Wesley Jamison

Type A behavior pattern, parental history of hypertension, and cardiovascular reactivity in college males.

Two risk factors for cardiovascular disorders, parental history of hypertension and the Type A behavior pattern, were investigated concurrently with respect to cardiovascular reactivity to challenging situations. Sixty-four college males were given both the Structured Interview (SI) and Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) for the Type A behavior pattern and a family health questionnaire to determine parental history of hypertension. The students were monitored for blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and pulse transit time (PTT) response to four tasks: cold pressor, isometric handgrip exercise, a reading comprehension task, and backwards digit span. Type As based on SI classification had significantly higher HR levels across all tasks than did Type Bs, as well as higher diastolic BP levels in the cold pressor task. No main effects for Type A-B using JAS classification were found. Positive parental history students had higher HR and shorter PTT levels across all the tasks. Type A and parental history did interact in a limited way on some tasks, but the interactions were also dependent on the Type A classification used.

A test of the X-linked genetic hypothesis for sex differences on Piaget's water-level task

Abstract Data from seven studies involving 849 high school and college students were used to test the recessive X-linked genetic model prediction that the square of the proportion of men who perform accurately on the water-level task is equal to the proportion of women who perform accurately. Goodness-of-fit tests showed that this prediction was confirmed for each sample. A model with a single estimate of gene frequency accounted for all the data when a classification error parameter was incorporated into the X-linked model. In both models the gene frequency parameter was about 2 3 .

Sex-typing and spatial ability: The association between masculinity and success on piaget's water-level task

A sample of 58 college women and 43 college men were tested on Piagets water-level task and asked to complete the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The instructions for the water-level task were varied so as to emphasize or deemphasize the scientific laboratory character of the task. Subjects were classified by sex, sex-role orientation (masculine, androgynous, feminine), task description condition, and water-level performance. A log-linear analysis of the resulting 2×3×2×2 multidimensional contingency table revealed significant main effects for both sex of subject and sex-role orientation. Males and those males and females with masculine sex-role orientations were more likely to succeed with the water-level task than females and those with feminine sex-role orientations. The effect of sex role on water-level performance emerged most clearly among highly sex-typed individuals and the effect of sex was significant only among those with androgynous sex-role orientations.

A Short Version of a Spatial Activity Questionnaire.

Newcombe, Bandura, and Taylor developed a questionnaire measuring participation in space-related activities. The activities were classified as masculine, feminine, or neutral in gender stereotyping. A short version of this questionnaire was developed based on an item analysis of the responses by 485 introductory psychology students (236 women and 249 men). The 10 masculine, 10 feminine, and 10 neutral items chosen for the short form were given to 60 subjects (28 women and 32 men), along with a measure of spatial performance (Piagets water-level task). Reliabilities (by coefficient alpha) were .79, .77, and .75, for the masculine, feminine, and neutral activity subscales, respectively. As with the original scale, women had a greater preference than men for feminine activities, men had a greater preference than women for masculine activities, and women and men had an equal preference for neutral activities. Masculine activity preference was associated with better water-level performance, with the relationship significantly stronger for women (r=.50) than for men (r=.10). Uses for the questionnaire in research on sex-related differences in spatial performance are suggested.

Family characteristics and school achievements of type A children.

We examined the familial characteristics of Type A children and the consequences of Type A behaviors for childrens classroom achievements. A maximum of 156 boys and 190 girls enrolled in elementary and middle schools and their parents participated in various aspects of the data collection procedures and analyses reported in this article. Results showed that Type A children were not more likely to have families with a history of cardiovascular-related diseases or families of upper socioeconomic status. Young Type A boys, but not girls, had Type A mothers and fathers, suggesting an early modeling of Type A behaviors by boys. Competitive boys and girls and Type A girls had higher achievement test scores and classroom grades, independent of IQ test scores, than did relatively noncompetitive children and Type B girls, respectively. Thus, the competitive aspect of Type A leads to important early achievements, independent of ability, perhaps because care givers and teachers respond to Type A behaviors of children by encouraging them to continue to strive to achieve. Gender differences in the findings were also discussed and related to the adult literature.

