Selection through Rejection: Reconsidering the Invariant Learning Paradigm

Two experiments are reported that investigate the nature of selections in the McGeorge and Burton (1990) invariant learning paradigm. McGeorge and Burton suggest that subjects implicitly acquire abstract knowledge of an invariant feature (usually the presence of the digit '3') in a set of 30 stimuli. McGeorge and Burton's analysis has recently been challenged by Cock, Berry, and Gaffan (1994) and by Wright and Burton (1995). In this paper, we demonstrate that performance is based on knowledge of other aspects of the learning set besides the invariant digit, but that this knowledge is still implicit. Altering the nature of the learning stimuli to highlight these co-varying features enhances the effects and increases the reporting of explicit knowledge. Our results indicate that performance within this paradigm is more easily characterized as rejection of salient negatives than selection of positive instances, but that salience is not based simply on similarity.     

Psychological consequences of majority-minority status: a questionnaire study of two high schools

A questionnaire survey of high school students investigated the psychological phenomena associated with teenagers' membership in majority and minority groups. In the majority group, the socioeconomic status of parents was consonant with that of the high school; in the minority group, the status was dissonant with that of the school. The psychological impact of attending high schools that were consonant or dissonant with the student's family background was examined. The results are discussed in terms of the students' personal adjustments: views of their parents; and political, social, and personal attitudes and values. Minority teenagers were found to be more oriented to the home (especially to the mother) and to scholastic and future achievement, whereas majority teenagers were more oriented to their school peer group. Gender differences were also examined.     

A psychometric evaluation of a residential treatment facility: an illustration of an interpretable research design without a control group

This paper reports on the interim results of an evaluation study which followed a group of disordered-delinquent adolescents discharged from a long-term residential treatment program. Findings from the first cohort of adolescents tested at admission and discharge with the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) indicate statistically significant improvement in all the areas of self-concept, significant decreases in all areas of psychopathology, and no systematic response set at either testing. The research design is unique in that, without a control group, competing interpretations of treatment effectiveness have been ruled out. Using design features, clinical observation, and common sense, four competing explanations of the favorable results have been eliminated. Both the instrument and research design are of interest to those undertaking evaluation research in underfunded settings where control groups are difficult to obtain due to financial or logistical problems.     

SELF-MONITORING OF ATTENTIONAL BEHAVIOR VERSUS SELF-MONITORING OF PRODUCTIVITY: EFFECTS ON ON-TASK BEHAVIOR AND ACADEMIC RESPONSE RATE AMONG LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN

I investigated the differential effects of self-monitoring of attentional behavior and self-monitoring of productivity on on-task behavior and academic response rate. Subjects were four learning disabled children with significant attentional problems. Results indicated relatively equivalent increases in on-task behavior over baseline during all treatment phases. Academic response rate also improved under both interventions, with self-monitoring of productivity showing a superior effect for one subject, an equivalent effect for one subject, and less dear results for two subjects.     

The role of uncertain self-esteem in self-handicapping

In this article, the hypothesis that some individuals confronted with an intellectual evaluation use a lack of preparation as a "self-handicapping" strategy (Jones & Berglas, 1978) was studied. Sex and both level and certainty of self-esteem were examined in regard to the self-handicapping strategy of lack of effort. Subjects were 54 men and 54 women, certain and uncertain, high and low self-esteem college students, who believed that the experiment was designed to update local norms for a nonverbal test of intellectual ability. After subjects' level of state anxiety was assessed, they were instructed in the benefits of practicing for the evaluation. Subsequently, subjects' state anxiety and preparatory efforts (the primary dependent variables) were measured. Subjects' practice, self-protective attributions, and related affect supported a self-handicapping interpretation for uncertain males but not for uncertain females.     

Effects of exposure to psychophysical scaling on lingual vibrotactile magnitude estimation and magnitude production

The purpose of the present study was to determine if the results obtained by the scaling methods of magnitude estimation and magnitude production could be influenced by providing subjects with prior exposure to psychophysical scaling in the form of magnitude estimation or magnitude production. Group 1 (n = 10, Mage = 21.1 yr.) performed lingual vibrotactile-magnitude estimation followed by lingual vibrotactile magnitude production. Group 2 (n = 10, Mage = 19.7 yr.) performed lingual vibrotactile-magnitude production (using the magnitude-estimation responses provided by Group 1), followed by lingual vibrotactile-magnitude estimation. For the magnitude estimations there was no over-all statistically significant difference between the two groups, but there was for the magnitude-production values. Magnitude-estimation scaling was apparently not influenced by prior exposure to magnitude production, while magnitude-production scaling was influenced by prior exposure to magnitude estimation. The results are discussed in terms of how subjective scaling behavior in psychophysical experimentation may be influenced by the interaction between an absolute internal scaling mechanism and parameters set by the experimenter, such as scaling method and range of stimulus intensity.     

Negative cognitive errors and positive illusions for negative divorce events: Predictors of children's psychological adjustment

This study examined the relations among negative cognitive errors regarding hypothetical negative divorce events, positive illusions about those same events, actual divorce events, and psychological adjustment in 38 8- to 12-year-old children whose parents had divorced within the previous 2 years. Children's scores on a scale of negative cognitive errors (catastmphizing, overgeneralizing, and personalizing) correlated significantly with self-reported symptoms of anxiety and self-esteem, and with maternal reports of behavior problems. Children's scores on a scale measuring positive illusions (high self-regard, illusion of personal control, and optimism for the future) correlated significantly with less self-reported aggression. Both appraisal types accounted for variance in some measures of symptomatology beyond that explained by actual events. There was no significant association between children's negative cognitive errors and positive illusions. The implications of these results for theories of negative cognitive errors and of positive illusions, as well as for future research, are discussed.