Role perceptions: Variations by sex and roles

A Role Perception Scale utilizing a combined projective-objective methodology was developed to assess female and male perceptions of each of three single roles — work, marriage, and parent — and two combined roles — work-marriage and work-parent. Research participants were 134 college students, 88 females and 46 males. Factor analysis of the objective scale, the only part to be scored, resulted in two major orthogonal factors labeled role engagement and competition factors. Sex and role differences for each factor were analyzed using 2×5 split block analysis of variance design with repeated measures. On three out of the five single and combined roles women perceived more engagement than men. In general males perceived roles as more competitive. These sex differences and patterns identified in within-sex analyses across roles are discussed.Parts of this paper were presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Washington, D.C., September 1976. Research was supported in part by the Dean's Development Fund, New York University, School of Education, Health, Nursing, and Arts Professions. Both authors are senior authors. The order of names is randomly determined. The authors wish to thank Philip Merrifield and Barbara Hummel-Rossi for their statistical assistance in data analysis.     

An animal model of the hyperactive-child syndrome suitable for the study of the effects of food additives

This report describes the use of an animal model for testing the relationship between the effects of ingesting food additives and hyperactivity. Telomian × beagle hybrid dogs were chosen as subjects because this breed has been observed to exhibit behavior seen as analogous to the hyperactivity of children. Two studies were conducted by adding or deleting butylated hydroxyanisole and Food, Drug, and Cosmetic red dye number 40 to the diet of each dog. A test of sitting was performed to measure the level of activity. While a relationship was not observed between the ingestion of the additive and the level of activity, several issues pertaining to the use of the animal model became apparent. These issues and the use of animals for future research in this area are discussed.     

Hand differences in the rate and variability of rapid tapping

Hand differences in the rate and variability of rapid tapping were evaluated for the intertap interval and its constituents-the key depression and key release phases of each tap. To accentuate potential hand differences, only subjects with a clear manual superiority in one hand were included. Relative manual proficiency on Fitts' reciprocal tapping task was used to exclude individuals with less-defined hand superiority or dominance, and to categorize subjects as having a dominant left (n=13) or right (n=11) hand. Analysis of variance indicated the dominant hand to have a shorter average intertap interval and thus a faster tapping rate. This hand difference in rate was found to be significant for the key-depression phase, but not the key-release.phase, of the tap. In each handedness group the dominant hand exhibited less variability in the intertap interval and both constituents. Potential associations of these findings with hemispheric asymmetries in sequential ability are discussed.     

Incidental learning,attention, and curiosity in squirrel monkeys calorie deprived as infants

The long-term effects of infantile malnutrition on information processing were studied in squirrel monkeys. From 2 through 8 weeks of age, four low-calorie infants were fed reduced amounts of a high protein diet, limiting their mean body weight gain to 23% of that of four well-fed controls, with all of this gain occurring during the first 2 weeks on the low-calorie diet. Thereafter, both groups received the standard diet ad libitum. At 68 weeks of age, incidental learning was tested by introducing shape cues that were redundant to the solution of a previously learned, two-choice, color discrimination. Removal of the color cues showed that the low-calorie monkeys had learned significantly less about the shape cues than had the controls. The basis for this incidental learning failure was then examined with an embedded-figures dicrimination, to measure attentional ability, and a novel stimulus substitution task, to measure curiosity. The groups did not differ in detecting embedded figures, but the low-calorie monkeys were significantly less likely than controls to select or handle novel stimuli that had been substituted for previously learned discriminative cues. It was concluded that undernutrition in infancy may induce a long-term strategy of only learning information which leads to an immediate reward, while suppressing the acquisition of information due to intrinsic curiosity.     

Psychology and "ordinary language"—a critique of Smedslund

This article takes up methodological issues of the kind raised by Jan Smedslund in earlier issues of this journal, concerning the status of psychological enquiry as a discipline. Arguments are presented which aim to show that Smedslund has failed to establish the thesis that all generally valid theoretical statements in psychology are explications of conceptual relationships embedded in ordinary language, i.e., analytic statements. Some specific examples of what Smedslund takes to be "ordinary language theorems" are examined. Doubts are expressed concerning the validity of the proof procedure Smedslund employs in the "demonstration" of a number of his alleged theorems. Finally, it is argued that the results produced by the situation-bound and culture-bound empirical research of the psychologist need not be viewed as "arbitrary" in Smedslund's sense of that term.     

