Information processing components of substitution test performance

Although substitution tests have been included in tests of intelligence for years, the underlying abilities they measure have still not been clearly determined. This study used componential analysis to investigate the information-processing components underlying substitution test performance. The bases of sex and age differences were also of interest. One hundred subjects from each of three age groups (9–11, 18–25, and 60–89 years) were tested.The componential analysis found that substitution tests measure perceptual speed and, to a lesser extent, memory ability and writing speed. The component “Stimulus Orientation, Response Initiation, and Execution” was related to substitution test performance in the sample of children and the sample of older adults but not in the sample of younger adults. Verbal ability was not significantly related to substitution test performance in the two younger samples but was strongly related to substitution performance in the oldest sample. Although females outperformed males on the Symbol Digit Test, males did as well as females on the computerized tasks. Apparently, sex differences in substitution test performance cannot be explained by the components of the test measured here.     

Why we are fairer than others

Subjects wrote lists of either fair or unfair things that they or others did. A pervasive tendency was found for subjects to associate themselves with fair behaviors and others with unfair behaviors. When different subjects rated samples of the written behaviors for fairness and frequency we found that fair behaviors were rated as more frequent than unfair behaviors and self-ascribed behaviors were rated as fairer than behaviors ascribed to others. These findings and others are shown to result from a tendency for subjects to perceive a stronger link between the fairness and frequency of their own behavior than between the fairness and frequency of the behavior of other people. A final analysis showed that the subcategories of unfair behavior that subjects associated with others were different from those associated with themselves.     

Multiple component agraphia in a patient with atypical cerebral dominance: an error analysis

A 52-year-old man with atypical cerebral dominance (left-handed for writing but mixed handedness for other tasks) suffered an extensive right hemisphere stroke, resulting in a combination of deficits that has not been previously reported. There were profound visual constructive and visual perceptual disturbances and a spatial agraphia, which were consistent with a nondominant hemisphere lesion. There was also a severe apraxic agraphia, which is typically associated with a dominant hemisphere lesion, but no other signs of dominant hemisphere dysfunction such as linguistic disturbance or limb-motor apraxia were present. This case serves to highlight the functional and anatomical relationship between handwriting and other forms of praxis; the various sources of error in letter formation; the need to be specific in labeling and describing agraphias ; and the role of a detailed analysis of writing errors in delineating the neuropsychological processes involved in handwriting.     

Psychological studies of children who have cancer

Increasingly, more optimistic prognoses for children who have cancer have led investigators to study the adjustment reactions of children who survive this traumatic experience. There is considerable evidence that the experience of having cancer, receiving prolonged and often painful treatment, and the uncertain condition of cancer survivorship have profound emotional effects on children. The characteristic features of the psychological impact of cancer are the experience of continuing uncertainty in a life-threatening crisis and the resultant search for meaning. Studies are beginning to find that even very young children actively struggle to organize and make sence of this experience.     

Alarm call responsivity of mallard ducklings: The inadequacy of learning and genetic explanations of instinctive behavior

Traditional conceptions of learning do not adequately account for the development of species-typical behavior. Developmental theory, though, can account for learning phenomena, as well as seemingly innate behavior. Developmental theory also focuses on subtle, nonobvious, as well as obvious, forms of experience throughout the life span, including the prenatal period. To illustrate the developmental approach, data on the ontogeny of alarm call responsivity in mallard ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos) are presented. This research, which was conducted both in the field and in the laboratory, identifies the particular acoustic feature of alarm calls to which ducklings are sensitive. Additional experiments have shown that normally occurring perinatal auditory experience is required for the development of behavioral inhibition (i.e., “freezing”). These experiments demonstrate the ability of developmental theory to account for phenomena that elude other, more traditional, theories.     

