A signal-detection approach to subception: Concomitant verbal and finger-latency responses in metacontrast

Metacontrast conditions were created by the onset of flanking lights designed to mask the prior blink of an otherwise steady center light. For pseudometacontrast trials, the center light did not blink in advance of the flanking lights. Responses were an immediate finger-key release to the first detectable change in the visual display followed by a statement of whether the center light had been doused. A signal-detection analysis was used to avoid both threshold and response-criterion problems. Verbal report was, on the average, more sensitive than finger latency in detecting the masked blinks. However, there were large and consistent individual differences; reaction time was the more sensitive for a few subjects. Data analysis revealed that each response system showed detection with the other system “partialed out.” A model was offered in which verbal- and finger-response systems act in parallel, with uncorrelated variability between systems accounting for the subception effect.     

Let's Suspend Suspensions: Consequences and Alternatives

National data dispute the value of school suspensions. This article describes specific alternatives to suspension, with special attention devoted to the creation of “in-school” suspension programs. It outlines the philosophies, benefits, essential components, and major difficulties of in-school suspension centers. The author discusses truancy prevention, contingency contracting, and corporal punishment, and provides sources for obtaining detailed information on each disciplinary technique.     

Masculinity-femininity perceptions of job requirements and their relationship to job-sex stereotypes

Perceived sex appropriateness of the work situation is believed to constrain work opportunities, particularly for women. However, sex appropriateness may be defined either with respect to the entire job or with respect to the tasks which comprise the job. In this study sex appropriateness of job tasks was examined by obtaining subjective estimates of the masculinity-femininity of the job requirement dimensions defined by the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT). Results indicate that interacting with things is perceived as masculine, interacting with people is perceived as feminine, and interacting with data is perceived as falling between the other two. There is less agreement on the masculinity-femininity of specific types of interactions with data, people, and things. Sex appropriateness of specific requirements was found to be only moderately associated with the DOT's assessment of the complexity of those requirements. Further, sex appropriateness of job requirements was not highly related to the job sextypes established by Shinar (Shinar, E. H. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1975, 7, 99–110) and Krefting et al. (Krefting, L. A., Berger, P. K., and Wallace, M. J. Jr. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1978, 13, 181–191). This suggests that sex appropriateness of a job and sex appropriateness of the tasks which comprise the job are distinct, separate concepts.     

The influence of the form of the question on the eyewitness testimony of preschool children

Thirty-two preschool children were questioned after viewing four short films. The form of the question (affirmative-negative, definite-indefinite article, some-any quantifier) was systematically varied in a counterbalanced design. The form of the question did not significantly affect answers to questions about entities actually present in the films; however, it did have significant effects on answers concerning entities which were not in the film. Questions such as Did you see the..., Did you see any..., and Didn't you see some... were answered yes more frequently than other question types. Thus young children are aware of the expectation conveyed by certain linguistic forms, such asthe. The results are discussed in the light of current models of constructive memory as well as their implications for accurate questioning of children.An earlier version of this article was delivered to the Stanford Child Language Research Forum, Stanford University, April 1976.     

Acoustic cues and psychological processes in the perception of natural stop consonants

These studies examined the perceptual role of various components of naturally produced stop consonants (/b, d, g, p, t, k/) in CV syllables. In the first experiment, the context-sensitive voiced formant transitions were removed with a computer-splicing technique. Identification accuracy was 84% when the consonant was presented with the same vowel as had been used to produce it. Performance fell to 66% when the consonant was juxtaposed with a different vowel. The second experiment not only deleted the voiced formant transition, but also replaced the aspiration with silence. Here, identification accuracy dropped substantially, especially for voiceless stops, which had contained devoiced formant transitions in the replaced interval. The pattern of errors suggested that listeners try to extract the missing locus of the consonant from the vowel transition, and in the absence of a vowel transition, they try to extrapolate it from the second formant of the steady-state vowel.     

