Sex differences in the levels of generality of values/preferences related to work

The current literature on sex differences in values/preferences related to work appears polarized around two apparently contradictory sets of findings and conclusions. One set of studies fails to detect sex differences. The other set of studies indicates that males are more concerned about money, independence, security, and career goals, while females appear more concerned about people and environmental issues at work. Following W. D. Siegfried, I. MacFarlane, D. B. Graham, N. A. Moore, and P. L. Young (Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1981, 18, 30–42) it is suggested that level of analysis may be a crucial factor accounting for much of the prevailing confusion in the literature. This study investigated sex differences in values/preferences related to work at various levels of generality. A sample of 1081 senior high school students was administered the Work Aspect Preference Scale (WAPS). Complete-link cluster analyses were performed for males and females separately. Comparison of the two dendrograms reveals the substantial similarity of the preference patterns of males and females. However, the basic difference in the patterns focused on the Altruism and Physical Activity subscales. Females appeared more likely to associate helping others with personal achievement whereas males tended to see helping people in terms of controlling and organizing them. Females also linked physical activity with helping others and self-development whereas males tended to associate physical activity with extrinsic rewards of work. It is concluded that the use of cluster analysis techniques may provide the best procedure to effect an adequate reconciliation of the conflicting results to be found in the current literature.     

Fluid and crystallized intelligence and primacy/recency components of short-term memory

Primacy and recency recall measures, obtained from both free and probed-recall tasks, were included in a battery of tests which also contained markers for fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and cognitive speed factors. Our results confirmed previous findings that for subjects within the normal range of abilities, recency recall from probed-recall tasks is more closely linked to intelligence than is primacy recall. A new finding was also obtained: that primacy recall is correlated more with measures of cognitive speed than is recency recall. These results are discussed in terms of the concept of working memory and its relation to intelligence.     

Aphasics' selective deficits in appreciating grammatical agreements

This study attempted to dissociate in aphasic patients different aspects of grammatical capacity. Subjects were asked to evaluate sentences containing violations of agreements between pronouns and verbs. Agreements which are considered primarily structural in nature were violated (e.g., a surface object case like “them” placed in a surface subject sentential slot) while other violated agreements seemed to involve both structural and semantic information (e.g., lack of agreement between a pronoun and a verb in terms of the number of people performing the act). These violations were couched in one of three types of sentential frames which varied in terms of syntactic complexity (e.g., active declarative vs. passive syntactic voices). The results revealed that Broca's aphasics found agreement violations difficult to detect in complex syntactic frames. They were quite successful at detecting even violations of the largely structural “case” type of agreement, however, when couched in simpler syntactic frames. Fluent aphasics encountered more difficulty detecting violations of agreements involving both semantic and structural information than agreements which were primarily structural in nature, that is, regardless of the syntactic frame. These unique performance profiles suggest that Broca's aphasics may be agrammatic only with respect to certain aspects of a sentence's structure, and that fluent aphasics may also experience some selective—but different—grammatical deficits.     

Values,preferences, needs,work ethics,and orientations to work: Toward a conceptual and empirical integration

There have been comparatively few attempts on either the conceptual or empirical level to integrate values, preferences, needs, work ethics, and orientations to work. A rationale outlining the way these concepts can be related to each other, is presented. It is maintained that these concepts are categories of relations between humans and work. These categories are qualitatively similar and differ principally in the level of generality of the characteristics of work considered. Complete-link cluster analysis is suggested as a method of analysis compatible with the proffered rationale. Two studies are presented with data gathered during the development of two versions of Work Aspect Preference Scale (WAPS). The samples for the two studies both comprised senior high school students, controlled for sex and age, who were administered the WAPS. Study 1 had a sample of 532 while Study 2 had a sample size of 482. Both sets of data were cluster analyzed. Results indicated a very substantial amount of agreement between the two samples, particularly at the more general levels of clustering. The bipartite and tripartite groupings of vocational needs suggested by L. H. Lofquist and R. V. Dawis (Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1978, 12, 12–19) were confirmed as were the findings of J. Mortimer (Sociology of Work and Occupations, 1975, 2, 29–53). Other clusters were also identified with findings from previous research. It is concluded that the investigation of preferences at different levels of generality and the interrelation between these levels shows great promise for both the researcher and the counselor and therefore merits more research effort.     

