Long-term predictive validity of the WPPSI: An 11-year follow-up study

As part of a longitudinal study, a control group of 85 children were tested on the WPPSI at 5$\text{1}\text{2}$ years and the WISC-R at 16$\text{1}\text{2}$ years. Educational attainment was also assessed in adolescence. Data are presented illustrating the long-term predictive validity of the WPPSI. The Full Scale IQs on the two tests intercorrelated +0.86.     

The prediction of delinquency: a correlation between a measure of personality and classroom behaviour

In a study of (N = 120) children exhibiting classroom behaviour problems, a significant correlation was found between the ‘criminal propensity’ (‘C’ score) of a self-report questionnaire and the ‘delinquency predictor’ (‘DP’ score) of a teacher-administered questionnaire. Since the delinquency predictor score has previously been found to be a reliable predictor of later delinquency, the criminal propensity score appears to be worthy of further study.     

Response-contingent stimulation as a treatment for developmental failure in infancy

An 8-month-old infant with a developmental quotient of $\text{1}\text{1}\text{2}$ months was given response-contingent stimulation using a pressure-sensitive pillow which turned an overhead mobile. The subject learned to control the mobile by kicking the pillow, and concurrently began smiling at both the mobile and her mother for the first time. After mastering three contingencies on arm, head, and leg movement, she displayed what appeared to be a Piagetian coordinated secondary circular reaction, in which one response provided 4 seconds of access to another contingency. Although the subject remains severely retarded, the results suggest that some forms of developmental delay may be treated at least in part as a failure to develop contingency awareness.     

Properties of the diffuse thalamocortical system, human intelligence and differentiated vs integrated modes of learning

In complementary reports Robinson (1982a, b) describes how the transmission characteristics or time constants of thalamic and cortical neuron populations of the diffuse thalamocortical system (DTS) can be evaluated in human subjects. Equating these constants with the Pavlovian property of ‘strength’ it was predicted that they should relate to Extraversion and Neuroticism scores on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). This prediction was confirmed and the results provide direct support for the theories of Pavlov and Eysenck. The present report describes additional results which confirm predictions relating the DTS constants to performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and on the Embedded Figures Test (EFT). An important finding was that a measure of deviation from intermediate and ‘balanced’ values of the DTS constants loads to the extent of -0.80 on the WAIS ‘memory’ or ‘attention/ concentration’ factor. More generally, the results provide further support for Pavlov's conception of brain-behaviour relationships and suggest that the DTS plays a fundamental role in determining a broad spectrum of human psychological differences including some associated with the concepts of intelligence and cognitive style. These IQ and cognitive style differences are explained as the immediate and longer-term consequences, respectively, of differences in the distribution of background cortical activity mediated by the DTS.     

Behaviors associated with “good” and “poor” outcomes in a simulated career decision

What career decision-making procedures enable people to make decisions that yield consequences congruent with their own values? The 40 “best” (most congruent) and 40 “worst” decision makers on the Career Decision Simulation were compared in a sample of 148 community college students. No significant differences appeared in the amount of double checking, number of occupations and information sources checked, amount of information collected, decision time required, and the proportion of information sought about high values. The “best” decision makers, however, were significantly more persistent in immediately seeking more information about an occupation that seemed to match one of their most important personal work values. Following a values-guided search appears more effective than simply searching exhaustively.     

Facilitation and helplessness: The interaction of perceived difficulty and importance of a task

Experimentally induced failure sometimes produces helplessness and sometimes facilitation on subsequent tasks. A model which accounts for this in terms of variations in perceived task difficulty and importance and variations in the cost of effort is proposed. Predictions from the model were confirmed in two experiments using the finger shuttlebox. When subjects expected the test task to be easy, importance of test outcome did not affect performance. However, when they expected the test task to be difficult, low outcome importance led to debilitation, and high importance to facilitation. If, in this condition, subjects experienced initial failure on the task perceived as difficult and important, helplessness rather than facilitation was observed. The model proposed may account for some of the conflicting results obtained in laboratory studies of human helplessness.     

The rapid-smoking technique: Subject characteristics and treatment outcome

There is a lack of consistency in findings regarding subject (S) characteristics and the effects of smoking-control programmes. Research workers appear to assume that abstinence and reduction in smoking rate are merely different points in the same continuum, and therefore seek to correlate S variables with percentage reductions in smoking rate. It is argued that abstinence and reduced smoking are more appropriately viewed as potentially discrete outcomes. Conceptualizing outcome in this manner, a discriminant function analysis was employed to determine whether it is possible to differentiate between Ss who do, or do not, abstain following participation in a treatment programme involving rapid-smoking. It was found that it is possible to discriminate between the two groups of Ss. Advantages deriving from this approach to the investigation of S characteristics and treatment outcome are discussed.     

A MODEL FOR THE USE OF ATTITUDE SCALES ACROSS CULTURES

To minimize the verbal content of the attitude measurement situation with Papua New Guinea students, a set of pictorial items was selected for use in the place of verbal items. Initially, 150 pictures related to concepts in the Wilson-Patterson Attitude Inventory (WPAI) were described by a group of 50 students. Seventy of these items, those which were described in a consistent way, were presented to 227 students along with a Papua New Guinea version of the WPAI. A final set of 25 pictures was selected on the basis of their discriminative power, internal consistency, and their content validity. Reliability and validity measures and the rotated factor structure of the 25 item pictorial scale were consistent with the WPAI.