The Rev.: An IBM BASIC program for Bayesian test interpretation

The Rev. is a BASIC computer program for IBM-PC-compatible systems that provides Bayesian estimates of “true” scores from multiple scores measuring the same construct. Psychological reports often include test scores from earlier evaluations without objectively incorporating them into current findings. Using Thorndike’s formulas for objectively combining test scores while providing estimates with reduced standard errors, the Rev. is an interactive program that facilitates test interpretation by combining information from many test administrations. The user provides four easily obtainable pieces of information for each test administration. The output includes an estimated “true” score and the standard error of the estimate.     

Resilience in siblings of children with sickle cell disease

This pilot study was conducted to identify factors responsible for promoting resilience in siblings of children with sickle cell disease. Twenty siblings (10–17 years of age) of children (5–13 years) with sickle cell disease were selected from the Pediatric Clinic of Howard University Center for Sickle Cell Disease. The siblings responded to questionnaires, and the data obtained was analyzed by chi-square for association. The results indicated that age, birth order, and gender had no effect on resilience in the siblings. However, family size, number of parents in the home, sibling's knowledge of the illness, degree of morbidity of the illness, socioeconomic status of the family, and parents' attitudes and childrearing practices were all found to affect resilience. These findings provide additional insight into the psychosocial aspects of, and genetic counseling for sickle cell disease, as well as for other chronic genetic disorders.     

The multiple meanings of neutrality

Throughout the evolution of psychoanalysis, its theories and methods have been deeply influenced by ideas about psychoanalytic neutrality. However, considerable dissension has surrounded the concept of neutrality. This paper defines five distinct categories of neutrality the author considers relevant to all theoretical perspectives on psychoanalysis: behavioral, attitudinal, interpersonal, interactional, and essential.     

Are professors likely to report having “beliefs” about the intelligence and competence of students who stutter?

Some university students who stutter report that they avoid participating in class discussions and talking with professors because they believe that if their professors find out they stutter, the professors are likely to view the students as being less intelligent and/or competent than they otherwise would. The purpose of this study was to determine whether professors, as a group, are likely to report such beliefs. A random sample of 87 professors at Marquette University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the State University of New York at Stonybrook rated “A Student Who Stutters” on each of 81 seven-point, bipolar semantic differential scales, including intelligent/unintelligent and competent/incompetent. Although there was considerable scatter in their ratings for the majority of the scales, 85 of the 87 rated the student at the center or “positive” end of the intelligent/unintelligent scale and 83 of the 87 did so on the competent/incompetent one. Assuming that the attitutes reported by the professors reflect their “real” ones, these data suggest that many—perhaps the majority—do not have negative attitudes about the intelligence and competence of their students who stutter.     

Developmental differences in the allocation of processing capacity

Recently psychologists have formulated a comprehensive view of attention involving allocation of processing capacity. Although developmental changes in processing capacity have been proposed as one source of age differences in certain cognitive skills, there has been little systematic investigation of this hypothesis. In the present study, second and sixth graders and adults (8, 12, and 20 years of age, respectively) performed a letter-matching task (primary task) concurrently with an auditory detection task (secondary task). Changes in reaction time in the secondary task as a function of manipulations of the primary task were used to estimate capacity allocation to the primary task. Primary task variables included stage of processing (alerting, encoding, rehearsing, responding) and matching condition (physical-identity vs name-identity matching). Age differences in secondary task performance were found to be related to stage of processing but not to matching condition. Earlier stages of the letter match task (alerting, encoding) required somewhat more capacity allocation in younger subjects. Later stages (rehearsing, responding) made substantially higher demands on capacity in children. Capacity allocation may be an important cognitive variable mediating developmental differences in basic information processing skills, and may underlie age trends found in performance of certain complex cognitive tasks.     

Size judgment: The presence of a standard increases the exponent of the power law

Ss judged the size of circles by the methods of magnitude estimation and magnitude production, with or without a standard figure present. The presence of the standard raised the exponent of the power law. The effect was largely independent of the position of the standard in the range of stimuli. It is argued that the standard’s effect was not mediated by a difference in apparent size between perceived and remembered standards, a change in Ss’ response strategies, a decrease in sequential dependencies, or other previously identified bias effects.