A CPI comparison of engineers and managers

Seventy-one male employees of three high-technology content product industries in northern Utah were divided into three contrast groups: engineers, engineering-trained managers, and non-engineering-trained managers. The California Psychological Inventory was administered and multivariate analysis of variance performed on seven preselected CPI scales. Results revealed that nonengineering managers scored significantly higher than engineers on scales Dominance, Capacity for Status, Social Presence, and approached significance on Sociability. Engineering-managers also scored significantly higher than engineers on Dominance, and significantly higher than other managers on Psychological Mindedness. A multivariate main-effect significant p < .001 to predict group membership was found. Engineering-managers share with other managers a confident, persuasive, and aggressive self-presentation combined with a preference for leadership roles. Their elevation on Psychological Mindedness, however, suggests a more pragmatic analytical and less intuitive approach to management situations.     

Incorporating inferences in narrative representations: A study of how and why

Four experiments examined the conceptual organization of narrative passages and the extent to which these representations were explanatory in a variety of experimental tasks. The conceptual representation of a passage consisted of a graph of labeled nodes and labeled, directed arcs which were adopted from the Conceptual Dependency Theory. These representations included both explicitly stated information and inferences which had been empirically extracted by a question-answering procedure. Symbolic procedures for answering how- and why-questions were also delineated. The conceptual representations and the symbolic procedures that operate on these representations together accounted for 91% of the answers generated from question-answering protocols in Experiment 1, and also the rated quality of specific answers to specific questions in Experiment 2. Experiments 3 and 4 supported the hypothesis that structural properties of the representations can predict recall of explicitly stated nodes and verification ratings of inference nodes. The results provide encouraging support for the proposed graphic representations and also for the use of question-answering protocols in uncovering prose inferences.     

Effects of food priming on instrumental acquisition and performance

Four experiments investigated the effects of a priming food reinforcement, given 0 or 75 sec pretrial, on runway performance of rats. The studies differed in the use of between-versus-within-subject designs, and by using food or water as the goal reinforcer. In Experiment 1, using food as the goal reward, subjects primed with food 0 sec pretrial conditioned slower than subjects primed 75 sec pretrial. In Experiment 2, using water as the goal reward, subjects primed with food 0 sec pretrial conditioned faster. These differences were evident on both prefed trials and on nonprefed test trials. Experiments 3 and 4 showed an opposite pattern of results when within-subject comparisons of 0- and 75-sec pretrial intervals were used: Food priming immediately pretrial facilitated food-rewarded running but inhibited water-rewarded running. The results suggest prefeeding has differential effects on acquisition and performance of instrumental behavior, and also depending upon the similarity of the priming and goal reinforcers.     

Hemiplegic writing in severe aphasia

Three patients with severe aphasia and right hemiplegia are described who could write to dictation with the right arm using a limb prosthesis though agraphic with the "intact" left hand. The phenomenon of "hemiplegic writing" is explained as an access to submerged or preprocessing levels in language and action structure, through the use of older proximal motor systems. This interpretation has implications for our understanding of language and brain function, as well as for approaches to the treatment of patients with severe language disorders.     

Control of CRT intensity via Apple II software

An inexpensive, easy-to-build device for the Apple II microprocessor is described. The modification permits software control of four levels of relative screen intensity (contrast) settings for any video monitor. The relationship of the technology to choice reaction time and perception research is briefly indicated. Principles governing operation of the modification are also discussed. Finally, a set of step-by-step instructions for building the device is provided.     

Feature-positive effect in adults and attention to portion of stimulus array

In three experiments, adult humans were tested in a feature-positive or feature-negative simultaneous symbol task. In Experiment 1, some persons focused on the correct side of the stimulus cards, whereas other persons focused on the not-correct side of the stimulus cards. The feature-positive group learned faster than the feature-negative group did in the correct side condition; the feature-negative group learned faster than the feature-positive group did in the not-correct side condition. In Experiments 2 and 3, all persons focused on both the correct and not-correct sides of the stimulus cards. Under these circumstances, feature-positive and feature-negative performances were comparable. These results indicated that the usual superiority of feature-positive over feature-negative learning results from a tendency to attend to only a portion of the stimulus array.     

A review of the tip-of-the-tongue experience

The tip-of-the-tongue experience (TOT) has intrigued psychologists for nearly a century. R. Brown and McNeil (1966) provided the first systematic exploration of the phenomenon, and the findings since their seminal study suggest that TOTs (a) are a nearly universal experience, (b) occur about once a week, (c) increase with age, (d) are frequently elicited by proper names, (e) often enable access to the target word's first letter, (f) are often accompanied by words related to the target, and (g) are resolved during the experience about half of the time. Important questions remain concerning TOTs: (a) Are emotional reactions necessary, (b) do only low frequency targets elicit TOTs, (c) do TOTs reflect incomplete target word activation or interference from related words, and (d) do spontaneous retrievals really occur? A more precise definition of the TOT experience is needed, as well as greater uniformity in the information gathered during TOTs.