Ralph D. Norman

A Children's Hispanic Background Scale.

A 10-minute Childrens Hispanic Background Scale, useful in identifving Hispanic acculturation level, is described. The 30-item scale assessed Spanish usage by the subject and significant others (23 items), food preference (2 itemns), and general cultural exposure (5 items). Ss were 92 Chicano fourth-grade children. Test-retest reliability was .92, p < .001; validity rs were .50, p < .01, with a school bilingual scale and .58, p < .001, with SES. Reported Spanish usage across three generations yielded highly significant matched-pair ts, and suggested an accelerated acculturationi from grandparents to parents to children. Parents spoke Spanish significantly less often to Ss than in general. General exposure mean lay between parent and child language means. Scale advantages and limitations are discussed.

Party switching, authoritarianism, and dogmatism in the 1964 election.

Postulating that primary group identification is stronger than ideology, it was predicted that there would be no differences on the California F Scale or the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale between supporters of Goldwater and Johnson or a great amount of party switching and that those who switched would have higher mean scores on both scales than those who did not switch on the grounds that ideology must be intense to overcome primary group loyalty. All hypotheses were confirmed.

The Effects of a Forward-Retention Set on an Objective Achievment Test Presented Forward or Backwards:

on objective tests, pointing out that certain test-taking habits will affect the scores on these tests. He states, &dquo;Response sets dilute a test with factors not intended to form part of the test content, and so reduce its logical validity. These sets may also reduce the test’s empirical validity. Response sets tend to reduce the range of individual difference in score&dquo; (i ) . The present paper is concerned with a set which has implications for test construction as well as for the nature of retention of learned material. This set is probably more properly labeled a &dquo;retention&dquo; set than a &dquo;response&dquo; set, although Cronbach defines a response set as any &dquo;habit which causes the subject

Effects of Acculturation on Field Independence among Chicano Children

Chicano and Anglo fourth-grade children were categorized into three acculturation levels and contrasted on two tests of field independence. It was predicted that an interaction should occur between level of acculturation and intrinsic versus extrinsic reinforcement on the contention that Chicano socialization, resulting supposedly in field dependence, would produce differential reinforcement effects. No relationship occurred between level of acculturation and field independence, nor was there any between it and types of reinforcement. Correlations among field independence, acculturation, socioeconomic status and intellectual ability (as reflected in reading scores) lead to the conclusion that unraveling the many inconsistencies in the research literature oni Chicano field dependence necessitates a much closer look at the initer-action among all of these variables.

Sex Differences in Attitudes toward Arithmetic-Mathematics from Early Elementary School to College Levels

Summary Cross-sectional samples of Ss in grades 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and college (N = 1974 for total sample) were given Duttons scale on attitudes toward arithmetic, with “mathematics” substituted for older Ss. Unweighted means ANOVA yielded highly significant Fs for sex and grade, and an almost significant interaction between them. Females had significantly poorer attitudes than males from grade 9 on, consonant with findings on better math reasoning among males past 13. However, favorable attitudes showed consistent decline among both sexes from grade 2 to college. Significant intrasex differences occurred between grades 7 and 9 for females, but not for males. Discussion of results is integrated with earlier findings, sex-role theory, and need for remediation of female attitudes.

Natural science, functionalism, and psychology at the University of New Mexico, 1889‐1964

The Psychology Department at the University of New Mexico began as a normal department. It was indelibly influenced to be a part of the natural science grouping in the universitys liberal arts college by a strong second president, Clarence L. Herrick, himself a comparative neurologist and geologist. However, some change was effected by the influence of Functionalism and World War I. Over the years psychology suffered from pressures of underfunding, ethnicity, and political factors. A sharp change occurred shortly after 1964. The contribution of an Air Force behavioral science contract in 1957-1958 is also discussed.

Social class and ethnicity effects on clinical judgments.

