The Name Game: Employability Evaluations of Prototypical Applicants with Stereotypical Feminine and Masculine First Names

This study was designed to examine professional human resource managers recommendations and inferences about prototypical applicants who had identical qualifications, in which the presence of periods of unemployment and name (feminine, masculine) of applicants were manipulated. Results indicate that although overall income for female applicants was less than male applicants in some conditions, male applicants were penalized and evaluated more harshly than female applicants when they had experienced periods of unemployment. Specifically, male applicants with employment gaps were seen as less committed and as less hirable than their female counterparts. Overall, male applicants were less likely to be recommended for an interview, and, when they experienced multiple gaps, they were less likely to be recommended for further consideration.     

A global factor in the Hermann grid illusion or an artifact?

In the first of the present experiments, subjects were required to estimate the strength of the Hermann grid illusion in grids containing various numbers of intersectionseven though those grids were not actually presented. The positive relationship found by Wolfe (1984) for real grids was, nevertheless, replicated. It is argued that this suggests that a response bias might have been the source of his effect (although other possibilities are also noted). In addition, in a second experiment, subjects who were not aware of the fact that grid size was being manipulated (i.e., between subjects) showed no consistent effect of that factor, thus supporting the same suggestion.     

Pictorial depth and the Poggendorff illusion

An informal demonstration is offered, which strongly supports previous contentions that, when the elements of a Poggendorff display appear to be arranged in pictorial space such that the two critical line segments are at different heights, an illusory impression of misalignment may occur. A second pair of demonstrations shows, however, that such a height difference is neither a necessary nor a sufficient cause of the illusion. In addition, the harmful effect of adding certain pictorial elements to the standard Poggendorff pattern requires a new understanding.     

A general-purpose microcomputer configuration for controlling experiments

The circuitry required for connecting a KIM-1 microcomputer to devices in the experimental environment is shown together with an example of programming the microcomputer to control such devices. The experimental example involves sensory preconditioning of the nictitating membrane of the rabbit.     

Contemporary Arguments Against Nonsexist Language: Blaubergs (1980) Revisited

Two studies investigated whether undergraduatesenrolled in sport management classes at a midwesternuniversity supported or resisted nonsexist language.Resistive statements were classified using arguments identified by Blaubergs (1980). In Study 1, 82primarily Caucasian students reacted to a videotapeabout language. Half (48%) supported nonsexist language;32% were ambivalent; 21% were opposed to nonsexist language. The negative comments fit 7 ofBlaubergs' 8 categories after 2 were modified; 2additional categories (Sexism is Acceptable andHostility toward Proponents of Change) emerged. In Study2, 164 primarily Caucasian undergraduates speculatedon why others resisted nonsexist language. Theircomments led to the addition of 2 more new categories:Tradition and Lack of Understanding. The finalmodification of Blaubergs' classic arguments contains 12categories that should be useful in studying resistanceto nonsexist language.     

The probability-matching decision rule in the visual discrimination of order

In three experiments, human Ss were required to decide, on each trial, which of two spatially proximate, nearly simultaneous, lights was illuminated first. The right light preceded the left on either .33 or .83 of the trials. When Ss were frequently informed of these values, then, regardless of the accuracy of performance, Ss adjusted the rate at which they made “right” responses to approximate the rate at which the right-first pattern was presented. These results are in clear agreement with an adaptation of Atkinson’s three-state detection model.