CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN IN TRADITIONAL AND NON-TRADITIONAL MANAGERIAL ROLES

This study investigated characteristics which distinguish women who choose traditional as opposed to non-traditional careers and who function at differing occupational levels. 156 nurses represented the traditional sample, and 147 women in business and industrial positions in which 20% or fewer of the job incumbents were female comprised the non-traditional career group. The women were matched according to age and education across three occupational levels. It was determined that women as a group in non-traditional business roles as compared to the traditionals were more achieving, emphasized production more, saw themsleves as having characteristics more like managers and men, and saw no self-characteristics which conflicted with those ascribed to male managers. The business women considered the domestic role as less important, had fewer children, and fewer children living at home, than did the nurses. The two groups did not differ in their attitude toward the importance of their careers, their perceptions of their husband's attitudes, nor in the education level of their spouse and parents. These findings lead to the conclusion that leadership attributes and behavior of women do vary between organizational settings and across occupational levels in predictable ways.     

MENTAL ASSOCIATION: TESTING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES BEFORE BINET

This paper challenges the historiographical discontinuity established between earlier “anthropometric testing” and the arrival of “psychological testing” with Binet and Simon's intelligence test in 1905. After some conceptual clarifications, it deals with “word association”: a kind of psychological experimentation and testing which became popular over the last two decades of the 19th century. First Galton's exploration are presented, followed by experiments performed at the Leipzig laboratory by Trautscholdt, and then Cattell and Bryant's collective testing. Additionally, I document the use of this method for the study of mental difference through the works of Münsterberg, Bourdon, Jastrow, Nevers and Calkins. The cases I present show how the method gave rise to various measurements and classifications. I conclude that the word association technique triggered reflection on mental “uniqueness”, gender traits and the influence of education, among other topics. Moreover, it prepared the terrain and anticipated some basic attractions and problems intelligence testing would later encounter.     

Problem Variables that Promote Incubation Effects

Three studies sought to determine whether incubation effects could be reliably generated in a problem‐solving task. Experimental variables manipulated were the duration of the interval between two problem‐solving opportunities and the activity performed by the problem solvers during the interval. A multi‐solution anagram task was used which required problem solvers to generate five‐letter words from the letters in a ten‐letter “starter” word until they could produce no more words. After a break (the incubation period) the problem solvers returned to the anagram task anew. Some participants also engaged in an activity related to the anagram task during the break which was expected to prime potential solutions that would emerge during the second problem‐solving attempt. In all conditions problem solvers were able to generate new responses after the break, thus demonstrating a reliable incubation effect. The optimal incubation period was between 15 and 30 min long. The priming task increased the number of solutions to the anagram task on the second attempt, suggesting that exposure to solution ideas during the incubation period may facilitate an incubation effect during problem solving.