THE EFFECTS OF PARTICIPATION AND GOAL DIFFICULTY ON PERFORMANCE

Previous research comparing the effects of assigned versus participatively set goals on performance were essentially tests of the null hypothesis in that goal difficulty level was not systematically manipulated. The present laboratory study investigated the effects of assigned versus participatively set goals, and the effects of varying goal difficulty level on an arithmetic task. Eighty-six college students were assigned to either a participative goal condition or one of three assigned goal conditions. In two of the assigned goal conditions participants were assigned goals equal to those set in the participative condition, the difference being that individuals in one group were assigned goals at random and those in the other group were assigned goals on the basis of their premeasure scores. Participants in the third assigned goal condition were randomly assigned a goal in the top quartile of the goals set participatively. As hypothesized, individuals with hard assigned goals had higher performance than peers with lower goals set in a participative manner. Contrary to modern organizational theory, individuals with participatively set goals did not have higher performance than those with assigned goals of equal difficulty. Personality traits were not found to moderate the effects of goal setting on performance.     

EFFECTS OF PROBLEM DIFFICULTY AND REINFORCER QUALITY ON TIME ALLOCATED TO CONCURRENT ARITHMETIC PROBLEMS

Students with learning difficulties participated in two studies that analyzed the effects of problem difficulty and reinforcer quality upon time allocated to two sets of arithmetic problems reinforced according to a concurrent variable-interval 30-s variable-interval 120-s schedule. In Study 1, high- and low-difficulty arithmetic problems were systematically combined with rich and lean concurrent schedules (nickels used as reinforcers) across conditions using a single-subject design. The pairing of the high-difficulty problems with the richer schedule failed to offset time allocated to that alternative. Study 2 investigated the interactive effects of problem difficulty and reinforcer quality (nickels vs. program money) upon time allocation to arithmetic problems maintained by the concurrent schedules of reinforcement. Unlike problem difficulty, the pairing of the lesser quality reinforcer (program money) with the richer schedule reduced the time allocated to that alternative. The magnitude of this effect was greatest when combined with the low-difficulty problems. These studies have important implications for a matching law analysis of asymmetrical reinforcement variables that influence time allocation.     

THE EFFECTS OF TEXT ADAPTATION ON RATED APPEAL AND DIFFICULTY

This study was designed to investigate how low‐achieving readers rate high‐interest low vocabulary adaptations and their original story versions for difficulty and appeal. Five hundred and seventy‐six Title 1 junior and senior high school students were assigned randomly to read and rate one of eight story versions (three original versions and five adaptations). Significant differences in difficulty and appeal ratings were found across the eight story versions. Adaptations were rated as being easier than original stories. Generally, changes in length and readability did not affect appeal. The one exception to this finding was a story adaptation that also had a substantial content modification. The quality of a story was found to be the important factor affecting appeal.     

材料规则难度对内隐与外显协同学习的影响

选取两种规则难度的人工语法字母串.采用强分离的实验程序,探索了材料规则难度对内隐学习、内隐与外显的协同学习的影响.结果显示: (1)规则难度较大的限定状态人工语法学习中,内隐学习成绩显著好于外显学习;而在难度较小的双条件语法学习中,外显学习显著好于内隐学习. (2)在两种规则难度的材料学习中,内隐与外显的协同学习成绩均好于单独的内隐或者外显学习,具有优势效应. (3)内隐学习获得的规则知识具有可迁移性.     

