Effects of previous performance on evaluations of present performance.

In Study 1, 82 undergraduates viewed 3 videotaped lectures presented by the same lecturer. Ss in the good-performance condition viewed 2 good lectures, followed by a lecture of average quality. Ss in the poor-performance condition viewed 2 poor lectures, followed by the same average lecture. Results show significant contrast effects both for ratings of the frequency of several critical behaviors and for performance evaluations. Ss in the poor-performance condition assigned more favorable behavior ratings and higher performance evaluation ratings to the 3rd (average) lecture than did Ss in the good-performance condition. In Study 2, 71 Ss were used to test the hypothesis that memory biases were responsible for the contrast effects observed in Study 1. Ss viewed the same videotapes but rated the 3rd tape from memory the day after viewing the tape. Results show weak, nonsignificant contrast effects, suggesting that memory biases were not sufficient to explain the results of Study 1. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creativity, birth order, and preference for symmetry.

Administered 3 measures of creativity: (a) complexity-simplicity preferences, (b) Personal Opinion Survey, and (c) an unusual uses test to 450 undergraduates. The intercorrelation of the creativity measures ranged .45-.83 (p's     

Why psychologists should study race.

Notes useful and potentially harmful effects of the article by A. H. Yee et al (see record 1994-09250-001) addressing psychology's problems with race. Eisenman expresses the fear that the position taken by Yee et al will lead to ignorance, justifying those who say "ignore race" either because they consider it an unscientific concept or because they think it politically harmful to study race. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental manipulation of authoritarianism and its effect on creativity.

Examined the hypothesis that authoritarianism and creativity may be opposite poles of the same continuum. 500 undergraduates were administered the California F Scale and the Personal Opinion Survey measure of creativity. A total of 80 Ss were chosen to fit 4 groups: males high in authoritarianism and low in creativity, females high in authoritarianism and low in creativity, males high in creativity and low in authoritarianism, and females high in creativity and low in authoritarianism. A modified Asch-type conformity situation was used to see if changing authoritarianism would affect creativity scores. All 4 groups had their authoritarianism manipulated in the predicted direction, and this resulted in changed creativity scores for all groups except the high-authoritarian males. Results support the hypothesis. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creativity, awareness, and liking.

As a follow-up to a previous investigation of F. Barron's creativity theory, and in order to extend previous findings, 302 undergraduates took an unusual uses test, the Barron-Welsh Art Scale (BWAS), and a polygon measure of complexity-simplicity. Ss also rated how much they liked being in the study on a 1-7 scale, and stated what they thought was the purpose of the research. The fluency and originality scores, derived from the unusual uses test, showed very high intercorrelations, while the BWAS and polygon measures were intercorrelated with each other and with originality and fluency. Although the results seem partially due to method variance, the correlations suggest, in contrast to several previous findings, that there are creativity measures which show a reasonable degree of interrelationship, thereby justifying subsuming them under the construct "creativity." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A journal for psychological essays.

Supports W. Webb's (1965) proposal for a journal for the publication of psychological essays, arguing that there is an overemphasis on empirical studies and a neglect of speculative essays in current psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Regionalization defects in the weaver mouse cerebellum

The mammalian cerebellum consists of parasagittal bands and transverse zones that are laid down early in development. When the adult cerebellum is immunostained for the Purkinje cell-specific antigen zebrin II (i.e., aldolase C), compartmentation is reflected in alternating zebrin II+ (P+) and zebrin II- bands (P ). The zebrin II phenotype is Purkinje cell autonomous; thus, disruptions in the zebrin pattern may reflect early problems in pattern formation. Zebrin II expression has been examined in the weaver (wv) mouse cerebellum. Both zebrin II- and zebrin II Purkinje cells are present in the homozygous weaver (wv/wv) mouse, but they are not distributed normally. In the posterior vermis, although the zebrin II+ bands are wider and multilaminate, the standard compartmentation is present. However, a large zebrin II+ cell mass is absent from the central vermis, and analysis of the anterior lobe reveals several missing zebrin II- bands. The cytoarchitectonic defects in wv mice are not simply related to the Purkinje cell abnormalities. Instead, serial reconstruction reveals two transverse boundaries-one rostrally in lobule VI and the other caudally in lobule IX-that delineate cytoarchitectonic transverse zones important in cerebellar development. The abnormal zebrin expression pattern in wv/wv mice may be secondary to the deletion of a transverse zone. This is the first demonstration that Purkinje cell compartmentation can be altered by mutation; therefore, the wv mutation should prove valuable in understanding cerebellar regionalization.     

Further evidence for a unique developmental compartment in the cerebellum of the meander tail mutant mouse as revealed by the quantitative analysis of Purkinje cells

The cerebellum of the meander tail mutant mouse (mea/mea) is characterized by a relatively normal cytoarchitecture posteriorly with an abrupt transition to an anterior region in which there is abnormal foliation, agranularity, and Purkinje cell (PC) ectopia. This study presents the results of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the PC in the mea/mea cerebellum. Developmental and morphological analyses reveal that the PC in the anterior region of the mea/mea cerebellum do not form a monolayer during the first week of postnatal development as they do in the wild type mouse. In the adult mea/mea, the dendrites of these ectopic cells are atrophic and disoriented. Quantitative studies in adult animals reveal that while the total number of PC is normal, the number of PC in the affected anterior region of the mea/mea cerebellum is greater than the number of PC in the anterior lobe, as classically defined by the primary fissure, of the normal animal. These data suggest that 1) the developmental morphology of the PC in the anterior region is abnormal, probably due to the lack of granule cells at early postnatal times; 2) the total number of PC in the cerebellum is normal, and 3) the defect is not restricted to the anterior lobe but involves a portion of the posterior lobe. The latter supports the notion that the mutant gene affects a unique developmental compartment in the cerebellum which does not coincide with the classic adult boundary, the primary fissure, between the anterior and posterior lobes.