To resolve conflict between earlier studies finding contradictory recommendations on need for professional help of middle- vs lower-class persons given normal, neurotic, and psychotic behavior descriptions, and to explore ethnicity effects, 92 students (70 Anglo, 22 Chicano) rated fictitious biographical vignettes. A pro-middle-class bias was found consistent with Routh and Kings study but inconsistent with that by Schofield and Oakes. Also contrary to the latter, treatment recommendations agreed with ratings. Ethnicity bias appeared, since Anglos recommended Chicanos more often for involuntary hospitalization. Inconsistency between the two earlier studies results from a methodological variation, discussed in this study.

Concealment of Age Among Women Psychologists: Replication After a Quarter Century

Summary This study, using samples of 300 of each sex from the 1973 APA Directory, replicated 1948 research showing female age concealment and again found a significant (p < .001) sex difference. With BA dates yielding assumed age, 1948 data showed principally older women concealing. In 1973, there was significant (p < .01) concealment increase among the younger women, but age still had an influence, judging from actual ages of 35 concealers returning a questionnaire and from assumed ages of .55 nonreturning concealers; all women were significantly older (p < .01) than men; and returning concealers, contrasted with men and women revealers, received BAs when significantly older (p < .01; p < .02). Compared to 1948, both sexes were significantly older (p < .01), but female time distance from the BA was significantly longer (p < .02) than male. All such factors may augment concealment. There was also a significant (p < .01) geographical-concealment association, itself highly related to age. It is hypothesize...

IDEOLOGY AND PRIMARY GROUP MEMBERSHIP INFLUENCES ON VOTING BEHAVIOR: A REPLY TO GOLDBERG

Goldberg (1967) implies in the title of his critique that Zippel and Norman (1966) were postulating that primary group membership rather than ideology determines political choices. This is noc quire correct. The argument presented by Zippel and Norman was thar most voters make their decisions according to the influence of their social environment but that some voters, a small minority, do place ideological considerations above past primary group memberships and that these Ss score higher on F and D scales than other Ss. The data on which these statements were made came from a sample of 381 students chosen from a wide range of college groups and courses at the University of New Mexico. The Goldberg and Scark (1965) sample consisted of 34 female psychology students in Connecticut who were preselected because they ind~cated a moderate to high degree of intensity of attitude (ego involvement?) for and against the presidential candidates. In the present Goldberg (1967) critique, data are based on recontacting 30 of these Ss. It would be instructive to know the number of Ss that were rejected by Goldberg and Stark in their initial study because they failed to demonstrate a high degree of ego involvement with the candidates, so that an index of the proportion of Ss who could be classified as ego involved could be determined. Similarly, it would be helpful in this brief dispute had Zippel and Norman obtained some measure of ego involvement from their Ss comparable ro that obtained by Goldberg and Stark. The failure of Goldberg to replicate the finding of Zippel and Norman that those Ss who voted contrary to their stated party affiliacions scored higher on F and D scales mighr nor be a contradiction at all but is most probably related to the nature of the samples. Analysis of the data from the smdies in question makes it clear that much important information is lacking that would enable the abstraction of definitive conclusions. Barring regional sampling differences (which may affect results), data are needed from high and low ego-involvement Ss preferring each candidate along with sufficient numbers of switchers and non-switchers for each of these groups. In other words, that a more elaborate design is required seems clear from both Goldbergs and our findings. Over-all, we agree with Goldberg that the 1968 elections should provide Opportunity for a more definitive test. Whereas both studies found more Republicans switching in 1964, if present (March, 1966) polls augur anything, we should expect more Dernocrats switching in 1968!

Book Reviews : Techniques of Counseling, by Jane Warters. New York: McGraw-Hill, I954. viii + 384 pp

measure up to the other three. Because ot its almost fantastic degree of abstractness, the theory falls woefully short of the criterion of immediacy-despite its creator’s insistence that a theory of perception must be &dquo;physicalistically&dquo; oriented. As for its power of prediction there is little to go on. The gap between the theory and empirical observations and manipulations is disturbingly wide. The most dis-