Collected a number of draw-a-person test drawings,
and labeled them, e.g.:
``suspicious of other people''
``has problems of sexual impotence''
Made sure that the correlations typically believed to exist (e.g. suspiciousness with big eyes) were zero in this set of drawings.
College students who were asked to discover what features of the drawings tended to go with what labels `discovered' the same correlations clinical psychologists tend to believe in.
e.g., 6th graders shown eight instances, one by one, of evidence about whether eating chocolate cake vs carrot cake was associated with getting or not getting a cold.
After each piece of evidence, child was asked: "Do the findings of the scientists show that the kind of cake makes a difference, doesn't make a difference, or can't you tell what the scientists' findings show?"
Conditional probabilities: | |||
---|---|---|---|
P(score/L) | P(score/R) | delta P | |
A | .500 | .500 | 0 |
B | .800 | .800 | 0 |
C | .133 | .133 | 0 |
X | .800 | .500 | .3 |
Y | .800 | .200 | .6 |
Used relatively depressed and nondepressed subjects.
Found illusion of control only among nondepressed
subjects judging control over winning.
Characteristic finish unemp. vict. female high illegit. last of welfare 4+ family school month crime kids head Criterion .65 3.1 1.9 1.5 4.6 1.9 2.8 High sch. .68 1.8 1.9 .83 2.3 1.6 1.7 College .73 1.7 1.6 1.8 1.9 1.4 1.9 Union .67 2.1 1.8 2.0 1.6 1.6 1.7 Choir .68 1.9 2.6 1.5 1.8 1.3 1.5 MSW stud. .60 2.3 2.3 2.3 1.4 1.3 1.7 Case wrkrs. .74 2.0 1.9 1.9 2.0 1.4 2.0
Pct. Pct. Est. Est. Wh. CAS Wh. CAS Often wear preppie clothes 43 25 58 42 Favored Reagan in `84 65 41 72 46 Willing to move far from friends and family for a job promotion 66 50 71 52 Expect to earn >$50,000 in 5 years of degree 70 31 76 41
Pct. Pct. Est. Est. Wh. CAS Wh. CAS Play tennis and/or golf 61 44 59 51 Think most Americans get pretty much what they deserve out of life 62 41 63 44 Would never take a poetry course 61 32 67 39
Pct. Pct. Est. Est. Wh. CAS Wh. CAS Aware how much others' clothing costs 67 39 62 50 Feel that appearance is very important in selecting a spouse (or long-term living partner) 74 57 63 54 Feel that who you know is as important as what you know 59 62 69 50