Learning of letter names follows similar principles across languages: Evidence from Hebrew

Letter names play an important role in early literacy. Previous studies of letter name learning have examined the Latin alphabet. The current study tested learners of Hebrew, comparing their patterns of performance and types of errors with those of English learners. We analyzed letter-naming data from 645 Israeli children who had not begun formal reading instruction: a younger group (mean age 5 years 2 months) and an older group (mean age 6 years 2 months). Children's errors often involved letters with similar shapes or letters adjacent to one another in the alphabet. Most Hebrew letter names are not very similar to one another phonologically, and there were fewer phonologically based confusions than in English. We found both general frequency effects and frequency effects that reflected the letters in individual children's names. On average, girls knew more letter names than did boys. The results suggest that letter name learning follows similar principles across languages.     

Explaining sex differences in infants' preferences for groups

Social organization of a species influences myriad facets of individuals’ behavior. Much research indicates that human social organization consists of males in large groups and females in smaller groups or interacting with individuals. This study analyzed the initial factors that produce greater preferences for groups by human male versus female infants. To this end, using a looking preference paradigm, fifty-nine 6–8-month-old infants viewed individual versus group images of actual children. On the basis of several controls, results demonstrated that male more than female infants are attracted to the complex level of stimulation provided by groups. Discussion centers on further identifying male versus female patterns of group interaction from a perceptual and cognitive standpoint.     

Memory for object locations: Priority effect and sex differences in associative spatial learning

This paper reports two experiments conducted to examine priority effects and sex differences in object location memory. A new task of paired position-learning was designed, based on the A–B A–C paradigm, which was used in paired word learning. There were three different paired position-learning conditions: (1) positions of several different objects (B-objects and C-objects) around referent objects (A-objects) were learned in the A–B A–C position-learning condition, (2) positions of several different objects with no referent objects were learned in the 0–B 0–C position-learning condition, and (3) positions of identical objects (stars) with no referent objects were learned in the 0-star 0-star position-only condition. The results revealed a significant priority effect on performance in the A–B A–C and the 0–B 0–C position-learning conditions but not in the 0-star 0-star position-only condition. Contradictory results were obtained with respect to the sex variable: a female superiority effect on paired position learning was significant in Experiment 1, but this effect was not replicated in Experiment 2. In addition, an articulatory suppression task used in Experiment 2 had a significant effect on recall of different object positions but no effect on recall of identical object positions. This suggested that verbal encoding was not necessary for learning of positions of identical objects.     

The psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire

The Hebrew Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire was administered to over a thousand individuals in the community, 16–78 years of age. Factor analysis was run first on individual items, and then on the 12 sub-scales described by [Cloninger, C.R., Pryzbeck, T.R., & Svrakic, D.M. (1991). The TPQ: US normative data. Psychological Reports, 69, 1047–1051)]. The factor analyses were restricted to four orthogonal factors in order to attempt confirmation of the corrected four-factor solution [Stallings, M.C., Hewitt, J.K., Cloninger, R.C., Heath, A.C., & Eaves, L.J. (1996). Genetic and environmental structure of the TPQ: three or four temperament dimensions? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70 (1), 127–140)]. In the individual item analysis four orthogonal factors recognizable as Novelty Seeking, Reward Dependence, Harm Avoidance and Persistence emerged. However only up to half of the items originally ascribed to each factor loaded sufficiently and exclusively on the appropriate factor. When the 12 sub-scales were entered into factor analysis the four orthogonal factors were produced, and the structure satisfactorily confirmed. A few exceptions to orthogonality were observed. The data were analyzed for sex differences and age effects. Women scored higher than men did on most sub-scales of Harm Avoidance and Reward Dependence. The younger group (up to 21 years of age) scored higher on Novelty Seeking and Reward Dependence and lower on Harm Avoidance than the older group, but no sex by age interaction was detected. Preliminary normative Israeli data are supplied, and implications of the group differences discussed.     