UNWANTED INTERCOURSE: THE DIFFICULTY OF SAYING NO

Unwanted intercourse occurs when a reluctant partner is induced to acquiesce against her (his) will by psychological pressure from the would-be lover, but without the use of or the threat of force. An earlier study found that 30% of a representative probability sample of senior women in a liberal arts college had experienced unwanted intercourse. College women's ( N = 76 ) perceptions of the unwanted intercourse situation were assessed by projective and by questionnaire methods, using a videotaped stimulus cue. Results indicate that highly negative feelings are attributed to the man in the refuse situation, and to the majority of the women in both the accept and refuse situations. A hedonic calculus analysis based on the ratio of negative to positive feelings in the stories demonstrates the cost-benefit superiority of accepting unwanted intercourse in spite of the fact that the women's feelings are predominantly negative. A theory of unwanted intercourse is proposed that attributes the high rate of unwanted intercourse to four societal norms: (a) current remnants of the ideology of male supremacy, (b) the norm of male initiative, (c) the lack of positive sexual experience norms for women, and (d) the "stroking norm" for women.     

MUSIC OF THE SIKH DIASPORA: DEVOTIONAL SOUNDS,MUSICAL MEMORY AND CULTURAL IDENTITY

This paper explores the role of devotional music in the construction of Sikh identity in diasporic contexts. In particular, it examines a heterodox Sikh community in the UK and an orthodox Sikh community in Hong Kong from a comparative perspective, showing how music helps to clarify continuities and discontinuities in Sikhism worldwide. I provide ethnographic accounts of musical performances in different locales within gurdwara-s. Following a summary of current conventions in Sikh music performance and pedagogy, two ethnographic accounts are provided. The first is a musical ethnography of the Namdhari Gurdwara in Leicester where Hindustani classical music is performed alongside traditional ritual genres. The second site is a similar ethnographic study of the Khalsa Diwan Gurdwara in Hong Kong where the issues of diasporic identity and musical memory are foregrounded.     

DIMENSION ANALYSIS OF THE PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL STYLE

W edin , L. Dimension analysis of the perception of musical style. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1969, 10, 9 7–108.-The subjective similarity of ten short excerpts from musical works ranging over the period of 1720–1890 was studied by (I) the direct multidimensional ratio scaling method and (2) by the method of similarity analysis. Factor analysis extracted three or four factors depending on the degree of musical training of the subjects. The differentiation and inter-pretability of the factors were higher for subjects with more musical training and interest. The factors were labeled 'Baroque', 'Rococo', 'Viennese classicism' and 'Romanticism'.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFICULTY AND FACTOR LOADINGS OF SOME VISUAL-PERCEPTUAL TESTS

WERDELIN, I. & STJERNBERG, G. The relationship between difficulty and factor loadings of some visual-perceptual tests. Scand. J. Psychol. , 1971, 12, 21–28. – The study aimed at investigating whether it is possible to change factor loadings by varying the difficulty and complexity of the same visual-perceptual tests. 171 sixth grade pupils were given 27 tests. Some of these defined reference factors, others were differently difficult versions of four tests from separate parts of the visual-perceptual field. Data were treated by factor analysis, yielding the four factors R, S, N and P. It was found that the more difficult the test the higher its loadings on the S and R factors, and the easier the test the higher its loadings on the N and particularly the P factor.     

NEWTON AND KANT: QUANTITY OF MATTER IN THE METAPHYSICAL FOUNDATIONS OF NATURAL SCIENCE

Immanuel Kant's Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (1786) provides metaphysical foundations for the application of mathematics to empirically given nature. The application that Kant primarily has in mind is that achieved in Isaac Newton's Principia (1687). Thus, Kant's first chapter, the Phoronomy, concerns the mathematization of speed or velocity, and his fourth chapter, the Phenomenology, concerns the empirical application of the Newtonian notions of true or absolute space, time, and motion. This paper concentrates on Kant's second and third chapters—the Dynamics and the Mechanics, respectively—and argues that they are best read as providing a transcendental explanation of the conditions for the possibility of applying the (mathematical) concept of quantity of matter to experience. Kant again has in mind the empirical measures of this quantity that Newton fashions in the Principia, and he aims to make clear, in particular, how Newton achieves a universal measure for all bodies whatsoever by projecting the static quantity of terrestrial weight into the heavens by means of the theory of universal gravitation. Kant is not attempting to prove a priori what Newton has established empirically but, rather, to clarify the character of Newton's mathematization by building Newton's empirical measures into the very concept of matter that is articulated in the Metaphysical Foundations.     

