Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology : Volume 4 [1 ed.] 9780816662913, 9780816605682

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MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY, VOLUME 4

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MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Volume 4

JOHN P. HILL, EDITOR

THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS • M I N N E A P O L I S

© Copyright 1970 by the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America at the Lund Press, Minneapolis

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-30520 ISBN 0-8166-0568-8

PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN, INDIA, AND PAKISTAN BY THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, LONDON, BOMBAY, AND KARACHI, AND IN CANADA BY THE COPP CLARK PUBLISHING CO. LIMITED, TORONTO

Preface

As AN area of specialization, child psychology cuts a curious swath across the other specialties of psychology. Developmental processes, age, and stage cross-cut those matters of substance and history that define the other specialties. Thus any given program of research in child psychology is almost certainly of particular interest to at least one swarm of colleagues outside child psychology. And a volume like the present one — the fourth in the series based upon symposia sponsored by the Institute of Child Development — should be of interest to many. Often we are asked why we do not organize each year's presentation around a common theme, thereby continuing to encourage diversity hi the series but limiting it within the volume. The answer is a practical one: in any usefully circumscribed area there are not enough investigators whose programs of research are so synchronized that in any given year six might produce the kind of integrative paper we seek. Once again, then, the programmatic research reports of a Minnesota Symposium volume are diverse. Child psychologists share an interest in the phenomena discussed here with colleagues in comparative and physiological psychology, personality and social psychology, and the psychologies of learning and perception. The general view that early experience has crucial effects on subsequent development and behavior occurs in many specific guises in the systems of thought which bear on child psychology. It has been held that early experience might increase the susceptibility or resistance of the organism to stress and, therefore, to those disorders of structure and process called diseases. Ader's program of research with animal subjects shows that the general concept of stress implicit (and sometimes explicit) in such formuv

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY lations is not a useful one. Various stressors do not behave in the same way and there sometimes are wide individual differences in response to the "same" stressful experience. Similarly, no general statement may be made about the effects of a given kind of early experience. The adaptive value of that experience is dependent upon the nature of subsequent stimulation. Early handling, for example, increases susceptibility to lymphoid leukemia but not to a diabetogenic dose of alloxan. Although Ader's topic has to do with disordered states, some familiar issues of developmental theory and longitudinal methodology are dealt with here in an exemplary way. If early experience is to have effects on the organism's later response to stimulation, an adequate developmental research program will have to take into account, empirically or theoretically, the manner in which that early experience is represented in the organism. Put another way, it is the residuals of the early experience and not the early experience itself that enter into the determination of the outcome when the organism later encounters the "stressful" stimulus. In Ader's case, the hypothesis that early experience might leave its mark on the functioning of the adrenocortical system is explored and found wanting. If increased differentiation of concepts is required for the fruitful study of early experience and resistance to stress, it is no less necessary for the investigation of achievement motivation and achievement behavior. Crandall's research demonstrates the utility of distinguishing between intellectual and academic achievement. In the longitudinal study reported here, a number of competence measures, approach behaviors, and motivational variables were assessed separately in the two areas. The childhood and adolescent antecedents of effort expended in the demonstration of academic competence do differ from the antecedents of intellectual effort outside academic settings. High academic effort in young adulthood proved to be associated with dependency, adult-orientation, and alienation from peers at earlier ages. Pronounced intellectual effort, on the other hand, is associated with a relative nonconcern for others' evaluations, nonconforming behavior in childhood and adolescence, and, especially for boys, other indications of minimal receptivity to conventional middle-class socialization influences. Devereux reports on an extensive study of peer-orientation, adult-orientation, and autonomy in preadolescents. A series of descriptions of hypothetical situations was devised, "each representing a dilemma of conduct involving cross pressures between some adult-approved or autonovi

