The effects of a memory aid on three types of conservation judgments

Twelve boys and 12 girls at each of 3 ages (4, 5, and 6 years) were tested on three types of conservation judgments (qualitative, quantitative, and equivalence) on both continuous and discontinuous substances. Half of the subjects were provided a memory aid while the other half were not. Conservation ability was determined both with and without verbal justification. The memory aid increased the number of equivalence conservation responses only when verbal justification was not required. The number of subjects conserving on each of the three tasks varied as a function of the scoring criteria used. Type of materials, sex, and age effects were found. The role of transitive inferences and memory in the equivalence conservation task was discussed. Inconsistencies in previous research due to different scoring techniques were noted.     

Qualities of color vision in infancy.

Four-month-old infants attended differentially to eight equally bright, monochromatic spectral lights; that is, they discriminated colors. Moreover, infants showed the same pattern of differential attention regardless of experimental group (different groups of infants saw different subsets of all possible pairings of colors) or experimental method (paired comparisons or single stimulus). In general, the differential attention of infants to colors parallels the ratings of the pleasantness of those same colors by adults. Finally, infants looked significantly longer at color category centers than at color category boundaries. These results suggest that looking at this early stage of infancy can better be understood in terms of preference rather than in terms of stimulus categorization. The results also provide further evidence for a neural excitation model of early visual attention.     

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.     

Stimulus factors and listening strategies in auditory memory: An experimental demonstration

Three experiments are reported in which digits spoken at different rates were recalled and monitored. In Experiment I, digits to be recalled were embedded in varying levels of noise. In Experiment II noise was presented only during the inter-digit intervals, either to the same or to the opposite ear as the digits. In Experiment III Ss monitored these sequences for a specified digit and reported its successor. Stimulus rate and signal-to-noise ratio affected perceptual processing time, as evidenced by the frequency and relative proportion of item and order errors. These stimulus factors induce listening strategies that influence the shape of the serial position curve and that persist after stimulus conditions are changed. The data are consistent with a two-stage processing model for the temporal course of speech perception and the nature of listening strategies.     

Developmental aspects of categorized recall in a West African Society

Studies are reported among West African populations on the relationship between preferred mode of organization of categorizable material and use of organization in recall. Various child and adult groups differed in the types of organization they imposed on the material in a sorting task, with those exposed to school and modernizing influences showing a preference for taxonomic organization. All subjects, however, used their own form of organization to order their subsequent recall of the material, supporting the idea that organizing processes in recall are universal.     

The effects of setting similarity on children's learning of the transverse patterning problem

A group of 15 fourth-graders were given training on the transverse patterning problem, a task consisting of three different geometric forms presented in pairs. Three other groups of 15 fourth-graders each received training on problems containing the same geometric forms, along with either one (color or size) or two (color and size) additional nonspatial dimensions varying among the settings comprising the different cue-cue patterns. Contrary to a prediction derived from Croll's (1967) extension of Spiker's (1963) theory of discrimination learning, none of the Ss solved the basic transverse patterning problem, nor was there any improvement in performance on this problem after 90 trials. Consistent with predictions derived from Spiker's theory, it was found that the addition of one nonspatial dimersion resulted in solution, and that the greater the number of nonspatial dimensions present, the better the learning.     

Mistreatment of an esteemed other as a consequence affecting dissonance reduction

Recent research has shown that aversive behavioral consequences affect the magnitude of dissonance reduction. The present experiment was conducted to help clarify the meaning of an aversive consequence. In previous research, an aversive event was manipulated by having a subject believe that a counterattitudinal speech he had delivered was successful in convincing one of the subject's colleagues. In the present study, it was argued that convincing a colleague is aversive only to the extent that the colleague is liked. This reasoning was tested in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment in which subjects delivered a counterattitudinal speech to a recipient whom either was or was not liked by the subject and either was or was not convinced by the subject's speech. It was predicted and found that the subject would evidence attitude change only in the condition in which the speech led to the aversive event of successfully convincing an esteemed other. The results were discussed in terms of refining the relationship between attitude discrepant behavior and attitude change.     

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.