Group differences in intelligence and speed of information-processing

Three samples of different levels of mental ability, but each of average or above- average intelligence, were administered a battery of reaction time test which measure the speed with which persons can execute various elementary cognitive processes. Discriminant analyses revealed significant differences between the groups in reaction times and intraindividual standard deviations, and univariate analyses indicated that higher ability groups tended to obtain significantly faster mean reaction times and to show significantly less intraindividual variability than lower ability groups. Groups which differed the most in mental ability differed to the greatest extent on the more complex reaction time tests but this pattern was reversed for groups which were relatively close in mean IQ. Generally, the results support the hypothesis that speed- of-processing is an important factor unferlying intelligence, but a number of puzzling findings indicate the need for continued research in this area.     

Attitude and personality characteristics of older stutterers

Attitude and personality characteristics of 29 stutterers (19 male, 10 female) aged 52–82 yr were assessed using five questionnaires. Results indicate that, while the older stutterers score approximately the same as young adult stutterers on scales assessing approach and performance behaviors, the large majority of older stutterers perceive their stuttering as less handicapping than when they were young adults. Self-perceived personality characteristics of the older stutterers were similar to a group of older nonstutterers. While a few of the subjects had experienced some degree of success as a result of treatment later in life, the majority of the subjects did not currently desire treatment.     

Perspectives on individual-family-social network interrelations

The author focuses on the trend in the family therapy field toward an expanded view of families in the context of their social environments. Within this broader eco-system perspective attention is given to individual-family-social network interrelations with implications for the family therapist.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Dallas, Texas, October 29, 1982. Appreciation is expressed to Alice Lynn for her comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper. The author has also benefitted from discussions with Douglas Sprenkle on paradigms and contexts.     

Human interventions in a behavioural experiment for Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus)

Animal Cognition - Experiments are widely used to investigate the behaviour and cognition of animals. While the automation of experiments to avoid potential experimenter bias is sometimes possible,...     

Gender roles,computer attitudes,and dyadic computer interaction performance in college students

Females tend to score lower than males on measures of computer aptitude and attitudes. This study examined the potential effects of several mediating factors, sex of experimenter, sex of experimental partner, sex typing (Bem Sex Role Inventory score), and level of past experience, on a computer interaction task involving a dyad. College students, drawn from a primarily white college population, after completing paper-and-pencil measures assessing computer experience, computer attitudes, and gender roles, participated in a computer task involving drawing up to ten prescribed geometric patterns on a computer screen. Research assistants recorded the number of correctly completed patterns and videotaped participant interaction through a one-way mirror. Males reported experiencing more computer involvement than females. For males, past computer experience and masculinity were correlated with more positive computer attitude scores. For females, only past computer experience related to more positive computer attitude scores. Analyses of the computer interaction variable indicated that participants asked male research assistants significantly more questions than female research assistants. Several interaction effects were also found.A previous version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, New Orleans, April 1991.     

Assertiveness and social anxiety in Chinese-American women

The notion that Chinese Americans, compared to Caucasian Americans, are passive and nonassertive was examined with self-report and behavioral measures. Chinese-Americans (n = 36) and Caucasian (n = 19) female college students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: role-playing a series of 13 situations requiring assertion with an Asian experimenter or role-playing the same situations with a Caucasian experimenter. The Chinese-American students were as assertive as the Caucasian subjects on all behavioral measures. Only one self-report measure, the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (Watson & Friend, 1968), revealed a significant difference between the two groups; Chinese-American students were more apprehensive about social situations than Caucasian students.     

Revisiting university student gender role perceptions

Gender role perceptions of five objects—Ideal Woman, Ideal Man, Most Women, Most Men and Self—were elicited from 3300 university students, 81% of whom were Caucasian, with 7% Hispanic, 6% African-American, and 4% Asian. Profiles of student responses for the five objects provided a comprehensive updating of 1970s research on student gender roles. Women (N= 1842) and men (N= 1148) students generally preferred an androgynous Ideal Woman. Women also preferred an androgynous Ideal Man, but men preferred a masculine sex-typed Ideal Man. Women and men's perceptions of Most Women and Men continued to be sex-typed. Men's self perceptions were androgynous, while women saw themselves as feminine sex-typed. Findings suggest that little change in students' gender role perceptions has occurred in the past 15 years.     

Marital attributions in spouses of depressed patients

Causal attributions (i.e., locus, stability, globality) and responsibility attributions (i.e., bad intent, selfish motivation, blame) were assessed in the spouses of 27 depressed psychiatric inpatients and 30 nondepressed dyads to test predictions derived from Hooley's (1987) symptom-controllability model of marital distress. Results indicated that (1) depressed patients and their spouses were less dyadically adjusted than nondepressed spouses, (2) causal and responsibility attributions about depressive behaviors predicted lower dyadic adjustment, and (3) attributions of causality mediated the relationship between group status (depressed or nondepressed) and dyadic adjustment among spouses who had higher expectations for their partner to change. Results suggest that among spouses with a high expectancy for change, depression may be a risk factor for marital distress.     

Effects of surface texture on weight perception when lifting objects with a precision grip

In this paper, we show that, when lifting an object using a precision grip with the distal pads of the thumb and index finger at its sides, the perceived weight depends on the object’s surface texture. The smoother the surface texture, the greater the perceived weight. We suggest that a smoother object is judged to be heavier because the grip force, normal to the surface, required to prevent it from slipping is greater. The possibility of there being an influence of surface texture per se is excluded by a second experiment that employed a variant of the precision grip in which the thumb supports the weight of the object from underneath. With the grip oriented in this way, there is no need to match grip force to surface texture and, under these conditions, there is no effect of surface texture on weight perception. In the first two experiments, the test and comparison weights were lifted successively by the same hand. In a third experiment, the effect of surface texture was replicated for sequential lifts made with separate hands. Thus, the effect is not restricted to comparisons made with the same hand.     

On the naming of color words and color patches

Subjects can name color words faster than they can name color patches. To account for that effect, a generic model of naming is described which assumes that words access the mental lexicon directly, whereas color patches do so only indirectly via an initial imaginal or semantic representation. However, Lund (1927) reported that the naming advantage for words disappeared when all the items to be named on a page were the same (i.e., they were blocked). In the present study, three experiments are reported that were designed to provide a clearer empirical definition of Lund’s blocking effect and to ascertain the extent to which it requires a modification of the generic model. The blocked lists had 50 items arranged into 10 blocks, with each block homogeneous with respect to color. The block lengths were either all a predictable length of 5 items or they varied randomly from 1 to 9 items. The data indicated the following: (1) The blocking effect occurred even when the task required a full identification of each item, and (2) the blocking effect was confined to within-block transitions. Blocking seemed to eliminate the word advantage by allowing the subject to re-use the lexical entry used for the immediately prior item, which is consistent with the generic model.