Vigilance ratios implicate biological rhythms

Vigilance research has been focused on differences, yet ratios might have intrinsic, numerical significance. Reanalysis of data from Watkins' 1963 psychophysical experiment and 49 vigilance reports showed that individual and group ratios, including errors or misses: detections, were related to roots (particularly of base 1/12 and multiples), powers, e-base ratios (EBR), and fractions. Examples are given from well-known experiments of remarkably exact relationships between conditions, time periods, etc. It is suggested that these phenomena are the product of biological rhythms. Theoretical implications are briefly discussed and the advantages of ratio analysis noted, as when this method proved that criterion beta changes, given as nonsignificant, formed part of an ordered set. In a real-world application, the frequency of lane-drifts in O'Hanlon and Kelly's 1977 report is shown to follow a mathematical pattern.     

Perceptions of Major Roles by College Students

This study concerns women's and men's perceptions of five roles and role combinations: worker, spouse, parent, worker-spouse, and worker-parent. Undergraduates wrote stories to relevant projective cues. A variation of the Thematic Apperception Test was used. Protocols were coded for degree of (a) conflict, (b) positive outcome, and (c) positive affect, with inter-rater agreement at least 77% for each category. Sex and role differences were analyzed. Results indicate minimal sex differences. The tentative nature of the results is stressed.     

Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)

Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930) was fourteenth President of the American Psychological Association, invented the paired-associate technique, founded an early psychological laboratory, and developed a system of self-psychology. Her eminence as a psychologist and a scholar was widely acknowledged and she was the recipient of two honorary degrees. Calkins published prolifically in both psychology and philosophy, moving away from psychology into philosophy during the latter half of her career. Both her work in psychology and philosophy came to center on the importance of the self. Calkins studied with William James, Josiah Royce and Hugo Munsterberg at Harvard in the 1890s, and although she completed all the requirements for the Ph.D., she was not granted the degree because she was a woman. In 1902, she was offered a Radcliffe degree which she declined on principle, because she believed that work done at Harvard should be recognized by a Harvard degree regardless of whether the recipient was a female or a male. On many occasions throughout her life, she expressed her opposition to differentiation between the sexes based on the assumption of inherent differences in mental abilities.