The aim of this study was to examine pattern difficulty as a general factor influencing orientation errors, and to explore psychological differentiation and task perception as variables accounting for cross-cultural differences. Samples of 30 boys and 30 girls in Ghana and Scotland were tested. (Editor)

Six laboratory experiments on learned helplessness and depression in humans reported by Seligman and his colleagues were critically reviewed. A number of methodological and conceptual problems were discussed. Suggests that it is important for psychologists to scrutinize psychological theories in order to assess their conceptual clarity and…

The effects of recalling past successes on the deficits in learned helplessness and depression were examined and, for learned helplessness, compared with those of real success. Results suggest real success does not have its therapeutic effects by modifying attributions for failure toward external factors. (Editor)

The research reported here investigated the response of white suburban home owners to the initial integration of their previously all white neighborhood. The study was designed to examine the extent to which interracial contact occurs, the behavioral reactions of the residents to the integration of their area, and corresponding changes in their…

The question raised in this study was whether schizophrenics' recall deficit can be ameliorated if appropriate encoding behaviors are experimentally induced. (Editor)

In a study of the effects of instructions on reaction times to judgments of the truth or falsity of sentences, 40 undergraduates were provided computer-assisted instruction by either the "true" or "conversion" model and required to judge 64 sentences of all possible combinations of true or false, affirmative or negative, and expletive or…

Constructed a short screening battery of psychological tests to detect in a short time and without sophisticated equipment the presence of organic brain dysfunction among literate and non-literate subjects. (Author/RK)

Previous studies have indicated that explaining a hypothetical event makes the event seem more likely through the creation of causal connections. However, such effects could arise through the use of the availability heuristic; that is, subjective likelihood is increased by an event becoming easier to "imagine". Two experiments were designed to…

A major means by which a culture maintains self-division and violence is abstraction. In the social sciences too, the process of employing abstraction to divorce us from ourselves is becoming increasingly more institutionalized. States that the meanings that emanate from some sectors of psychological research are also not congruent with human…

Assessment centers are very popular with professionals and practitioners involved in selection of management personnel. This research focuses on assessment center validity, i.e., while much attention has been given to predictor (assessment center) characteristics as they influence prediction hit rates, this paper examines the differential…

Proposes a methodology, an analysis of variance, for assessing statistical differences among jobs using a particular job analysis instrument--the Position Analysis Questionnaire--as the basic measuring device. (Author/RK)

In order to test predictions derived from an expectancy theory model developed by E. E. Lawler, measures of higher-order need satisfaction, locus of control, and intrinsic motivation were obtained from 252 female assembly line workers. Implications of the results for placement of individuals in enriched jobs are discussed. (Editor/RK)

A visual-spatial approach to the study of attention dysfunction was presented. The hypotheses of broadened and narrowed attention were tested by comparing peripheral visual discrimination of acute schizophrenic, chronic schizophrenic, and normal subjects within two regions of the functional visual field. (Editor)

An examination of the specific areas of agreement and disagreement among the Beck Depression Inventory (DI), the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Lubin Depression Adjective Check Lists (DACL) was made to see if all three measured the same aspects of depressive behavior and how they could be used together to optimize assessment of…

Two case reports illustrate the application of mnemonic techniques for the remediation of memory problems common to brain-damaged patients. A clinical paradigm for such work that includes general and specific assessment, laboratory evaluation of intervention strategies, and finally actual application is described. (Editor/RK)