CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS BY JAPANESE AND AMERICAN MOTHERS AND CHILDREN ABOUT PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS*

In this study we examined the possibility that causal inferences about performance may help explain the relatively superior achievement of Japanese students in mathematics. Data from mothers and children in Japan and the U.S. were examined for (a) attributions about causes of performance in math; (b) intra-family transmission of beliefs; and (c) effect of sex of child on attributions. Results showed that Japanese mothers and children emphasized effort, particularly for low performance, while American mothers and children emphasized ability. Beliefs of mothers and children were similar within country but not within family, suggesting that transmission is diffuse. Differences in attributions about performance of boys and girls did not appear in Japan and in the U.S. appeared for mothers only. The emphasis placed on attributions to effort seems to offer a highly motivating context for Japanese students.     

Gender differences in enrollment in computer camps and classes

Informal reports suggest that computer literacy (computer awareness and programming skills) is sought more often by boys than girls. In order to gather more systematic data on this possibility, questionnaires were sent in the summer of 1982 to directors of summer camps and classes that offered training in programming for microcomputers. Twenty-three directors of summer programs, serving a total of 5,533 students, provided data on enrollment, type of sponsorship of programs (private, public schools, universities), level of difficulty of programming classes, cost, and residential versus day use. Three times as many boys as girls were enrolled in the total sample. The ratio of males to females increased with grade, cost of program, and level of difficulty of course offerings. Possible explanations for differences in enrollment are discussed.     

A demonstration of a token economy for the real world

Token economies are rarely used in real-world psychiatric settings because of barriers to their implementation, such an institutional constraints and insufficient collegial support. The line-level treatment team at Elgin Mental Health Center was able to overcome these contraints and develop a user-friendly token economy. This article describes Elgin's simple yet effective token economy and the process used to develop it.     

Attitudes in four age groups toward sex role division in adult occupations and activities

Kindergarten, eighth grade, college, and adult subjects were presented with a list of 43 adult occupations. They indicated for each whether it should be performed by a male, female, or either. Liberality, defined in terms of the number of “either” responses, increased markedly from kindergarten to eighth grade through college and then showed a moderate decrease in the adult sample. In each age group except kindergarten there was a significant sex difference with females being more liberal. Analysis of individual roles showed that both sexes were willing to let women into prestige occupations but females were more willing than males to have household and child-caring tasks performed by both sexes.     

MATERNAL EXPECTATIONS FOR MASTERY OF DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS IN JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES*

Maternal expectations about development help organize parental behavior by providing internal referents against which a child's growth and behavior are evaluated, thus identifying occasions for intervention by the adult. Fifty-eight mothers from Japan and 67 mothers from the United States were interviewed about the ages at which they expected their four-year-old children to acquire a number of specific developmental skills. There were no differences between the two groups of mothers in mean age of mastery expectation across all 38 items but Japanese mothers expected early mastery on skills that indicated emotional maturity, self-control, and social courtesy. Mothers in the U.S. expected mastery at an earlier age on items indicating verbal assertiveness and social skills with peers. Maternal expectations were found to correlate with children's performance on tests of school aptitude when the children were six years of age.     

Testwiseness: some evidence for the effect of personality testing on subsequent test results

The assumption is presented of the test-taker as a hypothesis-generating organism who can become "testwise." Testwiseness is defined as a stable skill, acquired by test-taking experiences, by which an individual can make test responses conform to a desired response pattern. Forty-three college students completed two forms of The Personality Research Form (PRF) and a rank ordering of their predicted personality need pattern. Results show significantly higher correlations of PRF predictions in the second administration. Analyses show PRF profiles, not predictions, to have been modified. Furthermore, high testwise subjects had higher needs for Understanding and Nurturance, and lower needs for Aggression and Defendence than low testwise persons. The importance of considering testwiseness, given trends in society encouraging access to psychological records, is discussed.     

Learning-disordered children's evoked potentials during sustained attention

Evoked potentials and performance of 19 learning-disordered (LD) and 19 normally achieving children were studied in two versions of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT). In both CPT procedures, LD children made more errors of omission and commission than did normal children. Evoked potential differences between groups were especially prominent in the more difficult BX version of the CPT. LD children displayed significantly smaller late positive components (LPC) of the evoked potential to critical stimuli in the task. There were no LPC differences between diagnostic groups for noncritical stimulus categories. The results suggest a deficit in behavioral and cortical indices of sustained attention among LD children.This research is based on a doctoral dissertation in psychology submitted by the first author (Dainer, 1980) and supervised by the second author. The research was partly supported by NIMH Grant MH 32103 and New York State Health Research Council Contract 1396 to the second author. We are grateful to the Strong Memorial Hospital Learning Disorders Clinic; B.O.C.E.S. School #1, Fairport, New York; Rochester Learning Disabilities Association; and Winifred Stebbins for referring learning-disordered children, and to the Rochester Central YMCA for referring normally achieving children. The University of Rochester College of Arts and Science provided partial support for computer funds. For their assistance, we are grateful to Lance Bauer, John Chapman, Michael Davidson, Dale McAdam, James Metz, and Lawrence Ota.     

The cues decoders use in attempting to differentiate emotion-elicited and posed facial expressions

Dynamic facial expressions, either posed or elicited by afectively evocative materials, were objectively scored to determine the movement cues and temporal parameters associated with the two types of expression. Subjects viewed these expressive episodes and rated each of them on a number of scales intended to assess perceived spontaneousness and deliberateness. Subsequent to viewing all stimuli, subjects reported the specfic cues that they felt they had used to discriminate spontaneous from deliberate expressions. The results reveal that (a) subjects were able to accurately report the cues they employed in the rating task and that (b) these cues were not always valid discriminators of posed and spontaneous expressions. Subjects were in fact relatively poor at identifying expressions of the two types and this low discrimination accuracy was found to be a function of the consistent use of these invalid cues. A measure of the level of perceived honest demeanour of the stimulus persons based on their neutral expressions was found to relate to perceivers accuracy in discriminating posed and spontaneous expressions.