Knowledge-based classification of ill-defined categories

In this paper, I report an exploratory study which investigated the role that prior knowledge plays in influencing classification learning. Under neutral or knowledge-imposing instructions, subjects learned to classify exemplars into categories that either were or were not linearly separable. Linearly separable categories are those categories whose members can be correctly classified based on an additive summation of weighted attribute information. Following category learning, the subjects were given transfer tests. A major finding was that knowledge facilitated the learning of linearly separable categories but interfered with the learning of not linearly separable categories. Quantitative analyses revealed that the knowledge facilitated category learning of the linearly separable categories by influencing the storage and reliance on both prototypical and exemplar information.     

Cross-generational stability of gender differences in sexuality

A sample of 4767 people (roughly representative of Britain) replied to a sex questionnaire issued within the pages of a National newspaper. Respondents were divided into two broad age-groups (above and below thirty) in order to assess the impact of the women's movement on traditional gender differences basic to the so-called ‘double standard’. Men emerged as markedly more interested in casual encounters and sexual variety than women, and there was no sign at all that this difference has diminished among the modern generation. An analysis of reported sexual difficulties indicated that young people have gained little benefit from all the sex manuals and advice that are available today: the problems persist in exactly the same proportion as with the older generation. Of particular interest was the frequency with which women in both age-groups reported boredom and disinterest in sex as problematic.