Gender differences in performance attributions: Students' explanations for personal success or failure

Women are often said to exhibit an externality bias in their performance attributions. To test this hypothesis, male and female college students made effort, ability, luck, and task difficulty attributions for their performance on a recent course examination. Measures of the students' affective reactions toward their performance were also obtained. Successful students, whether male or female, made internal attributions and were pleased with their performance. Stronger internal attributions were associated with more positive affective reactions for these students. Unsuccessful female students made external attributions, were displeased with their performance, and felt better when they attributed their failure to unstable factors. Unsuccessful male students were also displeased with their performance, but tended to make more internal attributions for their failure, and felt better as a result. These findings, which suggest the influence of an internality bias among men, rather than an externality bias among women, were interpreted in terms of the male sex role.     

Factors in the Use of Oral Contraceptives by Young Women

This study examined the use of oral contraceptives in a sample of sexually active college women. The analytic approach employed was based on Fishbein's model for the prediction of behavior, which emphasizes perceived consequences and normative influences. It was found that each of these factors was significantly related to use of oral contraception, and that a stronger relationship was obtained when both components were combined. Results suggested that nonusers are more Likely to associate oral contraception with unhealthful consequences than are users, and that users believe employment of this method enhances their sexual satisfaction. It was also suggested that the opinions of these young women's partners and close friends, but not of their parents, are reflected in respondents' use of the pill. These results were compared with earlier findings on the correlates of intentions to use oral contraceptives, and applied implications were discussed.     

WITHDRAWAL OF CHRONIC CHLORPROMAZINE MEDICATION: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

Approximately 50% of all institutionalized, mentally retarded adults receive psychotropic medication to control inappropriate behavior. In this study, behaviors exhibited by five retarded adults were formally observed while they were on and off medication. Each subject had been receiving chlorpromazine for six or more years prior to the start of the study. The drug was withdrawn and readministered using a double-blind B-A-B (drug-placebo-drug) design. Effects were highly individualized. Some desirable behavior emerged when chlorpromazine was discontinued.     

Differences in human ability to judge veracity from the audio medium

The few past studies in this topic area have consistently found that human subjects, as a group, are able to judge veracity better than chance; but no findings have been published relating individual differences to judgmental accuracy. Thus the present study was designed as a first step in filling this knowledge gap. To create a stimulus set of lies and truths, which listeners would later judge for veracity, a method was employed that generated 10 audio-tape recorded lies and 10 audio-tape recorded truths. Each of 100 subject-listeners judged each audio-tape for veracity, and also provided information on a set of personological variables. Listener, as a group, were significantly better than chance in accurately judging veracity (p < .001). In addition, a set of personological variables (social intelligence, field dependence/independence, number of siblings, TV viewing habits, and confidence in judgments) was identified that accounted for 22% of the variance in accuracy (p < .0002). It is acknowledged that these findings are tentative and will require replication before they can be regarded as reliable or valid.     

Increasing Career Center Accessibility for the Blind

To improve career planning services for visually impaired persons, the career center at Florida State University developed a self-directed program. This article describes strategies for making career information materials and resources more accessible to the blind.     

KIM and the rabbit: The use of the KIM-1 microprocessor to control classical conditioning of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response

The KIM-1 microprocessor combined with a plug-board interface provides an inexpensive and highly flexible system for controlling classical conditioning of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response. The system is described in the context of a program for differential conditioning.     

The effects of smoking and urinary pH on a detection task

Performance was measured in a detection task over a period of 50 min. Subjects were either non-smokers or smoked more than 15 cigarettes per day. No smoking was allowed during the task, but smokers were all asked to smoke a cigarette immediately before doing it. One hour previously, subjects had been given a double-blind dose of a substance which would shift the pH of their urine either upwards or downwards, by small amounts sufficient to affect the rate of renal excretion of nicotine in the smokers. The pH manipulation had no effect on the performance of the non-smokers, who improved steadily throughout the task. After some 40 min of performance, the deprived smokers showed less improvement than the non-smokers, and the smokers whose urine had been made acid improved less than those whose had been made alkaline. The results are interpreted as evidence for a phasic effect on performance of small degrees of nicotine deprivation, which has consequences for theories of nicotine dependence.