Knowledge of the world of work: A test of occupational information for young men

The study evaluates a test of occupational information administered to a national sample of 5000 young men, aged 14–24 in 1966, as part of the National Longitudinal Surveys of employment behavior. The predictive validity of the test score is assessed by reference to multiple regression analyses which confirm the significance of the score as an independent predictor of subsequent hourly earnings and occupational status. Correlation and factor analyses are used to examine the quality of the measurement instrument. All in all, the instrument is judged to exhibit desirable characteristics in terms of internal consistency reliability, discriminatory power, and level of difficulty. The test's reliability compares favorably with a commercially produced test designed to be used in counseling as a measure of occupational knowledge. With the possible modification of deleting a section relating to knowledge of earnings differentials, the test is commended to those involved in assessing and counseling the occupational choice process.     

Recovery of structure and function following transection of the primary olfactory nerves in pigeons.

Preliminary experimentation on ring doves to ascertain whether they might regulate any aspects of their reproductive behavior in terms of olfactory cues was vitiated by the discovery that their sectioned olfactory nerves had apparently regenerated. Concurrent work on frogs has shown that the olfactory receptors degenerate after axotomy and are replaced by new ones. This phenomenon was studied in pigeons. All transected nerves were found to be healed. Electrical recording from the regenerated nerves revealed apparently normal receptor function and, indirectly, autonomic reflex responsiveness. Previously untrained pigeons learned an olfactory discrimination after reconstitution of the peripheral olfactory system using a conditioned suppression procedure. The olfactory nerves of trained pigeons were sectioned and the behavioral response recovered within 16-82 days. The gross sizes of primary olfactory nerves and olfactory bulbs were frequently much less than those of controls, but on the ultrastructural level there was no recognizable morphological deficiency in the receptor cellular organelles or terminal synaptic contacts in bulbar glomeruli. Recent results by other workers indicate that pigeons utilize olfactory cues in homing performance.     

Multiple criteria follow-up of behavior modification with families

This report presents termination and follow-up evaluations of a parent training program based on behavior modification principles. Treatment termination outcome data were obtained for 22 families, and follow-up data were collected on 14 of these families 3 and 8 months after treatment. Results indicated a fairly high level of success at termination on the basis of parent-collected observational data, parent attitude change toward the children, and parent attitude concerning the process and outcome of treatment. Modest levels of success were evidenced on the basis of behavioral data recorded by trained observers in the home. Families who participated in follow-up demonstrated greater cooperation and involvement with the treatment program than those who did not participate. In all other respects, however, these two groups were similar. Follow-up data on parent attitude measures demonstrated maintenance of the treatment effects. Parent observational data were incomplete, but also showed maintenance in follow-up. For the subsample of 14 cases, home observation records indicated a nonsignificant decline in deviant behavior at termination followed by a nonsignificant increase in deviant behavior during follow-up. The meaning and implications of these discrepant findings were discussed and compared with results from other laboratories.     

Reduction of kindergarten children's disruptive behavior with delayed feedback and delayed contingent access to play

After measuring the amount of disruptive behavior exhibited by nine kindergarten children in a lunchroom, delayed feedback about the disruptive behaviors engaged in was given to each child after he left the lunchroom, but there were no additional differential consequences for any behaviors. This delayed feedback alone had little effect on the rates of disruptive behavior. When the delayed feedback was paired with contingent access to play, the rates of disruptive behaviors of six of the children was substantially reduced. A more elaborate form of feedback, still paired with contingent access to play, was later found to be effective in reducing the rates of disruptive behavior of the other three children. When contingencies and feedback were removed, the rates of disruptive behavior of the three children who required the extended feedback increased, but the rates of disruptive behavior for the other six children did not increase upon termination of contingencies and feedback. However, when disruptive behavior was differentially reinforced, the rates of disruptive behavior of all of the children increased.     

Emotional arousal and persuasion effects in flooding

The effects of a single session of imaginal flooding were studied in female students unable to touch a harmless spider. All combinations of continuous vs. discontinuous presentation and highly arousing vs. less arousing material were used in a factorial design, to test the hypothesis that highly arousing material is beneficial only when presented under massed conditions. Results were clearly against prediction and suggested that immediate attitude change was maximal following less arousing material, irrespective of method of presentation; while behaviour change was greatest when less arousing material was presented continuously.

In a second experiment, subjects were exposed to both types of theme material in either a low-high or a high-low order. Some evidence was found for the postulated attitude changes and contrast effects, which favoured the use of a high-low order. Possible explanations for earlier contradictory evidence, and implications for clinical treatment are discussed.     

Increasing mentally retarded adolescents' verbalizations about current events

The effects of antecedent and consequent events on the verbal behavior of three institutionalized mentally retarded adolescents were examined. Verbal statements, related to current national and international events, were recorded after exposures to television news programs. The study examined the accuracy of verbalizations as a function of: (1) exposures to television news presentations in massed (i.e., viewing the entire news program before an opportunity to describe it) versus distributed from (i.e., viewing each news item separately with each followed by an opportunity to describe it), and (2) contingent tokens and social praise for correct verbal responses (i.e., statements corresponding to news items presented). Both the temporal distribution of news presentations and the reinforcement procedures improved the accuracy of verbal statements emitted by the subjects.     

Re-evaluation of monte carlo studies in nonmetric multidimensional scaling

Critical examination is made of the recent controversy over the value of Monte Carlo techniques in nonmetric multidimensional scaling procedures. The case is presented that the major relevance of Monte Carlo studies is not for the local minima problem but for the meaningfulness of the obtained solutions.     

Procrustes matching by congruence coefficients

Matching by Procrustes methods involves the transformation of one matrix to match with another. A special least squares criterion, the congruence coefficient, has advantages as a criterion for some factor analytic interpretations. A Procrustes method maximizing the congruence coefficient is given. This solution is identical to Mosier's [1939] approximate solution, but is an exact solution for maximum congruence.     

Toward an Understanding of Family Planning Behaviors: An Initial Investigation1

Based on a theoretical model developed by Fishbein (1972), a questionnaire was administered to 73 female college students to test the hypotheses that (1) behavioral intention (BI) to use birth control pills is a function of (a) one's attitude toward the act (A-act) of using birth control pills and/or (b) one's normative beliefs weighted by one's motivation to comply with those perceived norms (ΣNB(Mc)); and (2) A-act of using birth control pills is a function of (or is highly correlated with) the sum of one's beliefs about the consequences of using birth control pills times the evaluation of those beliefs (ΣBiai). In support of the hypotheses, (1) the multiple correlation between the two components of the model and BI was significant (R= 335, p < .01); and (2) the correlation between XBiui and A-act was significant (r= .792, p < .01).