Glen M. Vaught

Expected scores in the rod-and-frame test: Fuel for the Immergluck-Pressey fire

The distribution of 6S4 Rod-and-Frame Test scores for 684 college Ss (346 males and 338 females) is given, and its implication for studies of field dependence and of sex differences in RFT scores is discussed.

Christmas Tree Drawings before and after Christmas: A Re-Examination:

41 8- and 9-yr.-old children drew pictures of either Christmas Trees or coffee cups 10 days before and 10 days after Christmas. Unlike previous studies, neither height, area, nor embellishment scores of the Trees decreased after Christmas; however, width increased. The coffee cup embellishment scores increased after Christmas but no other measures were significantly different. These data were interpreted as demonstrating an increase in motivation within the drawing session as a function of repeated testing, apart from the motivation aroused by “naturally motivated expectancies.”

Birth Order, Volunteering, and Status of the Experimenter: A Negative Note

Summary The effect of birth order and status of the experimenter on volunteering for a psychological experiment was investigated. Subjects were 276 undergraduates (120 firstborn and 156 later born). Volunteering was not significantly affected by either birth order or status of the experimenter for males or females. These data were discussed in terms of two recent hypothesis: (a) population shifts (b) date of publication of negative results.

Visual and auditory autokinesis.

Two experiments demonstrate continuity in autokinetic movement of visual and auditory stimuli. In one experiment, the trial-to-trial correlations of duration of autokinetic movement were almost as large between modalities (correlating responses to the auditory stimulus with those to the visual) as they were within a given modality. In the second experiment, manipulation of instructions produced equivalent effects upon autokinesis in the two modalities. Introducing extraneous asymmetric stimulation had no effect in either modality. Current theories about autokinesis are largely mode specific; the results of these experiments suggest that central determinants also contribute strongly to the effect.

BIRTH ORDER OF VOLUNTEERS FOR GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS : A NEGATIVE NOTE

The effect of birth order on rate of volunteering for a potential group or individual psychological experiment was investigated. Subjects were 286 undergraduates (89 firstborns and 197 later borns). Volunteering was not significantly related to ordinal position. Controls for family size and alternative classification schemes for ordinal position did not indicate any birth order—volunteering relationships. The data were discussed in terms of recent studies which also reported null results.

Autokinetic word writing.

Role-playing and standard instructions were administered to 100 Ss during autokinetic word-writing sessions. Role-playing instructions produced more words than standard instructions with no apparent loss of projection. It was hypothesized that role-playing instructions decreased the degree of ambiguity accompanying AWT. This hypothesis was not supported.