Children's use of semantic analysis in the interpretation of missing subjects: Further evidence against the MDP

Preschool and many older children often have difficulty understanding who carries out the complement action (e.g., to go in sentences such asMary promised John to go; this is so, even though they easily understand this information in sentences such asJohn told Mary to go. C. Chomsky (1969) proposed that children's errors arise from the overgeneral application of a purely structural Minimal Distance Principle. Maratsos (1974), however, hypothesized that children err by overgeneralizing a different principle which he called the Semantic Role Principle. According to this principle, the Goal-Recipient of the spoken message, not the closest noun phrase, is understood as the person who carries out the act referred to by the infinitival complement. The two studies reported here were designed to determine which of these principles children use. Preschool children were taught to understand a specially designed novel construction. The children then acted out sentences containing related but novel uses of the construction such that they would respond differentially according to which interpretive principle they used. The results strongly favored the Semantic Role Principle, rather than the MDP described by Chomsky (1969), or a related, more complex MDP described by Rosenbaum (1967). It is further discussed how children's formulation of the Semantic Role Principle, rather than the MDP, might arise from their prior analyses of related constructions, such as the imperative construction, rather than following from an innate preference, as suggested in Maratsos (1974).This research was supported by the NICHD under Grant #5 R01 HD09112-02 given to M. P. Maratsos.     

Televised classroom events as distractors for reading-disabled children

Three experiments examined the influence of videotaped classroom events on the academic performance and study behavior of reading-disabled and normally reading children in grades 1 through 6. In experiments 1 and 2a an experimenter-controlled presentation of these distractors resulted in performance decrements, the magnitude of which was greater for higher difficulty tasks. The distractor effects were similar for the two groups in this condition. However, when the children themselves were allowed to control their degree of exposure to the same distractors in experiment 2b, the reading-disabled children were less likely to act to escape the distraction. Results are discussed in terms of children's metacognitive awareness of distraction, and implications for the classroom are considered.     

Psychosocial aspects of fertility behavior: an overview

Selected aspects of decision making in fertility behavior are reviewed. Attention is directed to assessing motivational determinants, the value of children, the concept of "wantedness," delayed childbearing, and adolescent fertility. A woman's decision to use or not to use a birth control method is heavily influenced by partner interaction. The perception of the partner's attitudes and degree of control in the couple relationship are likely to affect the type of method used, the consistency of contraceptive practice, and the resolution of eventual pregnancies. The present generation in many countries is the 1st to be involved in the conscious process of deciding when and how many children to have and to discontinue contraception. The psychosocial model of fertility behaviour emphasizes the subjective assessment of the environment by the individual and the importance of the 2 partners in a couple influencing each other's perceptions and choice behavior. A key feature of successful couple planning behavior is their joint ability to anticipate future outcomes, plan ahead, and develop contingency alternatives. The history of attempts to explain and delineate motivational determinants of fertility behavior is long and filled with testimonials regarding the complexity of the task. It has been well documented in cross-national studies and commentaries that the pleasures which parents experience in raising their children are highly valued. The gradual transition in the perceived economic value of children probably reflects changing parental attitudes accompanying the secular decline in fertility rates. Reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies has been and continues to be one of the major objectives of international planned parenthood and responsible parenthood movements. No published evidence exists, however, that the unexpected, unplanned, or even unwanted pregnancy is always "bad" or that a planned pregnancy more often produces a psychologically healthy child. To date research has been sparse on the effect of a 1st birth as a conditional factor influencing the number and spacing of subsequent births. Little attention has focused on the process of continuing employment and parenthood. Amid the generally falling birth rates for women under age 20, the number of births to women under age 16 has increased from approximately 25,000 in 1960 to 42,000 in 1977. In the U.S. adolescents bearing children are the least likely to receive adequate prenatal care, are most at risk for having a low birth weight baby, and are more exposed to complications of labor and delivery.     

A psychometric analysis of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire

The psychometric properties of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire were examined in independent samples of male and female high school students, college students, and adults. In each of the six samples a two-factor structure (masculinity/instrumentality and femininity/expressivity) paralleling the empirically derived scales was found. Additional factor analyses of negative masculine and feminine traits were reported. Discriminant analyses revealed highly significant differentiation between the sexes. The reliabilities (Cronbach alpha) of the unit-weighted scales in each sample were also satisfactory.Support for this research was provided by NASA Grant NSG 2065 (Robert L. Helmreich, Principal Investigator) and NSF Grant BNS 78-08911 (Janet T. Spence and Robert L. Helmreich, Principal Investigators). The article was prepared while the second author was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, with support from the Spencer Foundation, NIMH Grant 5T32MH14581-03, and the University of Texas Research Institute.     

Do tough-minded people hold tough-minded attitudes?

Eysenck originally postulated that extraverts would adopt tough-minded social attitudes, although psychoticism is now considered to be of greater importance than extraversion. Previous research has attempted to relate psychoticism to realism-idealism, a principal factor of the Wilson-Patterson Conservatism Scale, and a measure of tough-mindedness acceptable to Eysenck. Results have proved discrepant; authors have used psychoticism scales of uncertain item content and length. The present study examines the relationship between psychoticism, extraversion and realism-idealism, using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Wilson-Patterson Attitude Inventory. The results provide only weak support for Eysenck’s theory. A more significant relationship was obtained between psychoticism and conservatism, and extraversion and conservatism, although a theoretical rationale for these relationships is lacking.