ON THE PROBLEMS OF PERCEIVED DIFFICULTY

BORG, G., BRATFISCH, O. & DORNI'C, S. On the problems of perceived difficulty. Scand. J. Psychol. , 1971, 12, 249–260.–The development and meaning of the concept of "perceived difficulty" is presented. A concise survey of experiments carried out so far is given with regard to the main theoretical, methodological and applied problems at which the investigations aimed. A substantial part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of the concept of perceived difficulty and to the possibilities of measurement. The concept of perceived difficulty is dealt with also in a differential connection and a model for interindividual comparisons is suggested. It is emphasized that a systematic investigation of perceived difficulty is both possible and useful, and that it yields an opportunity to improve and facilitate the construction of psychological tests. Finally, possible future research projects are briefly outlined.     

THE EFFECTS OF MEAL SCHEDULE AND QUANTITY ON PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIOR

We present 2 case examples that illustrate the effects of meal schedule and quantity on displays of problematic behavior. In the first example, self-injury displayed by a toddler with severe developmental delays was maintained by parent attention, but only when he was satiated for food. When he was food deprived, self-injury decreased but did not appear to be differentiated across low or high social conditions. In the second example, crying and self-injury displayed by an elementary-aged girl with severe disabilities were correlated: Both behaviors were associated with food quantity, and neither behavior was responsive to social stimuli. These results replicate and extend previous findings demonstrating that meal schedule or food quantity can affect problematic behavior. In the present studies, brief functional analyses of aberrant behavior provided useful information for interpreting distinct patterns of behavior displayed by each child. We discuss these results in terms of the concept of establishing operations.     

结果冲突与作业难度对双重作业绩效的影响

运用单作业和双作业操作探讨结果冲突与作业难度对双重作业绩效的影响。结果表明：（１）信息干扰对双作业操作有着明显的影响。信息干扰越大,结果冲突效应越大,双作业操作绩效越差。（２）作业难度对双作业绩效有明显影响。作业难度越大,双作业操作绩效越差。根据实验结果,本研究提出了双因素假设：信息干扰和资源竞争是影响双作业操作绩效的两个主要因素。     

A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL AND SIMILARITY ANALYSIS IN THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL EXPERIENCE

N ordenstreng , K. A comparison between the semantic differential and similarity analysis in the measurement of musical experience. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1968, 9,89–96.—Ten pieces of music were rated by a group of broadcasting sound-controllers using two different scaling techniques, the semantic differential ratings of each sound on 32 scales, and similarity ratings for all pairs of sounds. The two scaling techniques were compared matching factor spaces by transformation analysis. The results indicate almost perfect similarity of the factor structures, which suggests that similarity analysis and the semantic differential in fact measure the same thing.     

POWER AND THE QUALITY OF SAME-SEX FRIENDSHIPS

Does the quality of same-sex friendship depend on the gender of the friends and the balance of power between friends? Fifty-four men and 60 women undergraduates evaluated two of their same-sex friendships, one equal in power and one unequal in power. The quality of each friendship was rated in terms of emotional closeness, satisfaction, liking, self-disclosure, and rewards. In general, most young adults evaluated their friendships positively. Mixed-model multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) found significant main effects of gender and power on ratings of quality, but no interactions. Consistent with previous research, women generally evaluated their same-sex friendships more positively than did men. Gender differences were relatively small in magnitude and were not found for all indices of relationship quality, however. As predicted, participants rated equal-power friendships significantly higher than unequal-power friendships on all measures of quality. Power appears to be an important but largely neglected element of friendship.     

