The peer preference test as a measure of reward value: Item analysis,cross-validation,concurrent validation,and replication

Thirty-six preschoolers were administered and retested on a 15-item Peer Preference Test designed to measure the reward value of peers for each child. Test-retest reliability was .88, and after item analyses, 12 items were maintained in the test. The revised test was then administered to 29 other preschoolers. Test-retest reliability was. 77, and item analyses indicated that each item made a significant contribution to the overall test. Concurrent validation of the test was demonstrated using both a picture sociometric and a behavioral measure. In addition, the Evers-Pasquale and Sherman (1975) study was replicated, using 10 preschool social isolates.This article is based on the doctoral dissertation of the author. Gratitude is expressed to Dr. John Gleason for his counsel and advice. The author is also indebted to the staffs of the Irwin Methodist Nursery School and the Jewish Community Center Nursery School, both in Syracuse, New York, for their kindness and cooperation during the course of this investigation.     

A review of psychophysiological research with hyperkinetic children

A number of studies have appeared which focus on the issue of whether hyperactive children are psychophysiologically different from normal children and what impact the stimulant drugs may have on psychophysiological characteristics of these children. The present paper reviews these studies under the type of measures that were employed. In general, the results suggest that hyperactive children are probably not under- or overaroused in their resting levels of autonomic functions, although some children may display resting cortical underarousal. However, the findings of studies on the impact of stimulation on autonomic or central functions intimate that some hyperactive children are probably underreactive to environmental stimulation, or are "underarousable." Indeed, where differences between hyperactive and normal children are found in such evoked-response studies, they are consistently in this direction of "underarousability." Results for the effects of stimulant drugs suggest that these drugs energize or increase the "arousal" of these children and enhance the impact of stimulation on the nervous system. The implications of these results for current theories of hyperactivity and for future research are discussed.     

Stimulus-governance and the hyperkinetic syndrome

The hypothesis that hyperkinetic children are stimulusgoverned was tested. In a sample of 39 nonmedicated hyperkinetic boys 26 were found to be stimulus-governed. In a control sample of 20 nonmedicated boys 6 were found to be stimulus-governed. An association was found between the hyperkinetic syndrome and stimulusgovernance. The hypothesis is raised that response to methylphenidate is related to stimulusgovernance. Several issues raised by the research are discussed.This research was supported in part by a grant from Bloemendaal Psychiatric Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands. The authors wish to thank Mr. E. M. Ockhorst, for constructing the KFA-testing equipment, and Mr. R. Reyneart, for helping with the computer analysis. An earlier draft of the paper was presented at the European Conference of Neuropsychology, sponsored by the International Neuropsychology Society, at Oxford University, England.     

Consistency,self-consciousness,and the predictive validity of typical and maximal personality measures

Most personality measures which ask for subjects' typical performance have often not been effective as predictors of criterion behaviors. Based upon the maximal performance model of ability tests, predictors were constructed which required subjects to report both how dominant they typically are in a particular situation and how dominant they are capable of acting. The efficacy of these typical and maximal self-reports in predicting typical and maximal expressions of dominance in the laboratory was compared. Self-reports of maximal dominance tended to outpredict self-reports of typical dominance for both typical and maximal laboratory expressions of dominance. In addition, maximal self-reports were of equal predictive validity for both those subjects reporting themselves as consistent in expressing dominance and those reporting themselves as inconsistent (situationally variable). Finally, the extent to which subjects were self-reflective (private self-consciousness) and concerned about their appearance to others (public self-consciousness) mediated the validity of both their typical and maximal self-reports, although the predictive superiority of maximal self-reports was maintained.     

Social comparison and group interest in ingroup favouritism

Studied the effects of reward magnitude and comparability of the outgroup on minimal intergroup discrimination where self-interest was related to ingroup profit. Favouritism towards own group is hypothesized to arise from intergroup comparisons to enhance self-esteem as well as instrumental rivalry for group and self-interest. Sixty-two fourteen to fifteen years' old school-boys and girls were randomly assigned to a high or low reward condition in which they distributed monetary rewards, via choice-matrices, to the ingroup and a relevant comparison outgroup, and the ingroup and an irrelevant comparison outgroup. Monetary self-interest was explicitly and directly linked to ingroup's absolute profit. Ss sacrificed group and personal gain to achieve intergroup differences in monetary outcomes favouring the ingroup; and were less fair and more discriminatory towards the relevant than irrelevant outgroup. especially with High Rewards.     

Left thalamic hemorrhage with dysphasia: a report of five cases.

A specific type of “thalamic speech” is being recognized with increasing frequency. Paucity of spontaneous speech, fading vocal volume, anomia, perseveration, and neologisms, with intact comprehension and word repetition, characterize the speech disorder associated with thalamic lesions. Nine cases of left thalamic hemorrhage and speech disturbance have been reported previously. This report details the speech, neurological, and neuroradiological findings in five additional cases of thalamic hemorrhage with dysphasia.     

The relationship of hemispheric preference,as measured by conjugate lateral eye movements,to accuracy of emotional facial expression

This study investigated the relationship between hemispheric preference and communication accuracy of facial affect. Hemispheric preference was determined by rating conjugate lateral eye movements. Forty right-handed females were classified: 10 right-movers (left hemisphere preference), 15 left-movers (right hemisphere preference), and 15 bidirectionals (no hemispheric preference). Subjects were shown emotionally loaded slides portraying happiness, fear, and disgust and their videotaped facial expressions were independently rated for accuracy. It was predicted that negative emotions involved right hemisphere activity and negative affect involved left hemisphere activity. As expected, it was found that left-movers were significantly better than right-movers at nonverbally communicating disgust and fear; hemispheric preference was unrelated to expression of happiness. The accuracy scores of the bidirectionals generally fell in between those of the left-movers and those of the right-movers. The results were discussed in reference to the differential lateralization of positive and negative emotions.This study was conducted as a senior research project by the first author under the supervision of the second author.     

Identity degradation and mental disorder: An empirical assessment of the conduct impairment scale

Proponents of the medical models have held that mental disorder is best measured in terms of some inventory of symptoms indicative of an underlying disease. Alternatively, critics have argued that mental disorder is the result of a degraded ascribed role, a discrepancy between the person and his environment, or the degradation of identity. The issue goes beyond academic debate, with important implications for case-finding and program development in community mental health. Theodore Sarbin has developed a 58-item "Conduct Impairment Scale" to operationalize the concept of "Identity Degradation" and proposed it as a substitute for the medical model. Three dimensions are posited: status, value, and involvement. An appropriate level of reliability and clustering of scale items are reported by Sarbin. In order to subject the scale to a more rigorous test, it was administered to a random sample of 208 respondents in four neighborhoods in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as part of a larger epidemiological study. In an effort to assess the validity of the scale, factor analytic methods were employed. A principal components model with varimax rotation was performed. It was found that items purporting to tap the three theoretical dimensions explicated by Sarbin did not load in the expected pattern. Additionally, the first three extracted factors accounted for only a small proportion of the total variance. Efforts to assess the reliability of the scale were more fruitful. A corrected split-half of .82 and coefficient alpha of .86 were obtained. It was concluded that the validity of the scale was not adequately demonstrated, and its use as an alternative to the medical model open to serious reservation.