Finite axiomatization for some intermediate logics

LetN. be the set of all natural numbers (except zero), and letD _n ^* = {k ∈N ∶k|n} ∪ {0} wherek¦n if and only ifn=k.x f or somex∈N. Then, an ordered setD _n ^* = 〈D _n ^* , ? _n , wherex? _ny iffx¦y for anyx, y∈D _n ^* , can easily be seen to be a pseudo-boolean algebra. In [5], V.A. Jankov has proved that the class of algebras {D _n ^* ∶n∈B}, whereB =,{k ∈N∶ ? \(\mathop \exists \limits_{n \in N} \) (n > 1 ≧n ² k)is finitely axiomatizable. The present paper aims at showing that the class of all algebras {D _n ^* ∶n∈B} is also finitely axiomatizable. First, we prove that an intermediate logic defined as follows: $$LD = Cn(INT \cup \{ p_3 \vee [p_3 \to (p_1 \to p_2 ) \vee (p_2 \to p_1 )]\} )$$ finitely approximatizable. Then, defining, after Kripke, a model as a non-empty ordered setH = 〈K, ?〉, and making use of the set of formulas true in this model, we show that any finite strongly compact pseudo-boolean algebra ? is identical with. the set of formulas true in the Kripke modelH _B = 〈P(?), ?〉 (whereP(?) stands for the family of all prime filters in the algebra ?). Furthermore, the concept of a structure of divisors is defined, and the structure is shown to beH D _n ^* = 〈P (D _n ^* ), ?〉for anyn∈N. Finally, it is proved that for any strongly compact pseudo-boolean algebraU satisfying the axiomp ₃∨ [p ₃→(p₁→p₂)∨(p₂→p₁)] there is a structure of divisorsD _* ⁿ such that it is possible to define a strong homomorphism froomiH D _n ^* ontoH D _U . Exploiting, among others, this property, it turns out to be relatively easy to show that \(LD = \mathop \cap \limits_{n \in N} E(\mathfrak{D}_n^* )\) .     

The effects of Familial Sinistrality and preferred hand on dichaptic and dichotic tasks

Processing asymmetries for tactile-spatial and auditory-verbal processing were investigated in two studies using the S. F. Witelson (1974, Cortex, 10, 3–17) dichaptic procedure. Experiment 1 used eight right-handed males in a free recall procedure. More shapes were correctly detected by the left hand but only with a right hand response. In Experiment 2, right and left handers with no Familial Sinistrality (FS) were compared with left handers with various types of FS, looking at pre- and postcued order of report and precuing the response hand. No group showed hand asymmetry with pre- or postcuing for either responding hand. Right handers showed no difference with order of report; however, left handers made fewer correct detections for items to be reported second. There were differences between the Parental FS and the Sibling FS groups both on the dichotic listening and the haptic tasks.     

Efficacy of self-instructional training for reducing children''s anxiety in an evaluative situation

Fifty-six fourth-grade children were categorized as either high or low in trait anxiety and then assigned to a self-instruction treatment, minimal-treatment, or no-treatment control condition. At both pretest and posttest, the subjects recited a memorized poem while being videotaped with the expectation that they would be judged on their performance. State anxiety measures, a behavior rating of anxiety, a measure of performance accuracy and the time involved in reciting a poem were obtained at both pretest and posttest. Contrary to expectation, the self-instructional training resulted in subjects' exhibiting greater signs of behavioral anxiety, subjects' hurrying through the task (taking less time to recite the poem) and high trait-anxiety subjects' reporting more state anxiety while anticipating reciting the poem. Correlational analyses indicated that trait anxiety was significantly related to the measures of state anxiety and the behavior rating of anxiety but not to performance accuracy.