Bahman Baluch

Sex and Culture Differences in Perceptions of Estimated Multiple Intelligence for Self and Family A British-Iranian Comparison

In all, 212 British and 154 Iranian students estimated their own, their parents’, and their siblings’scores on the Gardner (1983) seven multiple intelligences. Men tended to rate their own mathematical and spatial intelligence higher than did women. Iranian students thought they themselves had lower mathematical but higher spatial, musical, and intrapersonal intelligence compared with British students The Iranians rated their fathers’ mathematical and spatial IQs lower but their interpersonal and intrapersonal IQs higher than did British students. The Iranians rated their mothers’ IQs significantly lower than did the British on six of the seven scales. Results for siblings showed far fewer gender and interaction effects but many effects of culture, particularly for first brothers. Iranians rated the intelligence of their first brothers higher than did the British on six of the seven scales. Iranians tended to be more in favor of tests and more willing to acknowledge race and gender differences.

On the control of visual word recognition: Changing routes versus changing deadlines

Two different accounts have been proposed to explain the fact that (1) an effect of word frequency is present when readers of transparent orthographies read only words aloud and (2) the effect of word frequency is eliminated when subjects name words and nonwords mixed together in a single block. In the route-shifting account, subjects shift from using a lexical route that can read only words to using a nonlexical route that can read both words and nonwords via the use of sublexical spelling-sound correspondences (hence, no word frequency effect). The essence of the second, time criterion account is that the elimination of the word frequency effect is determined by the speed with which the nonwords are processed, because subjects attempt to homogenize the point in time at which they release an articulation. These two different accounts are pitted against each other in a series of naming experiments utilizing the transparent Turkish orthography. A word frequency effect persists even when words and nonwords are mixed together, provided that nonword sets are matched so as to be named as quickly as the high-frequency words and as slowly as the low-frequency words, respectively. This result is argued to be consistent with the time criterion account, but not with the unadorned route-shifting account.

Semantic effects as a function of reading skill in word naming of a transparent orthography

The highly transparent Turkish orthography was employed to examine imageability in relation to level of skill in two experiments. In experiment 1, previously skilled readers (n = 24)named 40 high frequency and 40 low frequency words manipulatedfactorially with imageability. A significant main effect was onlyfound for frequency. In experiment 2, a total of 44 adult Turkishreaders (16 very skilled and 28 skilled) named the same stimulias in experiment 1. The results showed an expected main effectfor skill and frequency. However, whilst the main effect forimageability was nonsignificant, a 2-way interaction of skill byimageability and a 3-way interaction of skill by imageability byfrequency were found to be significant. Very skilled readersnamed high imageable low frequency words significantly fasterthan matched low imageable low frequency words. Insofar as poorreaders are concerned the results are contradictory to previousfindings in English whilst data from highly skilled participantsare in line with those reported for skilled readers for English.Implications of these findings on the existing literature arediscussed.

What Is the Cognitive System's Preferred Route for Deriving Phonology from Print?

The present study examined the manner in which Turkish readers read aloud words printed in shallow (transparent) Turkish orthography. The first experiment showed that when the set consists of only word stimuli there is a significant word-frequency effect. This indicates that readers had made reference to lexical information for naming. The result of a second experiment, on the other hand, showed that when an equal number of nonwords are embedded in the stimulus set the word-frequency effect disappears. This indicates that readers had made reference to nonlexical information for naming. These results support the ideas that: (a) the preferred route for naming amongst readers of Turkish script is lexical, regardless of the orthographic-phonological transparency; and (b) the naming process is indeed a flexible one in which task demands may affect the nature of the route used for naming. The above findings are discussed in relation to research on shallow and deep (nonshallow) orthographies .

Lexical Decisions in Persian: A Test of the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis

Abstract The orthographic depth hypothesis holds that words in scripts whose spelling-sound correspondences are entirely consistent (transparent) are recognized by computing a phonological code prior to lexical access. In contrast, the universal hypothesis holds that words in all scripts are recognized by utilizing visual orthographic information to access the mental lexicon. The present experiment examines the issue of whether orthographic-phonological transparency of Persian words affect the decision in a lexical decision task, because the orthographic depth and the universal hypothesis make different predictions. Persian script enables contrast of words reflecting extremes of orthographic opaqueness and transparency. This is because, the spelling-sound correspondences in written Persian are always consistent, but only some of the words include vowels as a fixed part of their spelling, (transparent words), whereas for other words the vowels are typically not specified (opaque words). The result of the l...

Reading with and without vowels: What are the psychological consequences?

Abstract Skilled readers of Semitic scripts like Hebrew are trained to read their text with no vowels specified. In contrast, no vowels are omitted in writing Indo-European scripts, and in the case of scripts like Serbo-Croatian all vowels and consonants are represented in an unequivocal and consistent manner. The present article outlines possible psychological consequences of reading words printed with and without vowels by reviewing current research on reading Persian, an Indo-European language transcribed by a modified version of the Semitic Arabic script. Persian readers are trained in reading texts in which three of its six spoken vowels are always conveyed in printed words and the other three are typically left out. For this reason, Persian has unique appeal for examining cognitive processes of reading, in particular psychological consequences of reading words with and without vowels.

Psychological and social aspects of male infertility in a male dominated society

Abstract Three groups of Iranian men (male cause, female cause, and control) were given the translated versions of Becks Depression and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventories, together with questionnaires on social interaction and attitudes towards having children. The inventories and questionnaires were administered at a pre-diagnosis stage and six months (follow-up) into their medical treatment. Also, the spouses of the above men completed a questionnaire on their partners dominance in the household at both the above stages. The results showed significant anxiety for the two clinical groups at both the initial and follow-up stages. The depression scores tended to increase significantly for the male infertile group at the follow-up stage. There was also a clear lack of social interest and loss of control at the household level for the latter group. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Visual Word Recognition in Beginning Readers of Persian

This article briefly addresses general current issues expressed in relation to psychological models of visual word recognition, the significance and the implications of current research in reading Persian script. It concludes with results and implications of a study on beginning readers of Persian.

Perception of body shapes by anorexics and mature and teenage females

Three groups of females-Anorexic (mean age 28). Teenage (mean age 16), and Mature adults (mean age 27)-were shown four male and four female body drawings ranging from very thin to very fat and asked to rate them on four categories (attractive, healthy, confident, and popular) using a 10-point bipolar scale. A predicted and consistent pattern occurred, namely that the anorexics rated fatter women less attractive, less healthy, less confident and less popular than teenagers and mature females, while at the same time rating male body shapes more attractive than did the two other female groups. Both anorexic and teenage groups rated the thinner women as more attractive, healthy, confident, and popular than the mature females. Both mature and teenage females rated the fat female body shape more positively than did the anorexics. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Memory for words as a function of spelling transparency

The authors investigated the impact of spelling transparency on memory for words written in Persian orthography. Adult Persian university students (N = 212) performed in a memory recall experiment on 160 monosyllabic words printed on 8 cards (20 on each card) manipulated for spelling transparency, frequency, and imageability. Each card was presented randomly to the participants and they were asked to read the words aloud as quickly as possible. After reading each card, the participants were asked to engage in a digital addition task for 20 s (as a distracter), which was immediately followed by a request to write down as many words as possible from the cards in 40 s. No significant difference was found in the time to name aloud the opaque and transparent words, whereas on the memory recall task there were main effects for spelling, frequency, and imageability and significant 2-way and 3-way interactions. The effects were greatest for transparent spellings when they were of high frequency and high imageability or low frequency and low imageability. The implications of these findings are discussed.