The death and transfiguration of career-and of career guidance?

The predominant understanding of career in the industrial era has focused on progression within hierarchical work organisations. With the move into a post-industrial era, the possibility of such careers is rapidly receding. The concept of career, however, has always been broader than this, and other aspects of it are now claiming increased attention. They focus more upon individual experiences in terms of development in learning and work throughout life. The role of career guidance in relation to such experiences is potentially of much greater social significance. A number of implications for career guidance provision and practice are discussed.     

Characterizing the manifest probabilities of latent trait models

The problem of characterizing the manifest probabilities of a latent trait model is considered. The item characteristic curve is transformed to the item passing-odds curve and a corresponding transformation is made on the distribution of ability. This results in a useful expression for the manifest probabilities of any latent trait model. The result is then applied to give a characterization of the Rasch model as a log-linear model for a 2 ^J -contingency table. Partial results are also obtained for other models. The question of the identifiability of “guessing” parameters is also discussed. The research reported here is collaborative in every respect and the order of authorship is alphabetical. Dr. Cressie was a Visiting Research Scientist at ETS during the Fall of 1980. His current address is: School of Mathematical Sciences, The Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park SA, 5042, AUSTRALIA. The preparation of this paper was supported, in part, by the Program Statistics Research Project in the Research Statistics Group at ETS.     

Handedness and cognitive bias

2165 Subjects, ranging from nine-year-old schoolchildren to adult students, took Test AH 2/3 which yields subscores on Verbal, Numerical and Perceptual reasoning. The left-handers are compared with the right-handers, differences being found with respect to cognitive bias, sex, age and nationality.     

Adaptive programming of arm movements

Adaptations of goal-directed elbow movements of moderate speed, called "continuous" movements and recognized by their single-peaked velocity profiles, were studied for two monkeys that were learning to perform a motor task. The animals were rewarded for what they did, namely, to carry out a step-tracking and holding task by means of discrete elbow movements, but not for how they did it, that is, for any particular mode of movement execution. Yet, both animals increased the use of the programmed, continuous movements when they began to carry out the behavioral task requirements appropriately. Furthermore, continuous movements adapted with increases of peak and of average velocity such that the ratio of these parameters tended to be maintained or decreased. These velocity changes were incorporated into remembered movement programs late in motor learning when the animals approached their best performance proficiencies.     

The logic of arithmetic

Conclusion The arithmetic developed along the lines indicated by Cantor has up until now found no application in the real, as opposed to the mathematical, world. It is to be hoped that the changes suggested in this paper bring mathematics closer to human thought and allow it to be of increasing benefit in its service to mankind.     

Individual differences in circadian activity rhythms and their effects on roommate relationships

Individual differences in circadian activity rhythms were assessed and correlated with a number of measures of task orientation and time concern. Those who tend to be morning active completed the questionnaires more quickly than did others, expressed negative attitudes about wasting time, and scored higher on measures of achievement tendency and task leadership. Differences between college roommates in the tendency to be morning active were found to be related to negative evaluations of the roommate relationship. The results of this study suggest that the causes and effects of synchronized personal and social circadian rhythms warrant continued exploration.     

Effects of sexual versus fear arousal on alcohol consumption in college males

To compare the effects of pleasant and aversive arousal on alcohol consumption, 18 male undergraduates had three weekly sessions to separately view erotic, mutilation or neutral slides in a simulated memory experiment. Following exposure to the slides, they received access to alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, which were presented to half the subjects in a taste rating task, and to half as the result of engaging in an operant lever-press task. Subjects believed these tasks to be distractors during a purported retention interval. Self-report instruments and basal skin conductance confirmed the success of the affective manipulations. However, only the subjects using the taste task after viewing erotic slides significantly increased alcohol consumption. These results question a tension reduction model of drinking and qualify the contribution of autonomic arousal to motivation for drinking.