Kinaesthetic judgements of the direction of line by young children

The ability of young children to make kinaesthetic judgements of direction of line has been studied under recognition and detection conditions. Some children were not more accurate than chance when they were required to indicate the same one of a pair of mirror image obliques lines over a series of trials; these children could, however, detect whether two obliques were oriented in the same direction or in different directions. These latter data suggest that the poor recognition of mirror image obliques arises from deficiencies in spatial categorizing and not in input coding. This conclusion is supported by the finding that children who performed poorly on the kinaesthetic recognition of obliques performed poorly on the visual recognition of these figures.     

Correlates of age at first sexual intercourse in a national sample of young women

A subsample of 814 sexually experienced adolescent females from the 1979 U.S. National Survey of Young Women was analyzed to assess the correlates of age at 1st sexual intercourse. Multiple regression procedures were used to examine sets of variables sequentially. In the hierarchical regression model, the control variables (respondent's age, race, religion, and age at menarche), along with 3 independent variables (household income, ideal age at 1st marriage, and ideal age for 1st birth), predicted age at 1st intercourse. The control variables accounted for a major portion of the variance in the model. Of the controls, chronological age and age at menarche were highly significant across all models tested.     

Research on working women: A report card of 22 journals

The study was part of an official project of the Women in Management Division of the Academy of Management to examine the status of research in gender issues in organizations. It specifically looked at 22 major scholarly and trade journals plus the Proceedings of the Academy of Management for the six-year period of 1983–1988 to determine quantity, patterns, and trends in publication of research on issues of interest to the domain of the division. Results show a downward trend in gender-issue publication at a time when working women are becoming an ever-increasing percentage of the work force. This is particularly true of the so-called prestige journals. Psychology journals accounted for 64% of the total, management 13.4%, personnel 19%, and Proceedings 3.5%. Implications for research and careers are discussed.A shorter, less-complete version of this paper was presented in summary form at the annual meeting of The Academy of Management in Washington, DC, August 1989 as part of a symposium for the Women in Management Division.     

Construct validity and test-retest reliability of a date rape decision-latency measure

In two studies, the construct (convergent and discriminant) validity and test-retest reliability of a date rape decision-latency measure was examined. In Study 1, 174 college men completed measures related to sexual aggression and listened to an audiotaped simulation of a date rape, during which cues of nonconsent and force gradually escalated over time. Participants were instructed to respond, by pressing a button which recorded the latency of their decisions in seconds, if and when they believed the man depicted in the scenario should stop his sexual advances. Results demonstrated positive associations between prolonged decision latencies and sexually aggressive behavior, calloused sexual beliefs, acceptance of interpersonal violence, and sexual promiscuity. In Study 2, initial results were cross-validated in a sample of 102 college men, and discriminant validity was established as decision latencies were unassociated with measures of social desirability, alcohol consumption and drug use. Test-retest reliability assessed over a 2-week interval was .87.The authors wish to thank Alan Gross and Brian Marx for providing the audiotaped stimulus materials, Richard Marsh for writing the decision-latency computer program, Jason Hicks for assisting with programming, and the undergraduate research assistants for serving as experimenters.     

Interbehavioral field systems assessment: Examining its utility in preservice teacher education

Behavior analytic evaluation instruments should benefit teacher education programs in assessing: (a) teacher and student interactions in practice teaching settings, and (b) the immediate and long range effects of the teacher training received. Though empirical substantiation remains scarce, such instruments may be designed to foster teacher trainee sensitivity to, and better control of, complex stimulus and response mechanisms which either impede or facilitate learning. This study analyzed one technologically driven Behavior Analysis Strategy and Taxonomy (BEST) and related Temporal Analysis System (TAS) (Hawkins, Sharpe, & Ray, 1994) currently used within one preservice teacher education program. A multiple probe design with experimental and control groups demonstrated the instruments' effects when used as an instructional feedback tool with teachers in training. Findings supported the instruments' use in terms of teacher and student behavior changes demonstrated for the experimental group as compared to a control group not exposed to the instrument. Implications of this technology when applied to teacher education are last described.     

The role of theory in treating adolescent substance abuse

The adolescent substance abuser, like adult addicts, is most commonly considered from the perspective of the disease model. The usefulness of the disease model in conceptualizing adolescent substance abuse is questioned, and an alternative view of the topic is set forth. Substance abuse, is regarded as an adaptive aspect of the ongoing interactive processes within the family. The developmental process of the adolescent substance abuser is seen as a functional dynamic in the family's preservation. Three characteristic elements of parental interaction common to the development of adolescent substance abuse are highlighted.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy annual conference on January 28, 1993 in Houston Texas.a research associate and director of the Don D. Jackson Archive at the Mental Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA. Authors are listed alphabetically.     

Logical consequence: A defense of Tarski

In his classic 1936 essay “On the Concept of Logical Consequence”, Alfred Tarski used the notion of satisfaction to give a semantic characterization of the logical properties. Tarski is generally credited with introducing the model-theoretic characterization of the logical properties familiar to us today. However, in his book, The Concept of Logical Consequence, Etchemendy argues that Tarski's account is inadequate for quite a number of reasons, and is actually incompatible with the standard model-theoretic account. Many of his criticisms are meant to apply to the model-theoretic account as well. In this paper, I discuss the following four critical charges that Etchemendy makes against Tarski and his account of the logical properties:

1. Tarski's account of logical consequence diverges from the standard model-theoretic account at points where the latter account gets it right.
2. Tarski's account cannot be brought into line with the model-theoretic account, because the two are fundamentally incompatible.
3. There are simple counterexamples (enumerated by Etchemendy) which show that Tarski's account is wrong.
4. Tarski committed a modal fallacy when arguing that his account captures our pre-theoretical concept of logical consequence, and so obscured an essential weakness of the account.
5. Tarski's account depends on there being a distinction between the “logical terms” and the “non-logical terms” of a language, but (according to Etchemendy) there are very simple (even first-order) languages for which no such distinction can be made. Etchemendy's critique raises historical and philosophical questions about important foundational work. However, Etchemendy is mistaken about each of these central criticisms. In the course of justifying that claim, I give a sustained explication and defense of Tarski's account. Moreover, since I will argue that Tarski's account and the model-theoretic account really do come to the same thing, my subsequent defense of Tarski's account against Etchemendy's other attacks doubles as a defense against criticisms that would apply equally to the familiar model-theoretic account of the logical properties.