Flexibility in the choice of distinctive features in visual search with blocked and random designs

An experiment is reported which demonstrates that the features used to detect a character in arrays of similar forms are a function of the stimulus context in which the target is embedded. With the use of blocked and randomised design it was shown that prior knowledge of the background aided search when the feature which was relevant for one backgroind was irrelevant for another, but no significant effect of prior knowledge was obtained when the same feature was useful for the backgrounds.     

“We're Fighting Two Different Battles Here”: An Exploration of African American Women's Definitions of Self at Predominately White Schools

Using Black feminist thought and the sociocultural model of the self, this paper explores the relationship between race and gender in the self-definitions of African American women attending predominately white colleges and universities. The African American women who participated in the study, suggest that knowledge generated about the self pushes us beyond the categorical thinking that limits our ability to understand the complexity of the self. Data from 13 interviews conducted at two predominately white schools is presented and analyzed. Using this data, I present a way of thinking about the identity of African American women that demonstrates the complexity of defining self within the narrow confines of race and gender.     

Scientific limitations and ethical ramifications of a non-representative Human Genome Project: African American response

The Human Genome Project (HGP) represents a massive merging of science and technology in the name of all humanity. While the disease aspects of HGP-generated data have received the greatest publicity and are the strongest rationale for the project, it should be remembered that the HGP has, as its goal the sequencing of all 100,000 human genes and the accurate depiction of the ancestral and functional relationships among these genes. The HGP will thus be constructing the molecular taxonomic norm for humanity. Currently the HGP genomic baseline is almost exclusively skewed toward North Atlantic European lineages through the extensive use of the Centre d’études du Polymorphisme Humaine (CEPH) data set. More recently, the HGP has shifted to the use of volunteer donors since adequate informed consent had not been secured from the CEPH families. No evidence exists that either the CEPH families or the current volunteers are the most appropriate demographic or evolutionary lineages for the functional genomic studies that will guide production of new DNA based drugs, targeted therapeutics and gene-based diagnostics. The lack of scientific representativeness of the HGP is a serious impediment to its broad applicability. Yet this can be remedied, and five alternative sampling strategies are presented. In response to the current exclusionary design of the HGP, there is noteworthy caution and skepticism in the African American community concerning genetic studies. The Manifesto on Genomic Studies Among African Americans reflects both a desire to be systematically included in federally funded genomic studies and a desire to maintain some control over the interpretation and application of research results. Representative sampling in the HGP is seen as an international human rights issue with domestic ethical implications.     

Father identification,achievement, and occupational behavior of rural youth: One year follow-up

Rural economically deprived adolescent males, who had been previously surveyed as high school seniors concerning their post-high school plans, were surveyed again 1 yr later concerning their present occupational status and feelings of personal satisfaction. The Ss had been divided in an earlier study into two groups, low identification males (LIM) and high identification males (HIM) based upon independent evaluators' judgments of the adequacy of their fathers as identification models. Each group's responses to the survey were compared. The results indicate that there are no statistically significant differences between the two groups on the variables of satisfaction, having received counseling from others and optimism about the future. There are statistically significant differences between the current occupational status and future occupational plans of the two groups.     

The longitudinal effects of early identification and counseling of underachievers

This study examined the effects of early identification and psychological services on underachievement through a follow-up study conducted six years later. One hundred and seventeen fourth-grade underachievers had been identified through a regression equation and were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received psychological services during their fourth, fifth, and sixth grades from a team of university professors. Psychological services were primarily adult centered, focusing on the redirection of parents and teachers who were the primary influence on the lives of these underachievers. Follow-up studies of them at high school graduation indicated that differences between these groups reached at least the .05 level of significance for class rank, the ACT composite, the ITED composite and its subtests, and level of educational and vocational performance after high school graduation. Differences which were not statistically significant were found for pregraduation aspirations for the immediate future.     

In Support of the Concept of Underachievement

The term underachievement has still not been completely accepted by educators, although research findings suggest that it is associated with various developmental problems and that it begins early in a child's educational career and becomes increasingly worse with time. The achievement patterns of 1,078 fourth grade students in the public schools of west central Wisconsin were assessed by relating on a scattergram their performances on widely used achievement and intelligence tests. Underachievers, achievers, and overachievers were then determined through a regression equation. Comparisons of these groups on 9 developmental variables indicated differences favoring the overachievers and the achievers in each case. These differences reached the 1 per cent level of significance for 7 of the 9 variables.