Making and correcting errors during sentence comprehension: Eye movements in the analysis of structurally ambiguous sentences

Eye movements were recorded as subjects read sentences containing temporary structural ambiguities. In accord with the garden-path theory of sentence comprehension, shorter reading times were found for sentences conforming to certain independently motivated parsing strategies (late closure and minimal attachment) than for comparable sentences which violate these strategies. Further, longer fixation durations were associated with the very first fixation in the region of the sentence which disambiguated the sentence, suggesting that the human sentence-parsing mechanism operates in a rather systematic fashion, immediately computing the structural consequences of fixated material for the analysis of preceding material. The pattern of regressive eye movements did not conform to the view that the parsing mechanism automatically returns to the beginning of the sentence to revise an incorrect analysis of linguistic material nor did it support the view that the parsing mechanism systematically backtracks through the sentence until the source of the erroneous analysis is located. Rather, the pattern of regressions indicated that the parsing mechanism typically engages in selective reanalysis, exploiting whatever information it has available about the type of error it has committed to guide its reanalysis attempts. Finally, it is emphasized that an understanding of the parser's revision procedures is essential to an explanation of why certain linguistic structures cannot be successfully parsed by humans.     

Autonomic responsivity of subjects with body boundary differences during white noise stimulation

A white noise stimulus (85 dB) was used to investigate differences in heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) responsivity of 32 male subjects. The subjects were divided into high and low body boundary (HB and LB) groups, according to Fisher's (1970) revised scoring system of Holtzman Inkblot responses. The hypothesis predicting a significantly larger HR response, that is resistant to habituation, for the LB group, was confirmed. The prediction that the HB group would reveal a larger SC amplitude response accompanied by a shorter recovery time, was supported for the latter. The results confirmed the hypothesis, based on behavioral observations, that the HB individual experiences stress less intensely than the LB person. It also points to individual differences as an important variable in evaluating noise as a stressor.     

Student counseling groups in senior high school settings: An evaluation of outcome

This paper reviewed the studies which evaluated counseling groups in senior high school settings. A methodological evaluation was conducted within four areas: subjects, counselors, treatment, and outcome criteria. The studies were reviewed according to the type of outcome measure: achievement, attitude and personality, behavioral, and vocational. Three levels of voluntariness (voluntary, semivoluntary, and nonvoluntary) were examined in relation to outcome. Subjects who were free to volunteer for the group experience achieved greater gains than subjects who were coerced into participation. Overall, behavioral and directive groups achieved greater success than nondirective or client-centered groups. The time spent on topics relating to treatment goals appeared to be an important factor for success. Future researchers should assess the effects of treatment on each participant instead of relying upon group mean changes.     

Acquisition and forgetting in monkeys' memory of informational object-reward associations

The first experiment showed the monkeys could recall whether an object had been rewarded with peanuts or with sultanas, two equally preferred foods. The second investigated the effect of rewarded trials with an object on monkeys' ability to recall a nonrewarded trial with the same object. The third demonstrated that monkeys could use the memory of reward to predict nonreward and the memory of nonreward to predict reward, in a Win-Shift Lose-Stay paradigm. The fourth found differences between Win-Shift Lose-Stay and Win-Stay Lose-Shift in the rate at which associations between objects and reward events were forgotten. These results are discussed in relation to D. L. Medin's (In A. M. Schrier, Ed., Behavioral primatology, Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1977, Vol. I, pp. 33–69) distinction between informational and hedonic effects of reward in monkeys. It is argued that the association between an object and a reward event is represented in memory by many independent traces, different traces recording the object's association with different attributes of the reward event.     

Auditory processing and anxiety in stutterers

This study utilized the Synthetic Sentence Identification/Ipsilateral and Contralateral Competing Message subtests and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to examine auditory processing deficits, anxiety levels, and the interaction of these two components in 15 adult stutterers and 15 nonstutterers. Results support brainstem auditory processing deficits in stutterers and equalization of cortical functioning between groups. Group differences were not found in anxiety levels. Nonsignificant correlations between anxiety levels and auditory processing were revealed.