PREFACE mously held standard or value and some pressure to forsake this value stemming from either peers or from adults." Resistance to peer pressure on this Dilemmas Test was associated with intermediate levels of parental practice. Both high punitiveness and high permissiveness apparently strengthens the influence of peers on the preadolescent child. At first, low yielding scores on the Dilemmas Test were interpreted as an indication of autonomy. When it was discovered that scores on the Dilemmas Test were responsive to situational manipulations, this interpretation became questionable and it became possible to categorize subjects on the basis of responsiveness to promised disclosure of scores to adults and peers. Autonomy could then be defined on the basis of absence of shifts in scores in the face of possible disclosures of both kinds. Autonomous children score in middle range of the Dilemmas Test on a pretreatment administration, report considerable peer-group participation, and report moderate to high levels of parental support and moderate levels of discipline and control. Cross-national replications have played a major role in the unfolding of this program of research and are discussed by Devereux. In spite of all of the importance children attach to it and the time they invest in it, play as a topic is remarkably absent from the pages of the professional journals and textbooks of child development. Dolhinow organizes her own observational studies and those of others on the play of free-ranging Old World monkeys and apes. In the playful activity of their young occurs the development and practice of a number of skills — motor, cognitive, and social — important to competence in adult roles. Dolhinow shows that the play of monkeys and apes varies markedly with ecological, biological, and situational factors. Questions about the functions of human play probably cannot be asked or answered in fruitful ways without taking these three contexts into account. The information available suggests that the relations between childhood play and adult competence vary with contextual factors as well. However, so little information exists on human play that it is unlikely that even general issues like this one could be raised with much force were human play the sole content of a paper like this one. Although human play undoubtedly incorporates and reflects a greater capacity for symbolic use of objects, words, and actions, the ramifications of such an assertion await both observational and experimental study. The comparative and evolutionary perspective afforded by Dolhinow's analysis will be helpful to those who take on the work that needs to be done. vii

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY The program of research reported by Pick takes certain problems in space perception as its base. However, two more general questions are raised: Are there qualitative changes hi the development of perception that are of the same order as those which have been identified for cognition? Might the analysis of complex perceptual activities yield an answer to this first question and be useful hi the investigation of other problems as well? Complex perceptual activities are considered as systems definable on the basis of transfer, transitivity, and frames of reference. These systematic properties are illustrated by reference to the work of Pick and his associates on intra-modal perception, inter-modal perception, and perceptual-motor coordination. Regarding a complex perceptual activity in systemic terms provides a context for the analysis of the simpler perceptual processes that compose the complex activity. When quantitative change in one of the simpler processes reaches a given level it may, in combination with the other processes, effect qualitative change. The application of such a systemic analysis to Pick's own research suggests its substantive value for the study of perceptual development and its utility as a strategy for developmental research in general. The learning of lists of word pairs has a long history in psychology as a procedure for studying a variety of problems having to do with learning and information-processing. In Rohwer's research, the technique is used to study the effect of imaginative conceptual activity upon learning. The word pairs typically are presented hi the context of a sentence (elaboration condition) and without context (control condition). The nature of the elaborative context provided does make a difference for the efficiency of learning; what Rohwer calls the "form-class effect" refers to the repeated finding that verb (and preposition) connectives facilitate learning whereas, for example, conjunctions do not. Syntactic, semantic, and task variables are implicated in the effect and Rohwer's careful studies sample each kind of variable. What is known about grammatically acceptable word order, one- versus two-unit verbs, deep versus surface structure, sentence meaningfulness, pacing, and other variables permits the rejection of many possible interpretations of how elaboration works. Present knowledge lays out the criteria against which future interpretations must be judged but a unified and unifying account of elaboration phenomena has not yet emerged. Once again a grant from the research funds of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota has supplemented the grant from the Pubviii

PREFACE lie Health Service (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development HD-01765) which provides the major support for the presentation and publication of these symposia. The Institute of Child Development is grateful for this support as well as for the effort of those talented persons at the University of Minnesota Press who have exercised the major responsibility for transforming presentation into publication. The assistance of those colleagues and students at the Institute who helped to organize the symposium and to prepare it for publication is appreciated. And, finally, it is my privilege to thank the six investigators who came together in May 1969 to present the fourth Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology. Their competence and conscientiousness has made my job easy and ensured that the stimulation they gave the Minnesota audience is reflected in what follows. JOHN P. HILL Minneapolis, Minnesota May 1970

IX

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Table of Contents

The Effects of Early Life Experiences on Developmental Processes and Susceptibility to Disease in Animals BY ROBERT ADER

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The Antecedents and Adult Correlates of Academic and Intellectual Achievement Effort BY VIRGINIA c. CRANDALL AND ESTHER s. BATTLE 36 The Role of Peer-Group Experience in Moral Development BY EDWARD C. DEVEREUX

94

The Development of Motor Skills and Social Relationships among Primates through Play BY PHYLLIS JAY DOLHINOW AND NAOMI BISHOP 141 Systems of Perceptual and Perceptual-Motor Development BY HERBERT L. PICK, JR.

199

Mental Elaboration and Proficient Learning BY WILLIAM D. ROHWER, JR.

