Methodological challenges in union commitment studies

Methodological problems in studies of union commitment were identified and illustrated with data from 4,641 members and 479 stewards in 297 local teachers' unions. Using a 20-item union commitment scale, results confirmed the existence of 3 substantive factors and 1 method factor at the individual level of analysis: loyalty to the union, responsibility to the union, willingness to work for the union, and a factor of negatively worded items. Tests of measurement invariance showed that the scale captured commitment for rank-and-file members but not for union stewards. The authors also found partial measurement invariance between long-time and newer members and full measurement invariance between men and women. Finally, the authors found that violation of the statistical assumption of independence reduced model fit when individual commitment scores were analyzed without attention to the hierarchical nature of the data.     

Color term knowledge does not affect categorical perception of color in toddlers

Categorical perception of color is shown when colors from the same category are discriminated less easily than equivalently spaced colors that cross a category boundary. The current experiments tested various models of categorical perception. Experiment 1 tested for categorical responding in 2- to 4-year-olds, the age range for the onset establishment of color term knowledge. Experiment 2 tested for categorical responding in Himba toddlers, whose language segments the color space differently from the way in which the English language does so. Experiment 3 manipulated the conditions of the task to explore whether the categorical responding in Experiments 1 and 2 was equivalent to categorical perception. Categorical perception was shown irrespective of naming and was not stronger in those children with more developed color term knowledge. Cross-cultural differences in the extent of categorical perception were not found. These findings support universalistic models of color categorization and suggest that color term knowledge does not modify categorical perception, at least during the early stages of childhood.     

Emotional Responses to APO E Genotype Disclosure for Alzheimer Disease

The purpose of our study is to assess the emotional responses to disclosing APO E genotype to asymptomatic older adults at increased risk for Alzheimer disease (AD). This is a longitudinal cohort study of volunteer subjects who were aged 50 years or over, asymptomatic for (AD), had a family history of AD, passed a psychological assessment, and participated in pre- and post-test genetic counseling and three follow-up visits over 10 months. We analyzed responses by three emotional constructs: depressed, worried, and relieved. Three hundred and twenty-eight subjects were screened, 76 received their APO E genotype. When emotional responses occurred it was immediate, between baseline and the 1 month follow-up. Emotional reactions did not change significantly past 1 month. Our results suggest that for emotionally stable persons, disclosing results of their APO E genotype, high risk subjects did not report more depression or worry and low risk subjects felt relieved by knowing the results. Future studies should evaluate the risks of disclosure to family members involved in the diagnostic work-up of a relative and include subjects from a broader range of emotional stability and socioeconomic background.     

Are People Polite to Computers? Responses to Computer-Based Interviewing Systems1

The present studies were designed to test whether people are “polite” to computers. Among people, an interviewer who directly asks about him- or herself will receive more positive and less varied responses than if the same question is posed by a third party. Two studies were designed to determine if the same phenomenon occurs in human–computer interaction. In the first study (N= 30), participants performed a task with a text-based computer and were then interviewed about the performance of that computer on 1 of 3 loci: (a) the same computer, (b) a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, or (c) a different (but identical) text-based computer. Consistent with the politeness prediction, same-computer participants evaluated the computer more positively and more homogeneously than did either paper-and-pencil or different-computer participants. Study 2 (N= 30) replicated the results with voice-based computers. Implications for computer-based interviewing are discussed.     

Pseudodiagnosticity

Subjects selected data in order to decide from which of two ‘islands’ an ‘archeological find’ had come. The results replicated two established phenomena in cognitive psychology: (1) the tendency to ignore base rate data given individuating information, and (2) the tendency to seek confirmatory evidence.The major outcome of the study was, however, to reveal a new phenomenon in information search. Subjects displayed a surprising and strong tendency to seek diagnostically worthless information. They then altered their conclusion based on that information. For example, subjects who had already obtained P(D₁/H₁) selected P(D₂/H₁) when P(D₁/H₂) was equally easily available, and when they had no relevant experience to bring to bear on the estimation of P(D₁/H₂). This phenomenon, which appears to be a wholly dysfunctional cognitive tendency, was labeled pseudodiagnosticity.     

Consequences of confirmation and disconfirmation in a simulated research environment

Advanced undergraduate science majors attempted for approximately 10h each to discover the laws governing a dynamic system. The system included 27 fixed objects, some of which influenced the direction of a moving particle. At a given time, any one screen of a nine-screen matrix could be observed on a plasma display screen. Confirmatory strategies were the rule, even though half the subjects had been carefully instructed in strong inference. Falsification was counterproductive for some subjects. It seems that a firm base of inductive generalizations, supported by confirmatory research, is a prerequisite to useful implementation of a falsification strategy.     

Measuring reaction time with millisecond accuracy using the TRS-80 microcomputer

A machine language subroutine is proposed for measuring reaction time with millisecond accuracy using the TRS-80 microcomputer. This timer is accurate to 1 msec in the first 30,000 msec and to 5 msec in the first 65,000 msec (1 part in 10,000).     

Children's perception of media-portrayed sex roles

The immediate impact on preschool and elementary school children of a televised presentation in which the traditional sex roles of physician and nurse were reversed was examined. After viewing a videotape of a male nurse and a female physician, subjects were asked to identify photographs or names of the physician and nurse. Preschool, first-, and fourth-grade children selected male names or pictures for the physician and female names or pictures for the nurse, thereby reversing genders. Their immediate recall appeared strongly influenced by their stereotypes rather than by the film they had just viewed. Seventh-grade children correctly identified the names of the physician and nurse.The authors wish to thank Dr. Edward F. Meydrech, Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Chief of the Division of Biostatistics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, for his invaluable assistance in the analysis of the data.     

Confirmation bias in a simulated research environment: An experimental study of scientific inference

Numerous authors (e.g., Popper, 1959) argue that scientists should try to falsify rather than confirm theories. However, recent empirical work (Wason and Johnson-Laird, 1972) suggests the existence of a confirmation bias, at least on abstract problems. Using a more realistic, computer controlled environment modeled after a real research setting, subjects in this study first formulated hypotheses about the laws governing events occurring in the environment. They then chose between pairs of environments in which they could: (I) make observations which would probably confirm these hypotheses, or (2) test alternative hypotheses. Strong evidence for a confirmation bias involving failure to choose environments allowing tests of alternative hypotheses was found. However, when subjects did obtain explicit falsifying information, they used this information to reject incorrect hypotheses.     

A model for group therapy with latency-age boys

This paper describes a model of group therapy with latency-age boys 9 through 12 years old. Usually parents and families are involved in family therapy while a boy is in group therapy. The model described here is appropriate for outpatient or inpatient treatment and has been used extensively by the author in a variety of settings.