Juliet Popper Shaffer

Language and Cognition: Effects of Stimulus Codability, Name-Word Frequency, and Age of Acquisition on Lexical Reaction Time.

Intersubject agreement on names (uncertainty) for pictures indexes codability of visual reality in a language community. The time it takes to access permanent memory and retrieve name-words for visual objects was measured by picture naming reaction time ( RT ). RT is influenced by four fundamental variables: the uncertainty-codability of the display, the frequency and age of acquisition of the lexical response, and the interval between occasions of picture naming; uncertainty, frequency, and acquisition age covary. An eight-variable regression model mapped the main processes in lexical retrieval. Effects of major variables are independent. RT increases with uncertainty in two nonlinear segments, with apparent algorithmic processing at low uncertainty and heuristic at high. Individual differences reside primarily in RT level (intercepts) and minimally in functional relationships with independent variables.

A Multivariate Extension of the Correlation Ratio

A measure of the magnitude of the effect in a one-factor multivariate analysis of variance design is considered. Cooley and Lohnes have proposed the use of the quantity (1 — | W |/| T |) as a multivariate extension of the correlation ratio, where | W | is the determinant of the within-groups cross-products matrix and | T | is the determinant of the total cross-products matrix. The measure is based on the use of | W | as the estimate of a generalized measure of within-groups variation and | T | as the estimate of a generalized measure of total variation. If a multivariate correlation ratio is defined as the proportion of variance in the multivariate domain predictable from the factor, it is argued that crM = 1 - Tr( WW -1)/ Tr( TW -1) is a more suitable multivariate generalization of the univariate correlation ratio.

Bidirectional Unbiased Procedures

Abstract When the hypothesis H 0: θ = θ0 is tested against the alternative Ha: θ ≠ θ0, θ a real-valued parameter, it would often be more appropriate to make simultaneous tests of the two hypotheses 1 H 0: θ ≤ θ0 (with alternative 1 Ha: θ > θ0) and 2 H 0: θ ≥ θ0 (with alternative 2 Ha: θ < θ0). The criterion of unbiasedness in choosing an optimal test of H 0 is inapplicable for choosing an optimal simultaneous procedure for testing 1 H 0 and 2 H 0. A bidirectional unbiased procedure is defined and its properties enumerated. In many important applications such a procedure for testing 1 H 0 and 2 H 0 is essentially equivalent to an “equal tails” test of H 0.

Personality impression formation and sex: The polarization effect

In a previous experiment, in which subjects rated likability of stimulus persons of both sexes to whom different personality-trait adjectives were ascribed, it was found that ratings were more polarized when stimulus persons were of the opposite sex than when they were of the same sex as the rater; i.e., ascribing positive adjectives resulted in higher likability ratings, while ascribing negative adjectives resulted in lower likability ratings, for opposite-sexed than for like-sexed stimulus persons. This paper reports two further experiments designed to investigate systematically, within an information integration framework, the relationship between the magnitude of this phenomenon and the number and values of the ascribed adjectives. A simple averaging model of information integration does not appear to be adequate to account for the experimental results.

Exact procedures for the analysis of multidimensional contingency tables

The log-linear model for contingency tables expresses the logarithm of a cell frequency as an additive function of main effects, interactions, etc., in a way formally identical with an analysis of variance model. Exact statistical tests are developed to test hypotheses that specific effects or sets of effects are zero, yielding procedures for exploring relationships among qualitative variables which are suitable for small samples. The tests are analogous to Fishers exact test for a 2 × 2 contingency table. Given a hypothesis, the exact probability of the obtained table is determined, conditional on fixed marginals or other functions of the cell frequencies. The sum of the probabilities of the obtained table and of all less probable ones is the exact probability to be considered in testing the null hypothesis. Procedures for obtaining exact probabilities are explained in detail, with examples given.

The relationship between personality impression formation and sex: An application of information integration theory

Ss were asked, for each of 200 adjectives, to rate the likability of a “woman your age” (Group W), a “man your age” (Group M), a “person your age” (Group P), or a “child” (Group C). There were 32 men and 32 women in each group. The ratings of Groups W and M were more polarized for Ss rating the opposite sex than for Ss rating their own sex. In other words, when positive adjectives were ascribed, women Ss rated men as more likable than women and men Ss rated women as more likable than men, while, when negative adjectives were ascribed, the opposite sex was rated as more unlikable. The results are considered in the context of information integration theory, employing a weighted average model of personality impression formation.’

Multiple Comparisons with Unequal Sample Sizes

The use of Kramers proposed approximate method for multiple-range tests with unequal sample sizes may result in lower power for these tests than for the Tukey A test, a reversal of the situation for equal-sized samples. A modification of Kramers procedure proposed by Duncan results in multiple-range tests which are more powerful than the Tukey A test.

TESTING SPECIFIC HYPOTHESES IN CONTINGENCY TABLES- CHI-SQUARE PARTITIONING AND OTHER METHODS

Exact methods for the partitioning of Pearsons chi-square are criticized on the grounds that they lead to tests of a set of hypotheses in which, in general, each test is appropriate only on the assumption that other hypotheses in the set are true. The specific case of a 4 × 2 contingency table is examined in detail, and an alternative partitioning of the likelihood ratio chi-square is shown to lead to a more appropriate set of tests. Additive partitions in general lead to a set of tests in which some tests are valid only on the condition that hypotheses other than the one being tested are true. Alternative ways of obtaining unconditional tests of hypotheses are described.

Likability as a function of age, sex, and personality description

Previous research has indicated that college students make more polarized likability ratings of college-age stimulus persons of the opposite sex than of those of the same sex, that is, opposite-sex stimulus persons described positively yield higher ratings, and those described negatively yield lower ratings, than same-sex stimulus persons. The two further experiments described here provide additional information about this effect, which is designated the polarization effect. In Experiment 1, subjects asked to make ratings from the point of view of the opposite sex were successful in producing the appropriate polarization effect, demonstrating that the point of view enters into the rating for the subject. In Experiment 2, age of the stimulus person was introduced as an additional variable. The polarization effect occurred only when the stimulus person was similar in age to the subject, and older stimulus persons of both sexes produced less polarized ratings than those nearer the subjects’ ages.

FISHER'S "POWER ORIENTATION AND CONCEPT OF SELF HEIGHT IN MEN": A COMMENT

Fisher reported obtaining a positive relationship in males between overestimation of self height and both power aspirations and commitment to the idea of male superiority. Possible explanations for this result are considered. A methodological problem involved in this type of research is discussed, and some issues are mentioned on which further research is needed.