Prototypical Behaviour Patterns of Social Intelligence: An Intercultural Comparison between Chinese and German Subjects

By using the Act Frequency Approach (Buss & Craik, 1980), Chinese subjects (N = 31) generated a list of acts (specific behaviours) considered to represent social intelligence. These acts were rated by Chinese subjects (N = 39) and German subjects (N = 29) for prototypicality. A comparison of results showed that the construct of social intelligence is culture dependent. For the Chinese, social intelligent behaviours seem to reflect the classical traditions and ideals of Confucianism. Acts that received the highest scores were those that described conforming to and fulfilling expected roles, and acts in which the wellbeing of the entire society was described as being more important that the desires of an individual. This was especially true for older subjects and for women. Items controlling for socially desirable behaviour and social engagement showed clear differences between the two cultures; as expected, the German subjects rated these items lower, whereas the Chinese subjects found both items to be high prototypical of social intelligence.     

Personality scale and item correlates of WAIS abilities

A cross-validation methodology was employed to identify 16PF scales and items that significantly correlated with performance on the verbal, spatial, and memory/numerical abilities measured by the WAIS in a nonpsychiatric sample of 489 adults. For both men and women larger personality-ability correlations resulted in all analyses for verbal ability than for spatial or memory/numerical ability. The 16PF scale analysis offered results generally consistent with Cattell's research. The item analyses produced rather similar results for both sexes for verbal and spatial abilities. For verbal ability three major correlates resulted: communicative competence, equanimity/low anxiety, and a desire for times alone. Though few in number the item correlates of spatial ability suggested a dispassionate, nontemperamental style of interaction with one's environment as the major correlate. Memory/ numerical ability was somewhat independent of 16PF item responses for women, but was associated with fastidiousness in men. Possible cause-effect relationships were suggested and implications for future research discussed.     

An investigation of verbal interaction, knowledge of sexual behavior and self-concept in adolescent mothers

Variables commonly considered to be major factors in contributing to the incidence of adolescent pregnancy may be only part of the total pattern. This study sought to examine the adolescent mothers' communication with significant others and their knowledge about sex, pregnancy, and birth control methods. Self-concepts of the adolescent mothers were compared with those of the published norms of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. The study included 23 adolescent mothers between the ages of 13 and 19 who were gravida 1 as indicated by their medical records. They were given a questionnaire constructed from previous research. They also completed a communication scale and the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. The findings of the present study indicated that most adolescent mothers considered their communication with their parent mothers to be one of mutual understanding. However, it appears that most adolescent mothers obtain much of their information about sex, pregnancy, and birth control methods from significant others. The self-concepts of these adolescent mothers were lower in comparison to the norm. The results indicate a need for further research in the area of adolescent sexual development, sex education in the school, and increased involvement of parents in the communication of sexual mores.     

The Training and Supervisory Needs of Racial and Ethnic Minority Students

Despite the increasing attention given to issues of multicultural training in counseling programs, there is a dearth of information available on the unique training needs of racial and ethnic minority trainees. The authors review the sparse literature relevant to the training needs of ethnic minority students, offer examples of training and supervisory issues, and make recommendations for future research and training.     

Relations between mental performance and reaction time: New aspects of an old problem

The relation between simple and complex reaction time and psychometrically determined mental performance was reexamined with 486 subjects of above-average intelligence. Various standardized tests measuring aspects of cognitive ability, memory and ability to concentrate were used. Simple and complex reaction times were measured using the Klebelsberg modification of the Mierke apparatus. Correlations between complex reaction time and mental performance as observed by other investigators were mostly confirmed. We found, however, the strongest and most consistent correlations with tests measuring short-term memory; ability to concentrate and spatial ability. On the other hand, tests known and shown again in this paper to load highly on Spearman's general factor g, such as verbal abilities; combinatoric thinking; abstraction; or calculation gave only trivial, and, in most cases, nonsignificant correlations with complex reaction time. We even observed a negative (though, for our data, not significant) correlation between g-loadings of subtests and their correlations with complex reaction time for the only complete standardized intelligence test used in this study, the “Intelligenz-Strukturtest (Amthauer).” Therefore, this study does not support the hypothesis that fast processing of complex information as measured by complex reaction time is the decisive component of the general factor of intelligence g.