An item and radial parcel factor analysis of the 16PF questionnaire

An extensive series of analyses were carried out on a sample of data from 491 undergraduate university students who completed Form A of Cattell's 16PF questionnaire. The data was item analysed, factored using both principal component and image analyses, and radial parcelled. However, even though five different factor solutions were rotated to a maximum simple structure, the 16 factors did not emerge as expected. Radial parcelling also yielded equivocal results. Using only psychometric criteria to guide the analysis, three new factor scales were generated that satisfied the test of high factor validity and high coefficient alpha simultaneously for each scale. The overall solution yielded seven factored scales. Additionally, results were reported of a scale factoring of the 16 scales yielding a replicable 4-factor solution. An alternative 7-factor solution was not replicable among subsamples taken from the total data set.     

Sex differences in self-confidence: The influence of comparison to others' ability level

Previous investigators have suggested that women display lower self-confidence than men in almost all achievement settings. The validity of this suggestion is assessed in an experiment testing the impact of comparison to others upon sex differences. Male and female undergraduates, who expected to cooperate in the future with a same-sex partner of high, average, or low ability, selected a difficulty level for an achievement test, completed the test, evaluated their own performance, and estimated their future partner's probable performance. As predicted, only when subjects' future partner was highly competent did women select an easier test than men, perform less well, and compare themselves less favorably to their partner. Also, women's, but not men's, self-evaluations depended upon their partner's ability level. It is concluded that sex differences are moderated by social comparison variables. Cognitive processes that may underlie such differences are discussed.The authors wish to express their appreciation to Phoebe Ellsworth for her critical comments on this research, and to Pamela Joy, Tama Jacobson, and Thomas Hallet for serving as experimenters. Portions of this study were reported at the Eastern Psychological Association Convention, 1978.     

Effects of chlordiazepoxide and d-amphetamine on responding suppressed by conditioned punishment

Key pecking by two pigeons, maintained under a variable-interval two-minute schedule of food presentation, was suppressed when each response produced a five-second visual stimulus that was occasionally paired with shock. Stimulus-shock pairings occurred independently of responding according to a variable-time six-minute schedule for one bird or once per session for the other bird. The effects of chlordiazepoxide and d-amphetamine were assessed on this baseline of behavior suppressed by conditioned punishment. Chlordiazepoxide produced dose-related increases in the rate of punished responding, whereas d-amphetamine produced only decreases. In addition, chlordiazepoxide produced dose-related increases in response rate during the response-produced and response-independent stimulus presentations; d-amphetamine, however, only decreased responding during stimulus presentations.     

Visually based amendments of aiming movements: a reappraisal of Christina (1970).

The present paper examines the processing of visual information during the initial and corrective phases of an aimed movement. Visual processing in the corrective phase is related to the nature of the error in the initial phase. By producing a deliberate error, the system knows the approximate amplitude and direction in advance, allowing for the preprogramming of the corrective response. The final response, however, awaits visual confirmation with a processing time on the order of 130 msec. This strategy is feasible only if the variability in the initial response is constrained, which is the role of an additional very rapid feedback loop (70 to 100 msec.).     

Strategies to motivate helpless and mastery-oriented children: The effect of gender-based expectancies

Five studies examined potential determinants of gender differences in helplessness by investigating two major steps in the expectancy confirmation process. The first step, i.e., an examination of gender-based expectancies, was addressed in three studies in which subjects (parents and college students) read vignettes that included either masculine or feminine sex-linked tasks performed by helpless and mastery-oriented children. We hypothesized that across tasks subjects would consider a “helpless” approach toward achievement as stereotypic of girls and “mastery-oriented” behavior as stereotypic of boys. The next step of the expectancy confirmation process, and central question addressed here, centered on the proposed differential treatment prescribed for children who performed inadequately on an academic activity, depending on whether these children's behaviors were consistent or inconsistent with stereotypic expectations. The pattern of data obtained generally supported hypotheses that (1) under conditions in which children's behavior confirmed expectancies, i.e., girls acting helpless and boys showing mastery-oriented behaviors, supportive responses would be prescribed, whereas (2) when children's behavior violated expectancies, i.e., girls acting in a mastery-oriented manner and boys acting in a helpless manner, more controlling techniques would be used. These findings are discussed in terms of consequences of use of these different strategies to remedy helpless behaviors in children.     

Overt activity during conditioned suppression: a search for punishment artifacts

Pigeons, previously trained to peck a key (using food as the reinforcer), were permitted unlimited access to food and, concurrently, key pecking was allowed to go unreinforced until all pecking ceased. A tone ending with electrical shock was then repeatedly presented in an effort to establish the tone as a potentially suppressing stimulus. When key pecking was later reestablished, tone presentation (without shock) sharply reduced the rate of pecks. At selected points throughout the experiment, special observation procedures supplemented the recordings of key pecks and provided detailed fine-grain protocols of the birds' overt movements during the periods before, during, and after tone presentations. Results indicated that neither punishment of key pecks nor punishment of other overt movements was a necessary precursor to the conditioned suppression observed in the final stage. As such, the findings support interpretations of conditioned suppression that characterize the phenomenon as reflecting a conditioned emotional reaction that either directly or indirectly inhibits overt activity.