John R. Barry

Sport expertise: the cognitive advantage.

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the significance of the cognitive system in sport expertise. Consideration of visual-perceptual abilities, along with cognitive factors and their relationship with sport expertise, suggest that level of sport performance can be reliably differentiated on several cognitive dimensions. Information is given concerning the cognitive requirements of sports skills. It is argued that, although visual-perceptual abilities are inherent in all levels of sport performance, cognitive factors are essential for sport expertise.

The Effects of Personality and Perceived Leader Behaviors on Performance in Collegiate Football.

The present study used a multidimensional model of leadership (Chelladurai & Carron, 1978) to examine the influence of personality traits and perceived leader behaviors on performance in collegiate football. Collegiate football players (N = 272) from three southeastern United States universities were administered Cattells Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire and the Leadership Scale for Sports and were subsequently grouped into three athletic performance categories (regulars, substitutes, and survivors). Regression analyses indicated that personality traits and leader behaviors taken together contribute significantly to the prediction of performance. Players who were more group dependent, tough-minded, extroverted, emotionally stable and who perceived their coach as offering more training and instruction, having a democratic decision style, being more socially supportive, and offering more positive feedback were associated with higher levels of performance, whereas players who perceived their coach as having an autocratic decision-style were associated with lower levels of performance.

Problem-solving as a function of age, sex and the role appropriateness of the problem content.

The purpose of this study was to investigate problem-solving ability as a function of age, sex and problem content by using 20 problems chosen from the problem-solving literature. The problems were administered without time limits to 8 males and 8 females in each of three age groups: 20--30, 40--50, 60--70. Analysis revealed that only age influenced performance with the middle-age group scoring significantly higher than the other groups. Analysis of the time required by each age group to solve the problems showed the young group required significantly less time than the other groups. Finally, the young group was seen to make more errors of commission while the older group made more errors of omission.

Interaction and Interviewer Bias in a Survey of the Aged

Differential net interviewer effects were measured in a statewide survey of aged people. 54 interviewers (college faculty members, students, and members of a senior citizens organization) conducted the survery in a 29-county area in Georgia. Attitudes toward the aged were measured by a semantic differential administered to each interviewer. Three dimensions of Instrumental—Ineffective, Autonomous—Dependent and Personal Acceptability—Unacceptability were used along with demographic information to identify interviewers with contrasting characteristics. Life satisfaction indicators and number of not ascertained responses were used as criterion measures to test the effects of interviewers age, sex, race, faculty-student status, intrusiveness, retired status, and attitudes toward the aged.

Origins of george kelly's constructivism in the work of korzybski and moreno

Abstract Although Mahoney (1988) has traced the heritage of general constructive metatheory and 7 Lelhart and Jackson (1983) have examined the influences of Kellys Kansas environment on his developing theory, there has been relatively little investigation of the origins of Kellys constructivism. Although Kelly (1955) was undoubtedly influenced by many philosophers and psychologists as he developed the psychology of personal constructs, the roles of these people have not been extensively investigated. However, Kelly (1955, 1969) cited, in a general way, the works of Korzybski and Moreno several times in describing the origins of his theory. Lecture notes taken by one of Kellys students (Barry, 1948) reveal more specifically the sources (Korzybski, 1933, 1943; Moreno, 1937) that seemed influential as Kelly developed his theories. Kelly borrowed ideas of Korzybski and Moreno, among many others, in creating parts of his role therapy and personality theory. In adapting Korzybskis notion that semantic and l...

Effects of interpolated processing on experts' recall of schematic information

The present study, using schematic sport diagrams, examined the perceptual chunking hypothesis (Chase & Simon, 1973a; 1973b) that visual patterns are represented by labels in a limited-capacity, short-term memory. This study, which employed three subject-skill levels and an interpolated processing paradigm, indicated that for experts, information extracted during an 8-second study period has great longevity and durability. Interpolated processing demands, along with an additional encoding activity of a second diagram presentation, had minimal effects on recall performance. This evidence supports the position that meaningful and familiar information abstracted during a brief exposure period is immediately processed in long-term memory, thus facilitating subsequent retrieval.

A categorization system of crisis center telephone use: Patterns of interaction

Current investigations of telephone crisis intervention effectiveness have neglected the evaluation of broad patterns of interaction between the crisis center and the larger community. This study describes the development and implementation of a Caller Frequency Category System (CAFS) which is based upon the frequency and type of contacts between callers and the center. Data collected for 100 clients from a crisis intervention center suggest that the system can be applied reliably and does differentiate among clients by the type of interaction they have with the center. Two unexpected findings were that (a) longer-term callers tended to be older men or teenage girls, and (b) the greatest proportion of total telephone use involved calls initiated by the center itself to people other than crisis clients. Revisions to the CAFS are proposed which will clarify the role which a crisis center serves in the community-wide resolution of personal crises.

Information resources for program evaluators

Abstract Mechanisms for access are given regarding key information resources on the subject of program evaluation. Included are listings of important books, journals and newsletters; brief descriptions of the major professional societies in the program evaluation field (including membership information); a listing of resources for evaluation training materials; and a brief discussion of targeted research on evaluation that is contributing to the development of resource materials. The resources indentified are mainly intended for use by individuals conducting evaluation research studies, and for those engaging in training and research on program evaluation. A concluding section highlights some potentially useful information retrieval devices and strategies, and examines briefly future developments in program evaluation that may be related to resource materials now available or being created.

A measure of attitudes toward abortion

An effort was made to construct an effective questionnaire for examining group and individual differences in attitudes toward abortion in view of the fact that most studies on abortion are based on responses to instruments of questionable reliability which often reflect the bias of the reporter. From an initial pool of 100 statement items about abortion and related topics the questionnaire after a testing was whittled down to 55 items. 9 were from inventories used in previous studies; 5 were information items and 5 were lie scale pairs. Reliability was determined by comparing the first 27 with the last 28 items. A Pearsonian correlation coefficient of .90 was obtained. Groups were selected to reflect the variables of education age and marital status all of which have been shown to influence attitudes toward abortion. Accordingly the questionnaire was administered to a group of unmarried students assembly-line workers and physicians wives. As was expected a younger age higher cultural level lack of religious conviction and positive marital status werw associated with a more favorable attitude toward abortion. When the 9 items used in previous studies were correlated with responses to the new items a correlation coefficient of .48 was obtained indicating concurrent validity.

Coping in Later-Life: An Optimistic Assessment

Aging is an area of study that has undergone considerable change in the recent past. At present, methodological flaws and researcher biases are giving way to a view of aging as a highly individualized and variable process, rich in experience and potential. From this new perspective this paper reviews older age coping and defines it as a healthy and positive process characteristic of development at later ages. Coping is regarded as a critical strategy, allowing the older population to appraise their situation, access needed skills, and face critical, radically distinct life tasks. In support of this position the traits of defensiveness and rigidity, often regarded as characteristic of the aged, are discussed and found to be inappropriate.