience. Aims. In the reported study, the two traditions are linked by investigating the relationships between school‐based (academic) and work‐based (experiential) learning approaches of students in vocational education programs. Samples. Participants were 899 students of a Dutch school for secondary vocational education; 758 provided data on school‐based learning, and 407 provided data on work‐based learning, resulting in an overlap of 266 students from whom data were obtained on learning in both settings. Methods. Learning approaches in school and work settings were measured with questionnaires. Using factor analysis and cluster analysis, items and students were grouped, both with respect to school‐ and work‐based learning. Results. The study identified two academic learning dimensions (constructive learning and reproductive learning), and three experiential learning dimensions (analysis, initiative, and immersion). Construction and analysis were correlated positively, and reproduction and initiative negatively. Cluster analysis resulted in the identification of three school‐based learning orientations and three work‐based learning orientations. The relation between the two types of learning orientations, expressed in Cramér's V, appeared to be weak. Conclusions. It is concluded that learning approaches are relatively context specific, which implies that neither theoretical tradition can claim general applicability.     

Grouping illumination frameworks

According to Koffka (1935), the lightness of a target surface is determined by the relationship between the target and the illumination frame of reference to which it belongs. However, each scene contains numerous illumination frames, and judging each one separately would lead to an enormous amount of computing. Grouping those frames that are in the same illumination would simplify the computation. We report a series of experiments demonstrating that nonadjacent regions of the visual field under the same illumination level are perceptually grouped together and function, to some extent, as a single framework. A small coplanar group of patches under its own illumination exhibits compression of perceived range of gray shades. We obtained the reduction in compression in the presence of an identically illuminated 25-patch Mondrian tableau mounted nearby the coplanar group. The influence of the Mondrian display was reduced when it was (a) moved laterally away from the test display, (b) moved farther back in depth from the test display, or (c) rotated to a different orientation.     

Reading deficits and intellectual patterns among children with neurocognitive dysfunctions

Reading deficits among 56 elementary aged learning disabled children with suspected neurocognitive dysfunctions were calculated. The children were grouped according to the following IQ profiles: low Verbal-high Performance, high Verbal-low Performance, and a no-difference group. Differences in reading deficits among the groups were analyzed and the results indicate that the pattern of high Verbal-low Performance IQs is associated with the least deficiency in reading and that this association is evident as early as second grade within a group of learning disabled children with concomitant central processing problems.     

The Efficiency of Skilled Performance

The observed ease or effort of performance has traditionally been considered an integral part of any definition of skill (e.g., Guthrie, 1935). Empirical investigations of skill learning and performance have, however, largely ignored the effort or efficiency with which the movement is performed. This situation has arisen despite the fact that in many skills, particularly athletic endurance events or industrial work tasks, efficiency of performance may be essential to the goal of the task. This paper focuses on the energy demand of various skills and its relationship to issues of learning, performance, and individual differences in preferred rhythm. It is shown that across a variety of tasks the individual’s freely chosen work-rate is the most efficient. The significance of preferred rhythm to theoretical perspectives on rhythmic activity is discussed.     

The efficiency of skilled performance

The observed ease or effort of performance has traditionally been considered an integral part of any definition of skill (e.g., Guthrie, 1935). Empirical investigations of skill learning and performance have, however, largely ignored the effort or efficiency with which the movement is performed. This situation has arisen despite the fact that in many skills, particularly athletic endurance events or industrial work tasks, efficiency of performance may be essential to the goal of the task. This paper focuses on the energy demand of various skills and its relationship to issues of learning, performance, and individual differences in preferred rhythm. It is shown that across a variety of tasks the individual's freely chosen work-rate is the most efficient. The significance of preferred rhythm to theoretical perspectives on rhythmic activity is discussed.     

Implicit serial learning: Questions inspired by Hebb (1961)

Implicit serial learning occurs when indirect measures such as transfer reveal learning of a repeating sequence even when subjects are not informed ofthe repeating sequence, are not asked to learn it, and do not become of aware of it. This phenomenon is reminiscent of an experiment by Hebb(1961), who studied the repetition of sequences in a serial recall task. Two experiments investigated the relation between implicit serial learning and ideas about learning forwarded by Hebb and others who used his method. The experiments showed that implicit serial learning occurs even when the repeating sequence is intermixed with randomly generated sequences instead of being repeated continuously, that the organization of the sequence into regularly or irregularly grouped subsequences determines the extent of learning, and that the repetition effect observed does not depend on subjects' ability to recognize the repetition.     

