A comparison of visual tilt illusions measured by the techniques of verticle setting, parallel matching, and dot alignment.

The tilt illusion (TI) was investigated by using both short (19 min) and long (2 deg 6 min) test lines, at three angles of test line-inducing line separation (15 degrees, 45 degrees, and 75 degrees). Three groups of ten observers each provided data under one of three task conditions: vertical judgment, parallel matching, and dot alignment on a common visual display. The main result was that both the vertical judgment and the parallel matching task provided similar, classic TI angular functions with the means ordered 15 degrees greater than 45 degrees greater than 75 degrees and with small attraction effects at 75 degrees in three of the four relevant functions. The third task, dot alignment, yielded results different from the average of the other two: no attraction effects occurred and, with the short test line, the obtained mean illusion at 45 degrees exceeded those at the other intersect angles. These results are consistent with alignment data reported by others. One explanation is that the inducing line produces an apparent bowing of the test line which would be reflected in dot alignments but not in vertical setting or in parallel matching. However, direct evidence does not support this hypothesis. An alternate hypothesis, for which independent evidence exists, is that alignment errors reflect perceptual mistracking but that the origin of these errors is not the tip of the test line but within it. Although this does not explain dot alignment errors, it highlights their complexity and the need to interpret them with caution.     

Development of learning-disabled and normally achieving children's causal attributions

The causal attributions of learning-disabled (LD) and normally achieving (NA) children in grades 3 through 8 were compared. Attributions were measured by two scales that asked children to attribute hypothetical academic failure situations to factors that were either within (e.g., insufficient effort) or beyond (e.g., insufficient ability, blaming others) their control. Consistent with a learned helplessness hypothesis, LD girls, regardless of age, were more likely than NA children to attribute their failures to factors beyond their control. In contrast, LD boys' explanations for their failures paralleled those of NA children. That is, with increasing age the LD boys were more likely to attribute their failures to insufficient effort. Explanations and implications of sex differences in developmental patterns of LD children's causal attributions are discussed.The authors wish to thank Ruth Dusseault and Betty Wallace for their help in conducting this research. We also wish to thank the teachers, children, and administrators from the Leon County Schools for their cooperation.     

Implicit and Explicit Occupational Gender Stereotypes

This study was designed to compare implicit and explicit occupational gender stereotypes for three occupations (engineer, accountant, and elementary school teacher). These occupations represented the end points and middle of a masculine–feminine continuum of explicit occupational gender stereotypes. Implicit stereotypes were assessed using the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which is believed to minimize self-presentational biases common with explicit measures of occupational gender stereotypes. IAT results for the most gender stereotyped occupations, engineer (masculine) and elementary school teacher (feminine), were comparable to explicit ratings. There was less agreement with less stereotyped comparisons. Results indicated that accounting was implicitly perceived as more masculine than explicit measures indicate, which calls into question reports of diminishing gender stereotyping for such occupations.     

The Amplification and Integration of Near-Death and Other Exceptional Human Experiences by the Larger Cultural Context: An Autobiographical Case

Although I became a parapsychologist in part to help me understand the near-death experience (NDE) I had in 1952 as an undergraduate, it was not until 1990 that I began to integrate my NDE into my life. Doing so alerted me to the role the larger cultural context plays in regard to NDEs and other exceptional human experiences (EHEs). I propose not only that we need to draw on cultural resources to amplify the meaning of our exceptional human experiences, but that EHEs themselves carry the seeds of cultural change.     

Parental Morality and Family Processes as Predictors of Adolescent Morality

This study investigated the extent to which parents' moral thought and family processes are involved in the socialization of adolescent moral thought. Olson et al's (1992) Circumplex Model and White's (2000) Family Socialization Model provided the conceptual framework for predicting that families high in cohesion, adaptability and communication would facilitate the transmission of moral values between parents and adolescents more effectively than families low in these family processes. Results involving 218 adolescent-parent dyads revealed that perceived family cohesion and communication moderated the father-adolescent moral thought relationship; that several facets of both parents' morality significantly predicted adolescents' morality; and that all three family processes significantly predicted certain aspects of adolescent morality. Therefore the extent to which parents' socialize adolescent moral values will vary according to each parent's moral view, the strength of family processes and the content of moral thought being transmitted.