Building theories of reading ability: On the relation between individual differences in cognitive skills and reading comprehension

To date most theories of reading ability have emphasized a single factor as the major source of individual differences in performance. However there has been little agreement on what that factor is. However, candidates have included visual discrimination, phonological and semantic recoding, short-term memory, and utilization of linguistic knowledge and context. The single- factor theories are summarized. Literature is then reviewed to show that no single-factor theory is likely to be right, because a very wide range of component skills and abilities has in fact been shown to correlate with reading success. Among them are discrimination of letter location and letter order during perceptual recognition, use of orthographic regularity as an aid to visual code formation, use of spelling-to-sound regularity in phonological recoding, memory for word order, spontaneous identification of syntactic relations, flexibility in prediction from syntactic and semantic context, and context-specificity in semantic encoding. It is concluded that more complex, multifactor models of reading ability are required, and some recent attempts to collect data conducive to such a model are described. In the process, three different approaches to identifying factors relevant to reading success are delineated. These are general abilities assessment, learning potential assessment, and component skills analysis. Two methods of conducting component skills analysis are presented, and it is recommended that they be used as converging operations. Finally, the results of a component skills analysis are used to construct a tentative example of a class of hierarchical models of reading ability that can be pursued developmentally.     

Functional cerebral lateralization in subtypes of disabled readers

This study investigated the functional cortical organization of reading-disabled boys and age-matched normal readers. Subjects were initially classified according to E. Boder's (1971a. In B. Bateman (Ed.), Learning disorders. Seattle: Special Child Publications. Vol. 4.) distinction between dysphonetic children (who make nonphonetic, bizarre spelling errors), dyseidetic children (who make phonetically acceptable errors, but do not respond to some words as “wholes”), and children who display normal error patterns (who make phonetically acceptable errors and respond to words as “wholes”). It was hypothesized that different types of reading disability would be associated with different patterns of lateralized brain function. This proposal was examined by testing subjects on three experimental neuropsychological measures—hemispheric time-sharing, conjugate lateral eye movements, and tactile directional perception. Conjugate lateral eye movements were disregarded as the control subjects failed to show predicted asymmetries on this measure. The two other measures were considered valid and demonstrated atypical lateralization in the reading-disabled groups. Lateralization of verbal and/or spatial functiosn differed among the reading-disabled groups and an attempt was made to relate these atypical patterns to the type of reading difficulties presented.     

Cognitive complexity and the similarity-attraction paradigm

The study investigated the role of cognitive complexity as a moderator of the similarity-attraction relationship described by Byrne (1971). Subjects conducted face-to-face interviews with confederates who played roles as job applicants. Similarity-dissimilarity was manipulated by the confederate roles, as well as by the information given the subjects in accordance with the procedures described by Byrne (1971). The situation was viewed as one in which judgments were made about a complex, multidimensional stimulus. Information received about another person in an interview setting was viewed as consisting of different dimensions to be assessed by the perceiver. The hypothesis was tested and confirmed that cognitively complex judges were more likely than simple judges to perceive and evaluate similarity/dissimilarity in others. Thus, complex judges evaluated similar applicants more positively than dissimilar applicants, while no differences were found for simple judges. Cognitive complexity thus appears to moderate the “Law of Attraction” described by Byrne (1971).     

Pressures from work,self, and home in the life stages of married women

Following Lopata's (1966) model of the life cycle of the married woman's role, it was predicted and found that a woman's life stage would be related to her role pressures (work, home, self, and time), conflict, and satisfaction. Age and number of roles were not as strongly related to these variables as was life stage. Work activities and pressures declined through the peak child-rearing stage and then increased for women with older children, while pressures from home generally rose throughout the life cycle. The differential impact of various sources of conflict in different life stages was reported, and forms of organizational career support oriented toward particular life stages were suggested.     

Occupational decision development over the high school years

This study described the development of occupational decision processes over the high school years. Five developmental trends derived from theory were examined separately for males and females in three rural schools. Growth was defined as increased frequency in classes of behavior from early 9th grade to late 12th grade. The key processes in occupational decision development for both sexes appeared to be an information search strategy and an elaborate rationale. Both processes increased in complexity and contributed to confident feelings about occupational choices in 12th grade. Implications for measurement of occupational decision processes and for developmental research are discussed.     

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.     

Is horror a necessary component of flooding (implosion)?

Experimental results indicate that presentation of horrifying scenes is not necessary to obtain a favorable outcome in the treatment of phobias by flooding. Prolonged exposure to the feared object, even under relatively pleasant conditions is sufficient. Subjects were college students who rated highly fearful of rats. They were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups and to a no treatment-control group. Treatment groups differed along the dimension of harshness of scene presentation. Control group subjects received no treatment but were assessed repeatedly as were experimental subjects. All experimental subjects showed improvement irrespective of treatment received-after treatment they were all willing to come closer to a live rat and experienced less anxiety at the closest point. However, subjects exposed to horrid scenes were judged by an independent evaluator as less likely to avoid fearful situations. The discussion centers on the discrepancy between rater's evaluation and other measures, implications of the results for treatment, and on the generalizability of findings to a patient population.