Robert C. Hardy

Relationships between Activities and Sex-Related Differences in Performance on Spatial Tests

53 female and 45 male undergraduates were administered the Spatial Antecedents Questionnaire (Activities, Academic Courses, Self-assessments, and Environmental Mapping subscales), the Spatial Dimensionality Test (Embedded Figures, Card Rotations, Paper Folding, Surface Development, Horizontal/Vertical Rotations, and Cube Perspective subtests), and Paivios 1979 Revised-Individual Differences Questionnaire. Scores from the Academic Courses and Self-assessment scales accounted for the most variability in spatial performance. Visual Processing style correlated with performance on spatial tests for men, but not for women. Different patterns of activities and experiences correlated with spatial test performance for men and women.

Factor Structure of Shortened Children's Embedded Figures Test for Different Age Groups

240 children, 24 of each sex in Grades K to 4, were administered the entire Childrens Embedded Figures Test, regardless of the failure rule. Factor loadings for items from a shortened version of the test were examined for a randomly divided sample, a sample divided by sex, a sample divided in two grade groupings, and an undivided total population. Stable factors were found for the total sample and when the sample was divided by sex. Analysis indicated that the factor analysis of the shortened form was consistent with previous analyses using the total scale.

An Experimental Test of the Contingency Model on Small Classroom Groups

Summary The problem was to test the applicability of Fiedlers contingency model on 56 junior high school classroom groups. It investigated the effectiveness of high and low least preferred co-worker (LPC) leaders with good and poor leader member relations (LMR) and weak power on structured and unstructured group tasks. The results indicated that high LPC leaders were more effective for a structured task when LMR were poor, and no relationship was found when LMR were good. For an unstructured task the results indicated that high LPC leaders were more effective when LMR were good. When LMR were poor, low LPC leaders were more effective than high on only one of the four measures used. These findings offer partial support for the model.

Children's Embedded Figures Test: An Examination of Item Difficulty in Grades K—4

Indices of item difficulty for both the Tent and the House series of the Childrens Embedded Figures Test are reported from a sample of 240 children in grades K-4. Results indicate that the failure rule should be re-considered and the test shortened.

Relationship between Birth Order and Leadership Style for Nursery School Children

36 nursery school children were given a revised form of Fiedlers (1967) least preferred co-worker scale designated as the least preferred playmate scale. The purpose was to investigate the relationship between least preferred playmate scores and the birth order of young children. A 2 × 2 contingency table was constructed between birth order (first and later born) and leadership style (high and low). The resulting chi squares were insignificant for the total population and for males. However, for females the results were significant with a higher percentage of firstborns being task-oriented (low score) and a higher percentage of later borns being relation-oriented (high score).

Stability over Age and Sex of Children's Responses to Embedded Figures Test

240 children in Grades K to 4 were administered the entire Childrens Embedded Figures Test to determine whether similar factor structures are obtained from samples of different sex and age as well as when the population is randomly split. Data were analyzed by principal axis factor analysis and relevant factor structures were compared using Veldmans 1967 program “Relate”. There was one stable factor which was consistent across sex and accounted for about 19% of the variance. Results were inconsistent across grades and indicated a possible lack of agreement of factor structures.

The Effect of Experience on Teacher Effectiveness: A Test of the Contingency Model.

Summary A revised form of Fiedlers contingency model was tested in which the level of organizational complexity was used as the most important determinant of situation favorability to modify the model. In the present study organizational complexity was assumed to be high. Starting (N = 20) and experienced (N = 28) college teachers who had either high or low Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) scores were compared with use of student ratings as the dependent variable. Results indicated that low LPC starting teachers were more effective than high (p < .01), and no significant difference existed between high and low LPC experienced teachers. These findings offer partial support for the revised model.

Internality and extraversion-introversion.

Br~ggs and Myers (1962) claim that the Extraversion-Introversion dimension (E-I) of their Myers-Briggs Type Indicator measures the extent to which an individual directs mental activity toward the external world of people or the internal world of ideas. Similarly Rotter (1966) claims that the Internal-External (I-E) dimension of his Locus of Control Scale measures the extent to which individuals attribute reinforcement to their own (internal) or to outside (external) forces. Mendelsohn (1965) , in his critique of the former instrument, states that items on the ELI dimension have more to do with ease of interpersonal contact than with the inner world of ideas. If internals on the I-E dimension believe they exert greater control over the consequences of their own behavior, then internals should be more comfortable than externals in dealing with people. Thus internals should be more extraverted and score higher on the extraversion and lower on the introversion dimensions of the Myers-Briggs type indicator than externals. Subjects were 27 male and 103 female undergraduate education students from a large Eastern university. All subjects were volunteers who received no payment or course credit for participation. The Rotter I-E scale was administered on a group basis during regularly scheduled class periods. All subjects who scored greater than .25 standard deviation from the mean were given individually the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Testers were two graduate srudents (1 male and 1 female) who were trained to administer both instruments. Since a chi-square analysis by sex and I-E scale score was nonsignificant, data from both sexes were pooled. The means and standard deviations on I-E scale for all subjects were 11.92 and 4.04, respectively. Since the I-E scale is scored in whole numbers, only subjects with a score of 10 or lower (internals) or 13 and higher (externals) were included in the final analyses. Means on the M-B extravert dimension were 16.40 and 13.33 and on the introvert dimension 10.13 and 14.29 for internals and externals, respectively. These sets of means were in the expected direction. To test for significance oneway analyses of variance were computed. The resulting F values on the introvert dimension (F = 7.52, d f = 1/101, p = .007) and the extravert dimension (F = 5.90, d f = . 1/101, # = .017) were significant. Results are interpreted as evidence that internals are extraverted in the sense that they are more at ease with interpersonal contact than externals. These findings suggest that more attention should be given to such empirical relationships among preference instruments than to their alleged theoretical bases pw se.

The Identifiability and Consistency of the Factor Structure of Locus of Control

Summary The variable of locus of control as assessed by Rotters Internal-External Scale was examined for a theoretically identifiable and consistent factor structure. Four female college samples, three current ones comprising 360 subjects and a previously reported sample of 157 subjects, were selected to vary two population characteristics: race and professional curriculum. In the light of recent literature suggesting a multidimensionality to expectancy for control, responses to the Internal-External Scale were factor analyzed, and the derived factors of each sample were statistically compared for level of agreement. Not only did the analyses fail to support the existence of several identifiable factors, but the obtained factors, weak in accounted for variance, failed to evidence consistency between groups. Given the consideration of locus of control in recent years as an important social-psychological expectancy variable, the failure in the present study to establish identifiable and consistent factors ...

Revision of the Tent Series of the Children's Embedded Figures Test: A Possible Predictor of Early Reading Achievement

A shortened version of the Tent series of the Childrens Embedded Figures Test is proposed as a possible predictor of early reading achievement.