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This paper, is addressed to social workers in aiming toward better understanding of social work. It, makes it possible for one to overcome much of one's frustration and to marshall one's material so that one can pass it on to professional writers for wide circulation media; and so that one can use it oneself, not only in agency publications, but in one's everyday conversations. Each year social workers help uncounted thousands to cope with their problems, to find their way towards a more comfortable, useful, and satisfying existence. They help communities to reorganize their services so that more and better help can be provided. And yet, when circumstances force them to talk about their work too many of them are defensive, sometimes evasive, reluctant, and often inadequate. If social workers had more of that very quality, faith and confidence in their work, it would help them in every phase of public relations. It would enable them to meet attack or disapproval with information rather than anger or argument. It would help them to endure whatever dislike they cannot now diminish.

It is desired to set confidence limits for the probability of successful operation at least until time x[sub 0] of a series system of k dissimilar components. The components follow exponential failure laws, and data are available on failure times of components of each type. Exact confidence limits for k=2 have previously been given by Lentner and Buehler. The present paper deals with a large-sample approximation to the exact solution for arbitrary k. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three techniques (Johnson-Meyman, Potthoff, and Erlander and Gustavsson) for obtaining confidence regions for the difference between regression surfaces are compared. The techniques axe potentially useful for analyzing data from aptitude-treatment-interaction research (ATI). The three techniques are found to yield substantially different sized confidence regions when applied to the same data, therefore possibly leading to different decisions in an aptitude-treatment-interaction study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on a study that compares the Revised Stanford Binet Form L intelligence quotients and the various intelligence quotients derived from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. This paper reports cross comparisons on 90 white children, divided into three groups with thirty at age levels 6.5, 10 and 14 years, between Stanford-Binet and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children intelligence quotients (IQ). The correlations between the IQ's were high and significant at better than the .01 level of confidence. Brighter subjects in general tested higher on the S-B scale, with the greatest discrepancies between IQ's occurring in the bright normal and superior groups.

The article focuses on a study which discusses the internal versus external attribution of task performance as a function of locus of control, initial confidence, and success-failure outcome. The internal-external control construct (I-E) is conceptualized as a generalized expectancy related to a person's belief concerning the locus of causality for events. The utility of the I-E construct in predicting the direction of blame assignment has been tested directly several times. The notion that internals would attribute blame for either success or failure to internal sources and that externals would tend to blame success or failure to external sources was not empirically validated. Internals tended to attribute responsibility for success to their ability, a stable internal source, while externals tended to attribute responsibility for success to good luck, a variable external source. Under failure, the opposite but non-significant trend was found. Internals tended to be more external in their attribution for failure than were externals.

This article discusses on the description of the various forms of confidence testing as they have been developed and to provide a brief evaluation of the forms. In many studies designed to evaluate confidence testing, only the criterion of increase in reliability coefficient has been used for evaluation. although a reliability criterion is oftentimes the best criterion available, a reliability coefficient alone is of little value in describing the effectiveness of a test. An exercise the reader can perform that is most instructive is to plot the expected scores for using various confidence strategies at different subjective probability levels. A final evaluation of confidence testing must weigh the gain in ability variation against the gain in error variation. The studies of Jacobs, Hansen, and Swineford lead one to conclude that there is a personality factor of "general confidence" operating in the confidence testing procedure which contaminates the results yielding an increase in error variation. Suford and Massengill have claimed that this factor can be eliminated or at least considerably reduced with practice using their SCoRule device although there exists little data to support such claim. The question remaining to be answered is whether this personality effect is greater for one particular procedure or another.

This article present a research on the rapid growth of interest in the "self" and in the role of perception from a "self" point of view. There were attempts to study the nature of the self-concept and its effect upon behavior. Self-perception is defined as the person known to himself particularly the stable, important and typical aspects of himself as he perceives them while perception is defined as the process of attributing meaning and significance to the immediate situation according to the author.

The study described here is one in a series of studies proposed by the author designed to vary systematically factors relevant to changes in self-conceptions. Although experimental studies of this type are hampered by the several difficulties apparent in this report, the valuable manipulative power that the investigator has over his variables allows crucial tests which could not be accomplished by other methods. The need for systematic empirical support or investigation of social psychological theory is recognized by all. This study has attempted to provide that type of support for the Mead-Cooley notions about the self-concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a correlational analysis on personality. The guiding hypothesis was that personality variables cut across social character in such a way that no discernible personality differences exist between inner-and other-directed subjects. The method consisted of administering the I-O scale and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to a sample of 100 undergraduate male business administration students. The results indicate rather poor relationships between personality variables and social character. Of the 25 statistics only one is significantly different from zero at the 5 percent level of confidence. Hence, on the basis of the correlational analysis, a relationship between inner-and other-direction and personality variables as measured by the MMPI is not indicated. The data, in conjunction with the analysis of variance results and inspection of the profiles, lead to the conclusion that in spite of the statistically positive results in one aspect, it cannot be properly deduced that socially significant personality differences between inner-and other-directed subjects exist.