Computer assisted versus traditional vocational counseling with high and low readiness clients

This study tested Hershenson's hypothesis that different vocational counseling methods would be differentially effective for clients at different levels of readiness. The top 54 and bottom 54 high school sophomores from a class of 853 were selected on the basis of their Educational Development Series test scores. Half of each group (highs and lows) received individual counseling; the other half interacted with a computerized vocational information program (CVIS). It was predicted that high readiness subjects would change more with CVIS and lows would change more with counseling. Only the latter prediction was confirmed. The groups did not differ in satisfaction with their posttreatment vocational choices. Findings suggest that individual counseling be emphasized with low readiness clients when both options are available.     

Identification with film characters, covert aggressive verbalization, and reactions to film violence

To determine some conditions governing the aggressive aftereffects of identification with aggressive film characters, men were first angered by a confederate and then exposed to a film clip of a violent boxing match. Subjects instructed to identify with the winner of the prize-fight were subsequently more aggressive toward the confederate than subjects instructed to identify with the loser or subjects not asked to identify with a film aggressor. Apparently, viewers must perceive their identificand incur reinforcement for his aggression before they become more aggressive themselves. However, requiring subjects to make implicit aggressive verbalizations during the film completely eliminated any aggressive aftereffects of identification. This finding was opposite to prediction and suggested that covert verbalization interfered with subjects' ability to make the vicarious aggressive responses which mediate increased subsequent aggression.     

Extinction of avoidance behavior and the problem of residual fear

According to two-factor theory, avoidance responding is predicated on a conjoint relationship between Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning. Recently a variety of evidence has indicated that these processes are independently subject to experimental manipulations, both during acquisition and extinction. The latter finding is paralleled in the clinicial literature by the observation that the elimination of an avoidance response does not adequately reflect concurrent changes in autonomic and verbal behavior. These findings suggest the need for multiple measures of anxiety in assessing the effect of experimental and therapeutic operations on avoidance behavior. This paper also calls attention to the discriminative and reinforcing properties of the CS in an attempt to account for these findings.     

Effects of monotonous stimulation on cortical alertness in fast and slow habituation groups

The present study investigated cortical alertness in Ss displaying fast and slow habituation of the evoked skin conductance response (SCR). From Sokolov's statement (Perception and the conditioned reflex, 1963, Pergamon) that the final stage of habituation is sleep, it was predicted that during monotonous stimulation, Ss displaying rapid habituation of the evoked SCR would show a more rapid decline in cortical alertness than Ss displaying slow habituation. Quantified EEG and electrodermal measures of cortical alertness were obtained from fast and slow habituation groups tested under conditions of either repetitive auditory stimulation or reduced sensory input. The results indicated that 8–13 Hz EEG abundance declined more rapidly in fast than in the slow habituation groups under both conditions of monotonous stimulation. No differences were obtained for the lower EEG frequencies (4–8 and 2–4 Hz) or for tonic electrodermal measures.     

Construct validation of the dependency and self-criticism scales of the depressive experiences questionnaire

S. J. Blatt (Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1974, 29, 107–157) distinguished between two types of depressive experiences, one characterized by strong dependency needs and the other by self-criticism and guilt. This paper reports a series of validation studies of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ), which was developed to measure individuals' vulnerabilities to these types of experiences (S. J. Blatt, J. P. D'Afflitti, & D. M. Quinlan, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1976, 85, 383–389). The Dependency and Self-Criticism scales were shown to be stable in the face of both a 13-week interval and the receipt of midterm grades. Dependency was associated with conflict concerning the expression of hostility and, in males, feelings of helplessness. Self-Criticism was associated with low self-esteem and high levels of morality-conscience guilt. In a study of behavior in dyadic problem-solving tasks, Dependency in males was found to be negatively related to task leadership, and Self-Criticism in females tended to be negatively related to judged likeability. On the other hand, little support was found for the hypotheses that Dependency would be related to field dependent cognitive style and to the use of primitive defense mechanisms. The results were viewed as supporting the utility of Blatt's distinction between the two types of depression, but a number of anomalous findings indicated a need for further study of the DEQ. The question of the developmental level of the two types of depression, possible sex differences in the correlates of the scales, and the possibility of situational specificity in individuals' responses were identified as the areas most in need of study.