The Effects of Spatial Density on the Social Behavior of Children1

The behavioral effects of high and low spatial density on normal children of ages 4 and 5 were examined. Sixty Ss were observed in groups of six in a free-play situation under both density conditions. Results showed that there was significantly less aggression and less social interaction in the high-density condition than in the low-dcnsity condition. Thcrc was a significant Density X Sex effect o n aggression and signficant main effects of sex on aggression, nurturance, number of interruptions, and number of children interacted with. Several complexities in researching and explaining the effects of density on behaviors are discussed.     

Personality correlates of the attitude toward women scale

The full and short versions of the Attitudes Towards Women Scale, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Trait Anxiety Scale and the Group Embedded Figures Test were administered to 95 freshmen (male and female). Results indicated a relationship between liberal attitudes toward women and emotional stability. Scores on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale also tended to be independent of Lie scores.     

Pathways from Birth Weight to ADHD Symptoms through Fluid Reasoning in Youth with or without Intellectual Disability

Although individual differences in fluid reasoning reliably mediate predictions of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms from birth weight in youth with typical cognitive development (TD), it is unknown if this indirect effect operates similarly in the development of ADHD symptoms secondary to intellectual disability (ID). Thus, we evaluated mediation by fluid reasoning in a longitudinal sample of 163 youth (45% female) with (n = 52) or without (n = 111) ID who were followed prospectively from age 5 to age 13. At age 9, youth completed the Arithmetic subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, a measure of fluid reasoning. At ages 9 and 13, mothers and teachers separately rated youth ADHD symptoms and mothers completed a diagnostic interview. Mediation was tested via path analysis with bootstrapped confidence intervals, and moderated mediation estimated whether indirect effects differed between ID and TD youth or based on youth IQ. Controlling for demographic factors and age 9 ADHD symptoms, age 9 Arithmetic mediated birth weight and multi-method/informant age 13 ADHD symptoms, such that birth weight positively predicted Arithmetic, which negatively predicted ADHD symptoms. Neither ID status nor IQ moderated the observed indirect effect through Arithmetic, suggesting that it was similar for ID and TD youth as well as across the range of youth IQs. These findings support previous evidence that fluid reasoning, as measured by Arithmetic, may causally mediate birth weight and ADHD symptoms, and suggest that this pathway operates similarly with respect to the development of ADHD symptoms in youth with ID.     

A meta-analysis of police suicide rates: findings and issues

Meta-analyses of police suicide rates and ratios to the comparison population were conducted using 101 samples from the literature. The large effect sizes (ES = .74) showed that suicide rates based on short time frames were significantly higher than for long time frames. There were regional differences such that rates in the Americas and Europe were higher than in the Caribbean and Asian regions. There were differences in rates between federal, regional, and municipal police forces. Issues researchers need to address include the use of long time frames; the reporting of more complete suicide statistics, including breakdowns by year, sex, and ethnic groups; and the rates for population comparison groups.     

Issues in Factor-Analyzing Ipsative Measures: The Learning Style Inventory (LSI-1985) Example

This paper reviews the statistical issues in factor analyzing ipsative measures and then illustrates the issue using ipsative data from Kolb's revised Learning Style Inventory (LSI-1985) and Dunlap & Cronwell's (1994) recommended procedures. The statistical findings underscore the problem of determining the valid underlying factor structure of ipsative measures.     

A psychometric investigation of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire was administered to 139 females and 123 males. Scale statistics were obtained and hierachial factor analyses were performed. The P scale was found to have low internal consistency reliabilities and to covary with the L scale in the female subsample. Factor analyses showed recovery of E scale items in a secondary factor, Social Extraversion, without an impulsivity primary factor. No P and N dimensions recovered; rather components of each scale interrelated in two meaningful dimensions at the tertiary level.     

Measurement of neo-Pavlovian properties of higher nervous activity by motor reaction-time tasks

Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science - A preliminary study involving 80 paid subjects, 40 of each sex, investigated the usefulness of motor response-time tasks as measures of three...     

Memories of real-life decisions

Three studies investigated decision makers' memory representations of choice alternatives in most important real-life decisions. In Study 1, each participant recalled the most important decision that she or he had ever made and rated to what degree a number of characteristics could describe the decisions. In Study 2, the participants were asked to think about an important decision that they had made during the last 7-10 days. In Study 3, the memory representations of decisions of a group of action-oriented participants were compared with those of a group of state-oriented participants (Kuhl, 1983). Characteristics related to standard decision theory, like consequences, values, and likelihood, had high ratings of applicability as well as affect/feeling. When testing the applicability of a circumplex model, the fuzzy-trace theory of memory, and differences between state- and action-oriented decision makers, we found (1) that there was no support for the circumplex model of emotions. Instead, an important decision problem was characterised by both positive and negative affect/emotion and thus, a bipolar mapping was found inadequate; (2) that a comparison of abstract and concrete aspects showed that the abstract characteristics scored higher, thereby supporting the fuzzy-trace theory; and (3) that the prediction that action-oriented participants would score higher than state-oriented participants on the characteristic of activity was not supported. However, state-oriented decision makers rated passivity higher than action-oriented decision makers for the important decision of leaving a partner. State-oriented decision makers used perceptual/cognitive scenario representations to a greater extent than action-oriented participants. Finally, it was stressed that in the development of decision theories it is essential to find theoretical representations as close as possible to how decision makers themselves represent the decisions. The method used in this contribution is focused on the role of memory in decision making and gives further insights into how important real-life decisions are represented by different decision makers.     

Learning in honeybees (Apis mellifera) as a function of sucrose concentration.

Foraging honeybees (Apis mellifera) were trained with 2 successively presented targets differing in color or odor, one of which always contained a 5-microliters drop of 50% sucrose solution and the other, a 5-microliters drop of 20% sucrose solution. Latency of response to each target was measured during the training, and at the conclusion, preference was measured in an unrewarded choice test. Analysis of the latencies showed both a prospective effect (faster response to the 50% target than to the 20% target) and a nonassociative retrospective effect (faster response after leaving the 20% target than after leaving the 50% target) reminiscent of the frustration effect in rats. The results both for prospective latency and for choice can be understood on the simple theory that the attractiveness of a target depends on the strength of its association with sucrose and that the effect of concentration is on asymptotic strength.