Imagery,concreteness, goodness,and familiarity ratings for 500 proverbs sampled from theOxford Dictionary of English Proverbs

Partly in order to facilitate research on the relation between some standard psychological variables, we gathered normative data on 500 proverbs sampled from theOxford Dictionary of English Proverbs (Wilson, 1970). The scales for which we gathered data are imagery, concreteness, goodness , and familiarity. These norms may be of value to researchers who wish to sample linguistic units larger than the word from a set that contains an extensive number of unfamiliar and familiar items. To illustrate the possible uses to which these data may be put, we presented a causal model of the relation between the four variables mentioned above.     

The unconscious transference effect: Are innocent bystanders ever misidentified?

Unconscious transference refers to an eyewitness's misidentification of an innocent bystander for a criminal perpetrator because of the witness's exposure to the bystander in another context. In a series of five field studies involving 330 retail store clerks and 340 students, five retention intervals from 2 hours to 2 weeks, seven bystander-perpetrator intervals from 2 minutes to 2 weeks, three line-up types, two levels of line-up similarity, four different bystanders and four different targets, with one exception no evidence was obtained that could be interpreted to demonstrate the phenomenon of unconscious transference. That is, the resultsr repeatedly failed to reveal more misidentifications of an innocent bystander by witnesses who had been previously exposed to the bystander than by control evewitnesses who had not. To the contrary, the prior observation of the bystander often served to reduce the frequency of misidentification. In the final experiment the kind of misidentification error referred to as unconscious transference did occur, but only within a particular combination of bystander-perpetrator similarity and line-up construction: a combination that, in conjunction with the kind of event used, seems unlikely in real-world settings. Nevertheless, the inclusion of a familiar face in the line-ups often altered witnesses' choices in such a way that choosing someone was more likely when the lineup included a familiar face than when it did not. Finally, in contrast to the current explanations of unconscious transference, it is argued that it may not be a sense of familiarity with the bystander that is the basis of misidentifications; rather, it may also include incorrect inferences about the likelihood that the bystander might be the perpetrator.     

Beyond internal consistency reliability: Rationale and user’s guide for Multitrait Analysis Program on the microcomputer

A methodology for evaluating Likert-type scales is presented. Multitrait scaling is a straightforward approach to scale analysis that focuses on items as the unit of analysis and utilizes the logic of convergent and discriminant validity. Multitrait scaling is illustrated with the Multitrait Analysis Program, using patient satisfaction data from the Medical Outcomes Study.     

White Racial Identity and Attitudes Toward People With Disabilities

This empirical study investigated the relationship between racial identity and attitudes toward people with disabilities. Results indicate that higher statuses of racial identity correlate positively while lower and more racist‐oriented statuses correlate negatively with attitudes toward people with disabilities. The study supports the notion that attitudes from cultural memberships associated with power can transfer from one domain (i.e., White/People of Color) to another domain (i.e., Abled/Disabled). Este estudio empírico investigó la relación entre la identidad y actitudes raciales hacia personas con incapacidades. Los resultados indican que las posiciones más altas de la identidad racial se pone en correlación positivamente mientras bajan y más posiciones racista‐orientados se pone en correlación negativamente con actitudes hacia personas con incapacidades. El estudio sostiene la noción que actitudes de asociaciones culturales asociadas con el poder pueden transferir de un dominio (es decir, los Blancos/Personas del Color) a otro dominio (es decir, Capacitados/Incapacitados).     

Blindness to background: an inbuilt bias for visual objects

Sixty‐eight 2‐ to 12‐year‐olds and 30 adults were shown colorful displays on a touchscreen monitor and trained to point to the location of a named color. Participants located targets near‐perfectly when presented with four abutting colored patches. When presented with three colored patches on a colored background, toddlers failed to locate targets in the background. Eye tracking demonstrated that the effect was partially mediated by a tendency not to fixate the background. However, the effect was abolished when the targets were named as nouns, whilst the change to nouns had little impact on eye movement patterns. Our results imply a powerful, inbuilt tendency to attend to objects, which may slow the development of color concepts and acquisition of color words. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/TKO1BPeAiOI . [Correction added on 27 January 2017, after first online publication: The video abstract link was added.]     

Lay knowledge of eyewitness issues: A Canadian evaluation

Lay opinions concerning eyewitness topics were surveyed in three community samples of juror‐eligible participants in Canada. The scientific reliability of these topics had been previously evaluated by eyewitness experts. The first survey assessed participant responses to the identically worded expert items. Participants responded to many statements with greater accuracy than anticipated. Two subsequent surveys assessed the consistency of lay knowledge across variations in the directionality and wording of items and the provision of additional contextual information. Taken together, jury‐eligible participants frequently responded to survey items in ways that closely resembled the responses of experts and suggested awareness and understanding of these topics at levels beyond those previously obtained. Further, the provision of contextual information increased response accuracy and reduced the frequencies of ‘Don't Know’ responses. Deficiencies in knowledge for 50% of the topics were also apparent; however, these topics were frequently those for which the experts themselves had not reached consensus. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementation of the Sound Partners Reading Program

Eleven first grade and 10 second grade students, all with reading and behavioral difficulties, received one-on-one tutoring using the Sound Partners reading program (Vadasy & Pool, l997). Students received 30 min of tutoring each day for 5 months. Students were assessed on Letter-Word Identification, Passage Comprehension, and Word Attack subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson-Revised (WJ-R): Tests of Achievement. An informal measure (rapid letter naming) was also used. Results indicated that gains of approximately 1 standard deviation (or greater) were noted for subtests of the WJ-R for first-grade students; second graders showed relatively stable performance from pre- to posttest assessments. Similar performance was noted on the informal measure across grades. Program satisfaction data showed that overall the tutors, teachers, and students were pleased with the program. Discussion focuses on the implications for future investigations.