The neuroscience of education: More research is needed before application.

In reply to H. T. Epstein (see record 1991-12239-001), R. B. McCall maintains that although the recent quantitative EEG data reviewed by W. J. Hudspeth and K. H. Pribram (see record 1991-12210-001) show growth spurts conforming to Epstein's phrenoblysis theory, more research, especially longitudinal and individual difference studies, is needed before application of the theory to educational practice is warranted. Furthermore, gross indices of brain growth (e.g., head circumference) and general mental performance (e.g., mental age or IQ) do not consistently follow the theory, and research should focus on more specific measures. Finally, few data exist demonstrating that brain growth periodization relates to practical mental and educational skills and performance in the same individual children. Such research is needed before alterations in educational curricula are considered and researched. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Peromyscus papers: Through a glass, darkly.

Comments on the article by J. M. Joffe (see record 1974-06687-001) and the article by R. J. Smith (see record 1990-57143-001), both of which frame a discussion of behaviorism and reactions to the theories of J. B. Watson (e.g., 1925) as a political insurgency and a trial. The present author remarks that although one has been told how often it is done, it is nevertheless alarming to see how easily history can be rewritten to reflect the dogma of the party in power. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Transitions in infant sensorimotor development and the prediction of childhood IQ": Comment.

Comments on the review by R. B. McCall et al (see record 1973-02150-001) concerning predictions and infant developmental examination methods and points to work by H. Knobloch and B. Pasamanick (1960) on correlations between general developmental quotient, neurologic status, and intellectual potential in examiners watching and completing an examination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race differences in brain size.

Replies to M. Peters's (see record 1996-14159-001) comments on Rushton's (see record 1995-17150-001) reply to a critique of his work (e.g., see record 1993-40406-001) on brain size differences among human racial groups (i.e., Mongoloids, Caucasoids, and Negroids). Rushton reports on 4 independent ways of estimating brain size, and confirms that brains of East Asians average about 17 cm–3 larger than those of Europeans, whose brains average about 80 cm–3 larger than those of Africans. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Addressing criticism of sex bias research on borderline personality disorder.

Replies to H. N. Garb's (see record 1996-08172-001) criticism that D. Becker and S. Lamb (see record 1994-29756-001) overlooked previous studies of sex bias in the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and overinterpreted their findings. The authors address specific methodological criticisms and discuss their study's strengths (e.g., the inclusion of psychologists and social workers as well as psychiatrists) in the context of studies by M. R. Ford and T. A. Widiger (see record 1989-26071-001), K. A. Henry and C. I. Cohen (see record 1984-06917-001), and D. A. Adler et al (see record 1991-15353-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Primate research, family politics, and social policy: Transforming 'cads' into 'dads' ": Reply.

Responds to the comments of S. Sperling (see record 1994-17265-001), J. Belsky (see record 1994-17245-001), V. Phares (see record 1994-17261-001), and M. E. Lamb (see record 1994-17257-001) on the work of L. B. Silverstein (see record 1994-17264-001) on evolutionary biology and human paternal behavior, father involvement, father absence, and biological determinism. Silverstein asserts that her overriding goal was to dramatize how extrascientific factors (e.g., political ideology) shape the construction of scientific knowledge. It is argued that the experience of nurturing and caring for young children has the power to change the cultural construction of masculinity into something less coercive and oppressive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stages in human mental growth.

R. B. McCall's (see record 1988-32308-001) article in this journal criticizing some of H. T. Epstein's (e.g., 1978) studies of brain and mind growth is shown to suffer from 2 main flaws. First, he was not aware of the need for analysis in terms of concurrences among studies rather than standard statistical analyses of individual studies. Second, he did not use increment spans appropriate for the data. He also wrongly claimed that Epstein advocated changes in educational policies and practices without caveats that carefully labeled these as suggestions for working hypotheses to be tested in the schools. Finally, his criticisms of the brain growth stages had already been invalidated in a 1986 article by Epstein which he did not cite. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Existentialism and development.