220

List of Contributors

261

Index

265

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MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY, VOLUME 4

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R O B E R T ADER

The Effects of Early Life Experiences on Developmental Processes and Susceptibility to Disease in Animals

ONE OF the central issues in psychosomatic research is why, when exposed to the same environmental pathogens, some individuals manifest disease and others do not. Our studies of the effects of early life experiences may be viewed within this context of research in the determinants of individual differences. We are all familiar with "stress" research with human subjects wherein a subject is presented with some operationally defined "stressful" situation during and following which one or more behavioral and physiological responses are measured. Frequently, a subject does not respond to the environmental stimulation in the manner predicted or expected by the experimenter. Several possible hypotheses may be offered to account for such individual variability, not the least of which is to question the basic assumption of the study — that is, to ask whether the individual was "stressed" in the first place. The idea that what is "stressful" for one individual may not be for another is quite reasonable. A subject may not respond to what the experimenter has defined as a stress simply because of the manner in which that individual perceives and interprets the situation. The stimulus conditions must be meaningful to the individual, and what may be meaningful is assumed to be a function of the individual's past history. Past history is defined to include anything and evNOTE: Preparation of this paper and research conducted by the author were supported by United States Public Health Service Grants MH-03655, MH-16,741, and K3-MH-6318 from the National Institute of Mental Health. 3

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY erything that has happened to the individual up to the time at which the observations are made. It includes constitutional factors, prenatal and early life experiences, and the psychosocial environment in which the individual has been and is living. All such factors interact to make the individual what he is by influencing his perceptions of and the meaningfulness of events which occur in the environment. There is no reason not to assume that such an argument would also apply to animals lower than man. In fact, there is considerable evidence indicating that past history will influence responses to a wide variety of environmental events including "stress," even though it is not always possible to predict the direction in which experimentally manipulated animals will differ from controls. For the purpose of the present discussion I shall direct my attention to one aspect of an individual's past history, namely, early life experiences. It is understood that early life experiences are not the only relevant factors determining individual differences, and that the behaving individual represents a complex interaction of genetically and environmentally determined characteristics. Still, it is reasonable to hypothesize that the phenotypic expression of an individual's genetic endowment can be — and is likely to be — most influenced by the environment or the experiences occurring during the time when its growth and development are the most rapid and dramatic. This generalization need not refer only to behavior, but to numerous other biological characteristics as well, such as rate of growth and ultimate size, anatomic and physiologic characteristics, and resistance to disease (Dubos, Savage, & Schaedler, 1966). Moreover, it would appear that the interactions among genes hi ultimately determining the biological limits of certain of the individual's characteristics are no more complex than the number and variations of environmental events that go into making the individual what he is. It is no wonder, then, that the single most common finding in biologic research is variability or individuality. Despite all attempts to achieve uniformity—inbreeding, germ-free environments, constant experimental conditions, and so forth — variability, the fact of scientific life, still remains. A simple example of such variability is illustrated in the data shown in Figure 1. Mice maintained in a pathogen-free state delivered litters which were pooled at birth and then randomly distributed among foster mothers. These procedures were carried out in an attempt to reduce the previously observed variability hi weaning weight, growth rate, and adult size which had been attributed to genetic variables. It was observed, however, that 4

ROBERT ADER

Figure 1. Typical results on the growth of NCS mice that were pooled at birth and randomly assigned to three foster mothers. (Reprinted by permission of the American Academy of Pediatrics from R. Dubos, D. Savage, & R. Schaedler, Biological Freudianism: Lasting effects of early environmental influence, Pediatrics, 1966, 38, 789-800.)

while the growth characteristics within a litter were relatively uniform, there remained a marked difference among litters. Apparently, the individual differences were not due to genetic variables but to the quality or quantity of the milk supplied by the mothers, the nursing behavior of the mothers, or, perhaps, some other aspect of the mother-litter interaction. We can, of course, refer to "biological differences" or "innate variability" as if these were explanatory concepts rather than excuses for our ignorance of the number and complexity of environmental variables potentially capable of contributing to individual differences. Alternatively, we can begin to investigate the role of experiential factors that might contribute to individuality. This is an underlying theme in our research on the effects of early life experiences on subsequent resistance to disease in animal subjects. Studies on the effects of early life experiences have multiplied phenomenally over the past ten years. Measurements have been made of a variety of learning and perceptual processes, social interactions, preferences (ranging from mate selection to classical music), and physiological phenomena (ranging from the simple measurement of organ weights to complex biochemical analyses of different brain areas). For the most part, the independent variables in these studies can be characterized as involving environmental manipulations (e.g., perceptually enriched versus perceptually impoverished environments), manipulation of naturally occurring 5

