Measurement and Non-Measurement Influences of Test-Session Behavior on Individually Administered Measures of Intelligence

Two nested structural models were developed to determine whether test-session behaviors affect the manner in which intelligence is measured or whether their influence is related to the constructs being measured. Children’s test-session behaviors were assessed using the Guide to the Assessment of Test-Session Behaviors for the WISC-III and WIAT (GATSB; Glutting & Oakland, 1993) and intelligence was measured with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III; Wechsler, 1991). Model 1 investigated relationships between test-session behaviors and the WISC-III’s four-factor solution by first evaluating the underlying factor structure of the instruments. Thereafter, this measurement model served as a baseline against which alternative models were compared. The alternative models considered the influence of test-session behaviors on: (a) the subtests used to measure the WISC-III’s constructs of intelligence, and (b) the actual constructs of intelligence. Model 2 explored similar relationships by considering only the WISC-III’s Verbal and Performance dimensions. Results indicate that test-session behaviors play a larger role influencing the mechanisms through which intelligence is measured than on the actual constructs of intelligence. Implications are discussed for clinical practice.     

Gender Discrimination and the Workplace: An Examination of Rational Bias Theory

Previous research concerning the rationalbias theory of workplace discrimination has beenconfined largely to narrow student samples. This studyextends that work with an experimental-survey design in which employed participants were asked bothhow others respond to conditions classically elicitingrational bias discrimination, and how they believepeople behave in their own firms. Participants were 148 men and 158 women (88.6% Caucasian, 4.6%Hispanic, 4% Asian, and 2.8% other racialidentification) with graduate business degrees from apublic university. Results show evidence of continuingdiscrimination, and support the theory predicting rational biasgender discrimination in the workplace. Gender ofrespondent and locus of control (defined by Spector'sWork Locus of Control scale) are also shown to be related to rational bias discrimination.Suggestions are made for further development and testingof rational bias theory.     

Influence Opportunities and the Development of Argumentation Competencies in Childhood

Whether argumentation competencies are associated with the kind of influence opportunities children have in their lives is the focus of this study. The hypothesis is that when children have the opportunity to initiate and evaluate arguments, hear others make and examine arguments, and participate equally in resolving disputes, children are able to develop their argument skills. Four argumentation competencies associated with critical discussions of proposals are identified: creating consensus about problematic situations, advocating proposals, facilitating behavioral commitment, and integrating identities. Second, fourth, and sixth grade children completed tasks that assessed their influence opportunities and argument competencies. Children who perceived themselves to have many collaborative influence opportunities, that is, opportunities in which they could engage in mutual influence, had more highly developed argument competencies than children who did not have such opportunities. As predicted, this relationship occurred with the argument competencies of problem conception, proposal advocacy and facilitating commitment. Measures of non-collaborative influence opportunities were not associated with argument competencies. Together, the results suggest that discussions in which children are given the opportunity to influence and be influenced with arguments may provide the best context for children to develop their argument skills.     

Effects of Self-Monitoring on On-Task Behaviors of At-Risk Middle School Students

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effects of self-monitoring on increasing the on-task behaviors of four at-risk middle school students, and to examine its indirect effects on academic performance. Additionally, we attempted to develop and validate cost- and time-efficient procedures that typical classroom teachers could use. The data from a multiple baseline design across three academic settings, replicated with four students, revealed immediate increases in on-task behavior as each student began to self-monitor in each sequential setting. The data also revealed slightly higher levels of academic performance and, in most instances, gradually accelerating trends. These findings suggest that self-monitoring is a cost- and time-efficient procedure that classroom teachers can use to teach at-risk students to manage their own behaviors.     

Doing as Death Demands: encountering crisis in the context of migration

This article concerns the role and significance of religion in the lives of two South Asian migrant groups in the town of Walsall, West Midlands. Many studies dealing with ethnic group dynamics have seen religion solely in terms of its ability to answer needs and serve purposes and, consequently, religion is represented as a passive cultural object that is shaped and manipulated by external forces. Such perspectives do not take account of the fact that religion is also a source of value and meaning, often of ultimate value and meaning, which can determine group behaviour and identity. As an active rather than passive participant in the migration experience, religion interacts with other elements of the ethnic tradition in order to regulate and shape the changes made necessary by the new environment. The article seeks to demonstrate that interactive process by focusing on the experience that members of these two ethno‐religious groups have had of dealing with death. The double crisis experience of death in a strange land provides an intense context in which to study the interaction between needs, resources and values.     

Understanding Attributions of Blame in Stranger Rape and Date Rape Situations: An Examination of Gender,Race, Identification,and Students' Social Perceptions of Rape Victims1

This study examined factors that may influence attributions of rape victims. Three hundred and three university students completed a questionnaire, which included a measure of dispositional empathy and a vignette depicted either a date rape or a stranger rape situation. Subjects rated the extent that they blamed the rape victim as well as the degree to which they identified with the victim and perpetrator. Results indicated that male students blamed the victim to a greater extent than did female students; students consistently attributed more blame to the victim in date rape situations than they did in stranger rape situations; and, while empathy was not associated with students' attributions, perceptions of similarity to the rape victim and perpetrator were both related to attributions of blame. These findings are consistent with the notion of “judgmental leniency” presented in Shaver's defensive attribution theory (1970). Implications for rape prevention efforts and future research are also discussed.     

Effects of maternal distraction and reprimands on toddlers' transgressions and negative affect

Misbehaviors occur at a high rate during the toddler years, and parents use a variety of methods to control these behaviors. The present investigation compared the effectiveness of two commonly used strategies, distraction and reprimands. Twenty mothers and their 17- to 39-month-old children were observed in a laboratory setting in which mothers used either distraction then reprimands or reprimands followed by distraction in response to their children's transgressions. When reprimands were used as the initial strategy, they were significantly more effective than distraction in controlling children's transgressions. Distraction was effective in maintaining low rates of transgression when preceded by a period of reprimands. However, when reprimands were instituted following a period of distraction, children's rates of negative affect increased significantly. Implications for the etiology and management of child behavior problems are discussed.     

Within-family reproductive technologies as a solution to childlessness due to infertility: Psychological issues and interventions

Patients choosing new reproductive technologies benefit from psychological consultation as they face unforeseen emotional and interpersonal sequalae from these procedures. This paper focuses on those patients who choose family members or close friends (i.e., known donors) to donate sperm or eggs or uteri in order to conceive and produce their babies. Medical family therapy offers these patients and families a framework from which to examine the biological, psychological, and interpersonal issues involved in these within-family solutions to childlessness due to infertility.This paper is a revision of a talk, Medical Family Therapy, Infertility, and the New Reproductive Technologies, given at the 1994 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association on August 4 in Los Angeles, CA, as part of the Mini-convention on Families panel on Clinical Issues in Families and Health.