The meaning of before and after for preschool children

Preschool children's understanding of temporal relationships was examined in terms of their comprehension of sentences containing clauses linked by before and after. The relative importance of order of mention and main-subordinate relations strategies in children's interpretation of temporal order information was also evaluated.Divergent error patterns emerged on the tasks; omissions prevailed on the two tasks involving response to commands, reversals prevailed on the other. Further examination revealed that omissions reflected ambiguity in the linguistic structure of commands. Thus the effect of main-subordinate relations was confounded with directness of command. On all comprehension tasks, however, performance was superior on sentence forms in which order of mention and order of occurrence correspond.     

A developmental study of choice reaction time: the effect of two forms of stimulus degradation on encoding.

To assess the effects of environmental enrichment, 156 normal, full-term institutionalized infants were randomly assigned to Group I (30 min per day of supplementary vestibular stimulation), Group II (30 min per day of supplementary vestibular-plus-verbal stimulation), or Group III (untreated controls). Stimulation began at about the age of 12 days and continued until the children were adopted, approximately 6 weeks later. Children were assessed at regular intervals on the Gesell Developmental Schedules, until the age of 27 months. Group comparisons revealed no significant treatment effects.     

Asymptotic reinforced responding as a function of the operant level of the instrumental response

The relationship between operant level (base rate) and asymptotic reinforced instrumental responding was investigated in several contingencies in which licking was contingent upon running, under different FR schedules. For Group I the relationship was examined by selecting rats who naturally differed in their running base rates and for which the licking base rates were equivalent. For Group II the relationship was examined by selecting rats with equivalent running and licking base rates, but whose running rates were eventually made to differ by manipulating wheel-torque requirements. Asymptotic reinforced instrumental responding was found to be linearly related to pre-contingent running base rates, for all FR schedules, and independent of the procedures used to obtain differing running base rates. The results support Premack's contention that asymptotic reinforced instrumental responding is a joint function of the reinforcing response and the operant level of the instrumental response.     

Belief similarity and attitude similarity as determinants of interpersonal attraction

It was predicted that attraction would be a function of both attitude similarity and belief similarity, but that attitude similarity would have the greater influence. In Expt I, 60 subjects were presented with strangers that were either similar or dissimilar on attitude and on belief. Attraction was a positive function of both attitude similarity (p < .05) and belief similarity (p < .01). Experiment II replicated and extended Expt I with the addition of a 50% similar group for both attitude and belief. Attraction was a positive linear function of both attitude similarity (p < .001) and belief similarity (p < .02); departure from linearity was not significant. Attitude similarity also had greater effects on other aspects of interpersonal evaluation than belief similarity. The results were discussed in terms of the locus of reinforcement of attitude similarity and of belief similarity.     

Achievement and affiliation motivation in career-oriented and homemaking-oriented college women

The purpose of this research was to investigate the possibility of an interaction between need for achievement and need for affiliation in career-oriented and homemaking-oriented college women. In the first study, scores on the appropriate scales (Achievement and Affiliation) of the Adjective Check List were obtained for 250 female college students, who were also classified as career or homemaking oriented on the basis of their responses to a questionnaire concerning postcollege plans. No significant differences were found between the career- and homemaking-oriented groups on Achievement and Affiliation; but, as predicted, a significant interaction occurred between the two variables. A second study, involving 257 college women and employing the same procedures and analysis, replicated the results of the original study: no main effects, but a significant interaction between Achievement and Affiliation. Implications of the findings for female career development and the counseling of women are discussed.     

Testing expectancy theory predictions using behaviorally based measures of motivational effort for engineers

Expectancy theory predictions were tested using a sample of engineers who had been rated on dimensions of work motivation or effort (in contrast to performance) using the behaviorally based rating scales designed by Landy and Guion (1970). It was found that the expectancy model was only weakly upheld for an older (41 or older) age subgroup, while few relationships were observed for a younger (below 41) age group. Also, the motivational behavior scales did not show any enhanced predictability when compared to a more global rating of job performance.     

The effect of verbal reinforcement on career choice realism

Twenty-four male undergraduates viewed 102 slides containing occupational titles and stated whether or not each represented a realistic career choice. Each subject was given three trials, with the experimental subjects receiving positive verbal reinforcement on the second trial for realistic responses. (If the choice was congruous with the individual's occupational type, as determined by the Vocational Preference Inventory, it was scored as realistic.) The results of the research revealed a tendency for all subjects to increase in career choice realism as a function of participation in the experiment, with significantly (p < .05) more experimental subjects than control subjects demonstrating an operant pattern of responses. Implications of the findings for counselors were discussed.     

Occupational mobility as measured by Holland's theory of career selection

This study examined the occupational mobility of men ages 45–59 as measured by Holland's theory of career selection and its relationship to men in the work force. Stability was discussed in two distinct ways: (1) stability within a job, and (2) stability in the kind of work a man does over a career. In his research Holland concluded that Realistic and Investigative personality types would change personality type less often and have more stable job choices in comparison to other personality types. The results of this study supported these findings to some extent, but also concluded that stability in a personality type was strongly influenced by the number of jobs available in a particular personality type and the structure of the labor market demand. In addition the results showed that psychological concepts seem to be more important in changing jobs than in selecting initial jobs.     

Environmental determinants of altruism: The effects of stimulus overload and perceived control on helping

In an experiment designed to measure the effects of stimulus overload on altruism, 60 female subjects were randomly assigned to three stimulus conditions of 20 subjects each: (1) overload, (2) overload with perceived control, and (3) no overload. Subjects performed simultaneous proofreading and number attention tasks while at the same time listening to distracting or nondistracting background sound, and one group believed they could have the sound turned off if they desired. Following task performance, all subjects received a request for a favor from an ostensibly unrelated confederate. Although all subjects performed the tasks about equally well regardless of stimulus condition, altruism increased significantly across the three conditions. Results were discussed in terms of stimulus overload associated with the urban environment.