EFFECTS OF LEARNING ABOUT GENDER DISCRIMINATION ON ADOLESCENT GIRLS' ATTITUDES TOWARD AND INTEREST IN SCIENCE

Gender discrimination has contributed to the gender imbalance in scientific fields. However, research on the effects of informing adolescent girls about gender discrimination in these fields is rare and controversial. To examine the consequences of learning about gender-based occupational discrimination, adolescent girls ( n = 158, ages 11 to 14) were randomly assigned to either (a) a standard intervention program aimed at increasing girls' interest in science or (b) a nearly identical program that included information about gender discrimination. Girls' interest in, and attitudes toward, science were assessed using a pre/post design. Only girls who learned about gender discrimination showed increases in science self-efficacy and belief in the value of science; interest in scientific fields was unaffected by the intervention programs. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.     

Mothers' Impact on Daughters' Cardiovascular Reactivity in a High‐Threat Context: An Immersive Virtual Environment Study

Applying Attachment Theory, research on confirmation, the Entropy Model of Uncertainty, and the Biopsychosocial Model of Challenge and Threat, this investigation examined the role of mothers' communication on adolescents' cardiovascular response to threat. An experimental design allowed for the manipulation of maternal response to daughters experiencing a rapidly approaching wildfire in an immersive virtual environment. Results revealed complexities in the relative benefits of maternal vocalic presence during high‐threat situation, with the mother's history of confirming feedback playing an important role in daughters' cardiovascular response. Implications for knowledge are addressed and methodological possibilities of using immersive virtual environments are noted.     

Visual imagery and dream recall

Research in dream recall frequency has failed to isolate psychological variables which clearly and reliably differentiate frequent dream recallers from infrequent recallers. The present study tested the hypothesis that frequent recallers have a greater capacity for visual imagery than infrequent recallers. Subjects selected on the basis of reported dream recall frequency were administered a Paired-Associate Learning task designed to measure visual imagery, a rating scale of imagery clarity and vividness, and a subjective measure of imagery controllability. The results provide support for the hypothesis and, together with other evidence, suggest that a generalized capacity for visualization may contribute to the quality of the dreaming experience and, consequently, to its recallability.     

Administration of inhalation anesthetics to small animals: Some problems and solutions

Some problems inherent in administering inhalation anesthetics to small laboratory animals in studies of memory consolidation are discussed. A simple and inexpensive apparatus which has been designed to eliminate some of these problems is described.     

Linear dependence in multiple correlation work

The problem in multiple correlation work of nonsense results attributable to linear dependence of variables, which has been discussed by Ragnar Frisch in relation to economic data, is presented from the standpoint of its significance in psychological research. It is shown that a symmetric correlation determinant with unity in the diagonal cells can vanish only when there is a first-order or partial correlation of unity between one pair of the variables. On the basis of this result, it is argued that the problem should be expected to cause less difficulty in the field of psychology than in economics and that psychologists should be able to avoid the pitfall by bringing to bear their knowledge of the variables with which they are working.     

The relation between results obtainable with raw and corrected correlation coefficients in multiple factor analysis

This paper presents three theorems concerning the relation between results with obtained and corrected correlation coefficients in the Thurstone method of multiple factor analysis. (1) The rank of the correlational matrix, and thus the number of factors involved, is unaffected by correcting the obtained coefficients for attenuation. (2) The communality of a variable when the obtained coefficients have been corrected for attenuation is equal to the communality with obtained coefficients divided by the reliability coefficient of the variable. (3) The relationship is shown between the factorial matrix of a correlational matrix of raw correlation coefficients and the factorial matrix of a correlational matrix of corrected correlation coefficients, and a method of obtaining either of these factorial matrices from the other is indicated.     

Sampling theory in item analysis

Since item values obtained by item analysis procedures are not always stable from one situation to another, it follows that selection of items for validity or difficulty is sometimes useless. An application of Chi Square to testing homogeneity of item values is made, in the case of theUL method, and illustrative data are presented. A method of applying sampling theory to Horst's maximizing function is outlined, as illustrative of author's observation that the results of item analysis by any of various methods may be similarly tested.     

Some properties of the communality in multiple factor theory

Several theorems concerning properties of the communaltiy of a test in the Thurstone multiple factor theory are established. The following theorems are applicable to a battery ofn tests which are describable in terms ofr common factors, with orthogonal reference vectors.1. The communality of a testj is equal to the square of the multiple correlation of testj with ther reference vectors.2. The communality of a testj is equal to the square of the multiple correlation of testj with ther reference vectors and then—1 remaining tests. Corollary: The square of the multiple correlation of a testj with then—1 remaining tests is equal to or less than the communality of testj. It cannot exceed the communality.3. The square of the multiple correlation of a testj with then—1 remaining tests equals the communality of testj if the group of tests containsr statistically independent ests teach with a communality of unity.4. With correlation coefficients corrected for attenuation, when the number of tests increases indefinitely while the rank of the correlational matrix remains unchanged, the communality of a testj equals the square of the multiple correlation of testj with then—1 remaining tests.5. With raw correlation coefficients, it is shown in a special case that the square of the multiple correlation of a testj with then—1 remaining tests approaches the communality of testj as a limit when the number of tests increases indefinitely while the rank of correlational matrix remains the same. This has not yet been proved for the general case.The author wishes to express his appreciation of the encouragement and assistance given him by Dr. L. L. Thurstone.