Vocational decision-making patterns among noncollege-aspiring adolescents

Vocational decision-making (VDM) behavior reported by noncollege-aspiring adolescents was measured by 32 indices derived from decision theory. Patterned differences were especially evident on indices assessing range of planning activities. Infrequent correlations were noted among indices representing each of five theoretical VDM dimensions. Cluster analysis grouped indices into four VDM clusters describing separate decision situations. A speculative model was developed to describe the relationship between VDM Clusters and performances variables. Hypotheses for later study were developed.     

Expectancy confirmed again: A computer investigation of expectancy theory

A computerized attempt to replicate Aronson and Carlsmith's test of expectancy theory was conducted. Generally, subjects performed consistent with their expectancy, although the effect of expectancy was strongly attentuated by an overall achievement orientation. The results contradict the hypotheses that experimenter bias, demand characteristics, or differential recall of performance mediate the effects of expectancy upon performance.     

Infants are trichromats.

Two experiments were conducted to demonstrate that human infants 3 months of age perceive color in a normal, trichromatic manner. In the first experiment, the visual attention of 30 infants was monitored in a habituation-dishabituation paradigm that used spectral and white lights with brightness factors eliminated. Infants discriminated white from monochromatic light in a region of the spectrum (490–500 nm) where color-normal adults can but color-deficient adults cannot. In the second experiment which also used a habituation paradigm, eight infants showed good discrimination between hues in a region of the spectrum (560–580 nm) where color-deficient adults typically show no hue discrimination. Results from these studies of the neutral zone and hue discrimination evidence trichromatic vision in infancy and are discussed in the context of their several clinical, social, and intellectual implications.     

Reference group perspectives and the vocational maturity of lower socioeconomic black youth

The reference group perspectives of 188 lower socioeconomic black high school seniors were found to be related to their career maturity. Students who evidenced an orientation toward middle-class reference group perspectives obtained higher vocational maturity scores than those who subscribed to reference perspectives traditionally associated with the lower class. Students' sex and family background were not related to their reference group perspectives or to their vocational maturity ratings. It was found that students' post-high school plans (either work- or college-bound) and their views of the opportunity structure of America were related to both their reference group perspectives orientation and their career maturity scores. Questions are raised concerning the relevance of the term career maturity for analyzing the career development of lower socioeconomic black youth.     

The relationship between goals,performance, success,self-image,and involvement under different organization climates

This is an attempt to test the following causal chain of relationships: →support←goals→performance→success→self-image→involvement→future goals as hypothesized in Hall's (Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1971, 6, 50–76) model of the development of work involvement. It was further hypothesized that there would be more evidence for the existence of this “success cycle” in an organization with a climate of high support and feedback than in an organization with lower levels of support and feedback. Data were collected near the beginning and end of the school year in two primary schools and analyzed with correlations and path analysis. The hypotheses received moderate support. As expected, more evidence for the success cycle was found in the high-support school. In the high-support organization, the person's own goals correlated with success, while in the lower-support school, the person's self-image was the main correlate of success.     

Actors,observers, and the attribution process: Toward a reconceptualization

Jones and Nisbett hypothesize that actors attribute their actions to situational requirements whereas observers attribute the same actions to personal dispositions. This hypothesis is critically examined and a reconceptualization is proposed. Our conceptual analysis focuses on the attributional consequences of differences between actors and observers in: (a) availability of information about the contemporary and historical determinants of the actor's behavior, and (b) susceptibility to possible motivational distortions and cognitive biases. The relationship between this formulation and Jones and Nisbett's analysis of differences between self-perception and interpersonal perception is discussed.     

Nonverbal cues to sex-role attitudes

This study explored the relationship between self-reported attitudes toward “masculinity-femininity” and nonverbal behavior as judged by peers. Subjects (Ss) were preselected using an Mf questionnaire into: high-“feminine” males (N = 16) and females (N = 15) and low-feminine males (N = 16) and females (N = 15). The 62 Ss were videotaped in a 5-min standardized interview. Peer-age judges (Js) then viewed the videotapes without sound and asked to check which of the 170 adjectives describe Ss. Some Js were asked to rate average college male and female. A large number of adjectives discriminated the sexes (91 out of 170). Women were more often seen as warm, affable, oversocialized, emotional, and unstable. Men were seen as forceful, dominant, and detached. Sixty-two adjectives discriminated high- and low-feminine women. Feminine women were seen as warm, affable, oversocialized, and submissive, while low-feminine women were seen as dominant. High-feminine men were described as impulsive, dominant, and socially uneasy, while low-feminine men were seen as oversocialized and conventional.     

The influence of a model's reinforcement contingency and affective response on children's perceptions of the model

Following their observation of a videotaped model, boys and girls were asked to rate various characteristics of that model. In each of two experiments, the subjects were 90 primary grade children. The model's reinforcement (reward, punishment, or no consequences) and affective response (positive, neutral, or negative) constituted the independent variables. In both experiments, children who observed an affectively neutral model receive punishment, perceived his affective state as more negative than children who observed this model receive reward or no consequences. The converse attribution (i.e., inferring consequences based on depicted model affect) did not obtain. Also, data from both experiments supported the conclusions that (a) the punished model was less attractive than no-consequences and rewarded models, and (b) the model was perceived as less competent when he demonstrated negative affect or received punishment.