Extending Holland's theory to the later years

Sixty-five men and women, aged 50 to 88 years, completed Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and a work history questionnaire. Each participant was assigned one-letter Holland personality type codes for his or her first full-time job, longest full-time job, last job (if retired) or present job (if employed), and hobbies. In general, VPI scale scores and high point codes were consistent with the occupational codes but less consistent with the hobby code. The usefulness of Holland's vocational theory to the aged population is discussed.     

A chronometric study of sentence processing in deaf children

It has been consistently reported the deaf children have tremendous problems in reading English sentences. Three experiments were conducted in the present study to investigate the nature of deaf children's reading inability. The first experiment looked into the letter-decoding process. It was found that deaf subjects took longer than normal-hearing subjects in encoding and decoding alphabetic letters. The second experiment employed a sentence-picture verification paradigm. The results showed that deaf subjects adopted a visual-imagery coding strategy rather than a general linguistic coding strategy as described by H. H. Clark and W. Chase (Cognitive Psychology, 1972, 3, 472–517) and by P. A. Carpenter and M. A. Just (Memory and Cognition, 1975, 3, 465–473). However, when the sentence was presented in manual signs (Experiment 3), deaf subjects' verification time showed that they adopted a general linguistic coding strategy. Thus, deaf subjects are capable of linguistic coding strategy, but they do not apply it to process printed English sentences. A second-language hypothesis was advanced to account for the obtained data. Deaf children's reading inability was also discussed from this perspective.     

Personality Characteristics and Self-esteem in Pet Owners and Non-owners

Previous research suggests that pet owners are psychologically different than non-owners in terms of self-esteem and other personality characteristics. In this study, 82 pet owners and 48 non-owners were tested on self-esteem, extraversion, neuroticism, and social self-esteem. Special emphasis was placed on highly attached pet owners compared with non-owners. Level of attachment was determined by scores from the CENSHARE pet attachment survey. No significant differences were found between the groups using analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance statistical procedures. It was concluded that pet owners and non-owners may not be different in terms of personality but may have become victims of stereotyping by both the general population and scientific researchers. Discussion was given to related significant findings and recommendations for further research.     

The Predictors of Post-Sterilization Regret in Married Women1

We interviewed a sample of 317 married women prior to a tubal sterilization (195) or a husband's vasectomy (122) and then reinterviewed them yearly for 5 years. Using these women's responses to six questions about their feelings and desires following sterilization, we fitted a latent-variable model of post-sterilization regret to the data by means of a linear structural equation analysis. The results confirmed our view that post-sterilization regret was not a simple psychological state but rather was a complex process with different, causally linked manifestations. This process began with a renewed interest in having a baby, proceeded to the development of negative feeling about the three decisions that lead to sterilization, and concluded with a desire to reverse the surgery. This sequence was affected by the negative, post-sterilization effects of the sterilization and by the Occurrence of divorce. Next, we identified the pre-sterilization predictors of six regret variables from our model by means of a series of linear regression analyses. The major pre-sterilization predictors of the regret process included being relatively young, ambivalence about future childbearing, negative attitudes toward sterilization, dominance of the decision making by the woman's husband, and conflict with her husband during decision making. Finally, we divided the sample into quintiles on the basis of their scores on a Pre-Sterilization Predictor Scale and assessed the performance of our predictor variables as indicators of risk of regret by determining the level of negative feelings toward sterilization in each quintile. The results confirm the discriminatory power of our predictors. The overall findings indicate a number of psychological and marital issues, the exploration of which might help counselors provide anticipatory and preventative services to couples seeking sterilization.     

What does naming a picture do? Effects of prior picture naming on recognition of identical and same-name alternatives

Three experiments investigated the effects of naming pictures of objects during study on the subsequent recognition of physically identical, name-match, and new objects. Prior naming improved correct classification of all three item types at recognition. For line drawings and for photographs of functionally distinct objects, prior naming reduced the tendency to confuse identical and same-name alternatives. In Experiment 2, prior naming eliminated the right visual field/left hemisphere advantage for speeded recognition of name-match pictures, suggesting that prior naming reduces the likelihood that pictures are named at recognition. The implications of these results for dual-encoding (Paivio, 1971) and sensory-semantic (Nelson, Reed, & McEvoy, 1977) models of picture and word processing are discussed. The results suggest that the semantic representations of objects that are perceptually distinct but share a common name are not identical, and that the effect of naming such objects is to insure that a distinct semantic representation becomes a part of the resulting memory code.     

Wepman test of auditory discrimination: What does it discriminate

This study investigated auditory discrimination as a function of ethnic group membership within the same socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects were 126 randomly selected six-year-old students attending schools in the lower SES community of southeast San Diego. Only students with no known speech or hearing defects and of normal intelligence were included. They were assigned to one of three categories: Black, Chicano, or Anglo.Subjects were administered four tests in a counterbalanced design: the Wepman, the Gross, and the Ott. The latter two were developed for use with Black dialect and Spanish-speaking youngsters, respectively. The ANOVA results indicated a reliable difference between the main effects of the groups (F=40.34,p<.001) and tests (F=72.82, p<.001), with a significant interaction between tests and groups (F=44.91, p<.001). Interaction effects were evaluated with the Dunn theorem. Significant differences were found among Anglo, Black, and Chicano students on the discrimination list for Spanish sounds (Ott) and a significant Anglo/Black difference on the discrimination test for Black dialect (Gross). Contrary to previous findings, there were no differences between the groups on the Wepman Test of Auditory Discrimination (WTAD). However, there are significant differences between groups on separate items of this test.     

Spatial localization under conflict conditions: is there a single explanation?

Visual--auditory (VA) and visual--proprioceptive (VP) localization conflict paradigms were varied to explore the comparability of the conflict situations. In experiment 1 various attempts were made to decrease the dominance of visual information over proprioceptive and auditory target information. Pairing auditory with proprioceptive information against conflicting visual information did not lessen the visual dominance, nor did dimming the visual field. A 'cognitive' manipulation, in which the subject was led to doubt the reliability of the visual information, reduced visual dominance over audition but not visual dominance over proprioception. This difference between the two conflict situations was further explored and corroborated in experiment 2. In experiment 3 no attempt was made to lead the subject to believe that paired discrepant targets were related, and the visual dominance of audition was strong while the visual dominance of proprioception did not occur. The apparent differences between the VA and VP conflict situations are discussed with regard to the feability of generating a unitary explanation of localization conflict results. Several further factors are discussed that must be explored before undertaking such a unitary formulation.     

An illusion of auditory saltation similar to the cutaneous "rabbit"

Trains of brief clicks produced successively at 3 points in a horizontal array were not localized accurately. Observers reported clicks occurring in succession across the spaces between sources as well as at the sources themselves. The illusion is functionally related to interstimulus interval, number of clicks per speaker, and regularity of pulsing. It appears similar to Geldard and Sherrick's cutaneous "rabbit" illusion.     

The community mental health center management game: Teaching administrative skills by means of computer simulation

Clinical training in psychology rarely includes the opportunity for students to exercise managerial responsibility for a functioning human service organization. Nevertheless, many clinicians are called upon to assume such decision-making duties, despite their lack of administrative training. This study examines the feasibility of using a computer model of a typical Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) as a training device, permitting clinical students to “manage” a complex social agency over a course of many months of simulated time. The system provides a valuable and interesting supplement to the usual training materials in psychology programs.