Double-blind and triple-blind assessments of medication and placebo responses in hyperactive children

Hyperactive boys taking psychostimulant medication were studied using a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover design. Behavior ratings and medication guesstimates were obtained for the boys when they were given methylphenidate (Ritalin) and when they were given a placebo. The ratings showed positive medication-related changes, and the guesses, done by independent judges, were significantly better than chance. The pattern of ratings for double-blind and triple-blind raters was identical. These results imply that positive psychostimulant effects are not attributable to rater sensitization or expectancy. The medication-placebo differences were highly reliable for the group comparisons and were in the predicted direction for 21 of 22 individuals, but the magnitude of the change for many individuals was not dramatic. Implications for child psychopharmacology research and differences between clinical and experimental significance are discussed.This research program was supported by NIMH grant MH 29475. Medications and matching placebos were supplied by CIBA. The authors appreciate the assistance of Howard Adelman and the staff of Fernald School, where the program was housed. We also appreciate the devotion of the entire research staff and the technical assistance of Doris Finck, Sharon Dotemoto, Joy Stapp, and George Mount.     

Androgyny and traditional versus nontraditional major choice among college freshmen

The present study investigated the relationship of psychological androgyny to career choice among college freshmen. Women in home economics and engineering and men in engineering (N = 231) completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and rating scales of satisfaction with and certainty of college major and intended occupation. As a group, women in engineering scored in a more androgynous direction than did either men in engineering or women in home economics. Among sex-typed subjects, more women in engineering scored in a masculine sex-typed category than did women in home economics. Men and women in engineering did not differ on satisfaction and certainty ratings of major or career; however, feminine-typed women were significantly less satisfied with and tended to be less certain of their choice of major than other women in engineering.     

Dimensions of stuttering and relationship to psychopathology

This article reports two studies. The first attempted to define stable dimensions within the Stuttering Severity (SS) scale. A factor analysis of correlations among its 64 items defined four factor-based subscales, and three additional subscales were developed rationally. Relationships among these seven subscales suggested the existence of two major dimensions. The second study investigated the relationship of the seven subscales to psychopathology. Correlations were obtained among the subscales and MMPI scales for 69 subjects, and were subjected to a second factor analysis. The MMPI scales and the SS subscales clearly loaded on separate factors, indicating little relationship between dimensions of stuttering and psychopathology as defined by MMPI scores. The second analysis also supported the previous identification of two general dimensions for stuttering. Items were selected for two final scales to represent these dimensions, labeled behavior (22 items) and sensitivity (20 items). Norms were developed for them and also for the full 64-item SS scale.     

Unclogging the bogus pipeline: A critical reanalysis of the Cherry,Byrne, and Mitchell study

The assignment of subjects to conditions on the basis of social desirability scores could not have been done in the manner described by Cherry, Byrne, and Mitchell (Journal of Research in Personality, 1976, 10, 69–75). Even if subject assignment procedures were not challenged the data do not support the authors' conclusions. Additional statistical analyses were carried out to test the hypotheses of the original study. It is concluded that either the demand cue manipulation was not successful or else paper-and-pencil and bogus pipeline measurement procedures are equally reliable measurement devices for the attitude similarity effect.     

Cartoons in Counseling

Frequently human foibles are portrayed in thought-provoking ways within cartoons and comic strips. Counselors, searching for new and imaginative ways to deal with counselees, can use such caricatures as stimulus material and as a technique for facilitating self-exploration and understanding. This article outlines some possibilities for using cartoons in counseling.     

Measurement and the mental map

In order to test between subtractive and ratio theories of stimulus comparison, judges were asked to estimate “ratios” and “differences” of easterliness and westerliness of U.S. cities. “Difference” judgments fit the subtractive model, and “ratio” judgments fit the ratio model. However, “ratios” and “differences” were monotonically related, contrary to the theory that judges compute both relations on a common scale. Results are consistent with the theory that there is but one operation for both “ratios” and “differences.” To assume that the single operation is a ratio requires the complex interpretation that easterliness and westerliness are nonlinearly related. A simpler interpretation is provided by a subtractive theory, in which all four types of judgments are monotonically related to subjective differences on a single cognitive map.     

Free recall in boys of normal and poor reading levels as a function of task manipulations

Free recall of reading disabled boys, ages 9 to 11 years, was compared with that of boys showing no reading difficulty. During a baseline trial, poor readers recalled less items and tended to show less recall organization than normals. Recall and category clustering in a second trial were highest following a manipulation designed to produce semantic encoding of items and lowest when children were required to focus on items' physical features. In a condition requiring free sort prior to recall, reading disabled boys failed to organize or study as effectively as normals. Rather than lacking the ability to use semantic relations as a strategy for grouping items, the reading disabled had difficulty in spontaneously generating effective study techniques.     

Target duration effects on iconic memory: the confounding role of changing stimulus dimensions

Observers' accuracy in detecting a narrow spatial gap between two brief, luminous rectangles presented successively was determined within a two-alternative, forced-choice procedure. This successive-field task requires iconic memory, because the information (rectangle position) in the two presentations must be combined for successful gap detection. On this task, the effect of varying the duration of the first rectangle was systematically investigated over several target luminance levels and for several ISI conditions between rectangles. At the long ISI conditions (100 and 300 ms), the effects of increasing stimulus duration was to improve performance. However, at the brief ISI condition (20 ms), increasing stimulus duration initially depressed task performance. It was found that, with practice, this initial performance drop largely disappeared, and the beneficial influence of increasing target duration was again obtained. These results are discussed in terms of (a) a proposed retinal locus for the iconic memory involved and (b), at a more general level, the potentially distracting role of changing stimulus dimensions on a task employing transient stimuli as in the present study.