The I-E scale,ideological bias,and political participation1

This study was undertaken to examine ambiguities in the ability of the I-E scale to predict complex social behavior. An analysis of the items in the I-E scale suggested that the scale might contain a conservative bias Further, it was suggested that responses to the items may be determined by the individual's political and social ideology, which in turn are influenced by the political and social norms to which he has been exposed The sample consisted of one parent and a college-aged child from 60 upper-middle-class families in which the parent was visible in the community for political and social participation, half the parents interviewed were liberal, and half conservative in their political views A number of measures of political and social participation were administered, along with a shortened version of the I-E scale The findings of the study supported the contention that the “internal” items on the I-E scale are more congenial to persons holding conservative political views than for those holding liberal views. Perceived internal causality, as measured by the I-E scale, was found to be nonsignificantly correlated with any of the measures of political participation for the parent sample, with five of the six correlations being in the opposite direction from that predicted by social learning theory The results of the study were discussed in terms of White's distinction between the “moralizer” and “reformer” approach to social problems The validity of the I-E scale as a measure of a stable personality trait was called into question, as was its usefulness in predicting complex social behavior     

PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN HONG KONG

With the rapid development of cross-cultural psychology, there is a need to provide international centres for research, which can become main focal points for cross-cultural research in specific geographic regions. The development of the Department of Psychology at the University of Hong Kong is being carried out with this broader context in view. In addition to offering excellent university facilities for psychological research, Hong Kong is also centrally located in relation to other Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Philippines Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Cambodia, none of which is more than 1500 miles from Hong Kong. The purpose of this paper is therefore to describe the departmental facilities for cross-cultural research in Hong Kong, departmental teaching, psychological research in Hong Kong, and finally the potential of Hong Kong as a natural laboratory for research in a multi-cultural, multilingual, traditional-modern context.     

Reinforcement of visual attending in classrooms for deaf children

The efficacy of immediate tangible reinforcement in increasing appropriate visual attending for entire classes of deaf children was examined. The subjects were three classes (seven children each) in a residential school for the deaf. Boxes were installed on each child's desk, with lights that were flashed immediately contingent upon 10 sec of visual attending. Light flashes were backed up by M & M's, cereal bits, or tokens. In two of the classes, extinction sessions were also scheduled. For all classes, the reinforcement procedure increased visual attending by 50% or more, maintaining it at rates above 82%. Withdrawal of tangibles decreased attending back to baseline levels. The results support analysis of attending as operant behavior and demonstrate the applicability of reinforcement procedures in modifying these behaviors for young deaf children in a classroom setting.     

Development of social responses in two severely retarded children

The effect of reinforcement dependent on the social responses of two severely retarded withdrawn children was investigated. During 30 training sessions (30 min each) food and praise were administered dependent upon the children's mutual participation in a ball-rolling and block-passing task. Both children showed a progressive increase in social interaction in a non-training situation during this reinforcement period. After the reinforcement procedures were removed, social behavior decreased markedly. Response generalization to children not involved in training occurred.