Glenn E. Snelbecker

Effects of “Framing” on measures of risk tolerance: Financial planners are not immune

Abstract Prospect theory suggests that describing the objective risk inherent in a situation in terms of how much can be “gained” will lead to risk avoidance, whereas describing the same exact situation in terms of the potential “losses” to be suffered leads to risk-seeking behavior. This effect has been called “framing.” The present study investigated whether this bias occured among a professional group that deals with financial risk as part of their work. The results show that financial planners are not immune to the framing bias.

General, Artistic and Scientific Creativity Attributes of Engineering and Music Students

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to investigate similarities and differences in general, artistic, and scientific creativity between engineering versus music students, as 2 groups respectively representing scientific and artistic domains. One hundred music and 105 engineering students from a large, Northeastern university completed measures of general creativity, music creativity, engineering creativity, and a demographic questionnaire. Results indicated that musicians scored higher in general and artistic creativity, with no significant differences in scientific creativity. Participants had higher levels of creativity, compared with normative data from previous studies. Gender, age, and specialization within major yielded no significant differences. Implications for creativity measures are discussed, including cognitive risk tolerance.

Investors' risk tolerance and return aspirations, and financial advisors' interpretations: A conceptual model and exploratory data

Many resources available to aid financial services professionals emphasize investment products rather than client characteristics. Financial advisors can use various resources to review quantitative details about investment products, for example, investor-clients’ previous investments, past performance of particular investment products, ratings of investment products presently available in the market place, and so on, but have little more than intuitive, subjective judgments as a basis for understanding clients’ investment needs and aspirations relevant to their investment decisions. In Etzioni’s terms, financial services professionals have a wide array of resources concerning “Logical/Empirical” (L/E) factors but comparatively few systematic techniques or guidelines for accurate assessment of clients’ “Normative/Affective” (N/A) attributes.(5*6’ The authors address these practical matters in the context of (a) Heider’s contention that scientific psychology can benefit from analysis of commonsense psychology beliefs, (b) person perception theory, and (c) problem solving

Validity and Temporal Stability Issues Regarding Two Measures of Computer Aptitudes and Attitudes

Psychometric information regarding the Computer Aptitude, Literacy, and Interest Profile and the Computer Attitude Scale was obtained from an NSF retraining project preparing computer science teachers for the secondary school level. Data address: (1) pre-/post-training stability; and (2) validity information involving (2.a.) course achievement predictions, (2.b.) CALIP-CAS interrelationships, and (2.c.) intra-instrument relationships.

Children's, adolescents', and adults' reports of hand preference: homogeneity and discriminating power of selected tasks.

A factor analysis, measures of internal consistency, and item analyses were conducted on the self-reported hand preference for the 15 activities recommended by Raczkowski, Kalat, and Nebes (1974) as reliable and valid indices of hand preference. Data from 1952 subjects, ranging in age from 8 to 70 years, were analyzed in toto as well as by age and sex. The factor analysis revealed the presence of only a single dimension. The internal consistency was uniformly high for all age and sex cohorts (a greater than or equal to .91). The item analyses showed that, in the aggregate, preference for hammering, drawing, and writing were the activities most strongly correlated with hand dominance determined on the basis of an unweighted composite of all the tasks. However, at ages 9 and 10, the hand used for hammering was not as strong an indicator of overall hand preference as writing and drawing. In contrast, with adult subjects (19 years and older), writing and drawing were slightly less satisfactory measures of overall manual preference, while use of hammer retained its high predictive value.

Temporal stability and predictive validity of self-assessed hand preference with first and second graders

The test-retest reliability and predictive validity of a five-item hand preference questionnaire (writing, drawing, throwing a baseball, brushing teeth, and cutting with scissors) were investigated in a sample of 80 children attending first and second grade. After 1 month, 81% of the second choices were the same as the first choices. There were interitem differences in the reliabilities of the five items. Writing and drawing hand exhibited the greatest degree of temporal stability. Writing hand was the one task which was significantly related to visual field bias as indexed by a face perception task.

Peripheral laterality, field independence, and academic achievement: A reexamination of their interrelationship

The interrelationship between peripheral laterality, field independence‐dependence (FID), and academic achievement was studied in a sample of 58 third graders. The students were administered the D‐K Scale of Lateral Dominance and the Childrens Embedded Figures Test. Scores on these two tests were related to existing educational test data, namely, to scores on the Otis‐Lennon IQ scale (administered to these students when they started first grade) and to intelligence and academic achievement scores on the Educational Development Series (administered at the beginning of third grade). The results indicated that (a) crossed dominance is a common condition; (b) atypical peripheral laterality, such as mixed dominance and crossed dominance, is not indicative of lower levels of intelligence or academic achievement; (c) no aspect of peripheral laterality seems to be associated with FID; and (d) FID bears a relationship to academic achievement, but not when one controls for intelligence.

Absolute Judgments as a Function of Stimulus Uncertainty and Temporal Effects: Methodological Note

8 female Ss made absolute judgments of pure tones ac 4 levels of stimulus uncertainty, with 300 trials/level on each of 2 testing days. Sequence effects were balanced by a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Main effects in an analysis of variance showed significantly more correct responses in expected directions for stimulus uncertainty and higher scores on second testing day. Somewhat surprisingly, nonsignificant uncertainty-by-test-day interactions indicated homogeneous increases across uncertainty levels. Discussion focused on assumptions from information theory about asymptotic performance and on potential methodological value of Latin square repeated-measures designs for calculating T at different uncertainty levels.

Validity and temporal stability of the chimeric face technique for studying hemispheric processing asymmetries: Data from 6-through 14-year-old children

The validity and temporal stability of the chimeric face technique as a measure of cerebral hemispheric functioning in children were investigated. The method is based upon the observation that when a subject encounters a representation of the human face, the left side (from the observers point of view) of the face dominates his or her perception of it. This bias was shown to be present in a majority of children ranging from 6 through 14 years old, and it was stronger for right-handers than for left-handers. The 1-month temporal stability of the bias was 67%, which is comparable to that of other surface methods. As in other split-message techniques, the typical left visual field bias was more reliable than the unusual right visual field bias. The implications of these data are discussed.

Hindsight: Reflections on Retraining Secondary School Teachers to Teach Computer Science

A program for retraining secondary teachers to teach computer science is described. The program is based on a model that included three laboratory-based computer science courses and an instructional design course emphasizing critical thinking. Participants met once a week for three hours for 15 weeks. They received three graduate credits per course if they completed all four courses. Participants did quite well on an independent exam, administered by the School District of Philadelphia, to qualify as a computer science teacher at the secondary school level. Aspects of the retraining program that were considered successful as well as those aspects that could be changed to improve the retraining program are discussed.