Jung's Psychological Types,Including the Four Functions

(Dunlap, K. Personal Adjustment. New York: McGraw Hill, 1946. Pp. 446.). Reviewed by George K. Morlan.

(Eysenck, H. J., et al. Dimensions of Personality. London: Kegan Paul, 1947. Pp.308.). Reviewed by Raymond Cattell.     

Identifying pre-service teachers’ profiles of conceptions of learning: a cluster analysis

Social Psychology of Education - This study was conducted to track conceptions of learning among pre-service teachers and to verify whether they can be grouped in profiles. A sample of 232...     

LEARNING THEORY APPROACHES TO PERSUASION

This review synthesizes relevant research dealing with the processes of learning and suggests its applications to compliance gaining. The two major issues addressed are: (1) to what degree can learning theories explain the acquisition of new attitudes and behaviors, and (2) to what degree are attitudinal and behavioral changes governed by learning theory principles? The learning theories discussed are grouped into three categories: stimulus-response or connectionist approaches; cognitive approaches; and stochastic, mathematical, and cybernetic approaches. The stimulus-response models, which encompass most of the research examined in this paper, are further broken down into four types: (1) classical conditioning, (2) contiguity models, (3) instrumental (or operant) conditioning and (4) models including drive and drive reduction. Principles and major research evidence from numerous learning theories are reviewed and analyzed, and suggestions are made as to how this evidence may aid in the construction of more complete theories of persuasion and attitude change.     

Longitudinal stability of personality traits: a multitrait-multimethod-multioccasion analysis

The longitudinal stability of personality was investigated in a group of several hundred adults who were rated by themselves, their marriage partners, and their acquaintances in 1935-1938 and by themselves and their marriage partners in 1954-1955. For both men and women, there were very similar factorial structures in all five sources of ratings. Individual differences in neuroticism, social extraversion, and impulse control had reasonably high levels of longitudinal stability over a 19-year period. Both the synchronic and diachronic correlations converged across methods and discriminated among traits. Self-report personality inventory data available in 1935-1938 and 1954-1955 provided corroborating evidence of the longitudinal and methodological robustness of personality traits. In data gathered on the same panel in 1980-1981, the questionnaire and the life history correlates of neuroticism and social extraversion displayed patterns indicative of temporal stability, methodological convergence, and discrimination among constructs. The data of this longitudinal study carried out over five decades strongly indicate that there is a set of personality traits that are generalizable across methods of assessment and are stable throughout adulthood.     

The Changing Composition of “Intelligence”: A Study in T-Technique

Abstract

(Kantor, J. R. Problems of Physiological Psychology. Bloomington. Ind.: Principia Press, 1947. Pp. 398.) Reviewed by John Bucklew

(Dunlap, K. Religion; Its Functions in Human Life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1946. Pp. 362.) Reviewed by Sidney Kosofsky     

The Detection and Interpretation of Interaction Effects Between Continuous Variables in Multiple Regression

issues in the detection and interpretation of interaction effects between quantitative variables in multiple regression analysis are discussed. Recent articles by Cronbach (1987) and Dunlap and Kemery (1987) suggested the use of two transformations to reduce "problems" of multicollinearity. These transformations are discussed in the context of the conditional nature of multiple regression with product terms. It is argued that although additive transformations do not affect the overall test of statistical interaction, they do affect the interpretational value of regression coefficients. Factors other than multicollinearity that may account for failures to observe interaction effects are noted.     

The Couch and the Circle by Hyman Spotnitz

A qualitative study explored the therapeutic elements in psychodynamic group therapy for adolescents with learning disabilities and related psychosocial problems. Four boys and four girls, diagnosed with learning disabilities, were interviewed on completion of group therapy, to obtain their subjective experiences. Therapeutic factors were identified, grouped, and found to be operative through an interpersonal process, termed mutual recognition. Mutual recognition is defined as the adolescents realizing that they saw themselves in the others and that the others saw themselves in the participants. The subcategories were trust, connection, and group issues/process. The subcategories were interactive: they contributed to, and were influenced by, mutual recognition.