Androgyny,sex-typing,and the perception of masculinity-femininity in handwritings

Sex-typed and androgynous subjects rated the similarity of handwritings on masculinity-femininity and also rated the writings on an absolute scale of masculinity-femininity. The variances of sex-typed subjects' ratings were significantly higher than those of androgynous subjects, indicating that sex-typed subjects differentiated more along the dimension. Sex-typed subjects also agreed more highly with other raters and among themselves than did androgynous subjects. Multidimensional scaling of similarity ratings—using nonmetric multidimensional scaling (Kruskal, 1964; Shepard, 1962), and INDSCAL (Carroll & Chang, 1970)—showed interpretable dimensions along which subjects perceived masculinity-femininity. Further scaling solutions indicated again that sex-typed subjects differentiated more strongly along the dimension of masculinity-femininity and weighted the dimension more highly in making their similarity ratings. The data supported the hypothesis that subjects who monitor their own behavior on a given dimension are more sensitive to cues in others relating to that dimension.     

Elkind on egocentrism

The purpose of this paper is to respond to D. Elkind's (1985, Developmental Review, 5, 218–226) reply to D. Lapsley and M. Murphy's (1985, Developmental Review, 5, 201–217) critique of the adolescent egocentrism theory. After a reprise of the issues in contention, we address the problem of theoretical consistency and self-other differentiation in Dr. Elkind's (1967, Child Development, 38, 1025–1034) theory. The role of formal operations in the Lapsley and Murphy (1985) account of the imaginary audience and personal fable is revised, and the empirical support for Elkind's theory is reviewed. We conclude that there are good conceptual and empirical grounds for doubting the major assumptions of the adolescent egocentrism theory, and that the Lapsley and Murphy (1985) framework has promise in suggesting theoretical integration with other approaches to the self.     

Comment on Bernbach's prediction of the invariance of Type 2 d′ in confidence-rated recall

Bernbach Bernbach, 1967, Bernbach, 1971 has claimed that empirical findings of Type 2 d′ invariance in confidence-rated recall experiments confirm a prediction of his two-state theory of recognition and disprove strength theories of memory. In order to derive this prediction from his recognition theory, Bernbach (1967) found it necessary to add to the theory an assumption concerning recall processes. However, this recall assumption is untenable, as it leads to an empirically false prediction concerning accuracy on recognition and recall tests. Moreover, an alternative recall assumption proposed by Bernbach and Kupchak (1972) does not lead to a prediction of Type 2 d′ invariance. Thus, Bernbach's theory predicts the invariance of Type 2 d′ only with the aid of an untenable recall assumption. Consequently, empirical findings of Type 2 d′ invariance cannot be regarded as supportive of Bernbach's theory.     

Preferences of infants for regular and distorted natural speech stimuli

The schema hypothesis proposed by Kagan (Science, 1970, 170, 826–832) andLewis (Developmental Psychology, 1969, 1, 75–86) was used to make predictions concerning the preferences of infants 3 to 14 months old for speech stimuli. An operant response method was used in determining the infants' preferences for inflected, monotone, and scrambled natural speech stimuli. Although the infants' preferences did not change with age as predicted, the infants produced clear preference orderings for the three stimuli. The speech preferences were interpreted as being based on stimulus variables (e.g., word order, inflection, and speech rate) in addition to the realism variables assumed by the schema hypothesis.     

Subjective utility,anticipated utility,and the Allais paradox

One of the most notable counterexamples to expected utility theory is the “Allais paradox” (M. Allais, 1953, Econometrica, 31, 503–546). A number of alternative theories have been proposed in an attempt to resolve this paradox, notably including Karmarkar, 1978, Karmarkar, 1979, 24, 67–72). It is shown that SWU theory necessarily involves violations of dominance, but that the theory can be modified to avoid these violations. The result is a special case of J. Quiggin's anticipated utility theory (1982, Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, 3, 323–343).     

The interaction of locus of control expectancies and providing purpose on children's motivation

Children differing in locus of control orientation (internals, mediums, and externals' were administered an extended coding task following either a fictional rationale for the study (purpose incentive statement) or no purpose. As predicted, externals' performance under no purpose was significantly poorer and their rated interest in the task was significantly less favorable than those of internals. Also as predicted, these differences were nullified under the purpose incentive condition. The findings extend Lefcourt's (1967) suggestion that cue explication is important for externals to include external children, and support the position (Mischel, 1973; Rotter, 1975) that personality variables are increasingly important as a function of greater situational ambiguity. Implications of these findings for education and child-rearing are discussed.     

Interal locus of control as a value

Internal and external subjects, who previously filled out Rotter's (1966) I-E scale, were asked to score the I-E scale of “another student”. Subjects were exposed to “an other's” score of either 0, 5, 10, 16, or 23, and were asked to rate themselves and the “other” on an evaluative questionnaire. It was predicted that ratings of the “other” would increase in positivity to the extent the “other” scored as an internal. A reverse direction was predicted for an index of negative evaluations. The predictions were confirmed. The results suggest that internal locus of control is a societal value. The findings did not support either Hannah's (1973) hypothesis that internals are more responsive to a need for social approval, or Byrne's (1969) similarity hypothesis.     

