Classification of spelling errors and their relationship to reading ability, sex, grade placement, and intelligence

A simple scheme for the classification of spelling errors was applied to the errors of four groups of children, totaling 483 subjects, in grades 3 to 12. The subjects in two of the groups, Group I and Group IV, consisted of individuals who attended special schools for children with dyslexia or specific reading disability (SRD). Group II included school age siblings of subjects in Group I, and Group III included subjects drawn from regular school programs. It was shown that (a) type of spelling error is independent of sex, (b) there are no consistent effects of IQ or grade level on type of spelling error, and (c) disabled readers as a group are more likely to produce dysphonetic errors than are normal readers. Although the type of spelling error produced by children who had a spelling disability only was shown to be similar to that of normal readers and to differ from that of disabled readers as a group, disabled readers were shown to differ among themselves, lending strong support to the use of spelling error type as a characteristic for identifying subgroups.     

Is hostility linked with affiliation among males and with achievement among females? A critique of Pollak and Gilligan

This investigation attempted to replicate and to clarify methodologically an investigation by Pollak and Gilligan (1982). Those investigators reported sex differences in violence imagery to Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) pictures depicting affiliation and achievement situations. Pollak and Gilligan concluded that men perceive danger in situations of affiliation whereas women perceive danger in situations of achievement. It was demonstrated in the present study that Pollak and Gilligan incorrectly classified TAT cards into motivational categories, which may have resulted in incorrect inferences. In addition, their findings could not be replicated when using four different systems for classifying TAT cards into motivational categories. Other potential sources of error in their research, including a restrictive scoring scheme for hostility, unusual instructions, and failure to control for sex role in the TAT pictures, did not influence the pattern of results.     

When stereotypes hurt: Three studies of penalties for sex-role reversals

Three studies that demonstrate penalties for sex-role reversals are reported. In each study, subjects evaluated men and women who behaved either in line with sex-role stereotypes or counter to them. The results show that popularity ratings and perceived psychological adjustment of both passive-dependent men and aggressive-assertive women were adversely affected. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to recent theories about women's achievement motivation.     

Recognition and recall as measures of long-term retention

Acquisition and retention of a list of paired associates were measured either by cued recall or by multiple-choice recognition. The method of testing used during original learning was combined factorially with the type of test administered after a 1-week interval. Speed of learning to criterion under the two procedures was comparable. Long-term recognition was substantially higher than recall. This difference did not interact significantly with the method of learning. Recall benefited substantially from a prior test of recognition, but there was little effect when the order of tests was reversed. It is concluded that (a) both occurrence and retrieval information were stored under each condition of learning, and (b) occurrence information is less subject to forgetting than retrieval information.     

Effects of Undergoing Arbitrary Discrimination Upon Subsequent Attitudes Toward a Minority Group1

The purpose of the experiment was to test the hypothesis that having been both the object of prejudice and discrimination and the discriminator, a child will be less likely to hold prejudiced beliefs and exhibit discriminatory behavior toward a minority group. A 3rd-grade class was randomly divided into Orange and Green people. On Day I, Orange children were “superior” and Green children were “inferior”. On Day II, statuses were rcvcrsed. On Day III and again 2 weeks later, the experimental class was significantly more likely to desire a picnic with a group of Black children and held less-prejudiced beliefs when compared to the Control. The manipulation did not affect performance on Days I and II.     

Peripheral and central components in variants of the Mueller-Lyer illusion

Illusion decrement with prolonged inspection was used as a technique to assess the relative amount of central component in seven variants of the Mueller-Lyer illusion. Results indicate that all of the variant forms share a common, central component, while the peripheral components, such as lateral inhibition, vary as a function of the presence of converging lines in the illusion configurations.     

The perceived informational value and affective consequences of choice behavior and intermediate difficulty task selection

Four experiments were conducted that examine the affective and informational determinants of risk-preference behavior. In the initial two experiments, subjects classified according to their level of achievement needs expressed a preference among tasks varying in difficulty. In two of the experimental conditions, instructions, respectively, conveyed that performance at the task chosen should either maximize satisfaction or the information gained about one's ability and effort expenditure. It was found that the majority of all subjects preferred to undertake tasks of intermediate difficulty and that both positive affect and information gain were perceived to be optimal at or near the level of intermediate difficulty. Experiments III and IV investigated at what level of task difficulty individuals most desire information about their performance. Police trainees and high school students with disparate self-concepts of respective target shooting and high-jumping ability were able to receive limited but self-selected performance feedback at a series of achievement tasks that varied in difficulty. The data revealed that the tasks selected for feedback became objectively less difficult as the self-perception of ability decreased. In addition, the tasks chosen for feedback were near the intermediate subjective certainty of success level for all subjects. It was contended that the data contradict Atkinson's model of choice but support an attributional conception. The general issue of affective versus informational models of motivation was discussed.     

An empirical taxonomy of visual illusions

A classification system for visual-geometric illusions, based upon the interrelationships between behavioral responses to various distortions was created. Forty-five illusion configurations were presented to 221 observers. Factor analysis revealed that there are five classes of illusions. A secondorder analysis revealed that visual distortions are ultimately reducible to two global types of distortions: illlusions of extent and illusions of shape or direction.