"SOME THINGS YOU LEARN AREN'T SO":

When interpreting an interaction in the analysis of variance (ANOVA), many active researchers (and, in turn, students) often Ignore the residuals defining the interaction Although this problem has been noted previously, a appears that many users of ANOVA remain uncertain about the proper understanding of interaction effects To clear up this problem, we review the way in which the ANOVA model enables us to take apart a table of group means or the individual measurements contributing to the means to reveal the underlying components We also show how (using only published data) to compute a contrast on the question that may be of primary interest and illustrate for interpreting tables of residuals We conclude with an exercise to check on students understanding of ANOVA and to encourage increased precision in the specification of research results     

Professional preparation of individuals who provide genetic counseling services

An unprecedented increase has occurred in demand for genetic counseling services during the current decade. This study examined the complex issue of who currently provides genetic counseling services and the professional preparation of these personnel. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 325 genetic counseling professionals in the southeastern United States who were members of the Southeast Regional Genetics Group (SERGG), National Society of Genetic Counselors, or American Society of Human Genetics States; 204 completed the questionnaire (63%). Seventy percent of respondents were female and 30% were male. Thirty percent of respondents held MD degrees; nine physicians held PhD degrees. Most physicians were male. Thirty-two percent of respondents held master's degrees in genetic counseling; five counselors held PhD degrees. Twenty-three percent of respondents were nurses; eight nurses held master's degrees. Three percent of respondents were social workers. Individuals with other degrees, such as an associate of science in medical technology and a doctoral degree in education, also provided genetic counseling. Genetic counseling typically involved a team effort, consisting mainly of physicians and genetic counselors. Most respondents reported college coursework in human genetics, supervised training, and seminar/workshop training. Thirty percent reported college coursework in counseling techniques, supervised training, and seminar/workshop training. Policy recommendations are offered concerning professional preparation of genetic counselors.     

Local crime as a natural hazard: Implications for understanding the relationship between disorder and fear of crime

Summary We have suggested the following: Local crimes and natural hazards share several objective similarities and similarities in how they are perceived. Although local crimes and natural hazards are clearly different in numerous respects, these points of analogy suggest that in several ways responses to local disorder may be similar to responses to hazards. If this is the case, processes used to explain how persons respond to disasters may help explain a recurrent puzzle in the responses to disorder literature: the loose linkages between local disorder levels and fear levels.Future research needs include developing a fuller understanding of how other contextual factors mediate or moderate the processes discussed here, how these processes are related to and may mediate behavioral responses to crime, and how these behaviors in turn influence perceptions. We have suggested here that anticrime behaviors may result in some disadaptation to the threat, thereby elevating fear, and have provided evidence to that effect. In addition it is important to ascertain how the points of analogy between crime as a natural hazard and crime as an environmental stressor may be melded to develop more insight than afforded by either perspective considered singly. The heuristic developed here suggests some additional considerations for policy makers involved in anticrime or fear reduction programs.Irv Altman, Paul Bell, Joan McCord, Aaron Podolefsky, and Carol Werner provided helpful and encouraging comments on earlier drafts.     

Single-trial free recall from temporal search sets in long-term memory

The notion that the primacy effect, which is found in single-trial free-recall experiments, is partly a function of a selective-search component (Shiffrin, 1970) is contingent upon the ability of subjects to retrieve information via a distinctive temporal cue. The beginning of a list may be such a cue which defines a restricted temporal search set within a list as a whole. To test this theory, a second list-half primacy effect was generated in some 26 “unrelated” words lists by associating one color with each word in the first list half and another color with each word in the second list half. As predicted by the two-process theory, retrieval of the words which were presented around the color shift was differentially facilitated as measured by the difference between the probabilities of recall and recognition at each serial position and as compared to that of lists where the color codes were randomly presented.

     

Punitiveness in response to films varying in content: A cross-national field study of aggression

Punitiveness in male movie-goers in London, Philadelphia, Rome and Toronto was measured before or after they attended films varying in content (aggressive, sexual, neutral) and arousal potential (low, high). A second dependent variable, altruism, was also assessed for some Ss. Hypotheses stemming from social learning theory and arousal theory were tested by comparing changes in punitiveness at aggressive, nonaggressive arousing (sexual) and nonaggressive nonarousing (neutral) films. At aggressive films there was an increase in punitiveness whereas a reduction in punitiveness was found at neutral films. Sexual films led to a smaller (nonsignificant) increase in punitiveness than aggressive films. The findings implied that arousal was a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for increasing punitiveness. There were no significant cross-national differences in response to the films. Since the results did not generalize to other, nonaggressive responses, the film effects may be aggression-specific. Two additional findings in the U.S. sample were that urban Ss were more punitive than rural Ss and that the length of urban residency correlated negatively with altruism.     

Laterality effects in risk preference: A test of portfolio theory

A central assumption in portfolio theory of risk preference is that for games with expected value constant the preference ordering of an individual should exhibit a single peaked preference function. This assumption was tested by determining the level of stochastic transitivity satisfied by triples of pairwise preference proportions among eight gambles. In only a small percentage of cases were the predicted levels of stochastic transitivity not satisfied. It was concluded that the results provided strong support for portfolio theory.     

Seven independence concepts and continuous multiattribute utility functions

This paper examines seven independence concepts based on a preference relation on the set of simple probability measures defined on a set of multiattribute consequences. Three of the independence relations involve gambles and the other four are based on riskless preferences over the n-tuples in the consequence set. The main theorems state conditions under which one or more of the risky independence relations can be derived from a riskless independence relation in conjunction with other conditions. The other conditions include a risky independence condition which differs from the one(s) to be derived, the assumption that the consequence set is a convex subset of a finite-dimensional Euclidean space, and the assumption that the individual's von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function on the consequence set is continuous.     

Aversive properties of the negative stimulus during learning with and without errors

In a successive discrimination four groups of pigeons were trained to discriminate between red and green. The groups differed with respect to the procedure used to introduce S?: Early-Progressive, Early-Constant, Late-Progressive, and Late-Constant. The aversive properties of S? were measured by an escape response in which a single peck at a second key terminated S? for 10 sec and darkened the chamber. The correlation between the aversive and error-producing properties of extinction was zero. More errors occurred when S? was introduced abruptly at a constant intensity while more timeouts from S? occurred when S? was introduced late. The procedure for introducing S? rather than the number of responses to S? appears crucial in determining how aversive S? becomes.