任务难度、决策培训诸因素对群体决策的影响

通过3人群体的人员选拔模拟实验。考察了任务难度、群体结构和决策培训三个变量对群体决策信息取样的影响。结果显示：(1)部分证明了Stasser的信息取样模型,分享信息具有讨论的优势,同时偏好是影响群体决策的中介因素,但是,该模型只适合于任务难度较大的情况;(2)设立具有信息管理作用的领导者这种群体结构在信息取样中没有表现出主效应,它只是通过与决策培训和任务难度一起对信息取样产生影响;(3)策略计划和信息警戒性的决策培训对信息取样有影响,一定程度上提高了非分享信息的讨论比例,然而这种影响仅发生在任务难度小或适中的情况下。决策培训对信息取样的影响发生在讨论的开始部分,并影响了讨论前的个体偏好;(4)群体结构和决策培训具有交互作用,从而影响了群体讨论的信息取样,群体结构和决策培训都受到任务难度的影响。     

年龄、作业难度和训练对成人记忆的影响

采用“联想学习”、“图象自由回忆”和“附加联想”三项目,对９０例成人（分为青年、老年和老老年组各３０例）进行记忆测查和训练,目的为探讨年龄,作业难度和训练对记忆的影响。结果表明：青年组记忆成绩明显高于老年和老老年组,后两组无显著差异;无关联想的年龄差异大于有关联想,作业难度扩大了年龄差异;各年龄组训练后记忆得到明显改善,并且训练扩大了年龄和作业易难的差异。由此可见,记忆受年龄、作业难度和训练三因素的相互作用,也再次证实了老年认知功能具有一定的可塑性。     

THE ECOLOGY OF SPELLING: A LENS MODEL ANALYSIS OF SPELLING ERRORS AND STUDENT JUDGMENTS OF SPELLING DIFFICULTY

Abstract

Students who were identified by their teachers as poor spellers were asked to judge the difficulty they would have in spelling each of 100 words that were representative of the sorts of words they tended to misspell in their various subject areas (the spelling ecology). After making difficulty judgments, the students were then asked to spell each word on the list. Spelling errors were scored as either phonetic or nonphonetic. The researchers rated each of the 100 words on ten characteristics: number of letters, syllables, letters per syllable, double and silent letters; schwa, ambiguous, and unusual sounds; and two measures of familiarity to the student. This task was replicated after a four‐week period to check for spelling and judgment consistency. Spelling errors and judgments of spelling difficulty were analyzed using the double system Lens Model using the ten word characteristics as “cues” in the analysis. Results showed only moderate agreement between difficulty judgments and spelling errors, and fairly consistent differences between those word characteristics that were predictive of perceived spelling difficulty and those predictive of phonetic and nonphonetic errors. Several different patterns of cue weights were noted for spelling errors whereas spelling difficulty judgments were primarily based upon word familiarity. Implications are drawn for the further investigation of spelling errors and of how students decide what constitutes a “hard” word to spell and for the potential improvement of the spelling judgment process using cognitive feedback from the Lens Model.

The characterization of spelling as a cognitive activity has received increasing attention in the educational research literature. For example, two recent issues of Reading Psychology (Numbers 2 and 3, 1989) were entirely devoted to research on spelling. Much of this work has focused on spelling strategies (e.g., Anderson, 1985, Kreiner & Gough, 1990, and Olson, Logan, & Lindsey, 1989), spelling problems and types of errors (e.g., see Frith, 1980, and Weber & Henderson, 1989), and the relationship between spelling and reading (e.g., Templeton, 1989, and Zutell & Rasinski, 1989). However, there has been very little research on the issues of the criteria individuals use in deciding that a particular word is difficult or easy to spell, and the accuracy and effects of such a decision. We refer here to the more metacognitive aspects of the task ecology of spelling, and the effects of which may be shown in decisions to avoid or at least minimize the cognitive efforts expended in spelling a perceived “hard” word.

The issue of judging spelling difficulty forms the focus of the present study. Here we attempt to document those features of a word that make students think it would be hard or easy to spell. We then relate this judgment process to errors made when students attempt to spell words. Finally, we compare the relative importance of various features of words as predictors of both difficulty judgments and actual spelling errors.