Solving implicit equations in psychometric data analysis

Many data analysis problems in psychology may be posed conveniently in terms which place the parameters to be estimated on one side of an equation and an expression in these parameters on the other side. A rule for improving the rate of convergence of the iterative solution of such equations is developed and applied to four problems: the principal axis communality problem, individual differences multidimensional scaling,L _P norm multiple regression, andL _P norm factor analysis of a data matrix. The rule results in substantially faster solutions or in solutions where none would be possible without the rule.This work was supported by National Research Council of Canada grant APA 320 to the author.     

Aphasia syndromes in brain tumors. Clinico-pathological correlations]

A clinica-psychological and pathoanatomical analysis of 40 observations with neoplasms of the brain in the left dominant hemisphere and 4 observations with neoplasms in the right subdominant hemisphere, has been carried out. In 36 cases, a desintegration in the language in a form of aphasia, has been established, while in 4 cases this was not present. In 22 observations the established neuro-psychological syndrome completely indicated and coincided with the localization of the neoplasm in the corresponding part or parts of the brain, in 10 it only partialy coincided, while in 4 cases it did not coincide with the localization of the neoplasm in the brain. The established neuro-psychological syndrome in observations with neoplasms in the right subdominant hemisphere possesses only a tentative topico-diagnostical significance. In conclusion the authors consider that the established syndromes of aphasia in patients with neoplasms of the brain may be of a considerable significance and help in substantiating a precise topical diagnosis.     

An empirical evaluation of a scale to measure occupational aspiration level

Data from 34,118 American high school students are used to evaluate the Occupational Aspiration Scale (OAS). The OAS is successively reevaluated for each of 16 subsamples (cells) generated by cross-classifying respondents by grade in school (9–12), sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). In each cell the OAS is found to be essentially unifactorial, and that factor is identified as level of occupational aspiration (LOA). The reliability of the OAS is slightly lower among females ($\text{r}$_kk = .681) than among males ($\text{r}$_kk = .756); it does not vary appreciably by grade or SES. The mean scores are lower for youth from low SES families than for those from high SES families, in accord with previous research. Mean OAS differences due to sex and grade are small. No important differences by age, sex, or SES are found in the standard deviations of the test scores. This and previously published data from small, local samples indicate that the reliability and validity of the OAS are sufficient for research on high school youth of both sexes and from both higher and lower SES levels.     

The Effects of Mandatory Time Limits in the Voting Booth on Liberal-conservative Voting Patterns

One hundred and forty college students, in either (a) 2-minute time-limit or (b) a no-time-limit condition, voted their conscience on actual pending legislation in their state in a test of hypothesis that such time limits in the voting booth created a stimulus overload situation. Such a situation was expected to result in dysfunctional adaptation responses, with unintended effects on voting patterns. Results indicated that subjects in the time stress condition voted significantly more conservatively on these issues. This conservative shift is interpreted as a function of overload, with serious political implications for urban planners, whose response to increasing population density often has been to increase the tempo by which citizens are processed through the cities'institutional and social services.     

The distracting effect of material reward: An alternative explanation for the superior performance of reward groups in probability learning

To determine whether the distraction effect associated with material rewards in discrimination learning can account for the superior performance of reward groups in probability learning, the performance of 144 school children (preschool, second, and fifth grades) on a two-choice successive discrimination task was compared under three reinforcement conditions (material reward, marker, and knowledge of results). The two events in the task had different frequencies of occurrence, as in probability learning, yet they appeared in a constant order to make 100% payoff possible. The subjects in the reward and marker groups learned the task more slowly, and the nonlearners among them used stereotyped alternation patterns to a greater degree than subjects in the knowledge-of-results condition. These findings suggest that a distracting effect of material reward is present in probability learning and may explain the superior performance of reward groups typically found in probability learning studies.     

An expanded scope for behavior modification in school settings

Behavior modification in the school setting has consisted primarily of the manipulation of consequent conditions to vary children's social and academic behaviors within classrooms. The scope of behavior modification within school settings may fruitfully be expanded by furthering the investigation and application of these additional areas: the interaction between the modification of social and academic behaviors, the manipulation of antecedent conditions in order to evoke reinforceable responses, the use of controlling variables on a school-system-wide basis, and the use of standardized tests as an additional dependent measure.     

Rewarding psychiatric aides for the behavioral improvement of assigned patients

Different ways of modifying the aide-patient relationship to promote improvement in psychiatric patients were investigated. Psychiatric aides were given information about the behavior of assigned patients, cash awards based on the improvement of assigned patients, and different kinds of supervision by the psychology staff; the effects of these variables on a large number of psychiatrically relevant behaviors were measured. Appropriate behavior of patients increased when the aides were given quantitative information about the improvement of assigned patients. Cash awards for aides, which were not contingent on the behavior of patients had little effect, while cash awards contingent on the behavior of assigned patients were associated with more appropriate behavior. Direct supervision of aide-patient interactions was associated with an increase in appropriate behavior, while required consultation for the aides about assigned patients was not. Behavior of patients deteriorated when the program was terminated.