Responds to comments made by G. Kose (see record 1993-25090-001), K. Sun (see record 1993-25097-001), and R. K. Meister (see record 1993-25094-001) on B. Vandenberg's (see record 1992-12211-001) article on epistemology and an existentialist consideration of development. Taking exception with Kose's definition of existentialism and Key's remarks on morality and cognitive developments, Vandenberg voices his agreement with Meister on having a developmental perspective on the concept of death. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disgust and spider phobia.

Twenty-four women with spider phobia and 45 nonphobic women completed the Disgust Questionnaire (DQ; R Rozin, A. E. Fallon, & R. Mandell; see record 1984-14781-001) and the Spider Phobia Questionnaire (SPQ; R. Klorman, T. C. Weerts, J. E. Hastings, B. G. Melamed, & R J. Lang; see record 1974-30308-001). Participants also underwent behavioral tests concerning disgust sensitivity and fear of spiders. Spider phobic women showed stronger disgust sensitivity than nonphobic women, and spiders were found to have a disgust evoking status that was related to participants' fear of spiders. The relationship between DQ and SPQ was independent of neuroticism and introversion. DQ scores were not associated with a global measure of phobic complaints (i.e., Fear Questionnaire; I. M. Marks & A. Mathews; see record 1980-26848-001). Results are consistent with a disease-avoidance model of spider phobia (G. Matchett & G. C. L. Davey; see record 1991-18606-001), which emphasizes the role of disgust in spider phobia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the question of professional standards for computer-based test interpretation.

Comments on J. D. Matarazzo's (see record 1986-19878-001) discussion of computer-based test interpretation (CBTI) and R. D. Fowler and J. N. Butcher's (see record 1986-20446-001) response to Matarazzo. The call for the development of CBTI guidelines both by individuals with reservations about some CBTI programs (e.g., Matarazzo) and by those who are more positive about the present status of CBTI development (e.g., Fowler and Butcher) is emphasized. Matarazzo's reply to the author immediately follows this comment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race differences in brain size.

Comments on J. P. Rushton's (see record 1995-17150-001) reply to a critique of his work (e.g., see record 1993-40406-001) on biological differences among human racial groups. Rushton's categorization of racial brain weights cannot be valid because (1) comparisons of individuals drawn from the same sex and species do not allow for meaningful predictions of brain weight and (2) there is no justification for scaling brain size to body parameters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work assessment of psychiatric patients: A critical review of published scales.

Critically examines 7 published scales designed for rating the work performance of psychiatric patients: (a) Minnesota Follow-up Study Rehabilitation Evaluation Scale; (b) M-R Fergus Falls Patient-Employee Rating Scale; (c) D. Ethridge scale (see record 1968-15840-001); (d) M. Distefano and M. Pryer scale (see record 1970-21324-001); (e) A. Cheadle, D. Cushing, C. Drew, and R. Morgan scale (see record 1968-00995-001); (f) A. Burger scale; and (g) J. Clark, B. Koch, and R. Nichols scale (see record 1965-10332-001). Special reference is made to concurrent and predictive validation. Suggestions for the design of such scales are presented. (33 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is free will a process or a content: Both? Neither? Are we free to affirm a position on this question?

Comments on the views on free will (FW) offered by B. D. Slife (see record 1995-13451-001), M. Gergen (see record 1995-14294-001), R. N. Williams (see record 1995-12851-001), M. S. Richardson (see record 1995-14311-001), and G. S. Howard (see record 1995-13446-001) in light of the classical definition of FW as being capable of doing otherwise. It is argued that FW interpretations differ markedly depending on whether they are viewed as due to a process or to contents within some process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual generalization: A note on the peak shift.

Contends that a recent review of the literature on peak shift by R. B. Purtle (see record 1974-08409-001) fails to attend to the influence of underlying perceptual categories. The argument for such an influence (e.g., in wavelength generalization) is presented, and examples from several animal species are reported. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ambiguity and connectionist networks: Still settling into a solution: Comment on Joordens and Besner (1994).

