The development of beliefs about spelling and their relationship to spelling performance

This study examined relations among spelling performance and students' beliefs about spelling, including self-efficacy for spelling ability, outcome expectancy for spelling, and attributions for good spelling across grades 4, 7, and 10. Spelling self-efficacy remained relatively constant across grades. Spelling outcome expectancies for adult life and school declined across grades, as did effort and ability attributions for spelling success, with a disproportional decrease in ability attributions between grades 4 and 7. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of spelling performance at all grade levels; attribution for ability entered into the regression for grade 4 students, while outcome expectancies for school and writing were more important in grades 7 and 10. Cluster analyses on the grade 10 sample showed that students with high efficacy as spellers and high outcome expectancy of spelling for writing were the best spellers, with the highest performance reserved for those who attributed good spelling more to effort than ability. The impact of spelling instruction on developing beliefs is discussed.     

Intelligence and the Frontal Lobe: The Organization of Goal-Directed Behavior

Basic to the study of individual differences is the concept of “general intelligence” or Spearman'sg.In this article we suggest thatgis largely a reflection of the control functions of the frontal lobe. A series of experiments investigates a phenomenon we callgoal neglect:disregard of a task requirement even though it has been understood and remembered. Subjectively it is as though the neglected requirement “slips the subject's mind.” Previously described in frontal patients, we show that goal neglect can also be seen in some members of the normal population. In line with conventional distinctions between controlled and automatic processing, eliciting conditions for goal neglect include novelty, weak error feedback, and multiple concurrent task requirements. Under these conditions neglect is linked closely togand extremely common after frontal lesions. Following many other models, we suggest that behavior in any task is structured by a set of action constraints or requirements, derived in part from verbal instructions and specified at multiple levels of abstraction. A frontal process of constraint or requirement activation is fundamental to Spearman'sg.     

Features Resembling Tourette''s Syndrome in Developmental Stutterers

Developmental stuttering (DS) may be related to the extrapyramidal motor system and shares many clinical similarities with Tourette's syndrome (TS), which is widely believed to be associated with extrapyramidal dysfunction. Twenty-two stutterers were examined for neuropsychiatric features commonly seen in TS, including tics, obsessive-compulsive behaviors (OCB), and attention deficit disorders. Eleven stutterers displayed motor tics, and symptoms of OCB were observed at rates similar to those seen in persons with TS. Few stutterers demonstrated significant attentional deficits. Findings are consistent with models suggesting extrapyramidal involvement in DS and raise the possibility that DS and TS are pathogenetically related.     

The Revised Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-R): Factor Structure, Reliability, and Criterion Validity

The Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) is a popular research and clinical tool for obtaining parental reports of childhood behavior problems. The present study introduces a revised CPRS (CPRS-R) which has norms derived from a large, representative sample of North American children, uses confirmatory factor analysis to develop a definitive factor structure, and has an updated item content to reflect recent knowledge and developments concerning childhood behavior problems. Exploratory and confirmatory factor-analytic results revealed a seven-factor model including the following factors: Cognitive Problems, Oppositional, Hyperactivity-Impulsivity, Anxious-Shy, Perfectionism, Social Problems, and Psychosomatic. The psychometric properties of the revised scale appear adequate as demonstrated by good internal reliability coefficients, high test-retest reliability, and effective discriminatory power. Advantages of the CPRS-R include a corresponding factor structure with the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale—Revised and comprehensive symptom coverage for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related disorders. Factor congruence with the original CPRS as well as similarities with other parent rating scales are discussed.     

Repression-sensitization and emotion control

The internal structure of the Repression-Sensitization (R-S) Scale was examined by means of factor analysis. Following a scree test, four factors were extracted: lassitude/depression, extraversion/confidence, guilelessness/trust, and emotional lability. Concurrent validation using the Emotion Control Questionnaire and the Eysenck Personality Inventory showed that the factors extracted from the R-S Scale were related in predictable ways to existing personality constructs, but the results argue against the use of the overall R-S score as an index of emotional response style.     

Book reviews

The Awakening of the West: the encounter of Buddhism and Western culture Stephen Batchelor (Foreword by The Dalai Lama), 1994 London, Aquarian xvi + 416 pp., £12.99, US $20.00

A Comparative Study of Early Buddhism and Kantian Philosophy S. G. M. Weerasinghe, 1993 Colombo, S. Godage and Brothers xxii+ 104 pp., pb Rs. 150.00; US$7.50

New Light on Early Buddhism Balkrishna Govind Gokhale, 1994 London, Sangam x + 208 pp., hb £22.95

Vedic Hermeneutics K. Satchidananda Murty, 1993 New Delhi, Shri Lai Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, in association with Motilal Banarsidass xxvi + 106 pp., hb Rs.150     

A short form of the Common Beliefs Survey III

Previous studies have shown that the Common Beliefs Survey III (CBS III) is an irrational beliefs inventory with satisfactory psychometric properties. We extended research on the CBS by examining this 54-item inventory for redundant material, and substantially abbreviated it without compormising its reliability or validity. This article describes the development of the new, 19-item short form (CBS19), convenient for clinical use, that preserves the psychometric properties of the original.     

The effects of effort toward comprehension on recall

Four experiments examined free recall of generally incomprehensible sentences with appropriate cues that made the sentences comprehensible. A distinction is made between processes involved in an effort toward comprehension and elaboration processes that occur following comprehension. It was found that providing additional time for effort toward comprehension enhanced recall, while providing additional time for elaboration following comprehension did not enhance recall. It was also shown that the effects of effort toward comprehension were contingent upon eventual understanding of the sentence.     

A comparison of the personal values and operative goals of school psychologists and school superintendents

A survey of 96 school psychologists and 75 school superintendents throughout the state of Ohio showed the two groups to have generally similar personal value systems and to be in overall agreement in their respective rankings of school psychology goals. Both groups held the traditional school psychologist's goal of conducting individual testing to be lower relevance than acting as an internal consultant or resource person. Of those differences identified, superintendents assigned greater relevance to values which were consistent with their administrative concerns, while psychologists held values preferring individualism as more relevant. Superintendents held goals associated with increased learning efficiency and interacting with community agencies as more relevant, while psychologists assigned higher relevance to goals associated with parent-psychologist interactions.