Drive for leanness: assessment and relationship to gender, gender role and objectification

Three components of body image – drive for thinness (DT), drive for muscularity (DM), and drive for leanness (DL) – were assessed in 232 college students. A new measure of DL was developed. Data suggested that the new scale yielded valid and reliable scores. The relationships of gender, gender norm endorsement, and self-objectification to DT, DM, and DL were examined. The surveillance subscale of the OBC Scale was related to DL, DT, and DM in men and to DL and DT in women. Gender norm endorsement, specifically romantic relationships, moderated the relationship of surveillance to DT in women. Gender norm endorsement was directly related to DM and DT in men. DLS appeared to measure a distinct component of body image. Feminine gender role was only related to DT while masculine gender role was related to DL, DT, and DM, raising important questions about the gender differences in body image.     

Effects of gender role self-discrepancies and self-perceived attractiveness on social anxiety for women across social situations

Background and objectives: Psychosocial factors, such as gender role norms, may impact how social anxiety disorder (SAD) is experienced and expressed in different social contexts for women. However to date, these factors have not been examined via experimental methodology. Design: This was a cross-sectional, quasi-experimental controlled study. Methods: The current study included 48 highly socially anxious (HSA) women (70.9% meeting criteria for SAD) and examined the relationships among psychosocial factors (i.e. gender role self-discrepancies and self-perceived physical attractiveness), self-perceived social performance, and state anxiety, across two in vivo social tasks (i.e. conversation and opinion speech). Results: On average, participants reported belief that they ought to be less feminine for the speech task and more masculine for both the conversation and speech tasks. Also, for the conversation task, only lower self-rated attractiveness predicted poorer self-perceived performance and greater post-task state anxiety, above gender role self-discrepancies and confederate gender. For the speech task, only greater self-discrepancy in prototypical masculine traits predicted poorer performance ratings, and it was related to greater state anxiety in anticipation of the task. Conclusion: For HSA women, psychosocial factors may play different roles in social anxiety across social contexts.     

Gender roles and decision making among isiXhosa-speaking adolescents

This exploratory study examined gender roles and decision making among isiXhosa-speaking adolescents. Participants were a non-probability sample of 40 Grade 12 learners (females = 50%; aged between 17 and 24 years). Data were collected using identity status interviews and analysed thematically to profile the adolescents’ gender role identity statuses and related decisions. The findings suggest the adolescents to endorse gender roles somewhat discrepant to traditionalist roles in that females endorsed primary family financing provider and decision making, whereas the males were accepting of nurturing or carer roles in the family home. Gender role statuses and decision making among teenage isiXhosa appear to be shifting away from traditional roles towards modern thinking of gender equality.     

Children's use of geometric information in mapping tasks

Accumulating evidence, particularly from research using the disorientation technique, demonstrates early sensitivity to geometric properties of space. However, it is not known whether children can use geometric cues to interpret a map. The current study examined how 3- to 6-year-olds use geometric features of layouts in solving mapping tasks. Children were asked to identify a target location in a layout shaped as an isosceles triangle by using information provided in a picture of that layout. Performance depended on whether the shape was presented explicitly or needed to be inferred. Younger participants performed better when the triangle was formed by continuous connected lines than when it was formed by separate objects. Performance also depended on the type of geometric cues available. Children found it easier to establish mapping for targets located in the unique corner of the triangle than for targets located in equal-sized corners. Overall, the findings reveal both a remarkable early ability to use geometric information in mapping and limits in this ability.     

Phobic anxiety in 11 nations. Part I: Dimensional constancy of the five-factor model

The Fear Survey Schedule-III (FSS-III) was administered to a total of 5491 students in Australia, East Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and submitted to the multiple group method of confirmatory analysis (MGM) in order to determine the cross-national dimensional constancy of the five-factor model of self-assessed fears originally established in Dutch, British, and Canadian samples. The model comprises fears of bodily injury-illness-death, agoraphobic fears, social fears, fears of sexual and aggressive scenes, and harmless animals fears. Close correspondence between the factors was demonstrated across national samples. In each country, the corresponding scales were internally consistent, were intercorrelated at magnitudes comparable to those yielded in the original samples, and yielded (in 93% of the total number of 55 comparisons) sex differences in line with the usual finding (higher scores for females). In each country, the relatively largest sex differences were obtained on harmless animals fears. The organization of self-assessed fears is sufficiently similar across nations to warrant the use of the same weight matrix (scoring key) for the FSS-III in the different countries and to make cross-national comparisons feasible. This opens the way to further studies that attempt to predict (on an a priori basis) cross-national variations in fear levels with dimensions of national cultures.