Abstraction of contingency in concept learning

It is generally agreed that concept learning involves the abstraction of some general representation or schema. Just what is abstracted, however, and how it is used in the classification of sets of stimuli in the natural world or in the laboratory, remain outstanding questions. In this paper a hypothesis involving contingency abstraction is described as a possible solution to these questions. An experiment which manipulated measured contingency in a concept-learning task, and which offered empirical support for the hypothesis, is reported. The advantages of a contingency-abstraction theory of concept learning are briefly discussed.     

Mental imagery and pictorial memory

Previous research has failed to show consistent effects upon memory performance of individual differences in the use of mental imagery. A test of pictorial memory was devised which varied the ease with which the stimulus patterns could be verbally encoded. A factor analysis related performance in this task to a variety of other individual characteristics. The recall of material which could not be readily verbalized defined a factor within the solution which showed significant loadings of age and performance in the Progressive Matrices, but not of subjective ratings of the vividness of experienced imagery. The recall of material which could be readily verbalized did not contribute to the factorial structure of the results. It was concluded that the two sorts of pictorial material are remembered in quite different ways.     

Race,Sex, and Helping in the Marketplace1

In a field study of helping behavior carried out in 48 “convenience” grocery stores, customers tried to purchase for $1.00 a product clearly labeled as costing from $1.15 to $1.50. Amount of help by white clerks (allowing the purchase for $1.00) varied as a function of sex of customer and race of customer. Black male customers were helped least often. Neither the dress of the customers (casually-dressed or well-dressed) nor the racial makeup of the store's clientele was significantly related to helping. Implications of these findings for concepts of same-race bias and “reverse discrimination” in helping are discussed.     

Objections to personal counselling in schools

This paper seeks to identify some of the more compelling arguments put forward by those who oppose or criticise personal counselling in schools. These arguments cannot be dismissed lightly, and counsellors will have to give them serious consideration if a satisfactory resolution of the issues is to be achieved.