The effect of television-mediated aggression and real-life aggression on the behavior of Lebanese children

This study investigated the effect of television-mediated aggression and real-life aggression on the behavior of Lebanese children. The sample consisted of 48 boys and 48 girls of Lebanese origin who were students in an elementary school in Beirut, Lebanon. After controlling for pre-experimental aggression, the subjects were randomly assigned to one of the following treatment conditions: human-film aggression, cartoon-film aggression, neutral film, or real-life (act of war) aggression. The results indicated that boys as a group were more aggressive than girls and exhibited more imitative aggression after viewing both violent film and real-life violence. Girls were not more violent after viewing filmed aggression but were affected by the real-life violence. Comparisons of Bandura's work within the Lebanese culture are made.     

Visual capture of haptically judged depth

Using a graduated scale. S was required to match with his left hand the depth of three objects of equal physical depth (or thickness) held with the right hand. While making these haptic depth judgments the objects were viewed. Due to its optical properties. one object was of greater apparent visual depth than the other two, which served as controls. The critical object was judged to be of greater haptic depth than the control objects, thus demonstrating visual capture of haptic depth. This outcome is similar to that noted previously for haptically judged direction, size, and orientation with transformed visual input.     

Trust differences between supervisors and subordinates: Examining the role of race and gender

This study examined trust differences between supervisor and subordinate dyads that differ in race or gender as well as in dyads that were similar. The results of 301 (the sample consisted of 241 whites and 41 blacks, 216 were women and 86 were men) respondents indicated gender and race do affect trust. More specifically, the highest level of trust was found between female subordinates reporting to male supervisors. It was also found that whites reporting to whites perceived significantly less trust than blacks reporting to blacks, but significantly greater trust than whites reporting to blacks. The results also indicated that whites reporting to blacks and blacks reporting to whites perceive significantly less trust than blacks reporting to blacks. A discussion of these results is also included.     

Marked sex differences on a fine motor skill task disappear when finger size is used as covariate

Purdue Pegboard performance of 16 male and 25 female right-handed college students were compared, and results were replicated with 25 male and 28 female subjects. In agreement with the literature, women performed significantly better than men. When measures of index finger and thumb thickness were used as covariate, all significant sex differences in performance disappeared. Negative correlations between performance and finger size were observed in both sexes. Sex differences in fine manual dexterity tasks may therefore be confounded by sex differences in finger size.     

Enhancing possible selves in Mexican American students

This project assessed the modifiability of possible selves in young Mexican American children. Three intervention conditions were compared in a pre- and posttest design: child-only intervention, parent and child intervention, and a no-intervention control. Following eight intervention sessions, children in the two intervention groups showed significant gains in understanding the characteristics associated with becoming a good student and in recognizing the value of education in bringing about future occupational goals. Children in the intervention conditions also reported greater interest in becoming a physician, judge, or pilot — occupations they had directly experienced during training. The parent intervention phase contributed little to augmenting the positive results attributable to the child intervention component.This research was conducted under the auspices of NIH Grant HD-24003. We wish to thank Maritza Robles and the staff of the Bilingual program of the South Bend, IN, Corporation for their support.     

Selective attention by children and adults to pictures specified by color

Four conditions were used to investigate developmental trends in the ability to establish and use a color set to direct the selective processing of pictures. In three conditions, 6-year-old, 9-year-old, and adult subjects viewed a series of pairs of pictures, with one red and one black line drawing in each pair. Subjects were asked to look either at the red pictures only, the black pictures only, or both pictures. In a fourth condition, subjects viewed a series of singly presented red and black pictures. Pictures of both colors were included in a subsequent recognition memory test. At all ages recognition memory was comparable for pictures of each color in the both and single conditions but was higher for pictures of the specified color in the selective red and selective black conditions. There was no evidence at any age that memory for pictures of the specified color was decreased by the presence of the second picture. These results, showing roughly comparable selectivity at all ages, were discussed in relation to findings of developmental trends in selective attention on more “traditional” central-incidental learning tasks.     

The Fraser illusion: complex figures

The cause of the Fraser illusion, which occurs when a line made up of tilted segments itself appears tilted, is examined further. In this series of experiments, we used figures that resembled the original Fraser illusion; they were more complex than those reported on in our previous paper (Stuart & Day, 1988). The figures were used to explore two theories of the Fraser illusion further: that it is the result of interactions between orientation selective units, and that it is a consequence of the local, distributed processing of orientation. The presence of background elements like those used in the original illusion led to an increase in the strength of the illusion, but the shape of these elements had no differential effect on illusion strength. There was a differential effect of the background on the assimilative and contrast illusions, owing respectively to small and large tilts of the inducing elements. The illusion was markedly reduced at small visual angles when the background was absent, but it was only slightly affected when the background was present. All these findings are difficult to explain in terms of interactions between single units, either at the same or at different scales in the image. The effects of luminance contrast and isoluminance on the illusion were not consistent with either theory, but they indicated that researchers need to consider the role of figure-ground organization in this illusion.