Cultural differences in gender role attitudes between Chinese and American students

A total of 665 Chinese college students in Taiwan and Caucasian college students in eastern North Carolina were administered several sex role attitude scales developed by Spence et al. (1978, 1980). The scales were translated into Chinese for Chinese subjects. Results indicated cultural differences in attitudes toward Marital Roles, Expressivity, Social Interaction, and Preference for males. In both cultures, females were found to be significantly more liberal, as shown in Attitudes Toward Women, Marital Roles, and Social Interaction. These results are consistent with previous research. Cultural differences were also as expected, with Chinese holding more conservative views.An earlier version of this paper was presented in part at the 63rd Annual Convention of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, Massachusetts, April 3, 1992.     

Data management and accountability in behavioral and biomedical research.

Regulations recently enacted by the Public Health Service and the National Science Foundation to address misconduct in scientific research were designed primarily to curtail deliberate forms of misconduct, such as fabrication or falsification of findings; however, researchers may also be held accountable for inadvertent deficiencies in data management. This article examines some of the problems in data quality control, documentation, and data retention that can occur when computers are used in scientific research. It focuses on deficiencies that could make it difficult to verify the integrity of research data or to reproduce statistical analyses. Strategies for prevention of data management problems are recommended.     

Controlling behavior experiments with BASIC on 6502-based microcomputers

A combination of high-level BASIC and transparent machine language routines forms an inexpensive (about $800), powerful, and easy-to-use microcomputer system for behavior research, based on the AIM-65. The interrupt-driven machine language routines keep track of real time, poll inputs, and are not typically modified for different experiments. Expandable machine language listings that support eight input lines and eight output lines on the AIM-65 are presented. The user-written BASIC program controls experiments and records data. BASIC programs for simple reinforcement schedules are used as examples. The software is readily transferred to other 6602-based microcomputers with BASIC.     

A comparison of EMG and SCL in normal and depressed subjects

Skin conductance level (SCL) and electromyograms (EMGs) recorded from three muscle sites were compared for 15 female hospitalized psychiatric patients meeting diagnostic criteria for primary affective disorder and 15 age- and race-matched controls. The depressed subjects had significantly lower SCL and significantly higher resting EMG levels recorded from one muscle site. Electromyogram and SCL were not found to be significantly correlated with each other or with measures of anxiety or depression for the patients with primary affective disorder. Normal controls, however, showed significant correlations between a measure of depression and both EMG and SCL. These results are discussed with suggestions for future research.     

Intellectual development and its relationship to maturation during the college years

This study examines whether differences in the development of critical reasoning abilities among undergraduates can be attributed to factors other than college attendance, and specifically to differences in chronological maturation. Eight males and eight females were randomly selected and matched on ACT composite scores from each of four groups: 18-year-old freshmen; 22-year-old freshmen; 22-year-old seniors; and 26-year-old seniors. Theses 64 subjects were arranged within a non-assignable three factor design by age (adult and traditional), class level (freshman and senior), and sex. Subjects were administered the Reflective Judgment Interview, a structured interview format designed to measure the way individuals reason about intellectual problems. Two significant main effects were observed, with seniors scoring higher than freshman (p < .001), and males scoring higher than females. The class level main effect, in the absence of any significant difference of reflective judgment level due to age, suggests that college attendance does contribute to the development of critical reasoning beyond the factor of chronological maturation. An explanation for significant sex differences found is not clearly discernible from these data.     

Effects of eye size on adults' aesthetic ratings of faces and 5-month-olds' looking times

In two experiments, we investigated the influence of eye size on adults' ratings of faces' attractiveness and 5-month-olds' looking times. Subjects viewed four pairs of female faces that were identical except for the size of the eyes. Whether they saw black-and-white drawings (experiment 1) or coloured photographs (experiment 2), adults rated the faces with larger eyes as more attractive than the faces with smaller eyes. Babies looked equally long at the drawn faces with larger and smaller eyes (experiment 1), but with the more realistic photographed faces, they looked slightly but significantly longer at the versions with larger eyes (experiment 2). Overall, our results suggest that a modest preference for larger eyes that has emerged by 5 months of age may contribute to the development of adult aesthetic preferences.     

