Why good job performance may (not) be rewarded: Sex Factors and Career Development

An experiment tested the effects of three sex variables on managerial career evaluations. The variables were sex of evaluator, sex of manager (evaluatee), and predominate sex of manager's subordinates. Each subject evaluated four managers, one in each possible combination of the last two independent variables, in an “in basket” format. All four situations included comparable managerial performance data. Subjects evaluated each manager in terms of size of a deserved salary increase, probable performance if promoted, promotability, and probability of attaining 5-year tenure. There were no differences in evaluations between male and female evaluators. Manager's sex and predominate subordinate sex frequently interacted. The interactions were interpreted as a sex-matching bias which can inappropriately benefit managers of opposite sex subordinates and hinder careers of managers with subordinates of their own sex.     

Activity level: A comparison between actometer scores and observer ratings

Activity level of 13 boys (aged 9–13) from a day hospital program was measured using actometers in classroom, gym, woodshop, and group therapy settings. Ratings of Ss' activity were obtained from mothers using the Werry scale, and from six clinical staff familiar with the Ss using the Davids scale. It was predicted that activity ratings would have situationally specific relationships with actometermeasured activity level according to the rater's opportunities for observation. Comparisons between measures indicated that all clinical staff ratings correlated significantly with actometer activity in the classroom (r=.49 to r=.73), while mothers' ratings correlated significantly with actometer activity in gym (r=.67), and woodshop (r=.77), and with overall activity (r=.65), a combined measure derived from actometer scores in the four conditions tested. Five of six clinical staff raters showed significant interrater reliability (r=.58 to r=.83). Results are discussed in terms of their implications for solution of current problems in assessment of activity level and hyperactivity.     

Counseling,Risk Taking,and the Learning Process

It is crucial that counselors recognize that the problem-solving process that occurs in a counseling situation is synonymous with classroom learning. It is imperative that counselors understand the nature of the problem-solving process and how to guide and nurture this process, to increase their own effectiveness and their counselees' growth. Understanding the concepts of risk taking and intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcement and their relationships to the counselees' problem-solving processes will allow counselors to establish their own counseling approaches and respond to the counselees' learning needs. Jerome Niles is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. Marianne DeVoe is an assistant professor of educational foundations at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.     

Cognitive Slippage in Children Vulnerable to Schizophrenia

Psychological deficit research with adult schizophrenics has been hindered by numerous methodological problems that may be avoided by the prospective study of children vulnerable to the disorder. An object sorting task was administered to 156 children of schizophrenic patients, 102 children of depressed patients, and 139 children of normal parents. The children were between 6 and 15 years old. The children of schizophrenic parents made fewer superordinate sorting responses than those of normal parents, and more complex sorts (a category of inadequate responses) than children of either normal or depressed parents. Our analyses showed that these deficits could not be explained by differences in intelligence. These deficits in conceptual performance may reflect the genotypic predisposition to schizophrenia and/or represent an early precursor of later maladjustment.This research was supported by grant MH 21145 from the National Institutes of Mental Health and by funds from the William T. Grant Foundation. We would like to thank Linda Doll, Diane Liebert, and Jean C. Sullivan for testing the children, and Barbara Mosbacher and Rochelle Weinberger for scoring the protocols.     

Intelligence tests on trial: An “interview” with judges Robert F. Peckham and John F. Grady

The issue of culturally biased intelligence tests has been heard in two federal courts. Judge Robert F. Peckham, in the Larry P., et al. v. Wilson Riles, et al. case, ruled that intelligence tests were culturally biased. In contrast, Judge John F. Grady, in the Parents in Action on Special Education, et al. v. Joseph P. Hannon, et al. case, ruled that intelligence tests were not culturally biased. A mock “interview” based on the judges' written opinions, shows similarities and differences in their approach to various issues involved in the trials.     

Behavior problems of elementary-school children

Normative or baseline data are presented on a modified (shortened) form of the Peterson-Quay Behavior Problem Checklist. Scores on the two primary factors, Conduct and Personality, were obtained on an entire public elementary-school population (approximately 25,000 children) in a mediumsized midwestern city (Des Moines, Iowa). The data presented are categorized by sex, grade level, and intellectual level. Percentages of children checked on each checklist item and on given numbers of items are also presented.Formerly school psychologist with Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools.     

A developmental assessment of children's verbal strategies for social action resolution

The objectives of this study were (1) to devise a method to assess children's developing verbal strategies for action resolution as expressed in reflection on a naturalistic, real-life social experience and (2) to examine these strategies in relation to differences in age and reflective social understanding level. In the design of this study the two independent variables were grade (second and third versus fourth and fifth) and level of reflective social understanding (level 1 versus level 2 on a social understanding interview schedule). Four small activity groups (six subjects per group), homogeneous with respect to grade and reflective social understanding level, were composed from 24 girls with middle class backgrounds. Each of the four groups met for twelve consecutive school weaks, once a week, for 90 minutes in adult supervised after-school cooperative group activities (e.g., putting on a puppet show).A Social Action Resolution Strategies interview was administered to each subject individually at the end of the twelve-week program in order to assess the child's preferred verbally expressed choice of action for resolving common conflits which arose in the activity group experience. Interviews were coded according to four levels of social action resolution strategies (0–3). Results indicated that the developmental sequence of social perspective-taking levels can be considered to underlie the range of strategies used by children to settle social conflicts as well as social understanding levels. A clear relation among level of social action resolution strategies, level of reflective social understanding, and grade was found.     

Relations between nutrition and cognitive performance in Egyptian toddlers

Two relatively unexplored questions--which specific components of chronic mild child malnutrition are associated with specific behavioral and cognitive deficits and do psychosocial child rearing factors moderate the nutrition-development relationship?--were investigated in a longitudinal study involving 153 toddlers from the Egyptian village of Kalama. Beginning at study entry at age 18 months and continuing until 30 months, food intake information was obtained for 2 consecutive days each month. During the same period, researchers visited the homes twice a month to observe both toddler behavior and caregiver styles. Finally, standardized infant development tests were administered at 24 months and 30 minutes and the capacity for exploratory, symbolic play was assessed. Specific components of nutritional intake at 18-23 months of age were confirmed to be uniquely related to specific developmental outcomes at 24 months of age. Changes in toddler intake from 18-30 months also predicted 30-month cognitive performance. At 24 months, general mental competence was associated positively with fat intake, total kilocalories, and total protein intake while symbolic play capacity was related only to total protein intake. Significant increases in predictive variance occurred when the model was expanded to encompass caregiver behaviors as well as nutritional factors. For example, when nonverbal response to child vocalizations was used as the environmental measure, there was evidence of both coactive and synergistic interactions for comparisons involving cognitive development indicators. For symbolic play, an increase in predictive variance was found when the model included the multiplicative interaction of animal kilocalories by nonverbal response to vocalizations. Also observed was a buffering effect against poor psychosocial rearing conditions given the presence of adequate nutritional intake. These findings suggest the feasibility of multidimensional risk profiles, the provision of specific nutrients targeted at specific deficits, and multidisciplinary interventions.     

A validational note on the revised Socialization Scale of the California Psychological Inventory

The revised (1987) Socialization Scale of the California Psychological Inventory was studied in a sample of 121 delinquent and nondelinquent males to determine if the revised scale, compared to the original version of the scale (1957), could differentiate among a group of nonoffenders and a comprehensive typology of offenders. Results of an ANOVA and product-moment correlations provided significant and considerable support for the discriminability of the revised So Scale. Obtained results indicate that the revised instrument can differentiate offenders from nonoffenders to about the same, or a greater, degree than the original scale.