Achromatic color categories

Sternheim and Boynton’s (1966) continuous judgmental color-naming technique was used to assess the elemental nature of achromatic colors. Results from three subjects indicate that the names “black” and “white” are necessary and sufficient to describe achromatic test lights associated with the name “gray.” On the basis of the criteria that establishes a color as elemental, black and white were confirmed as elemental, whereas gray was not. These findings support the assumption of various opponent processing models that there are only two elemental achromatic sensations. In addition, the results support Hering’s (1920) view that black and white differ from the paired-chromatic opponent colors in that they are not mutually exclusive.     

Profiles of adolescents' clothing practices: purchase, daily selection, and care

The purpose of this study was to examine the clothing practices in the daily selection, care, and purchase of clothing by adolescents in order to determine the extent these practices are performed independently or influenced by others, and to identify the factors involved in the activities. Clothing Practice Profiles were developed for both sexes in the three age groups corresponding to divisions in the Oregon 4-H program. The age group comparison revealed increasing frequency of independent activity in all three clothing practice areas (selection, care, and purchase) as age increased. Parental influence appeared to decrease with increasing age. Siblings' influence was minimal. Peer influence on selection and purchase practices increased. Media influence on daily clothing selection practices and clothing purchase practices in terms of wearing or buying identical or similar clothing was minimal. Media influence in advertisements increased with age, but purchases of advertised clothing items remained about the same. Age group comparisons were also made for selection factors and other care and purchase practices, including responsibilities for care of the member's and family's clothing, planning clothing purchases, sources of funds and methods of paying for clothing, use of clothing label information, and purchase factors.     

A factor analytic investigation of children's nighttime fear and coping responses

Checklists of children's nighttime fears and nighttime coping responses, completed by 178 8- to 13-year-old children and one of their parents, were factor analyzed. The resulting factors from each checklist were comparable for children and parents. The nighttime fear categories consisted of content around security either for one's personal life, loss, or safety or for others' safety and continued presence; imaginal-numinous concerns; and characteristics inherent in a nighttime situation. The coping categories consisted of responses related to internal self-control, social support, support from inanimate objects, prayer, and avoidance or escape either by controlling the inanimate environment or by controlling others.     

The effect of diagonality on reconstruction of patterns by preschool children

The study examined the contribution of various aspects of pattern complexity to children's difficulty on reconstruction of patterns. Specifically, diagonal pattern components and spatial orientation of patterns were considered. Twenty-four children between 16 months and 31 months were presented eight 5-square patterns on a 3 X 3 matrix of squares. The squares lighted, went dark, and then could be relighted by the child if touched. Accuracy of reconstruction was determined by the number of squares correctly chosen by the child during reconstruction. The eight patterns were rated according to Leeuwenberg's code length method, Garner's rotation-and-reflection method, Halford and Macdonald's rating scale, and a simple count of the number of diagonal lines. Analysis of children's responding indicated that number of diagonal lines was more predictive of memory performance than the other three rating systems, implying that diagonality is an important feature of pattern complexity that should be included in ratings of patterns used in research with children.     

Type A behavior pattern and the judgment of noncontingency: mediating roles of mood and perspective

Past research indicates that Type A's and B's differ in their behavioral responses to lack of control. The present study examined perceptual judgments of noncontingency in an attempt to clarify further the role of a control dynamic in Type A-B differences. Type A's and B's assumed the role of either an actor or an observer on a standard contingency judgment task. Consistent with previous research, both Type A's and B's exhibited an illusion of control when in the role of actor. Only Type B's exhibited an illusion of control when observing another person perform the task. Additional analyses indicated that the absence of an illusion of control by Type A observers reflected accuracy rather than a motivational distortion. Mood was also found to mediate control judgments, but only for actors. The plausibility of a memory-based interpretation for the mood effects is discussed.     

Three-way metric unfolding via alternating weighted least squares

Three-way unfolding was developed by DeSarbo (1978) and reported in DeSarbo and Carroll (1980, 1981) as a new model to accommodate the analysis of two-mode three-way data (e.g., nonsymmetric proximities for stimulus objects collected over time) and three-mode, three-way data (e.g., subjects rendering preference judgments for various stimuli in different usage occasions or situations). This paper presents a revised objective function and new algorithm which attempt to prevent the common type of degenerate solutions encountered in typical unfolding analysis. We begin with an introduction of the problem and a review of three-way unfolding. The three-way unfolding model, weighted objective function, and new algorithm are presented. Monte Carlo work via a fractional factorial experimental design is described investigating the effect of several data and model factors on overall algorithm performance. Finally, three applications of the methodology are reported illustrating the flexibility and robustness of the procedure.We wish to thank the editor and reviewers for their insightful comments.