Developmental inter-relationships among concrete operational tasks: An investigation of Piaget's stage concept

Abstract One hundred and one primary school children were tested on eight concrete operational tasks. Each childs performance on each task was classified as either preoperational, transitional, or fully operational. Cross-classification tables were constructed showing the joint classification of childrens performance on all possible pairs of the eight tasks. Two models of intertask relations, Wohlwills (The study of behavioral development. New York: Academic Press, 1973 ) divergent-decalage and reciprocal-interaction patterns, were evaluated for their fit to the cross-classification data using χ2 goodness-of-fit procedures. Instances of both these patterns were identified in the data. The findings give some support to Flavell and Wohlwills modification of Piagets stage concept, in which individual groupings (e.g., seriation) are the structural basis of the interrelationships among concrete operational tasks. Tasks based on the same rule showed a degree of developmental interdependence (reciprocal-interaction patterns), while tasks based on different rules appeared to develop independently (divergent-decalage patterns). However, only one-half of the cross-classification tables were adequately described by either the divergent-decalage or the reciprocal-interaction patterns.

Knowledge of Number Conservation and the Acquisition of Quantity Conservation in First Graders.

Summary First graders were tested on number conservation, conservation of continuous quantity (mass), and conservation of discontinuous quantity. The 24 girls and 19 boys who failed the two quantity conservation tasks were exposed to a classroom demonstration on conservation and retested on all conservation measures. Posttest quantity conservation performance was assessed in relationship to performance on the number conservation task. A chi-square test for the homogeneity of the distributions of number correct on quantity conservation showed a significant difference between number conservers and number nonconservers. Children who understood number conservation improved their quantity conservation performance more often than children who showed no understanding of number conservation.

Genetic mediation of sex differences in horizontality: A rejoinder

Abstract Neither M. G. McGee (Developmental Review, 1981 , 1, 289–295) nor M. J. Allen, M. A. Wittig, and K. Butler (Developmental Review, 1981 , 1, 284–288) suggest any alternative explanation for our finding that water-level performance appears to have an X-linked genetic basis. The power calculations of Allen et al. are found to be faulty, and McGee confuses the hypothesis we tested with a weaker hypothesis. Although the X-linked genetic model is not an adequate model of water-level performance the water-level data fit the X-linked model far better than color blindness and HCN data McGee presents as exemplars of X-linked characteristics.

Problem Solving in Naive Users

Unix Tutor is a menu interface to UNIX being developed at the University of Pittsburgh as a training aid for new users. This paper compares mental models currently supported by the interface and those used by novices by examining subject logs from experiments. The paper concludes that Unix Tutor provides good support for consistent aspects of the operating system but fails to support models novices need to deal with inconsistencies. Design enhancements are suggested for resolving this problem.

UNIXTUTOR: A MENU-BASED TRANSITIONAL INTERFACE

We developed UNIXTUTOR as an aid to beginning users of the UNIX™ operating system. UNIXTUTOR uses the Maryland window and menu system (Lyle & Weiser, 1983) to create a visual interface on the character-based terminals commonly available to beginning users. With UNIXTUTOR, users build UNIX command strings by using the cursor to make selections for commands and options in menus and by typing arguments into argument windows. Figure 1 illustrates the UNIXTUTOR interface by showing one of the screens for choosing the commands and options needed to build a UNIX command to sort the entries in a file and remove duplicate file entries. To accomplish this task a user must select sort in the FILE menu followed by -u in the sort Options menu. Next the user must type the name of the file to be sorted in the argument window located below the FILE menu. Not shown in Figure 1 is the menu reminding users of the possibilities for redirecting input and output which is displayed after users make their choices for commands, options, and arguments. In the sort problem, output rediection might be used to store the results of the sort in a new file. A more complete description of UNIXTUTOR is available in Jamison and Lewis (1989).