The problem examined in this study was to determine the likely effect on the confidence of combat aircrewmen in their ability to adhere to the Code of Conduct of social and cultural values emphasizing sado-aggression and maso-submission. The subjects were 313 combat aircrewmen undergoing survival training. All subjects were administered a questionnaire to assess confidence in ability to adhere to the Code and Bernberg's Personal Relations Inventory yielding measures of sado-aggression and maso-submission. Subjects most confident of their ability to adhere to the Code and endure the pain, degradation, and torture necessary to do so are less sado-aggressive and maso-submissive than are those least confident. It was concluded that the encouragement of sado-aggressive and maso-submissive values is not likely to affect positively feelings of confidence in ability to conform to the Code. It is recognized, however, that this conclusion is based on indirect evidence, but a small amount of direct evidence supports the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reprints the article 'How I Overcame Fears That Cost Me Ten Thousand Dollars a Year: Auto-biography of a Man Who Developed Self-Confidence,' which appeared in the November 1918 issue of 'The American Magazine.'

The article focuses on the study which aims to determine the self-estimates of college freshmen. Accordingly, the design of the study provided for analysis of differences in levels of differential aspiration, levels of differential discrepancy and the individual responses to specific self-assessment items. To test, subjects were drawn from a pool of over 400 college freshmen who had responded to a Self-Evaluation Scale (SES). The said SES reportedly provided three kinds of self-ratings; first, as the student pictures himself now; second, as he hopes to be two years hence; and third, as he thinks others see him. The result, when interpreted, claimed that significant interest aspiration variation, with counseled students showing the highest mean interest aspiration.

The "jury method," a technique permitting study of two-person persuasive interaction, is used to examine the natural behavior of the persuader. Investigation of the way in which one subject persuades the other suggests that persuasion is a function, not of intelligence, prediscussion conviction, position with respect to the issue, manifest ability, or volubility, but of the expression of confidence during the discussion itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the question of atypical opinion and confidence in relation to social psychology of an individual. This question was raised by the social psychologists F.H. Allport and D.A. Hartman in 1925. They obtained opinions on controversial topics and also the amount of confidence in these opinions. They attribute the extremist's excess of confidence to compensation for a feeling of insecurity in his position. It states that this question is still a special one and the interpretation of Allport and Hartman should be checked by the more sophisticated techniques which are available today. The article informs that for knowing the answers, attitude scales should be selected in which opinion is expressed in the form of a judgment in two categories. When more than two categories are used, unnecessary confusion is introduced by the relation of confidence to the width of the categories, the definition of the category threshold, etc. Confidence in a small subgroup will depend in part on differences between the distribution of opinion in the larger group and in the subgroup. If the subgroup is to the left of the larger 'group, then the leftists in the subgroup will be more confident. If the subgroup is 1.0 the right of the larger group, the rightists will be more confident.

The self concept is a topic of investigation which is of interest from two points of view. Social psychologists are interested in the process through which individuals form and change their beliefs about themselves. Psychotherapists are interested in the relationship between the nature of an individual's beliefs about himself and his adjustment, and in changes in self concepts concomitant with psychotherapy. The present investigation concerns the relationship between interpersonal perception and the process of changing self concepts. The theoretical basis for the study is developed from the theory of social comparison processes proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger. Festinger's theory deals with the formation of subjective evaluations of abilities and is based on the proposition that self-evaluations, as well as changes in self-evaluations, take place in situations where it is possible to compare one's own performance with the performance of others. The present study is an attempt to extend the theory from the area of self-appraisal of abilities to the area of self-appraisal of personality traits.

The article focuses on an analysis of decision-making and how it is related to the learning process, confidence levels, and inherent management behaviors. It states that decision-making has two components: the decision is necessary and the decision is helpful. It comments on the use of a computer-based management game to ensure managers are motivated to be involved and to succeed, and to utilize a more controlled environment. It examines the relationship between managerial activity and management performance.

Three dependent variables, derived from an extended Signal-Detection paradigma, were used in each of 3 experiments: memory performance, confidence-level, and response-bias. Each memory item was first fudged by S and then fictitiously by 2 confederates providing different degrees of agreement and disagreement. As compared to agreement moderate disagreement yielded both better recognition performance and, if S's judgments were false, less confidence. Strong disagreement failed to repeat these findings. Balanced agreement/disagreement raised the level of both performance and confidence relative to a situation without information from the group. In all the experiments correct decisions yielded higher confidence than errors. Festinger's theory of social comparison processes accounts for all results in performance, but for explaining the confidence shifts assumptions on 'internal cues' should also be incorporated. The response-bias was not affected by social treatment differences, thus supporting the view of some Signal-Detection theorists. Proposals towards a general theory of stimulus processing in social context are outlined and some of its consequences are discussed by taking as examples some conformity experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates experimentally the phenomena of trust and the influence of interpersonal trust in small group communication. Elements that are essential to describing the behavior of a trusting person; Basic features of a cooperative interrelationship that are manifested in communication; Hypotheses that can be formulated concerning personal trust in the communication process.

The article determines whether a characteristic of certainty or confidence can be assessed by means of the Thematic Apperception Test. Ninety subjects were asked to indicate their degree of certainty, on a five point scale, for their predictions of uncertain occurrences. More specifically, the subjects predicted, in response to various light combinations, whether a buzzer would follow. There was no basis for predictions of high certainty, inasmuch as the buzzer followed each light combination on fifty percent of the trials in random order. The ten subjects who gave the highest certainty ratings and the ten subjects who gave the lowest certainty ratings were administered the Thematic Apperception Test. Stories were analyzed by means of a Murray need analysis and were also analyzed for language usage and for desirability of outcomes of stories.