A psychological model can show the technical writer how to present information for effective communication by explaining how readers perceive, understand, learn, and remember. The principles underlying the model are the reader's psychological set, the mind's pattern-forming tendencies, the span of short-term memory, and the mind's need for…

This study was designed to investigate recall in preschool children, specifically the cuing technique and possible storage-retrieval differences. Forty-eight 4-years-old were divided into two groups. In the blocked presentation condition, items were presented in category sets of three items, with all items from a single category on cards of one…

In psychology, experimental studies are susceptible to the biases of the investigator in problem formulation, operationalization, sample selection, and data interpretation. Thus, what we regard as an objective, value-free approach to science is neither unbiased nor value-free. (GC)

Two groups of five preschool children were trained to press a key for marbles for four sessions of variable ratio reinforcement (VR6). Subsequently, response decrement for the groups was compared during conditions of fixed and variable differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO and VDRO). Fixed DRO was more effective for decreasing response…

Reviews speeches by former APA presidents to follow the historical development of psychology to its present status as an accepted science and profession. Discusses the nature of psychology as a discipline, science, and profession. Considers problems in the field and possible societal benefits from field research. (JS)

When do we accept another's opinion regarding the characteristics or beliefs of a target person, and when do we reject that opinion? Different sorts of information may need to be assimilated by the perceiver. When does one type of information take priority over the other? A central focus of attribution research has been on the informational value…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of being imitated on behaviors of preschool children. Each of 24 subjects was given a choice of three responses in a marble-dropping task and was required to make one choice, after which an experimenter either imitated or did not imitate a subject's behavior. The results indicated that when a…

The author reviews the long-standing debate between pure and applied psychological research in British higher education, especially the contributions of Myers and Bartlett, and suggests several pressing national problems that should challenge British psychologists today. (SJL)

B. F. Skinner's influence on various applications of psychology in education has been greater than J. R. Kantor's, the founder of interbehaviorism. However, the field of education might benefit from a greater input of Kantorian, as opposed to Skinnerian, theory. Policymakers, administrators, and teachers have failed to totally adopt Skinner's…

These symposium papers discuss the instructional use of computers in psychology, with emphasis on computer-produced simulations. The first, by Rich Edwards, briefly outlines LABSIM, a general purpose system of FORTRAN programs which simulate data collection in more than a dozen experimental models in psychology and are designed to train students…

Recent research indicates that introductory psychology college students continue to be the primary source of subjects for psychological research. This extensive use of involuntary subjects in a required service subject pool raises numerous important questions for science and for educational and professional ethics. A general overview of research…

Barlow (1981) lists nine reasons why clinical psychologists do not undertake research and why traditional research does not influence clinicians. These reasons focus on: (1) lack of access to a large subject pool; (2) manpower costs of conducting research; (3) financial costs of conducting research; (4) ethics; (5) research's overreliance on…

Research in the development of prosocial behavior in children is better done by naturalistic than by experimental methods. The choice of what problems to address in social science research depends upon value commitments. The ultimate criterion for evaluating research in the behavioral sciences must be social relevance and utility. The dominant…

This study was designed to test two major hypotheses: (1) Validity of expectation is an increasing monotonic function of development. (2) Invalidity of expectation is more a function of overestimation of hedonistic tendencies than a function of underestimation. A total of 277 middle class children in the first, fourth, and fifth grades were given…

This paper presents a framework for conceptualizing the different ways in which instructions in experimental tasks may be misunderstood. Five possible types of misunderstandings are identified and discussed: (1) misunderstanding of a particular term in the instructions; (2) misinterpretation of a task because the instructions are difficult to…