Intuitive reasoning about abstract and familiar physics problems

Previous research has demonstrated that many people have misconceptions about basic properties of motion. In two experiments, we examined whether people are more likely to produce dynamically correct predictions about basic motion problems involving situations with which they are familiar, and whether solving such problems enhances performance on a subsequent abstract problem. In Experiment 1, college students were asked to predict the trajectories of objects exiting a curved tube. Subjects were more accurate on the familiar version of the problem, and there was no evidence of transfer to the abstract problem. In Experiment 2, two familiar problems were provided in an attempt to enhance subjects' tendency to extract the general structure of the problems. Once again, they gave more correct responses to the familiar problems but failed to generalize to the abstract problem. Formal physics training was associated with correct predictions for the abstract problem but was unrelated to performance on the familiar problems.     

Judgments of natural and anomalous trajectories in the presence and absence of motion

Recent studies have shown that many people demonstrate erroneous beliefs about motion when asked to predict the trajectories of objects. The present experiments examine whether people can select as correct natural trajectories over anomalous ones when presented with the actual on-going event (motion condition) or static representations of the event (no-motion condition). McCloskey's curved tube problem was used as the event. Results indicate that adults benefit from the motion information in these stimuli, choosing the correct path more often in the motion condition. Men performed better than women in both conditions; this gender effect could not be attributed to formal instruction in physics. Only in the no-motion condition did any men prefer a path which reflected an impetus model of motion. Some women chose a curvilinear path in the motion condition, and in the no-motion condition the curvilinear path was their most often selected alternative. Fifth-grade children demonstrated no effect for gender and their path preferences resembled those of adult males. Children's responses failed to demonstrate a preference for those curvilinear paths which reflect an impetus-based approach to the problem. Adults' performance in the no-motion condition was not enhanced by instructions to employ mental imagery of the event.     

Correlates of Breast Self-Examination in a Sample of College Women: Analyses of Linear Structural Relations1

Female college students filled out a questionnaire about breast self-examination (BSE) including (a) past and intended frequency of BSE, (b) attitude toward BSE, (c) beliefs about the benefits and costs of BSE, (d) knowledge about BSE, (e) confidence in ability to perform BSE, (f) social influences to perform BSE, (g) personal experiences related to breast cancer, and (h) perceptions of susceptibility to and severity of breast cancer. Results were consistent with a model in which (a) attitude and confidence are the direct causes of BSE, (b) beliefs about the benefits and costs of BSE are the direct causes of attitude, and (c) social influences (e.g., being taught how) and knowledge are the direct causes of confidence.     

A comparison of the classification capabilities of the 1-dimensional kohonen neural network with two pratitioning and three hierarchical cluster analysis algorithms

Neural Network models are commonly used for cluster analysis in engineering, computational neuroscience, and the biological sciences, although they are rarely used in the social sciences. In this study we compare the classification capabilities of the 1-dimensional Kohonen neural network with two partitioning (Hartigan and Späthk-means) and three hierarchical (Ward's, complete linkage, and average linkage) cluster methods in 2,580 data sets with known cluster structure. Overall, the performance of the Kohonen networks was similar to, or better than, the performance of the other methods.     

Perceptual learning in pigeons: Decreased ability to Discriminate samples mapped onto the same comparison in many-to-one matching

Humans often treat two stimuli that are associated with a common response as similar in other contexts. They do so presumably because those stimuli become conceptually or perceptually more similar to each other (perceptual learning). An analogous phenomenon may occur in pigeons when they are trained with a matching-to-sample procedure in which more than one sample is mapped onto the same comparison. In the present research, pigeons were trained to select one comparison following either of two samples (S₁ or S₂) and to select the other comparison following either of two different samples (S₃ or S₄). When the samples were then presented as positive and negative stimuli in a simple successive discrimination, samples that had been associated with the same comparison during original training (e.g., S₁ vs. S₂) were more difficult to discriminate than were samples that had been associated with different comparisons (e.g., S₁ vs. S₃). Thus, it appears that perceptual learning occurs in pigeons as well.     

Varimax solution for primary mental abilities

The varimax solution for Thurstone's classic Primary Mental Abilities study is presented. Comparisons between the factors of Thurstone's original subjectively rotated factor pattern, Zimmerman's subjectively revised solution, Wrigley, Saunders, and Neuhaus' quartimax results, and the present varimax factor matrix are made by finding correlations between factors defined by these four solutions. It is pointed out that any possible ultimate merit of the varimax solution should be based on its psychological meaningfulness and on the rationale of the varimax criterion—not on its relationship to the other studies.The computations for this paper were done on Illiac, an electronic computer of the Digital Computer Laboratory of the University of Illinois. Mr. S. M. Hunka assisted in these computations.     

Book reviews

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Book reviews

     

Attributional styles for helplessness and depression: The importance of sex and situational context

Differences between the sexes in attributions for positive and negative outcomes in either affiliative or achievement situations were examined using the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ). Separate regression analyses for each sex related the ASQ to a measure of helplessness and the Beck Depression Inventory. No differences were noted for attributions to internality or stability; however, females attributed more global causality to positive outcome affiliative situations and negative outcome achievement situations. Regression analyses failed to support the helplessness attributional model of depression. No ratings on the ASQ predicted depression for males; furthermore, for females, only the internal/external dimension was relevant, moderated by both outcome and type of situation. Sex differences were discussed in light of the higher incidence of depression among females.