Menstrual hormone changes and instinctual tendencies in dreams

Seventeen female college students completed dream questionnaires for every dream recalled over two menstrual cycles. Scales were devised to measure obvious and symbolic maternal and heterosexual dream content. Menstrual cycles were divided into follicular (progesterone-absent) and luteal (progesterone-present) phases for comparison within each subject. There were higher obvious and symbolic maternal scores in the luteal phase. It was concluded that hormones influence instinctual tendencies as expressed in dreams.     

Skilled perception in Go: Deducing memory structures from inter-response times

Experts appear able to handle much larger amounts of specialized information than nonexperts, and handle it without an apparent superior memory capacity. This finding, based on research on chess players with chess information, was replicated on Go players with Go information. Assuming this superiority occurs because the experts process chunks of information through their limited capacities rather than individual elements, the question then becomes one of defining what the chunks are and how they are related. To this end, the technique of partitioning recall and reproduction data into chunks on the basis of inter-response times (IRTs) (introduced in their work on chess by Chase and Simon, 1973) was applied to the reproduction and recall of Go patterns by a Go Master and a Go beginner. Unlike its application in chess, no single IRT was able to produce consistent, veridical chunks for either Go player. Subsequent analysis of the underlying assumptions of the technique showed it to be limited to only those patterns that can be partitioned into a linear set of chunks, not nested chunks, and to situations in which retrieval and overt recall of each chunk is completed before retrieval of the next chunk. In a supplementary task, the Master Go player indicated that the Go patterns were not seen as linear chunks nor as strictly nested hierarchies, but rather as overlapping clusters. IRTs were found to be correlated with this structure, but were not reliable enough to reflect its details.     

The use of the cumulative rehearsal strategy: A developmental study

This study was designed to address two issues: (1) At what age do children spontaneously use a cumulative rehearsal strategy; and (2) What effect does the use of the strategy have on their performance?Twenty-eight children at each of five grade levels (nursery, kindergarten, 1, 3, and 5) were tested in a serial-position recall task. Stimuli were pictures of common objects and animals whose labels were one or two syllables in length. Following testing, the children were asked to report the memory strategy they had used.The assumption was made that children who were using a cumulative rehearsal strategy would perform better on series of one-syllable items than on series of two-syllable items. As predicted, nursery, kindergarten, and first-grade subjects correctly recalled as many two-syllable as one-syllable items: Both third- and fifth-graders recalled significantly more one-syllable than two-syllable items. Results indicated that (1) young children do not spontaneously use a cumulative rehearsal strategy until after first grade, and (2) the use of rehearsal did not facilitate overall performance of the rehearsers relative to the nonrehearsers at any grade level. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for the study of memory development.     

Liking for evaluators: Consistency and self-esteem theories

Consistency and self-esteem theories make contrasting predictions about the relationship between a person's self-evaluation and his liking for an evaluator. When approval is given for a trait different from one on which the target has a clear self-evaluation, consistency theory does not logically apply, and self-esteem effects are predicted. When approval is given for a trait on which self-evaluation is clear, consistency needs are expected to influence the target's response. A laboratory experiment confirmed these predictions, and it was argued that reconciliation of the two theories is possible by careful articulation of the situations to which each applies.     

A component analysis of attentional problems of educationally handicapped boys

Seventy-three educationally handicapped (EH) and 78 regular class, normally achieving (NA) boys grades 3–8 were tested with a series of measures selected to test three components of attention: coming to attention, decision making, and maintaining attention over time. EH and NA samples were subdivided into three groups by grade level (grades 3–4, 5–6, and 7–8). Based on a teacher-completed behavioral check list, the EH group was further subdivided according to pupils perceived by teachers as hyperactive or nonhyperactive. With the exception of the youngest group, EH and NA samples did not differ from each other on CA, but regular class boys had slightly higher IQs and better reading scores than did their EH peers;EH hyperactives and EH nonhyperactives differed significantly on reading scores, the difference favoring the nonhyperactives. All pupils were individually administered the Children's Embedded Figures Test (CEFT), the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT), and the Children's Checking Task (CCT), the last designed specifically to assess ability to maintain attention over time. EH pupils did not function as efficiently or as accurately on the attentional tasks as did their normally achieving age peers. Significant differences between EH and NA samples were found for CEFT and MFFT errors, as well as for CCT errors of omission and commission. Analyses of the EH group according to hyperactive-nonhyperactive status were for the most part nonsignificant. Correlational analyses yieMed low but statistically significant relationships among the attentional measures, but nonsignificant relationships between IQ and the attentional test scores. Findings were consistent with the interpretation that the three hypothesized components of attention are partially independent and thus may have differential influence on pupils' performance in school.This research was supported in part by U.S. Public Health Service Grant No. 1 RO 1 25076-01A1 and Contract No. 5893, between the State Department of Education and the University of California, Los Angeles.     

The Validity of Construction Workers' and Students' Perceptions of Each Other: A Research Note

Following the spring 1970 confrontations between undergraduate college students and construction workers in lower Manhattan, a study of attitudes of a sample of undergraduates and construction workers was conducted. One hunderd Columbia University undergraduates and 100 apprentice construction workers were asked to indicate their level of agreement with 10 statements which were intended to embody "basic American tenets". The respondents within each group were also asked to predict the attitude that a member of the other group would hold. A "liberal/conservative" dichotomy was developed for the instrument by having independent judges categorize each of the 10 items as representing a "liberal" or a "conservative" attitude.
The expectations that student responses would be more liberal than construction worker responses and that each group would perceive this difference were tested and supported. The expectation that students perceive construction workers to be even more conservative than the workers report themselves to be was also supported. But the construction workers did not demonstrate the expected exaggeration of the students' liberalism.     

Mechanisms of forgetting in short-term memory

This paper introduces a technique applicable to the question: Does information in short-term memory disappear with time? The technique appears to eliminate Ss' rehearsal in the retention interval without introducing potentially interfering material. In the experiment, Ss read aloud three words, then engaged in a difficult auditory signal detection task intended to keep them from rehearsing for 15 sec, and then attempted to recall the three words. The results provide no support for the principle of loss with time as an explanation of forgetting in short-term memory.     

The psychology of tokenism: An analysis

American society is analyzed as a gender-class system wherein tokenism is defined as a form of interclass mobility. Two role partners, Sponsor and Token, sustain the institution of tokenism: the Token is a member of the deviant class and the Sponsor is a member of the dominant class. The content and functioning of this role partnership are broadly defined. The limitations of tokenism and implications for change in the social system are discussed.     

Effects of shifts in the rate of repetitive stimulation on sustained attention

The effects of shifts in the rate of presentation of repetitive neutral events (background event rate) were studied in a visual vigilance task. Four groups of subjects experienced either a high (21 events/min) or a low (6 events/min) event rate for 20 min and then experienced either the same or the alternate event rate for an additional 40 min. The temporal occurrence of critical target signals was identical for all groups, irrespective of event rate. The density of critical signals was 12 signals/20 min. By the end of the session, shifts in event rate were associated with changes in performance which resembled contrast effects found in other experimental situations in which shift paradigms were used. Relative to constant event rate control conditions, a shift from a low to a high event rate depressed the probability of signal detections, while a shift in the opposite direction enhanced the probability of signal detections.