Empirical results (e.g., see G. Kellas, F. R. Ferraro, & G. B. Simpson, 1988; M. L. Millis & S. B. Button, see record 1989-31854-001) suggest that readers perform lexical decisions faster for words with many meanings than for words with only one meaning. S. Joordens and D. Besner (see record 1995-07873-001) attempted to simulate this effect with a connectionist model but found that their network only produced an ambiguity advantage when its error rate was unacceptably high. In this commentary 3 issues relevant to an understanding of the implications of Joordens and Besner's findings are discussed: the reliability of the empirical data, the manner in which readers (and networks) make lexical decisions, and the effects of certain algorithmic and architectural factors on network performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding Paul Moxnes (1999).

P. Moxnes's (see record 1999-13879-001) model of deep roles is contrasted with alternative taxonomies of roles, including ones developed by F. Redl (1942), R. F. Bales (e.g., T. Parsons, R. F. Bales, & E. A. Shils, 1953), G. Polti (1977), and A. P. Hare (see record 1994-98134-000 and 1995-05269-001). Moxnes's analysis has implications for the development of roles in groups over time, but questions can be raised about the emphasis on individual roles (rather than their combination) and the automaticity of evaluation. As a new perspective on roles, Moxnes's work provides an opportunity to reassess past work to see how much variance has been left unaccounted for by studies of roles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of developmental data: Comparison among alternative methods.

Examined statistical issues in the analysis of repeated measures data in developmental research. The danger of bias in conventional analysis of variance has been emphasized by R. B. McCall and M. I. Appelbaum (see record 1975-00106-001), but their simulated example was markedly deviant from actual developmental data. Further, a Monte Carlo study by R. O. Collier et al (see record 1967-16063-001) has shown that the potential bias in the F tests may be accurately compensated by use of the correction factor epsilon. For illustration, a conventional analysis of variance (adjusted by epsilon) and a multivariate analysis of variance were performed on a set of actual developmental scores recorded over 6 ages. Results are comparable from both analyses, leading to the same decision about the null hypothesis at essentially the same confidence level. It is concluded that the univariate analysis qualifies as a powerful and fully protected design when used with epsilon, and the choice of procedures can be guided by the E's preference plus certain properties of the data to be analyzed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biological versus social evolution.

Comments on the number of responses (e.g., L. G. Wispe and J. N. Thompson, Jr.; see record 1977-06633-001) to D. T. Campbell's (see record 1976-12046-001) American Psychological Association presidential address on the issue of biological vs social evolution. The author agrees with Wispe and Thompson on the link between evolutionary theory and political conservatism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological research on race differences.

Responds to the discussion by A. H. Yee et al (see record 1994-09250-001) of A. R. Jensen's (e.g., see record 1986-18910-001) research on racial differences in abilities and states that the references to Jensen's work are dated. Jensen notes more recent research (Jensen and P. A. Whang; see PA, Vol 81:1181 and 20927) and provides an explanation for his research focus on Black–White differences in cognitive abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of atypical exemplars of social and nonsocial superordinate categories within the class inclusion paradigm.

Investigated hierarchical categorization using typical and atypical exemplars from social and nonsocial superordinate categories within the class inclusion paradigm. Ss were 96 male and female children in kindergarten and Grades 2, 4, and 6. Of the 33 stimulus pictures, 9 depicted nonsocial categories (e.g., birds), 18 depicted social occupations more typical of males than females (e.g., doctors), and 6 depicted social roles equally typical of males and females (e.g., parents). Results confirm the findings of M. T. Carson and A. Abrahamson (see record 1977-20805-001) that atypical instances of nonsocial categories significantly reduced inclusion performance. A parallel adverse effect was found for atypical exemplars of the social categories with Ss in the midstage of acquisition. Consistent with E. Rosch's (1973) theoretical framework and the findings of Rosch and C. B. Mervis (see record 1976-06117-001), these results are interpreted to reflect differences in the conceptual breadth of children's hierarchical knowledge structures. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)