Intentional explanations and radical theories of education

In this paper I argue that Marxist studies of schools have overlooked the power of intentional explanations to explain schooling practices and policies. This oversight is at least in part due to many radical analyses failing to distinguish between explaining the acquisition and persistence of beliefs and determining the social consequences that follow from acting on beliefs. I further contend that radical researchers examining schooling practices must develop a more rigorous and refined conception of capitalist class interests.     

Informant impressions of retardate personality: reliability with extraversion, emotionality, toughmindedness

To assess extraversion, emotionality and toughmindedness among retarded persons with limited linguistic skills the 18-item Personal Reactions and Habits Questionnaire (PRHQ) was created. The responses of 2 interviewed informants, each well acquainted with a target person, are summed to obtain scores for each of the personality factors identified by Eysenck and Eysenck (1975). To establish the reliability of this procedure 4 interviewers inquired of 35 informants about a total of 54 target Ss of a wide range of mental retardation and living variously in the natural home, a group home or in a large state-operated institution. One-week test-retest reliability coefficients, e.g. r=0.93 for Extraversion, r=0.86 for Emotionality and r=0.92 for Toughmindedness, suggest the PRHQ to be a promising instrument for research on personality of Ss unable to provide self-reports. The possible use of the PRHQ to assess concordance of self-reports with personality impressions of others is also discussed.     

Therapeutic rationale,monetary incentive and fear behavior: a methodological note on analogue research

Analogue research has been questioned as a means of evaluating clinical procedures (e.g. Cooper, Furst and Bridger, 1969). A major criticism has been the failure to include adequate controls. Placebo conditions have varied markedly in their similarity to active treatment procedures (Caputo, Nau and Borkovec, 1973), have not provided equally credible therapeutic rationales (Borkovec and Nau, 1972), and have thus generated differing expectancies and demands for improvement.To evaluate a therapy procedure, a comparison condition is needed in which no treatment intervenes between pre- and post-test measures, yet which provides adequate incentive for improvement. Rimm and Mahoney (1969) used a ‘contingent reinforcement’ placebo condition in which tokens, exchangeable for money, were dispensed for improvement in a graded approach to a feared stimulus. Little improvement occurred, suggesting a lack of effectiveness of money alone in improving approach behavior. However, as no therapeutic rationale was presented, it is likely that little expectancy for improvement occurred.The present study provided a ‘no treatment’ condition in which Ss participated in three test sessions with no intervening treatment procedure. Unlike Rimm and Mahoney (1969), two conditions provided a rationale explaining why Ss had maintained their fear and why no real therapy was needed to eliminate it. Also, monetary reward (a $5.00 bill rather than tokens) was dispensed only upon picking up the feared object. A follow-up session assessed the lasting effects of rationale and monetary incentive in the absence of extrinsic reinforcement. Thus, the present study attempted to determine the effect of therapeutic rationale and/or the possibility of receiving money, in the absence of ‘therapy’, on subclinical fear.     

Primary prevention of behavior problems in mexican-american children

A primary prevention program, the Houston Parent-Child Development Center, directed towards infants and their parents, has effectively reduced the frequency of behavior problems for these children 5 to 8 years after the program's completion. Teacher ratings showed significantly fewer acting-out, aggressive behaviors for program children. Ratings of classroom behaviors found program children significantly less hostile and more considerate than control boys. This appears to be the first primary prevention program to have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing behavior problems over such a long time.     

Effect of task on mother-child interaction results

The influence of task on behavior in mother-child interaction was studied. Five tasks varying in degree of structure and difficulty were used in mothers' interactions with their children at 24 and 36 months of age. Child competence was assessed through several tests. Families that had participated in an extensive parent-education program were compared with randomly assigned controls. Interactions were videotaped and rated on scales. Results indicated that there were no task differences in ability to discriminate groups and tasks seldom were found to be differentially related to child competence. Task stability over time yielded some differences.This paper was presented at the American Educational Research Association meeting in Boston, April 1980. The preparation of this article and the research reported in it were supported by the Hogg Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and Office of Child Development Grant 90-C-379.     

The masking of octave-band noise by broad-spectrum noise: A comparison of infant and adult thresholds

Localization responses to a 4,000-Hz octave-band noise in a background of broad-spectrum noise were obtained from infants, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of age, and adults. A two-alternative, forced-choice procedure was used to determine thresholds at each of two levels of masking noise, 42 and 60 dBC. Adults were also tested for their localization of pure tones in noise and their detection of octave-band noises with the more traditional two-interval, forced-choice task. Increasing the masking noise from 42 to 60 dBC resulted in comparable threshold shifts for all age groups. However, infant thresholds were 16–25 dB higher than those obtained for adults. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

An application of Strong's validity criteria to basic interest scales

E. K. Strong, Jr.'s (Vocational interests of men and women, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 1943) four propositions for interest-inventory validity andJ. L. Holland's (Making vocational choices: A theory of careers, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973) hexagonal classification system were synthesized in order to adapt a traditional procedure for determining the construct validity of occupational interest scales to the validation of basic interest scales. The procedure was tested using a sample of 4035 males and 3671 females whose interest inventory results as high school students and whose majors as college seniors could be assigned Holland codes. Results of the study indicate that this procedure can be used to assess the construct validity of inventories using basic interest scales.     

Evidence of acoustic coding in long-term memory

Contrary to previous indications, retroactive interference in long-term paired associate learning was found to be a function of acoustic similarity. Experimental groups were exposed to the A-B, A'-C paradigm where corresponding stimuli were homophones. Their retention scores were substantially and significantly lower than control groups run with an A-B, C-D paradigm. The failure of previous studies to reveal effects of acoustic similarity in this way is attributed to the use of an insufficiently high degree of similarity.