On resolving conflicting views of cognitive conflict

F. B. Murray's (Developmental Review, 1983, 3, 54–61) conclusion that a theoretically ambiguous relationship exists between cognitive conflict and Piaget's notion of equilibration was considered. It was suggested that theoretical clarity can be achieved if a distinction is drawn between conflict induction (disequilibrium) and conflict resolution (equilibration). Murray's suggestion that in Piaget's theory internal (cognitive) conflict can be mentally created was disputed. G. N. Cantor's (Developmental Review, 1983, 3, 39–53) concerns about the adequacy of the measures of internal conflict in B. J. Zimmerman & D. E. Blom's (Developmental Review, 1983, 3, 18–38) study due to their independence from external conflict manipulations was discussed. We agreed with Cantor that such findings obviate direct disconfirmation of an internal conflict construct; however, we suggested that evidence of conservation learning in the absence of either external or internal conflict renders Piaget's account less tenable.     

Regarding Roberts's reported failure to obtain visual discrimination learning with delayed reward

Roberts's (1976) results should not be considered a failure to replicate the experiment by Lett (1974) demonstrating visual discrimination learning with a 1-min delay of reward. Although performance in Roberts's experiment was poor, the rats subjected to Lett's exact procedure showed learning by Roberts's own criterion of a significant-blocks effect. Moreover, by another criterion, the rats subjected by Roberts to three variants of Lett's procedure also exhibited learning. Thus, Roberts's results are consistent with Lett's.     

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.     

The effects of setting similarity on children's learning of the transverse patterning problem

A group of 15 fourth-graders were given training on the transverse patterning problem, a task consisting of three different geometric forms presented in pairs. Three other groups of 15 fourth-graders each received training on problems containing the same geometric forms, along with either one (color or size) or two (color and size) additional nonspatial dimensions varying among the settings comprising the different cue-cue patterns. Contrary to a prediction derived from Croll's (1967) extension of Spiker's (1963) theory of discrimination learning, none of the Ss solved the basic transverse patterning problem, nor was there any improvement in performance on this problem after 90 trials. Consistent with predictions derived from Spiker's theory, it was found that the addition of one nonspatial dimersion resulted in solution, and that the greater the number of nonspatial dimensions present, the better the learning.     

On the relations between random walk models for two-choice response times

We state a condition on the moment-generating functions of the random walk model derived by Link and Heath (1975), which is necessary and sufficient to yield the sequential probability ratio test of Wald (1947) and the reaction-time model proposed by Stone (1960). A restricted form of this condition can also be obtained by imposing the types of symmetries on the moment-generating functions considered by Link and Health (1975) and Thomas (1975). The various conditions are contrasted and their implications for empirical investigation are discussed.     

Resistance to yielding and the expectation of cooperative future interaction in negotiation

The expectation of cooperative future interaction (ECFI) encouraged especially high joint benefit (the total of the two bargainers' individual outcomes) when resistance to yielding was high, but especially low joint benefit when resistance to yielding was low. Process data suggest that this finding can be explained as follows: When resistance to yielding is high, ECFI encourages problem solving and reduced contentious behavior; when resistance to yielding is low, ECFI encourages a collapse of aspirations. The results support Filley's (1975) dualconcern model and cast doubt on Deutsch's (1973) blanket assertion that a cooperative process leads to constructive conflict resolution.     

Occupational prestige: Exploration of a theoretical basis

Drawing on the theory and research of psychophysics, a nonlinear model is hypothesized to explain the connection between education and income and occupational prestige. To achieve this, Weber's (R. L. Gregory, 1981, Mind in Science, Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 501–503) and Stevens' (S. S. Stevens, 1970, Science170, 1043–1050) laws are brought together in an intrinsically nonlinear model. Guided by the earlier work of R. L. Hamblin (1971, Sociometry, 34, 423–452) and others, the work of O. D. Duncan (1961, in A. J. Reiss, Jr., O. D. Duncan, P. K. Hatt, & C. C. North (Eds.), Occupations and Social Status, New York, Free Press) is reanalyzed testing the possibility that work on the socioeconomic index can be understood as a prestige allocation process which follows psychophysical principles. That is, prestige is assigned to occupations, given specifiable levels of educational and income attainment, in a manner parallel to the way in which individuals respond to changes in the intensity of other stimuli. Using first the data developed by Duncan (1961) to test the model and the 1963 NORC data (R. W. Hodge, P. M. Siegel, & P. H. Rossi, 1964, American Journal of Sociology, 70, 286–302) to replicate it, a measurement model consistent with the theoretical model is evaluated. Comparing the results of the nonlinear model to that of the linear, it is concluded that a model is obtained yielding theoretical confirmation with no loss in predictive accuracy. The resultant nonlinear model yields alternative substantive implications concerning the relative influence of income and education on occupational prestige to those to be inferred from linear models. Perhaps most important, however, is the candidacy given by these results to psychophysics as the explanatory mechanism in the prestige allocation process.     

