Oliver W. Hill

Culture and beliefs about time: comparisons among black Americans, black Africans, and white Americans.

Abstract The authors investigated the extent to which racial factors, cultural factors, or both influence a persons beliefs about physical time, personal time, and experienced and remembered duration. A total of 750 Black American, Black African, and White American students responded to a questionnaire on these beliefs about time. Factor analysis was used to compare belief structures. Pairwise comparisons, performed separately for each statement, tested the direction and strength of the reported beliefs. The groups showed many similarities, but they also showed some differences. All 3 groups differed in beliefs about physical and personal time, but they did not differ in beliefs about duration experiences. This evidence does not support simplistic views of racial or cultural influences. Culture may differentially influence beliefs about physical time and personal time. Beliefs about duration experiences may represent an etic factor that transcends cultures.

Intuition: Inferential Heuristic or Epistemic Mode?

This study attempts to evaluate psychological concepts of intuition. Of the many definitions of intuition, two extremes emerge. One holds intuition to be an inferential heuristic, and the other defines it as a cognitive mode capable of immediate, non-inferential, holistic processing. Three inventories were administered that purport to measure intuition. The Intuitive Problem Solving Scale corresponds to the definition of intuition as inferential heuristic. The Psycho-Epistemological Profile and the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator define intuition as a non-inferential epistemic mode. Scores on these scales are correlated with scores on various inferential tasks, as well as with scores on measures of three traits usually associated with intuition (originality, private self-awareness, and creativity). Results indicate that intuition is not completely reducible to inference.

Factor Structure of Beliefs about Time among African-American College Students

Between 333 African-American college students and the norming sample of 403 college students differences in the factor structure of beliefs about time as assessed by the Temporal Inventory on Meaning and Experience (TIME) were assessed. These differences may represent one component of possible cognitive-style differences between black and white college students.

Religiosity and HIV Risk Behaviors in African-American Students

The participants were 256 African-American students between the ages of 18 and 25, from two historically Black universities. The purpose of this study was to see how dimensions of religiosity and spirituality influenced the HIV risk behavior in African-American college students. Each participant completed the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI) and a survey of sexual attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. The data were analyzed using a series of ANOVAs, t tests, and correlations. The results from the study confirmed that there was a relationship between religiosity/spirituality and ones tendency to engage in HIV risk behaviors in the population of African-American college students. Interestingly, this study was able to reveal that traditional indicators of religiosity, such as association and church attendance, were not predictors of any of the risky sexual behaviors or attitudes. The portions of religiosity with the greatest impact on these behaviors were the Experiential/Phenomenological, the Existential Well-being, and the Cognitive dimensions, with high scores on each indicative of less likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behaviors.

The personality typology of black college students: evidence for a characteristic cognitive style?

This study examined the distributions across personality types (as assessed by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) of two samples of black college students (ns = 315 and 447) in comparison to norming data from two manuals. Major differences were found between the black and white samples with regard to the proportions classified as Extroversion-Intuition-Feeling-Perception (ENFP) and Introversion-Sensing-Thinking-Judging (ISTJ). Much higher proportions of the black samples were also clustered at the sensing pole of the perceptual dimension. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the existence of a unique black “cognitive style.”

SPATIAL INFORMATION AND TEMPORAL REPRESENTATION IN MEMORY

This study examined the effect of spatial cues on memory for temporal order. Improved performance for temporal order with added spatial cues was found only for certain directions and orientations. Dependent measures included memory for items, order, and response latency. The presence of a spatial cue had a significant effect on memory for order but not on memory for an item. For response latency, there were significant main effects for visual field and direction. There were also several significant interactions of visual field, direction, and orientation. The implications of these findings for the understanding of the relationship of spatial and temporal information in memory are discussed.

The Efficacy of the LearningRx Cognitive Training Program: Modality and Transfer Effects

This article describes two studies testing the efficacy of a commercial one-on-one cognitive training program (LearningRx) and its computer-based version (Brainskills) in laboratory and school settings. Study 1 tested Brainskills in a laboratory setting with 322 middle school students. Paired t-tests revealed significant gains on all cognitive measures and math performance after 3 weeks of training. Study 2, a randomized control study, included 225 high school students randomly assigned to one of three conditions: LearningRx, Brainskills, or study hall (control) in a school setting for a 15-week training period. Univariate ANCOVAs revealed significantly higher scores for the treatment groups compared with controls on working memory, logic and reasoning, and three of four math attitude measures but not for math performance. Implications for school-based interventions are discussed.

The Psychoepistemological Profile of African-American College Students

The epistemic hierarchies of a sample of 360 African-American college students were assessed using the Psycho-Epistemological Profile and compared with norms for white college students (N = 1342). A much lower proportion of the black students had Metaphorism as the dominant mode than their white peers. Large differences were also found in the proportions of black (n = 229) and white (n = 417) women with the preference for Empiricism as their primary epistemic tool. The results do seem to support the notion of black/white differences in “cognitive style.”

Spatial coding of information on temporal order in short-term memory

This study examined the effect of spatial cues on judgments of temporal order for digits presented to the right or left visual field. 56 subjects were better able to recall temporal order on trials with congruent temporal and spatial cues, and on trials in which stimuli were presented to the right visual field. The implications of these results for several models of temporal encoding are discussed.

INTERNAL-EXTERNAL DIMENSION OF EPISTEMIC AND PERSONALITY FACTORS AND A MEASURE OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION

This study examined associations among measures of epistemic orientation, field dependence-independence, locus of control, and the achievement motive. Subjects were assessed using the Psycho-Epistemological Profile, the Portable Rod and Frame Test, Rotters Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, and the Mehrabian Achieving Scale. Analysis of the correlation matrix indicated significant relations among Internal Epistemic Orientation, Field Independence, and Achievement Motive. A subsequent principal components factor analysis showed that the measure of achievement motive had a significant negative loading on the factor for an external locus of control. The implications were discussed.