Correlation between inspection time and psychometric abilities: A personal interpretation

More than 25 years of research suggests that the measure inspection time (IT) does capture low-level aspects of cognitive functioning that contribute to human intelligence. However, recent evidence does not support earlier claims that IT estimates the speed of a single mechanism like “sampling input” or “apprehension.” Rather, together with other tasks that employ pattern backward masking to limit the duration for which information is available for processing, IT is probably sensitive both to focused attentional capacities to detect organization and change under severe time constraints and to decision processes, ongoing beyond mask onset, that monitor responding. Among normal young adults, IT is correlated with the broad psychometric factor Gs (“speediness”). This mediates correlation with general intelligence. In this group, IT is not correlated with Gf. However, whether this outcome generalizes to samples of persons with an intellectual disability, to young children, or to elderly persons is not yet known. Psychological processes underpinning IT are currently only speculatively defined, but it should prove possible to unravel these by experimentation. To this end, backward masking procedures are arguably more theoretically tractable than reaction time tasks because they reduce the impact of higher-level cognitive strategies on performance. On this basis, IT may hold promise as a means for developing partial explanations for intelligence in psychological terms. However, whether this is realized depends on identifying the psychological functions that support IT.     

A dictionary of rational-emotive feelings and behaviors

Rational-emotive therapy (RET) hypothesizes that people mainly make themselves emotionally disturbed and dysfunctional in their behavior by starting with rational Beliefs (rBs) about their Goals (G) and then by consciously or unconsciously converting these into irrational Beliefs (iBs) or dogmatic, absolutistic musts and commands. To help clients and others to clearly see the differences between their rational Beliefs and their irrational Beliefs, to understand the disordered feelings and behaviors to which the latter lead, and to help them become more rational, less disturbed, and less dysfunctional in their activities, the authors have constructed and herewith present a dictionary of rational-emotive equivalents.Ted Crawford is a Consultant on Communication and Group Processes in Santa Barbara, California. Albert Ellis, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York City.     

DENTIST-IMPLEMENTED CONTINGENT ESCAPE FOR MANAGEMENT OF DISRUPTIVE CHILD BEHAVIOR

We evaluated the effectiveness of a dentist-implemented intervention in which brief escape from dental treatment was provided to manage disruptive child behavior during restorative dental treatment. Within a multiple baseline design across subjects, 4 children, aged 3 to 7 years, were provided temporary escape from dental treatment contingent upon brief periods of cooperative behavior. Disruptive behavior decreased when the appropriate escape contingency was used at least 80% of the time. The escape contingency required no more time than traditional management procedures (e.g., tell-show-do, reprimands and loud commands, restraint) to bring disruptive behavior under control. Independent ratings by two dentists provided social validation of the efficacy of the escape contingency.     

Subtle gender bias in the assessment of managerial potential

The effects of gender on evaluations of managerial potential within a corporate assessment center program were investigated. The sample consisted of 375 men and 61 women (94% White, 3% Black, 2.3% Asian, and .7% Hispanic) assessed between 1980 and 1985. Candidates were assessed on their intellectual ability, performance and interpersonal skills, and overall management potential. Women were rated higher than men on the performance-style skills; however, there were no differences in overall management potential ratings or in actual long-term job advancement. The results suggest that subtle gender bias affects evaluations of managerial potential and subsequent promotion decisions.     

THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE: WHERE ARE WE?

Abstract. Revolutionary developments in both science and theology are moving the relation between the two far beyond the nineteenth-century “warfare” model. Both scientists and theologians are engaged in a common search for shared understanding. Eight models of interaction are outlined: scientism, scientific imperialism, ecclesiastical authoritarianism, scientific creationism, the two-language theory, hypothetical consonance, ethical overlap, and New Age spirituality. Developments in hypothetical consonance are explored in the work of various scholars, including Ian Barbour, Philip Clayton, Paul Davies, Willem Drees, Langdon Gilkey, Philip Hefner, Nancey Murphy, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Arthur Peacocke, John Polkinghorne, Robert John Russell, Thomas Torrence and Wenzel van Huyssteen.     

Serpent versus surrogate and other determinants of runway fear differences

Avoidance behavior and fear ratings by snake-fearful college volunteers were studied as a function of live vs stuffed snake stimuli, order of presenting the snakes, accompanied (participant modeling format) or unaccompanied social context in the runway test, high or moderate initial fear level and sex of subject. The live snake sponsored more avoidance and rated fear than the specimen, and type of snake stimulus interacted with students' initial fear levels, thus raising questions about previous research using specimens instead of live phobic animal stimuli. Accompanied social context produced generally less fear and avoidance than unaccompanied approach. Numerous complex interactions were found among the type of snake, presentation sequence, social context, sex and fear level variables, raising methodological cautions for future research.     

Anchoring and relational judgments by young children and retardates

In five experiments using as dimensions brightness, texture, facial happiness, height, and weight, young children (ages 3.4 to 5.3 years) rendered bipolar judgments of stimuli intermediate in value between alternately given extreme anchors. Consistent relational shifts away from the anchors were found for all dimensions judged, and these effects proved virtually independent of children’s ages, the sequential orders of stimulus and anchor presentation, or the provision of overt visual memory props. Evidence of relational judgment within the narrower range of the test stimuli alone was also found. Essentially similar relational judgments were replicated with a sample of severe adult mental retardates.