Informational cues and attributions based on role behavior

A recent experiment by Messick and Reeder (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1972, 18, 482–491) attempted to extend Jones, Davis, and Gergen's (Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1961, 63, 302–310) classic finding that out-of-role behavior.is more informative for person perception than in-role behavior. It is argued, however, that this study confounded two variables, role performance and occupation. Evidence is presented that the occupation variable alone could have produced Messick and Reeder's results. Both variables seem to affect attributions. The importance of these findings for relating attribution theory and role theory is discussed.     

Do birds of a feather flock together? A test of the similarities within and the differences between five occupations

Two sets of samples of 40 women from each of five different occupations were subjected to J. H. Ward's (Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1963, 58, 236–244) hierarchical cluster analysis, using an index of similarity from Kuder, 1977, Kuder, 1980, 40, 1–8). The five-group solution in neither case adequately recaptured the occupational membership of the original groups. This finding was interpreted to mean that there may be important differences in the interests of person in the same occupation, which in turn has implications for occupational scaling on interest inventories and theories of career development and counseling.     

Academic achievement: An examination of Holland's congruency,consistency, and differentiation predictions

This investigation tested three predictions derived from Holland's (1973) theory of vocational development regarding academic achievement. Groups of 392 male and 424 female entering college freshmen were typed using the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory and were categorized in terms of congruency, consistency, and differentiation. Freshmen with congruent college major choices or with definite majors but indefinite Holland orientations enjoyed greater academic success than students who specified incongruent choices or no definite major choice. Students with personality codes of high or low consistency outperformed students with moderately consistent codes. Freshmen males with differentiated personal orientations achieved higher grade point averages than males having nondifferentiated personality profiles. For females, differentiation was not significant. In all sex comparisons female trends paralleled male trends and females generally outperformed males. Implications for vocational development and counseling were discussed in the context of Holland's theory.     

The applicability of Holland's typology to clients

Holland, 1966, Holland, 1973 has generated a vast amount of research seeking to validate or to challenge the hexagonal model and the associated constructs of consistency and differentiation. A review of the studies related to Holland's typology, however, reveals a very small number of studies with clients as subjects. The present study was an evaluation of Holland's model using the General Occupational Themes of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) (D. P. Campbell & J. C. Hansen, Manual for the SVIB-SCII, 3rd ed., Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 1981) obtained from college students who had sought vocational counseling. The use of the hexagonal model as a framework for the interpretation of relationships among the SCII General Occupational Themes was supported, and the SCII was found to be a valid instrument for vocational counseling in a client population.     

An application of Strong's validity criteria to basic interest scales

E. K. Strong, Jr.'s (Vocational interests of men and women, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 1943) four propositions for interest-inventory validity andJ. L. Holland's (Making vocational choices: A theory of careers, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973) hexagonal classification system were synthesized in order to adapt a traditional procedure for determining the construct validity of occupational interest scales to the validation of basic interest scales. The procedure was tested using a sample of 4035 males and 3671 females whose interest inventory results as high school students and whose majors as college seniors could be assigned Holland codes. Results of the study indicate that this procedure can be used to assess the construct validity of inventories using basic interest scales.     

Efficient sets,decision heuristics,and single-peaked preferences

The origins of single-peaked preferences in multiattribute choice behavior are analyzed. The starting point is (a), (b), 16, 261–266) theory which explains single-peakedness as the joint effect of task and behavior characteristics. Whereas the task conditions—so-called efficient sets—are retained, and their importance is even more stressed, it is argued that Coombs and Avrunin's behavioral assumptions—classical marginally decreasing preference functions—may not be representative of actually displayed choice behavior. Rather, the information processing approach to decision research has shown that multiattribute choices are often based on simplifying heuristic rules which, due to their possible intransitivity, are inconsistent with Coombs and Avrunin's behavioral requirements. Tversky's (Psychological Review, 1969, 76, 31–48) additive difference model is used as an algebraic framework for analyzing such so-called attribute-based choice rules. Sufficient (and in the continuous case also necessary) conditions are presented which guarantee that the additive difference model will also be single-peaked on efficient sets. These conditions show that the behavioral principles yielding single-peaked preferences are far more general than Coombs and Avrunin assumed and include most of the empirically substantiated forms of attribute-based choice rules. Further, a necessary and sufficient condition is derived which insures that elimination rules, like the conjunctive rule, for instance, and generalizations thereof are single-peaked. Finally, making use of a result by Edgeworth, (Mathematical Psychics, London, Paul, 1881), it is shown that efficient sets per se may originate in quite different ways. It is concluded that the phenomenon of single-peakedness is mainly a function of the task rather than of some specific behavior.