Conditions of error priming in number-fact retrieval

Analysis of errors in simple multiplication has shown that answers retrieved on previous trials are initially inhibited (negative error priming) but later are promoted as errors to subsequent problems (positive error priming). Two experiments investigated whether error priming is associated either with problem-specific retrieval processes or with representations of answers that can be manipulated independently of problems. In Experiment 1, answers were primed by visually presenting products for 200 msec prior to problems. Correct-answer primes facilitated retrieval, related-incorrect primes interfered with retrieval more than unrelated primes, and both effects were greater for more difficult problems. Primes affected only the trial on which they were presented, however, whereas both negative and positive error priming from previous problems were observed across trials. In Experiment 2, subjects named and retrieved multiplication products on alternating trials. Just-named products were inhibited as errors to the following multiplication problem (i.e., negative error priming), but, compared to positive priming from previous retrieved products, positive error priming from previously named numbers was weak. The results indicate that positive error priming is due mainly to an encoding or retrieval bias produced by previous problems, whereas negative error priming entails suppression, or de-selection, of answer representations.     

The relationship between vocational information seeking and educational and vocational decidedness

This investigation explored the relationship between vocational information seeking behavior (VISB) and educational and vocational decidedness. Pre- and postmeasures of VISB and educational and vocational decidedness were given to two groups of “undecided” university freshmen. One group experienced a 3-hr long vocationally oriented life planning workshop and a career planning class module of 10 hr duration; the other experienced only the class module. Correlations between VISB and the two forms of decidedness were low but significant. Cross-lagged and dynamic correlations completed to determine causal effects only minimally supported the hypotheses that engaging in VISB produces an increase in educational and vocational committedness and vice versa. Some possible explanations for this finding are discussed.     

Calculation latency: The μ of memory and the τ of transformation

Does numeral format (e.g., 4 + 8 vs. four + eight) affect calculation per se? University students (N=47) solved single-digit addition problems presented as Arabic digits or English words and reported their strategies (memory retrieval or procedures such as counting or transformation). Decomposition of the response time (RT) distributions into μ (reflecting shift) and t (reflecting skew) confirmed that retrieval trials contributed predominantly to μ, whereas procedure trials contributed predominantly to τ. The format × problem size RT interaction (i.e., greater word-format RT costs for large problems than for small problems) was associated entirely with μ and not with τ. Reported use of procedures presented a corresponding format × size interaction. Together, these results indicate that, relative to the well-practiced digit format, the unfamiliar word format disrupts number-fact retrieval and promotes use of procedural strategies.     

Identical elements model of arithmetic memory: Extension to addition and subtraction

The identical elements (IE) model of arithmetic fact representation (Rickard, 2005; Rickard & Bourne, 1996) was developed and tested with multiplication and division. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated that the model also applies to addition and subtraction by examining transfer of response time (RT) savings between prime and probe problems tested in the same block of trials. As is predicted by the IE model, there were equivalent probe RT savings for addition with identical repetition (prime 6 + 9 --> probe 6 + 9) or an order change (9 + 6 --> 6 + 9), but much greater savings for subtraction with identical repetition (15 - 6 --> 15 - 6) than with an order change (15 - 9 --> 15 - 6), and no savings with an operation change (15 - 9 --> 6 + 9 or 6 + 9 --> 4 15 - 6). In Experiment 2, we examined transfer in simple multiplication and division and demonstrated symmetrical transfer between operations. Cross-operation RT savings were eliminated, however, when the RT analysis included only trials on which both the prime and the probe problems were reportedly solved by direct retrieval. An IE model extended to accommodate savings associated with procedural strategies provides a coherent account of facilitative transfer effects in simple arithmetic.