ANALYSIS OF THE INTEREST CHECK LIST FOR INDICATIONS OF BIAS

This study was done to find out if there are certain types of bias in the Interest Check List (ICL) used by employment counselors. If one analyzes the ICL in terms of modal Worker Trait Group (WTG) areas, the concern about the frequency of certain WTG areas takes on added importance. The issue is one of validity. Is it valid to say that if one responds positively to a WTG area that has only N=1 as compared to three positive responses for a WTG area that has N=12, the former is not a modal WTG? The exclusion of certain WTG areas from the ICL is discussed. A final issue is the orientation toward data-type jobs rather than people or thing jobs in the ICL.     

The teacher as observer and experimenter in the modification of disputing and talking-out behaviors

Disputing and talking-out behaviors of individual pupils and entire classroom groups in special education classes and regular classes from white middle-class areas and from all black poverty areas ranging from the first grade to junior high school were studied. The classroom teacher in each case acted as the experimenter and as an observer. Various means of recording behaviors were used and reliability of observation was checked by an outside observer, another teacher, a teacher-aide, a student, or by using a tape recorder. Observation sessions varied from 15 min to an entire school day. After baseline rates were obtained, extinction of inappropriate disputing or talking-out behaviors and reinforcement of appropriate behavior with teacher attention, praise and in some cases a desired classroom activity or a surprise at the end of the week brought a decrease in undesired verbalizations. A reversal of contingencies brought a return to high levels of inappropriate talking with a return to low levels when reinforcement for appropriate talking was reinstated. The experiments demonstrated that teachers in a variety of classroom settings could obtain reliable observational records and carry out experimental manipulations successfully using resources available in most schools.     

The role of effective lever length in the perception of lifted weights

Objects are lifted through a system of body levers and, since the force required to lift objects decreases as the effective lever length is shortened, it was hypothesized that the perceived heaviness of objects would be less when they were lifted with the elbow bent than with it extended. Cans lifted from greater initial angles were consistently judged to be lighter by blindfolded Ss.     

The human operator as a single channel information system

A further experiment is reported on reaction times to stimuli separated by short intervals. On this occasion an auditory stimulus was followed by a visual stimulus. Results indicate that the pattern of delays at short intervals is the same as the pattern of delays when the stimuli are presented in one modality only. This suggests a model of the human operator functioning as a single channel through which information from both sense modalities has to pass before appropriate responses are organized. An attempt is also made to reconcile data with the known facts about the peripheral and central components of reaction time and the possibility that delays are the result of occupation of the channel for a central time plus a central refractory time is suggested.     

Entering Prostitution in Adolescence: History of Youth Homelessness Predicts Earlier Entry

The effect of youth homelessness on age of entry into prostitution was tested, controlling for other known covariates using a multivariate model. Women (N = 96) who self-identified as having engaged in prostitution completed cross-sectional standardized questionnaires (M_age = 42.6, SD = 9.18; 62% African American). Women with a history of youth homelessness entered prostitution nearly 8 years earlier than their peers without this history (at 18 vs. 25 years old). Lack of a high school degree or equivalent also predicted an earlier age of entry (at 20 vs. 28 years old). Findings highlight the poverty dynamics that underlie the relationship between early entry into prostitution and homelessness. Young women, living on the street or in shelters, with limited education and employment opportunities, are at high risk of entering prostitution when they are barely out of adolescence. Future research will be better able to design age-specific prevention strategies.