Visualization of multivariate data: Human-factors considerations

Recent software provides new tools for visualizing multivariate data that facilitate data analysis. We focus on (1) the learnability and use of visualization systems, and (2) the perceptual and cognitive processes involved in viewing visualizations. Effective visualization systems support a broad range of user tasks and abilities, are easy to learn, and provide powerful and flexible output formatting. Effective visualizations incorporate Gestalt and other perceptual and cognitive principles that encourage more rapid, automatic processing, and less slow, controlled processing.     

Student Socio-Economic Status and Counselor Contact in Junior High School

Cumulative records over 3 years for 196 junior high school sophomores were analyzed to assess the effect of socio-economic status of students on counseling exposure. Statistical significance was found between socio-economic status of the student and both the frequency with which he was referred to the counselor and the problem areas discussed. Frequency of counselor contact was not significantly associated with student socio-economic status. Where the counselors initiated the interviews, they apparently did so only in keeping with administrative policies. The differences that did occur arose when parents or, less frequently, the students themselves, initiated the interviews. Here, socio-economic status appeared to play a crucial and singular role.     

Body figure preferences of men and women: A comparison of two generations

Inspired by the earlier work of Rozin and Fallon (1988), this study investigated some potential determinants of the most recent increase of eating disorders among women in this country. Measures of current, preferred attractive, and acceptable body images for opposite- and same-gender figures, in addition to the thinnest and heaviest figures the subjects found attractive, were obtained from the same generation cohort as these students' parents. While gender differences were found, so were cohort differences. These cohort differences speak to factors relevant to understanding why there has been such an increase in the frequency of eating disorders in Western culture since the late 1960s, especially among adolescent women. Possible implications for treatment of eating disorders are discussed. However, the authors note that further studies are needed to determine if the cohort differences found might reflect a developmental or a definite cohort effect.     

Spatial analysis after perinatal stroke: patterns of neglect and exploration in extra-personal space

This study was conducted to determine whether school-aged children who had experienced a perinatal stroke demonstrate evidence of persistent spatial neglect, and if such neglect was specific to the visual domain or was more generalized. Two studies were carried out. In the first, 38 children with either left hemisphere (LH) or right hemisphere (RH) damage and 50 age-matched controls were given visual cancellation tasks varying in two factors: target stimuli and stimulus array. In the second study, tactile neglect was evaluated in 41 children with LH or RH damage and 72 age-matched controls using a blindfolded manual exploration task. On the visual cancellation task, LH subjects omitted more target stimuli on the right, but also on the left, compared with controls. Children with RH lesions also produced a larger number of omissions on both the left and right sides than controls, but with poorer performance on the left. On the manual exploration task, LH children required significantly longer times to locate the target on both sides of the board than did controls. RH children had significantly prolonged search times on the left side, but not on the right, compared with controls. In both tasks, LH subjects employed unsystematic search strategies more often than both control and RH children. The search strategy of RH children also tended to be erratic when compared to controls, but only in the random arrays of the visual cancellation tasks; structure of the target stimuli improved their organization. These results demonstrate that children with early LH brain damage display bilateral difficulties in visual and tactile modalities; a pattern that is in contrast to that seen in adults with LH damage. This may result from disorganized search strategies or other subtle spatial or attentional deficits. Results of performance of RH children suggests the presence of contralateral neglect in both the visual and tactile modalities; a finding that is similar to the neglect in adult stroke patients with RH lesions. The fact that deficits in spatial attention and organizational strategies are present after very early focal damage to either the LH or the RH broadens our understanding of the differences in functional lateralization between the immature and mature brain. These results also add to evidence for limitations to plasticity in the developing brain. Our findings may have therapeutic and rehabilitative implications for the management of children with early focal brain lesions.     

Correction to: The Comparative Effects of Teacher Versus Peer-Scaffolding on EFL Learners’ Incidental Vocabulary Learning and Reading Comprehension: A Socio-Cultural Perspective

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research -     

War,Peace, and Promise-Making: Becoming a Late-Life Activist

In this article I reflect on the effect of two wars on my life: World War II and the war in Viet Nam. Then I discuss the complexities involved in relinquishing the role of silent bystander in the analytic space as well as on the world stage through an examination of the concept of promise-making. A clinical example illustrates how the complicated and demanding process of making and keeping promises affected a therapeutic process.     

Workplace duties or opportunities? Challenge stressors,regulatory focus,and creativity

Previous research has produced contradictory findings about the impact of challenge stressors on individual and team creativity. Based on the challenge–hindrance stressors framework (LePine, Podsakoff, & LePine, 2005) and on regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997), we argue that the effect of challenge stressors on creativity is moderated by regulatory focus. We hypothesize that while promotion focus strengthens a positive relationship between challenge stressors and creativity, prevention focus reinforces a negative relationship. Experimental data showed that high demands led to better results in a creative insight task for individuals with a strong trait promotion focus, and that high demands combined with an induced promotion focus led to better results across both creative generation and insight tasks. These results were replicated in a field R&D sample. Furthermore, we found that team promotion focus moderated the effect of challenge stressors on team creativity. The results offer both theoretical insights and suggest practical implications.     

Sentence Completion Correlates of Airline Pilot Attitude and Proficiency

Sentence completion scores for dependency, anxiety, and hostility were correlated with sentence completion measures of good flying attitude and omissions for 300 male airline pilot candidates. The scoring-by-example method used with the first three variables was highly reliable and avoided scoring overlap. All sentence completion scores were also correlated with 15 traditional measures of pilot qualification such as mechanical information and signal reaction time. While the proficiency measures were generally unrelated to the projective measures, a good attitude towards flying was positively associated with coping (not omitting sentence completion items) and the extreme suppression of anxiety and hostility under stress. Civilian airline pilots appear similar to military pilots in their exaggerated display of good adjustment.     

Significance of a Preponderance of Human Movement Responses on the Rorschach in Children Below Age Ten

Abstract

Beck, Samuel J. Rorschach's Test III. Advance in Interpretation. New York: Grune &; Stratton, 1952. Reviewed by Mortimer M. Meyer

Brower, Daniel and Abt, Lawrence Progress in Clinical Psychology. Volume I. New York: Grune &; Stratton, 1952. Reviewed by Ohmer Milton

Buhler, C., Smitter, F., and Richardson, S. Childhood Problems and the Teacher. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1952. Pp. 372, $3.75. Reviewed by Lois Barclay Murphy

Jolles, Isaac. A Catalogue for the Qualitative Interpretation of the H-T-P. Beverly Hills: Western Psychological Services, 1952, 97 pp. Reviewed by Wilson H. Guertin

Kinget, Marian G., The Drawing-Completion Test. New York: Grune and Stratton, Inc., 1952. Reviewed by Fred Brown

Meili, Richard. Lehrbuch der Psychologischen Diagnostik. Bern: Verlag Hans Huber, 1951, 372 pp. Reviewed by Walther Joel

Szondi, L. Experimental Diagnostics of Drives (Translated by Gertrude Aull). New York: Grune and Stratton, 1952, 220 pp. Reviewed by Henry P. David