Spacing and the transition from calculation to retrieval

Many arithmetic problems can be solved in two ways—by a calculation involving several steps and by direct retrieval of the answer. With practice on particular problems, memory retrieval tends to supplant calculation—an important aspect of skill learning. We asked how the distribution of practice on particular problems affects this kind of learning. In two experiments, subjects repeatedly worked through sets of multiple-digit multiplication problems. The size of the trained problem set was varied. Using a smaller set size (with shorter average time between problem repetitions) showed faster responses and an earlier transition to retrieval during training. However, in a test session presented days later, the pattern reversed, with faster responses and more retrieval for the large set size. Evidently, maximizing the occurrence of direct retrieval within training is not the best way to promote learning to retrieve the answer. Practical implications are discussed.     

Activating Culture Through Persuasion Appeals: An Examination of the Bicultural Consumer

In this research, I examined how biculturals, or individuals who have been equally influenced by an East Asian and Western cultural orientation, respond to various types of persuasion appeals that promote values unique to a particular culture. In the first experiment, I found that biculturals, relative to monoculturals, tend to react favorably toward both individually and interpersonally focused appeals due to their having 2 equally developed and accessible cultural dispositions. In the second experiment, I identified boundary conditions under which having relatively equal access to both cultural dispositions leads to favorable responses. Results indicate that biculturals who tend to compartmentalize each culture react less favorably toward appeals that are both individually and interpersonally focused than biculturals who tend to integrate the 2 cultures. In other words, the former type of bicultural prefers appeals that activate one cultural disposition, whereas the latter type of bicultural favors appeals that activate both cultural dispositions. These findings are discussed in light of the growing trend toward multiculturalism and the increasing need for researchers to understand the impact of this trend on various consumer behavior issues.     

Adolescents' family obligation and activities in rural and urban Vietnam: Implications for social change

This study examined how urbanisation may modify adolescents' values and activities concerning family obligation by surveying 572 adolescents (M_age = 15.75, SD = .73) in rural and urban Vietnam. Compared with their rural peers, urban adolescents reported a stronger sense of family obligation but spent less time actually engaging in family assistance, findings that were partly explained by urban households' less financial hardship and higher parental education levels. As expected, stronger family obligation values were associated with greater family assistance activities across rural and urban Vietnam. However, stronger family obligation values were associated with more study hours only in urban Vietnam, indicating that urbanisation may broaden the meaning of family obligation to encompass the academic domain. Additionally, weaker family obligation values were associated with more employment hours only in rural Vietnam, suggesting that rural adolescents with little attachment to the traditional value of family obligation may pursue autonomy through employment outside the home. In traditionally familistic societies undergoing urbanisation, family obligation may take on different meaning depending on adolescents' ecological settings that construct cultural values and behavioural norms.     

A constraint on comparisons: Equally detailed alternatives

Children's errors in collective comparison tasks are atributed to the comparison of the wrong classes. It is specifically hypothesized that alternative classes are erroneously formed subject to the constrain that the same kinds of properties are criterial for each alternative. This hypothesis, called the equally detailed alternatives hypothesis, is tested in three experiments with hierarchically organized stimuli and requests to compare a superordinate class and a nonincluded subclass, for example, dogs and yellow cats. In all three experiments 4-year-old children's comparisons were found to be in accord with the hypothesis. In the first experiment both perceptual and linguistic factors determine which classes are compared. In the second experiment, as predicted, erroneous subclass comparisons were more common when all subclasses were distinguished by the same kinds of properties. In the third experiment, the children were asked to partition the stimulus objects into the classes to be compared. The vast majority of partitions were erroneous and in accord with the hypothesis. Potential benefits of the constrain are considered.     

Coping with failure: relationship with self-concept discrepancy and attributional style

In the relationship of attributional style and self-concept discrepancy with coping behavior among 10th-grade Hong Kong Chinese students, 3 significant canonical variate pairs were identified. The total criterion redundancy showed that self-concept discrepancy and attributional style predicted about 20% of the variance of coping behavior. The 1st variate pair indicated that students with small self-concept discrepancy and low-depressive attributional style tended to cope with failure by planful problem solving and by positive reappraisal. The 2nd variate pair showed that students, particularly girls, with small self-concept discrepancy in verbal ability and same-sex peer relations tended to cope with failure by seeking social support. The last variate pair showed that students with great self-concept discrepancy in same-sex peer relations and parent relations tended to cope with failure by avoiding or escaping. The 3 canonical variate pairs also suggested a new taxonomy for coping behavior: mobilization of internal coping resources, mobilization of external coping resources, and the inability to mobilize any coping resources.     

The acceptance of lonely others: effects of loneliness and gender of the target person and loneliness of the perceiver

The reactions of lonely people toward other lonely people and the relationship between loneliness and self-concepts were examined. The 2-way and 3-way interaction effects showed that low lonely perceivers reacted more negatively toward the lonely target person. The relationship between loneliness and self-concept was examined using a multidimensional measure of self-concept. Results showed that loneliness correlated negatively with self-concept. In multiple regression analyses, the most significant predictors of loneliness were self-concept of relations with same gender and opposite gender peers and general self-concept.     

EFFECTS OF SECOND LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY OF SPEAKERS AND LISTENERS ON PERSON PERCEPTION AND BEHAVIOURAL INTENTION: A STUDY OF CHINESE BILINGUALS

Do people at different levels of second language proficiency perceive and interact with other speakers differently? Conceptual analyses suggested three possibilities. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the hypotheses derived from the conceptual analyses. Forty Chinese undergraduates (half of whom were high and half of whom were low in English language proficiency) listened to English speeches by either high or low proficiency speakers, and rated the speakers on ten personality traits and ten behavioural intention items. High and low proficiency listeners did not differ in their impressions of the speakers or the behavioural intention towards them. However, speaker proficiency strongly affected the listeners' person perception and behavioural intention. Results from a hierarchical multiple regression supported the hypothesis that speaker proficiency influenced person perception, which in turn influenced behavioural intention.     

Testing of an orthogonal measure of cultural identification with adult mission Indians

The Orthogonal Cultural Identification Scale (OCIS; Oetting & Beauvais, 1990-91) has been validated among Native American youth, but not adults. The present study sought to test the reliability (internal consistency) and validity (construct and factorial) of the OCIS among an adult Native American sample consisting of 389 Mission Indians (61% female). Participants were recruited from reservations using a venue sampling strategy. The OCIS was completed as part of a self-assessment packet of questionnaires. Internal consistency for OCIS subscale scores ranged from 0.76 to 0.91. Both concurrent and discriminant validity were demonstrated. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed 2 factors: (1) Anglo American Identification and (2) Native American Identification. These results indicate the OCIS is a reliable and valid instrument for use with adult Native Americans.