Stuart J. McKelvie

THE WONDERLIC PERSONNEL TEST: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY IN AN ACADEMIC SETTING

Based on total of 290 undergraduates, the split-half reliability of the Wonderlic Personnel Test was .87 and the Pearson correlation between test score and mean grade was .21. Implications are presented for the use of this test in an academic setting.

Gender differences in recognition memory for faces and cars: Evidence for the interest hypothesis

Two experiments investigated gender differences in recognition memory for faces and cars. Stimuli were line drawings of cars and of adult men and women (Experiment 1) and photographs of real cars and of real boys and girls (Experiment 2). In both experiments, performance was better on faces than on cars. Regarding recognition memory for men’s faces, in Experiment 1, men’s scores were higher than women’s scores. However, in Experiment 2, men recognized more cars than did women, and women recognized more children than did men. Results are generally consistent with the hypothesis that memory reflects male and female interest in, and/or differential familiarity for, different kinds of material.

Sex Differences in Memory for Faces

Summary The present study replicates McKelvies finding that a sex interaction, representing an own-sex effect for females, occurs on facial recognition when Canadian Ss view Canadian faces (Experiment 5), but not British faces (Experiments 1 and 2). In addition, it was shown (Experiments 4 and 5) that the interaction was also absent when Ss were exposed to other faces which did not belong to their peers (photographs of Canadian children, line drawings of adults and children). Finally (Experiment 3), the British faces were rated as less attractive than their Canadian counterparts as a result of the lower ratings assigned to the females. Alternative explanations for these results are considered, and it is argued that the sex-linked interaction emerges when females pay extra attention to female faces and that this is likely when the faces are familiar and relatively attractive.

Learning and Awareness in the Hebb Digits Task

Abstract Subjects (N = 163) were tested on the Hebb digits task, for which they listened to 24 lists of nine digits read at the rate of about one digit per second and, following each list, attempted to recall the digits in the correct order. They were not informed, however, that the series on Trial 3 recurred on every subsequent third trial. On the basis of a postexperimental questionnaire, subjects were categorized as unaware (n = 21), late aware (n = 29), middle aware (n = 31), and early aware (n = 29) with respect to the point where they reported noticing list repetition. For both aware and unaware subjects, the Hebb repetition effect was replicated in that the recall scores on the repeating series improved over trials relative to those on the novel ones. Moreover, the rate of learning of the critical series was similar in all four groups. These results are inconsistent with Bower and Winzenzs (1969) reallocation hypothesis, in which it is postulated that learning is mediated by recognition of identit...

PHYSICAL TRAINING AND PERSONALITY FACTORS AS PREDICTORS OF MARATHON TIME AND TRAINING INJURY

On the basis of surveys completed by 105 male participants in a popular marathon, a multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the variables contributing significantly to the prediction of final time. Overall prediction was successful, with R = .896, and training pace was the most important factor in the equation, speedier workouts being associated with faster marathon times. Final time was also related positively to best 10-km race time in the previous 12 mo. and repression-sensitization (faster runners being more sensitized), and negatively to maximum number of training miles in a single week, number of previous marathons completed, and number of days of training lost through illness or injury. Contrary to expectations, locus of control was not related to final time. Only 27% of the runners had lost training time through injury, but a discriminant analysis showed that, compared to those who had avoided this problem, the injured were younger, rested less, ran less in the week prior to the marathon, ran a slightly longer long run but ran it earlier before the race, and ran fewer runs of 20 miles or more. It is suggested that researchers should study the repression-sensitization variable and investigate injury in runners preparing for a marathon.

Does Memory Contaminate Test-Retest Reliability?

The Wonderlic Personnel Test (1983) was administered twice over a 3-week period under conditions in which the activity of the second test was experimentally manipulated. Data from 302 undergraduates were analyzed. The standard test-retest reliability coefficient, .872, was not significantly different from the coefficients obtained from three other groups that, on the second test, were each given specific instructions: (a) to reason out the answers (pure reassess condition); (b) to use reasoning, memory of their initial responses, or both (reassess and memory); or (c) to take an alternate form of the test (parallel). However, the standard test-retest reliability coefficient was higher, p less than .10, than the coefficient obtained from a condition (pure memory) in which subjects were instructed to duplicate their previous responses, using only memory. Although the subjects in the test-retest and combined reassess and memory conditions reported recalling previous answers for 20-25% of the items on the second test, it was concluded that conscious repetition of specific responses did not seriously inflate the estimate of test-retest reliability.

Comparisons of Intervals between Subjective Numbers, an Extension

Following the procedure used by Rule (1972), 25 subjects judged whether the mid-point (standard) of two numbers was subjectively closer to the higher or lower number. Since subjects generally chose the higher number as closer more often than the lower number, the results were interpreted as supporting Rules hypothesis that subjective number is a negatively accelerated function of objective number, at least over the first 100 integers.

GUIDELINES FOR JUDGING PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF IMAGERY QUESTIONNAIRES AS RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS: A QUANTITATIVE PROPOSAL

To aid researchers in evaluating the construct validity of self-report imagery questionnaires in the context of their use as research instruments, standards are proposed for correlation coefficients under the headings of reliability, criterion validity, and content validity. Guidelines for deciding whether relationships are acceptable are also recommended.

Sex differences, lateral reversal, and pose as factors in recognition memory for photographs of faces

Abstract In five experiments with sample sizes ranging from 47 to 104, subjects were tested for recognition memory on photographs of faces that were untransformed or transformed (laterally reversed) between presentation and test. Scores were consistently higher on untransformed than on transformed faces and on those faces looking to the observers left than on those looking to the right. In three of the experiments, women performed better on female than on male faces, and there was some evidence that the effect of reversal was mitigated on own-sex faces. The findings are briefly discussed in terms of schema theory, and it is concluded that the two sides of the face are not symmetrical in the memory representation, where the left may be more important than the right.

Individual differences in reported visual imagery and cognitive performance.

Selected on the basis of their scores on the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire, 16 High Visualizers and 14 Low Visualizers (equally divided by sex) completed various cognitive tasks thought to involve visual (Space Relations, Watch Rotation) and non-visual (Verbal Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, Numerical Ability) processes. Although Low Visualizers (particularly males) were superior to High Visualizers in Numerical Ability, both groups performed equally well on the other tests. Since correlational analyses indicated that scores on the vividness questionnaire and the Gordon Controllability of Imagery Questionnaire were not independent, particularly for females, it was suggested that questionnaires ought to be developed better to differentiate the abilities to generate and control visual images.