Anthony A. Cancelli

Mastery Assessment with Latent Class and Quasi-Independence Models Representing Homogeneous Item Domains.

This article discusses mastery classification involving the use of latent class and quasi-independence models. Extensions of mastery classification techniques developed by Macready and Dayton are presented. These extensions provide decision rules for assigning individuals to latent classes in complex models involving more than two latent categories. Procedures for identifying the minimally acceptable proportion of misclassified individuals in complex latent class models are also detailed.

Developmental Study of Subjective Uncertainty

Over the years research has shown uncertainty to be an effective predicror of several behaviors defined as measures of specific exploration ( 2 ) . Within this paradigm. an assessment of specific exploration is achieved in response to either an experirnenterdefined measure of objective uncertainty or an examinee-related subjective measure produced by evocative stimuli. In examining the latter, it is important to determine trends which may occur in the development of subjective uncerrainty. Given the paucity of empirical efforts, the present study was designed. It was predicted ( 3 ) that as children get older they increasingly develop ability to organize the environment and consequently develop an improved ability to detect complexity. This leads to greater subjective uncertainty with increasing age. Ninety-three children were randomly selected from rhe first, third, and fifth grades of an urban middle-class public elementary school. Each subject viewed tachistoscopically incomplete line drawings at four levels of uncertainty as defined by expert judges. The subject was then asked for each drawing to rate the certainty of his identification of the object portrayed in the drawing. Ratings required the subject to identify whether he was very sure, pretty sure, not too sure, or not sure at all. A factorial analysis of ratings evidenced a nonsignificant effect for grade level (Faloo = 1.74) and the interaction of grade level X judged uncertainty (Fafi~ = .24), which suggests no developmental trend during these critical ages from Grades 1 to 5. As e-cpecred, the main effect for judged uncertainty was significant (I;,,au = 5.47, p < ,005) .

Immediate and sustaining effects of extrinsic rewards on specific exploratory behavior

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the immediate and sustaining effects of monetary and social rewards on specific exploratory behavior. Specific exploratory behavior was conceived as a behavioral expression of intrinsic motivation and was measured by the number of additional requests for viewing blurred tachistoscopically presented slides of varying degrees of uncertainty. The results of the study showed that when monetary and social rewards were presented contingent on performance, exploration increased at the upper levels of uncertainty above a control group. It was also found that after removal, females who had previously received social rewards sustained a significantly higher level of exploration above the control group, while males who had previously received social rewards, as well as both males and females who had previously received monetary rewards, did not differ significantly from the control. The discrepany between these findings and previous findings is explained in terms of theoretical differences in defining and measuring intrinsic motivation.