The Composite-Stimulus Analysis and the Quantal Nature of Stimulus Control: Response and Incentive Factors

The Psychological Record -     

Concurrent validity of the Gardner Test of Visual-Motor Skills

Scores on the Test of Visual-motor Skills, Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration, and Bender-Gestalt test were compared for a sample of 44 elementary school children referred for evaluation of learning disorders. While the tests shared common variance, the mean standard score on the Test of Visual-motor Skills was significantly lower than the means of the other two tests, suggesting caution in the clinical use of the new scale.     

Principal components analyses of behavior problems in Jamaican clinic-referred children: Teacher reports for ages 6–17

Factor analyses of child behavior problems have often yielded two broadband syndromes, Overcontrolled (e.g., worrying, fearfulness, withdrawal) and Undercontrolled (e.g., restlessness, fighting, disobedience). We explored whether these two broad-band syndromes might be identified for youngsters in Jamaica. We obtained teacher reports for 320 clinic-referred Jamaican youngsters on a 24-item problem checklist designed by Jamaican clinicians for the assessment of child behavior problems and subjected these to principal components analyses. Regardless of whether the sample was split according to age or sex, the analyses revealed factors similar to the Over- and Undercontrolled syndromes most often found in other cultures. The analyses also revealed school absence factors in each age and sex group; school avoidance was correlated with crying in children (aged 6–11) but with conduct problems in adolescents (aged 12–17). The findings suggest important similarities and possible differences between the factor structures of child behavior problems in Jamaica and the United States.This study was supported through grants from the University Research Council of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, which we gratefully acknowledge. We thank Frank Knight, Patricia Smykle, Mary Desouza, Larry Galpert, Kathay Overly, and Bernadette Walter for this assistance with data gathering and data reduction.     

Parents' attributions for achieving compliance from attention-deficit-disordered children

Ninety-one parents provided reasons for the compliance and noncompliance of either their attention-deficit-disordered, hyperactive (ADDH) or non-ADDH child in six different situations. These attributions were rated on Weiner's (1979) dimensions of locus, stability, and controllability. While parents used the same categories to explain the reasons for their children's complaince behavior, they used different dimensional ratings for these explanations. Mothers rated attributions for noncompliance as more external than did fathers. Mothers of ADDH children viewed the causes of their children's behavior to be more unstable than did mothers of control children. Also, ADDH parents had lower expectations of achieving future compliance from their child than did non- ADDH parents. Results were discussed in terms of parental experiences, the need to consider an idiosyncratic approach to attributional meaning, and treatment implications.     

Is recognition accuracy really impaired when the target is repeated in the display?

Bjork and Murray (1977) have presented a feature-specific interactive channels model that predicts perceptual interference between letters presented simultaneously in visual displays. Maximum interference is predicted when a target letter is presented with an identical letter. In their experiment, Bjork and Murray found support for their model, but their results could have occurred artifactually from response biases of their subjects. Santee and Egeth (1980) used a different paradigm that eliminated the possibility of this particular response bias and reported that their data supported the feature-specific model. However, the present paper shows that analysis of their data by Santee and Egeth was incomplete and the comparisons inappropriate. In two experiments that used the Santee and Egeth paradigm, we failed to find support for the feature-specific model when more detailed analyses of the data were undertaken. In a third experiment, one that used the Bjork and Murray paradigm, but with control of response bias, no significant or suggestive evidence was found that feature similarity between noise and target letters affected recognition of the latter.     

Differential thermometer for studying cerebral asymmetry

A device for measuring differences in temperature between the two sides of the head is described. The unit can be used for studying individual differences in cerebral asymmetry.     

An investigation of the normative and factor analytic composition of six questionnaires used for subject selection

Six self-report instruments which have been widely used for subject screening were administered to large samples of males and female college students. Normative information and bivariate correlations between scales were derived. Principal components analysis was applied to the individual scales to determine substructures. Finally, factor scores from the scales were examined in terms of second-order factors from an additional principal components analysis. The results are discussed in terms of comparisons with the results of previously published reports and implications for the discriminant validity of the scales and factor scores. The use of factor scores for more homogeneous subject selection is suggested.We wish to thank Arnold Holzman, Cynthia Volinsky, Ellen Tuckner, and Patricia Tolchin for their assistance in administering the questionnaires. Appreciation is also extended to Paul Malloy for his aid and suggestions concerning data analysis and to an anonymous reviewer for insightful comments which improved the quality of the final report. This study was conducted while the first author was at the State University of New York at Binghamton.     

Organizational school psychology: Issues and considerations

School psychologists have been encouraged to become actively involved in facilitating organizational change in public schools. Activities such as organization development, administrative-centered consultation, training of multidisciplinary teams, program planning, and program evaluation have been considered as important aspects of school psychology. However, when the practice of school psychology at the organizational level of public schools is considered as a distinct area, a range of conceptual and practical issues become apparent: (a) What is the nature and scope of organizational-level practice of school psychology? (b) Under what conditions may this kind of professional effort be useful, to whom, in what ways? (c) What are the knowledge and skills necessary for effective organizational-level practice? These issues are addressed in this article through delineation of the emerging area of “organizational school psychology (OSP),” an approach to school psychology practice which complements more established approaches that focus directly on the individual child or on groups of children.