DETERMINANTS OF PERFORMANCE ON DOUBLE CLASSIFICATION TASKS

Two groups of children, median ages 6–7 and 8–7, were presented with objects examplifying three combinations of two dichotomous attributes, and asked to indicate the remaining combination. Keeping objects covered vs. uncovered at the time of the test response had generally little effect. Labelling was consistently superior to perceptual matching, apparently because the latter involved a search process. The errors in the labelling condition consisted mostly in naming an object identical to or different in both attributes from those given, reflecting perhaps an inability to break down the impression of the objects into independent attributes.     

Effects of decision strategy and number of openings on employment selection decisions

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of two factors—decision strategy and the number of openings—on selection decisions. Two hundred graduate and undergraduate students participated in a human resource employment screening simulation. Decision strategy was varied by having candidates evaluate resumes and letters of application for 20 candidates one-at-a-time (sequentially) or all at once (simultaneously). The number of position openings was either one or three. Decision strategy affected the number of candidates accepted, acceptance threshold, and decision time. The number of openings affected selection decisions in the simultaneous but not the sequential context. Implications of these results for selection processes are discussed.     

Shape from stereo: A systematic approach using quadratic surfaces

We used quadratic shapes in several psychophysical shape-from-stereo tasks. The shapes were elegantly represented in a 2-D parameter space by the scale-independentshape index and the scale-dependentcurvedness. Using random-dot stereograms to depict the surfaces, we found that the shape of hyperbolic surfaces is slightly more difficult to recognize than the shape of elliptic surfaces. We found that curvedness (and indirectly, scale) has little or no influence on shape recognition.     

Orientation-invariant transfer of training in the identification of rotated natural objects

The effects of stimulus orientation on naming were examined in two experiments in which subjects identified line drawings of natural objects following practice with the objects at the same or different orientations. Half the rotated objects were viewed in the orientation that matched the earlier presentations, and half were viewed at an orientation that mismatched the earlier presentations. Systematic effects of orientation on naming time were found during the early presentations. These effects were reduced during later presentations, and the size of this reduction did not depend on the orientation in which the object had been seen originally. The results are consistent with a dual-systems model of object identification in which initially large effects of disorientation are the result of a normalization process such as mental rotation, and in which attenuation of the effects is due to a shift from the normalization system to a feature/part-based     

On becoming a leader: Effects of gender and cultural differences on power distance reduction

The present research focused on power processes in a simulated organizational structure consisting of three hierarchical levels occupied by different numbers of mules and females. Subjects were presented with a chart showing the organizational hierarchy of which they were a member placed at the lowest level, and asked to nominate any person for the leader position vacated by the current incumbent. The results of Experiment I (n = 88 Dutch male and female university students) showed that male subjects strongly overnominated themselves, whereas a majority of the female subjects nominated either self or another female. Of the others that were nominated by both males and females, almost all were occupants of positions immediately below the leader position, indicating the normative influence of a bureaucratic rule of leader succession. Experiment 2 was a replicational study carried out in a different culture (n = lOl Polish male and female university students). Polish subjects adhered to the bureaucratic rule more strongly than their Dutch counterparts, and both females and males nominated mostly males. Results are discussed with reference to gender self-stereotypes and cultural differences.     

Attitude change following persuasive communication: Integrating Social Judgment Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model

An experiment was conducted to examine the influence of the perceived extremity of a message and motivation to elaborate upon the process of persuasion. The first goal was to test a model of attitude change relating Social Judgment Theory to the Elaboration Likelihood Model. The second objective was to develop an instrument to measure attitude structure (latitudes of acceptance, non-commitment, and rejection) that allowed for a more refined assessment of the discrepancy between the position advocated in a message and the recipient's initial attitude. The main dependent variable was the attitude towards the use of automobiles in relation to environmental issues. Subjects were confronted with a message located in their own latitude of acceptance, rejection or non-commitment. Shortly after, a second measurement of attitude took place. The results showed that messages within the latitudes of non-commitment gave rise to the greatest attitude change. The data support the susceptibility hypothesis that subjects elaborate messages mainly in the latitude of non-commitment.     

The role of observer attitudes in judgments of blame in cases of wife assault

This study examines the importance of observer characteristics in determining blame in cases of wife assault. Four independent variables (observer's attitudes toward sex roles, observer sex and age, and victim behavior) were assessed for their influence on the blaming judgments of 128 participants. Subjects completed a questionnaire that contained demographic items and six wife assault vignettes that varied in level of victim provocation (low or high). Questions about blame of the husband and wife followed each vignette. An attitudes toward women scale (AWS-B) was then administered. The main hypothesis, that subjects with traditional attitudes would blame the victim more and the perpetrator less for the assault than their egalitarian counterparts, was supported, as was the prediction of an interaction between provocation and AWS-B. The results are discussed in light of the role of observer attitudes in attribution models.     

Acquisition of spatial knowledge under conditions of temporospatial discontinuity in young and elderly adults

Summary Young and elderly adults acquired route information from a sequence of slides depicting a walk through an actual environment. The accuracy of their distance knowledge after viewing the slides was compared for a normal presentation and a presentation with temporospatial discontinuity. No differences between age groups were noted under normal presentation conditions, but young adults were more accurate under conditions of temporospatial discontinuity. Results were interpreted in terms of an age-related decrement in the operational capacity of working memory. They were also viewed as supportive of a constructivist-representational theory of spatial learning.This research was conducted while the senior author served as Principal Investigator for National Institute on Aging Grant No. 1 ROI AG05169, Aging and Spatial Cognition, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA     

Brief report: Complex postformal thought in skilled research administrators

Expert research administrators responded to questions to determine to what degree they had postformal thinking skills. Postformal theory suggests that the interpersonal and institutional complexity of work roles would make them likely to exhibit postformal thought. The tests included a questionnaire about the use of postformal operations on the job, and thinking-aloud taped interviews of responses to job-related and standard postformal problems. The respondents demonstrated the use of postformal thinking operations on job-related tests and a more moderate degree of use on the standard problems. The results support prior research and our working hypothesis that a high degree of interaction with people and complex problems is associated with adults' postformal thought.