Visual-word recognition thresholds for screen-fragmented names of the Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures

The set of names corresponding to the pictures from Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) were screen fragmented by means of a series of procedures implemented in Microsoft QuickBasic on a Macintosh microcomputer. Words were screen fragmented by deleting blocks of pixels from their images rather than by deleting individual letters. The screen-fragmentation procedure is particularly useful for the present set of words, in which a large proportion of the names of the pictures are short (fewer than five letters). The screen-fragmentation procedure can produce any number of fragmentation levels. In the present implementation, eight levels of fragmented images were produced, to correspond to the eight levels available for the Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures.     

The Family Environment in Chronic Pain Patients: Comparison to Controls and Relationship to Patient Functioning

Operant and cognitive-behavioral models of chronic pain have called attention to the importance of examining the marital and family environments of chronic pain patients. In this study, 50 chronic pain patients and their spouses and 33 control participants and their spouses completed measures of the family environment, marital satisfaction, and patient physical and psychological functioning. Patients' overt pain behaviors were coded from videotapes of patient–spouse interactions. Compared to controls, pain patients and their spouses rated their family environments as lower in cohesion and higher in control, and there was a trend for spouses to report more marital dissatisfaction. Chronic pain patient depression was associated negatively with patient-rated family cohesion and expressiveness and spouse-rated family organization and positively with patient-rated family conflict. Overt patient pain behaviors and spouse-rated patient disability were related negatively to spouse-rated family cohesion. Spouse marital satisfaction was associated negatively with patient depression and with spouse ratings of patient disability and pain behaviors.     

Discipline and the use of sanctions

Children must be taught how to act, and it is easy to assume that such teaching requires the use of rewards and punishments. Yet research shows that rewards and punishments are likely to have unintended and, often, undesirable consequences. The paper discusses some of this research and casts the results into a context that integrates language learning, value transmission, and behavior. Alternatives to the use of sanctions are suggested.     

Feeling Economically Dependent on One's Job: Its Origins and Functions With Regard to Worker Well-Being

The origins and functions of feeling economically dependent on one's job were examined among a sample of 168 hospital workers. As predicted, economic dependency was found to be greater the more dependents workers have, the less money they earn from their jobs, the less other income they have in their family units, the more they adhere to an instrumental work orientation, and the less mobile they perceive themselves to be. Also as predicted, it was found that economic dependency fully mediated the relationship between 4 of the 5 antecedents (number of dependents, other income, instrumental values, and perceived mobility) and the subjective well-being of workers. Job-related income was observed to have both direct and indirect effects. Further, the relationship between economic dependency and subjective well-being was negative. These latter findings are discussed and implications drawn for the future use of the economic dependency construct.     

A Concurrent Validity Study Applied to a Secretarial Position in a State Universities Civil Service System

In a concurrent validity study, a comprehensive job analysis of a mid-level secretarial position resulted in the development of highly valid employment selection instruments. Six hundred fifty-nine supervisors and 883 incumbents in 20 locations participated in the job analysis. Scores from the selection test correlated with composite ratings from a research performance appraisal (RPA) .41 (p<.001). Two forms of the test (A and B) were developed. Form A and Form B test scores and RPA composite ratings correlated .55 and .48 (p<.001) respectively. The unbiased estimate of equivalence reliability of Form A and Form B was .94. The two tests correlated .89 (p<.001).     

Body esteem, eating attitudes, and gender-role orientation in three age groups of children

The purpose of this study was to assess body esteem, eating attitudes, and gender-role orientation in three age groups (first, third, and fifth graders). The first graders were interviewed individually; the third and fifth graders completed a questionnaire in a group setting in which the questions were read aloud to set a pace and help those who may have had difficulty reading. All children completed the Children’s Sex Stereotypes Measure, the children’s version of the Eating Attitudes Test, and the Body Esteem Scale. It was hypothesized that children as young as six or seven do understand the connection between eating and body weight, that a proportion of children do experience eating and weight concerns, and that feminine children are most likely to experience such concerns. The results demonstrated that children, as early as first grade, were indeed engaging in eating disordered behaviors and expressing dieting and weight concerns. The children appeared to understand the connection between eating and weight, and body esteem was found to be significantly lower in the fifth than the third graders. However, feminine children were not more likely to exhibit eating disordered behaviors. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 1993 meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in Arlington, VA.     

Holland's theory and non-college-degreed working black and white women

The main concern of this study was to investigate differences between black and white American women employed in traditional female occupations who took the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and the Self-Directed Search (SDS). The VPI and the SDS were administered to 110 black and white non-college-degreed workers in three occupations (laboratory technicians, sales clerks, and clerk-typists) corresponding to three of Holland's environmental categories (Investigative, Enterprising, and Conventional). In general, the findings for the three VPI and SDS scales and for these six occupational groups are mixed. On the SDS scales, findings indicate that black and white women in the same occupation seem to be far more similar than different. On the scales of the VPI, however, white and black women in the same occupation seem to be more different than similar.     

Sequencing strategies in children 18–24 months: Limitations imposed by task complexity

Researchers have generally reported that very young children lack the orderly, sequential approach to tasks that characterizes skilled action. This study questions that assumption by investigating to what extent deficits in sequencing are a function of task complexity (type and number of elements), and to what extent sequencing ability is tied to competent task performance. Three tasks—the Lock Box, Pegboards, and Object Grouping—were each presented in two forms, varying only in number of elements. Participants were 38 children between 18 and 24 months of age. The Denver Developmental Screening Test was also administered to all children. When number of task elements increased, there was a dramatic decrease in orderliness of approach. Type of task served to exaggerate or minimize these effects. However, irrespective of task complexity, children used a consistent pattern of organization, generally two or three sequential movements. This strategy, though serving well for tasks of limited dimensions, was inadequate for tasks with more than four or five elements. Sequencing skills, as well as other aspects of performance, were significantly correlated with Denver scores. Results suggest that exceeding the limits of young children's organizing abilities may obscure actual capacities. The role of task complexity in the performance of young children is discussed as it relates to developmental processes, clinical assessment, and teaching.     

Explaining the adult careers of dyslexic boys: Variations in critical skills for high-level jobs

Several hundred boys who were diagnosed as dyslexic (specifically reading disabled) in adolescence and who attended a private college preparatory school for dyslexics were followed up in adulthood. The occupations of these men, who were above average in both intelligence and socioeconomic background, were compared to those of both a control group and the general white male population. As hypothesized, the dyslexic men had higher level jobs than the average man but they were much less likely than the controls to become professionals. They rarely entered jobs such as physician, lawyer, or college teacher which require higher degrees; instead most became managers or salesmen. The occupational differences between the dyslexic and control men were related to, but not completely accounted for, by their large differences in educational attainment. Data on the competencies rated as critical to good job performance in different occupations were consistent with the hypothesis that dyslexic men would establish themselves in relatively high-level jobs emphasizing nonacademic rather than academic on-the-job skills. Nondisabled professionals rated getting information through reading among the most critical of the skills required on their jobs. In contrast, managers and salesmen rated reading as less important than nonacademic competencies such as taking initiative and responsibility or being persuasive. The results illustrate the value of knowing more about the particular competencies required in different jobs in order to help members of special groups, particularly those such as dyslexies who have specific and enduring handicaps but who are otherwise intellectually normal.