Sex differences in the correlation of memory span with scan and other episodic memory tasks

Three studies of the relationship between memory span and other measures of memory and information processing are reported here. These other measures included memory scanning rate, the short- and long-term components of free recall, and word recognition from long-term memory. All three studies produced evidence for a sex difference in the correlation of these tasks with memory span. The first study produced a partial replication of Chiang and Atkinson's report (Memory & Cognition, 1976, 4,661–667) of a sex difference: for males, span and scanning rate were unrelated, while for females they were positively correlated. The second study showed that span and the primary memory component of free recall had a modest positive correlation for females but not for males, while span was unrelated to measures of secondary or long-term memory for females but was consistently positively related for males. In the third study, recognition accuracy and span were uncorrelated for females, but positively correlated for males. Finally, a reanalysis of data from a large-scale study by Underwood, Baruch, and Malmi (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1978, 107, 393–419) also showed evidence of similar sex differences. Sex differences involving the correlation of memory span with other cognitive test performances seem quite general and need to be taken account of in the analyses of individual differences in memory and cognitive processes. A tentative theory is presented to account for the differences found in these studies.     

A comparison of the environments of day care centers and group day care homes for 3 year olds

Caregiver-child interaction and social participation were compared in community-based day care centers and group day care homes for three year olds. Use of group day care homes made it possible to control for group size and adult-child ratio. Day care homes were found to be more structured in terms of curriculum, and more flexible in terms of overall schedule and social-emotional climate. Adult child interaction was of higher quality during structured periods in day care homes. Social participation was of higher quality in day care homes. The adult-child interaction in both types of day care was impersonal and neutral in affective tone.     

Premarital sexual intercourse among single college students: A discriminant analysis

This study assesses the relative importance of interpersonal psychological variables in the prediction of the number of premarital sexual partners of single college students. Using data from a sample of 466 college students from a large mid-Atlantic university, various discriminant functions were formulated and used to predict a student's premarital sexual partners group membership. A virgin group, a monogamous group, a moderate partners group, and a extensive partners group were identified. The variables selected by the computer for inclusion in the functions are of theoretical importance. Males and females differed in the sets of weighted variables chosen by the computer to enter the discriminant functions. Different functions were found to best discriminate the virgin group from the monogamous group, the moderate partners group, and the extensive partners group, especially for males. When subjects were reclassified using the discriminant functions, the predictive accuracies were significantly increased above chance in 14 instances of reclassification. The data support the view that male and female single college students are moving toward an equal standard with regard to premarital intercourse behavior. However, the interpersonal psychological correlates of sexual intercourse appear to be quite different for males and females. Male variation along the power or dominance dimension of Leary's Interpersonal Adjective Checklist was most reflective of their sexual partners group, while females were best discriminated using variables related to the affiliation or affection dimension. A three-stage theory of normative change is formulated to explain the existing data.     

Measures of observer agreement when binomial data are collected in free operant situations

This paper examines a model and defines reasonable assumptions underlying different measures of observer agreement for categorical data collected in free operant situations. It is assumed that two or more observers classify operant behaviors of subjects into occurrences and nonoccurrences by recognition by validated response classes (categories) such that the rates of false positives and observer biases are acceptably low. Thus errors are mostly omissions, i.e., failing to observe events that occur. Four alternative cases are derived, together with formulas for calculating significance tests, variances, and standard errors, three of which do not depend on knowledge of the proportion of time points at which the event does not occur.We wish to acknowledge NICHD Grant HD-10570, The Neuropharmacology of Developmental Disorders, George Breese, Ph.D., and C. T. Gualtieri, M.D., Principal Investigators; NIEHS Grant ES-01104; USPHS Grant HD-03110; and MCH Project 916 to the Division for Disorders of Development and Learning.     

Physiological and subjective measures of anxiety during flooding

Patterns of physiological arousal and subjective reports of anxiety were examined during individual sessions of imaginal flooding of five phobic subjects. A curvilinear pattern of increased, followed by decreased, arousal characterized changes in heart rate, respiration rate and subjective anxiety. Heart rate tended to reach its peak level before respiration rate and subjective anxiety. Intercorrelations between these measures were generally positive and significant. Comparisons between periods of high and low subjective arousal revealed a significantly greater correlation for low than for high arousal only for the subjective anxiety by respiration-rate correlation.     

Willingness to Help a Stranger: The Effects of Social Context and Opinion Similarity1

Two field experiments investigate how information about aspects of the social environment affects willingness to help others who are similar or dissimilar. Subjects were pedestrians who found a lost packet of materials containing information about the opinions of the packet's loser and a survey report which claimed that the quality of life in the neighborhood had either improved or deteriorated. In the fiist study, the opinions were varied in order to create different degrees of opinion similarity between the loser and subject. Results showed that relatively slight differences between the loser's and subject's opinions made subjects unwilling to help (return the lost packet) when information about the social environment suggested a negative state of affairs, e.g., quality of life deteriorating. However, when information about the social environment suggested a positive state of affairs, subjects were willing to help, even if there was little similarity of opinion. In the second study, subjects learned that the loser of the packet agreed with their views on one opinion but disagreed on another. In this study, one of the two opinions concerned the same social issue as the one described in the survey report. Results demonstrated that subjects helped when there was agreement on the social issue that was also highlighted in survey reports of a negative state of affairs in the social environment and withheld help when there was disagreement on this issue. There were trends for the same result with information about a positive state of affairs in the social world.     

Effects of sexual versus fear arousal on alcohol consumption in college males

To compare the effects of pleasant and aversive arousal on alcohol consumption, 18 male undergraduates had three weekly sessions to separately view erotic, mutilation or neutral slides in a simulated memory experiment. Following exposure to the slides, they received access to alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, which were presented to half the subjects in a taste rating task, and to half as the result of engaging in an operant lever-press task. Subjects believed these tasks to be distractors during a purported retention interval. Self-report instruments and basal skin conductance confirmed the success of the affective manipulations. However, only the subjects using the taste task after viewing erotic slides significantly increased alcohol consumption. These results question a tension reduction model of drinking and qualify the contribution of autonomic arousal to motivation for drinking.     

CONTINGENT EXERCISE: A MILD BUT POWERFUL PROCEDURE FOR SUPPRESSING INAPPROPRIATE VERBAL AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR

Two single-subject experiments were conducted in public school classrooms for severely emotionally disturbed children. Both experiments investigated the effects of a treatment requiring a child to exhibit a simple exercise task after a verbal or aggressive response, using reversal and multiple-baseline designs. The independent variable, contingent exercise, required standing up and sitting on the floor five to ten times contingent on an inappropriate behavior. It was found that contingent exercise was easy to carry out, and following it, the child quickly returned to the learning task that had been interrupted by the inappropriate behavior. The contingent exercise procedure required a minimum of prompting or manual guidance. Although contingent exercise was not topographically related to the inappropriate response, it decreased those responses dramatically. The results suggested that contingent exercise was not only more powerful than DRO but also could be administered independently. It was concluded that contingent exercise may constitute an alternative procedure that can be used by therapists confronted with severely abnormal behaviors. It would appear to be particularly relevant in settings where procedures such as timeout and painful consequences find restricted use. Finally, a number of guidelines have been proposed as a safeguard against the misuse of this mild but powerful procedure.