Medial septal lesions: disruptions of microregulatory patterns and circadian rhythmicity in rats

The microregulatory patterns of food and water intake were examined in male and female rats bearing medical septal lesions and in sham-operated controls. Medial septal ablation, although not affecting the total amount of food or water ingested, resulted in a profound disruption of the pattern of intake. Circadian rhythmicity was disrupted for a period, returning to normal by 25 days postlesion. Permanent disruptions occurred in feeding patterns in the rats with septal lesions ingested more frequent but smaller meals. There was also a marked increase in food-intake-associated drinking and a decrease in non-food-intake-associated drinking. The results are interpreted to reflect two separate independent effects, a general circadian disruption and an alteration in requlatory behavior produced by a chronic depletion of body fluid.     

College-bound girls and science careers: Perceptions of barriers and facilitating factors

Student perceptions of barriers, facilitating factors, and information needs related to the consideration of careers in science and technology were investigated with a nationwide sample of talented high school senior women (N = 1017). Data were collected through a mailed questionnaire as part of a broader National Science Foundation project. Results of the study suggest that relatively few girls choose careers in science and technology because: They have doubts about combining family life with a science career; they lack information about steps in preparing for a science career; they believe influential adults; and they see few examples of the important role women can play in science. The data describing the students' perceptions of facilitating factors and information needs suggest that encouragement from family, access to role models, extra help and encouragement from science teachers, and information about careers in science, including the steps involved in preparation, might be influential in helping change perceptions of barriers to careers in science and technology.     

Application of the verbal transformation effect with learning-disabled children

Verbal Transformations (VTs) are an illusory effect which results from hearing a tape recording consisting of one word repeated twice per second. VTs have been employed to ascertain auditory perceptual differences in normal subjects relative to chronological age. This research tested two groups of 10 male children (normal and learning disabled). Results showed a significant difference (p < .01) between the reported number of VTs per group, with normal subjects verbalizing more different words. LD results are compared to VT studies with geriatrics. A theory is presented to explain our findings based upon a defect in short-term memory.     

Secret ambitions and public performances: The effects of anonymity on reward allocations made by men and women

The degree of equality or equity in reward allocations made by men and women is explored in three studies. Study 1 was a classroom survey which was administered after the members had completed a series of team assignments. When asked to indicate anonymously whether they would share some points with team members who had earned fewer, the men more often said yes and the women no, contradicting the patterns found in much of the literature. Studies 2 and 3 examined the hypothesis that under public conditions men and women would behave as tradition and the previous literature suggest, allocating rewards equitably and equally, respectively. In private, however, they would reverse themselves, each preferring the otherwise forbidden option. The results confirmed the prediction: when anticipating disclosure of their decisions, men chose to divide credits equitably and women equally between themselves and a less deserving partner, but when assured of anonymity, men chose more equal and women more equitable allocations. The results are discussed in light of both childhood socialization and adult constraints on sex role performances.     

Autumn leaves and old photographs: The development of metaphor preferences

In order to determine the development of preferences for different types of metaphors, a metaphor preferences task was designed. Subjects at seven ages, from 6 through 20 years, received incomplete sentences followed by metaphorical and literal completions, and were asked to select their preferred completions. The pattern of preferences shifted with age. Metaphors based on grounds involving color or shape were preferred by the youngest subjects; metaphors based on movement or sound were preferred by subjects of intermediate age; and metaphors based on nonperceptual, conceptual grounds were preferred by the oldest subjects. At all ages the most frequently chosen metaphors were those based on a combination of two grounds (e.g., color and shape). Preference for literal completions declined with age, but there was an increase in literal selections in the 8th and 10th grades. This study demonstrates the systematic development of aesthetic preferences in the domain of figurative language.     

Classes and collections: Conceptual organization and numerical abilities

Collections (e.g., forest, army) and classes (e.g., trees, soldiers) are natural concepts that differ in their organizational principles. Collections are organized into part-whole relations (e.g., trees are parts of a forest). Classes are organized according to class inclusion relations (e.g., oaks are kinds of trees). Because of their part-whole organization, collections are assumed to have greater psychological coherence than classes and therefore an advantage on tasks that require thinking about an aggregate as well as the individuals in it. Number requires aggregate analysis since it is a characteristic of sets, not of individuals. Four studies tested the hypothesized collection advantage in numerical reasoning tasks. In each, children viewed identical displays that were labeled with either class or collection terms. With perceptual input constant, the collection labels in contrast to the class labels promoted children's insight into certain numerical principles and facilitated the use of these principles in a variety of numerical tasks. Collection labels appear to induce a cognitive reorganization of importance to the child: the shift from inclusion to part-whole relations.     

Gender differences in distributive justice: The role of self-presentation revisited

Kidder, Bellettirie, and Cohn's [(1977) Secret Ambitions and Public Performances: The Effects of Anonymity on Reward Allocations Made by Men and Women, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 13, pp. 70–80] self-presentational account of gender differences in distributive justice was examined. Men and women attending two, primarily white, northeastern universities distributed a jointly earned reward between themselves and a hypothetical co-worker who was either a stranger or a friend and whose inferior task performance resulted from either low ability or low effort. Subjects made their allocations under both public and private conditions. Men allocated more equitably (i.e., according to co-worker input) in public than women did, whereas women allocated more equitably in private than men did, only when working with strangers who exerted low effort. In addition, among female subjects, private allocations to low-effort strangers were more equitable than public allocations. Among male subjects, however, public allocations to low-effort strangers were more equitable than private allocations. The conditions under which men make equitable allocations and women make equal allocations, and possible reasons for these differences, are discussed.This research was presented at the 62nd annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, April 11–14, 1991, New York, NY. We are grateful to Brenda Major, Victor Benassi, Rebecca Warner, members of the University of New Hampshire Social Psychology Research Group, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on an earlier version of this paper.