Background characteristics and women's dual-role attitudes

This study examines the relationship between the attitudes toward the employment of married women held by 583 currently married Los Angeles County women between the ages of 18 and 49 and their personal backgrounds in terms of certain basic demographic characteristics. The findings illustrate that the respondents' attitudes significantly varied as a result of their personal backgrounds (e.g., level of education, ethnicity, marriage duration, income, work status, religion, age, and number of children raised). However, the data do not support the belief of Mason and Bumpass that women's dual-role attitudes are a group phenomenon determined by group norms or collectively held perceptions arising from the women's particular social niches; the demographic characteristics included in the study were able to explain only 27% of the observed variation in dual-role attitudes.     

Developmental changes in incidental memory as a function of processing level,congruity, and repetition

Second-, fifth-, and ninth-grade students (8, 11, and 14 years of age, respectively) answered acoustic and semantic questions about words which were either congruent or incongruent with the questions. Subsequently, students' free recall of the words was unexpectedly tested. For words presented once in the list, only orienting task and congruity main effects were found. For twice-presented words, grade level interacted with both variables in that older students' recall was better than younger students' only for semantically encoded, congruent words. This finding is consistant with the hypothesis that developmental increases in semantic knowledge enhance the potential for encoding elaboration, but is in apparent conflict with the results of M. F. Geis and D. M. Hall (Child Development, 1978, 49, 857–861) who found no such interaction for second- and fifth-grade children. The different age spans included in the two studies provides one resolution of the discrepancy in results. However, a second experiment tested the importance of a procedural difference between the two studies. M. F. Geis and D. M. Hall (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1976, 22, 58–66; 1978) presented the question after the stimulus word while we presented the question before the word. For ninth-grade students, the question after condition resulted in an attenuation of the recall difference between semantic and acoustic questions compared to the question before condition. It was argued that the pattern of developmental differences in incidental memory that is obtained may be related to which procedure is utilized.     

Development and the continuum of dimensional separability

Recent studies of adult perception may be interpreted in terms of a continuum from the integral to the separable perception of multidimensional variation. Three experiments examined the existence of such a continuum across developmental levels. These experiments are important because several developmental studies suggest that the separability of dimensions increases with age. Despite this assumed developmental trend, it was hypothesized that therelative separability of dimensions does not change with age. The results of the three experiments did not support the hypothesis. The ordering of dimensions by their relative separability changes with development. These results suggest that the relative separability and potential separability of dimensions are not fixed. In light of the results, it is hypothesized that the integrality or separability of dimensions in adult perception is primarily determined by perceptual learning and not by the inherent characteristics of combinations of stimulus dimensions.     

The role of free choice in memory for past decisions

After choosing between different options, people tend to remember the features of the options in ways that favour the chosen alternative. The present experiment examined how limitations on freedom to choose between options affected this memory bias. Participants were given a series of two-option choices and were either allowed free choice between options or were assigned to an option. Participants assigned to an option were led to believe that either the selection was random or was made in their best interest based on their personality profile. Results indicated that the choice and best interest conditions demonstrated memory attributions that favoured their received options, whereas the assignment condition did not. These findings support the view that memory biases towards received options are not unique to free choice situations, but may stem from expectations and implicit theories about how and why the choice was made.     

The Best Friendships of Shy/Withdrawn Children: Prevalence, Stability, and Relationship Quality

The mutual best friendships of shy/withdrawn and control children were examined for prevalence, stability, best friend's characteristics, and friendship quality. Using peer nominations of shy/socially withdrawn and aggressive behaviors, two groups of children were identified from a normative sample of fifth-grade children: shy/withdrawn (n = 169) and control (nonaggressive/nonwithdrawn; n = 163). Friendship nominations, teacher reports, and friendship quality data were gathered. Results revealed that shy/withdrawn children were as likely as control children to have mutual stable best friendships. Withdrawn children's friends were more withdrawn and victimized than were the control children's best friends; further, similarities in social withdrawal and peer victimization were revealed for withdrawn children and their friends. Withdrawn children and their friends reported lower friendship quality than did control children. Results highlight the importance of both quantitative and qualitative measures of friendship when considering relationships as risk and/or protective factors.