A PDP-11/45 program for playing n-person characteristic function games

NPER II is an on-line PDP-11/45 computer program for studying bargaining and coalition formation processes within the framework of n-person games in characteristic function form. The extensive vocabulary of the program and its mode of operation are presented nontechnically, followed by an examination of a protocol from a sample four-person game. Improvements over a previous version of the program and applications to other experimental paradigms investigating coalition formation and bargaining are discussed in the last two sections of the paper.     

Life goals and plan determinants reported by black and white high school seniors

Black secondary school seniors were compared with their white peers on motivational patterns in posthigh school plans and life goals. Subjects, all members of the 1970 graduating class in a small urban high school, included 34 black males, 32 black females, 119 white males and 157 white females. The investigation replicated a pilot study of the 1969 class. Variables included eight reported determinants of posthigh school plans and 29 categories of the Vocational Sentence Completion Blank. Significant differences as a function of sex were more frequent than those attributable to race.     

Evidence for an integration theory of visual masking

When letters are superimposed upon a pattern of black and white squares, they are easier to identify when the pattern is regular than when it is random. If backward masking consists of the superimposition of a masking pattern upon the decaying visual trace of a target display, a regular pattern should be less effective as a backward mask than a random pattern. This was found to be so for both multiple-letter and single-letter displays. This result is predicted by an integration theory of visual masking but not by an interruption theory.     

President paragraphs

A collection of 220 paragraphs of graded value about U.S. presidents is given. The collection includes 16 paragraphs about each of nine presidents and 8 paragraphs about each of eight presidents. For each president, the paragraphs have one of four rough values for judgments of statesmanship, H, M⁺, M^-, and L. These paragraphs have proved useful in experimental applications of integration theory to attitude change. Other advantages of U.S. history as a source of issues and material for research on attitudes are also pointed out.     

The quantitative epistemological content of Bohr's Correspondence Principle

The basic dynamical quantities of classical mechanics, such as position, linear momentum, angular momentum and energy, obtain their fundamental epistomological content by means of their intimate relationship to the symmetries of the space-time manifold which is the arena of physics. The program of canonical quantization can be understood as a two stage process. The first stage is Bohr's Correspondence Principle, whereby the basic dynamical quantities of the quantum theory are required to retain precisely the same relationship to the symmetries of the space-time manifold as do their classical counterparts, thereby preserving their epistemological, as well as measurement-theoretic, significance. Having so identified the basic dynamical variables, functions of these may now be used to identify the subtler symmetries of the proper canonical group. The second and determining stage of the quantization program requires the establishment of a correspondence between some of these subtler symmetries of the classical theory and related symmetries of the quantum theory, the relationship being determined by a common algebraic form for their defining functions.Supported in part by the U.S. Air Force under Grant No. AFOSR-816-67.     

Should assessment center dimension ratings be mechanically-derived?

This study examined the relationship between consensusderived and mechanically-derived assessment center ratings using a sample of 110 police candidates. It was determined that the two sets of dimension ratings were highly correlated (medianr=.83). Further, the mechanically-derived and the consensus-derived assessment ratings both correlated with the overall assessment ratings (OAR) at .71. It was estimated that the organization in this study could save $6137.92 a year, and $36.89 per assessee by eliminating the team meeting (consensus decision-making).     

Effects of type of responding on memory/visual search: Responding just “yes” or just “no” can lead to inflexible performance

Interactions of stimulus consistency and type of responding were examined during perceptual learning. Subjects performed hybrid memory-visual search tasks over extended consistent and varied mapping practice. Response conditions required subjects to respond to both the presence and absence of a target, only when a target was present or only when a target was not present. After training, the subjects were transferred to a different response condition. The results indicate that: (1) performance on search tasks with stimuli that are variably mapped show no qualitative changes attributable to manipulation of response format; (2) improvement due to consistent mapping (CM) practice is attenuated in the no-only response condition; (3) yes-only CM training attenuates the subjects ability to transfer to no-only responding; and (4) yes/no CM training leads to the greatest improvement and transfer when compared with other responding conditions. The practice and transfer data support and extend previous research investigating effects of response set in memory/visual search and help to delineate factors that facilitate or inhibit reduction of load effects in memory and visual search.