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY psychobiological processes (e.g., mother-litter interactions), or direct manipulation of the infant organism (e.g., handling, electric shock). Most of our studies fall into the last category and could be described as studies on resistance to "stress." In practice, our studies involve more than a single type of stimulation and the subsequent determination of resistance to a relatively specific pathogenic stimulus because we are concerned about the generalizability of the data and, also, because we are dissatisfied with the general concept of "stress" as being too vague and not readily amenable to analysis in terms of possible mechanisms mediating observed effects. For this reason we chose to study the effects of early life experience on the response to specific pathogens, with the expectation that specific disease processes would be more amenable to a future analysis of the interaction of psychological and physiological factors influencing susceptibility. In this presentation, then, I shall first illustrate some psychosomatic phenomena in animals — that is, the diverse effects of early life experiences on resistance to disease; then discuss preliminary attempts to describe some of the physiological changes in the individual effected by these early life experiences, and, finally, in lieu of any definitive analyses of the psychophysiological mechanisms involved, suggest some principles or directions for future research. The Effects of Early Experience on Susceptibility to Disease Before the initiation of studies involving specific pathogenic stimuli and before the development of biochemical techniques for the analysis of endocrine function, experimenters were limited to the measurement of responses to nonspecific "stress" situations in order to assess the adaptive or survival value of early life experiences. The most frequently cited of these studies were those in which survival to total food and water deprivation was measured. One of the earliest of these studies was conducted by Weininger (1953), who handled (gently stroked for 10 minutes) rats daily for the three weeks following weaning. These and a control group of nonhandled animals were subjected to 60 and then 120 hours of food and water deprivation at 42 and then 51 days of age. Eventually all the nonhandled animals died, whereas all the handled animals survived. Levine and Otis (1958) handled rats for the three-week period both before and immediately after weaning. Using the same amount of deprivation imposed at the same ages as did Weininger, they observed greater survival among the rats handled before weaning than among nonhandled controls, 6

ROBERT ADER but found no difference in survival between controls and animals handled after weaning. Denenberg and Karas (1959) measured survival time to terminal food and water deprivation in rats and mice that were handled during the first or the second 10 days of life, handled during the first 20 days of life, and handled not at all. Rats and mice handled during the first 10 days of life survived longer than controls. Rats handled during the first 20 days also survived somewhat longer than controls, but for the mouse the opposite result was observed. Similar results were obtained in a second study (Denenberg & Karas, 1961), but only among the handled and nonhandled rats that had been subjected to the intervening experience of avoidance conditioning. The opposite result was obtained among groups that received no intervening stimulation. This is interesting in that it demonstrates that adult and early experiences may interact to determine the organism's subsequent response to "stress." In studying susceptibility to specific pathogenic processes, we began with studies of mother-litter interactions; specifically, with the effects of premature weaning. Seitz (1959) had reported a number of behavioral differences in cats between controls and animals that had been separated from their mothers before the natural weaning time. Seitz also described an asthma-like condition which developed in two prematurely weaned cats after they were subjected to a situation designed to produce frustration. In the rat Novakova (1969) has reported a reduction in the rate at which conditioned responses are established in prematurely weaned animals relative to controls weaned at 30 days of age. This difference was attributed to nutritional factors (a lack of fat and NaCl in the diet), since these effects may be attenuated by providing a high fat diet during the period between early weaning at 15 days and the age of 30 days. It was also reported that the inferior conditioning behavior of the prematurely weaned animals was accompanied by a decrease of the total RNA content in the Purkinje cells of the cerebellar cortex detectable at 3 and 26 months of age. In addition, Kraus et al. (1960) have shown that a number of physiological processes, including a decrease in longevity, at least in females, result from premature weaning in the rat. In our own studies (Ader, 1962; Ader, Tatum, & Beels, 1960) rats were subjected to a conflict situation involving approach responses to food and water and the avoidance of electric shock. In these experiments early weaning from the mother at 15 or 17 days relative to weaning at 21 days 7

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY of age resulted in an increased susceptibility to rumenal ulceration. The significant increases in susceptibility were found in three independent populations of animals, but only among the male rats. It was considered possible that the differences in ulcer susceptibility could have been due to some long-lasting nutritional deficit suffered by the prematurely weaned animals rather than to the absence of the mother. Because of the practical difficulties of the experimenter's providing infant rats with the same nutrition that would be supplied by the mother, the possibility that the differences were due to nutritional factors was investigated by allowing a group of animals to remain with their mother until 21 days but preventing them from suckling after 15 days. This was accomplished by cauterizing the nipples of the nursing mothers when the pups were 15 days old. As can be seen in Figure 2, there were no differences among the female groups. The males reared with their mothers until 21 days but prohibited from suckling after 15 days were more resistant to ulceration than the animals permanently separated from their mothers at 15 days and did not differ from the normally weaned controls. In contrast to the findings of Novakova (1969), we obtained no support for the hypothesis that the effect of early separation from the mother on adult susceptibility to rumenal ulcers is due to any nutritional deficit which permanently affects the prematurely weaned animals. As noted above, the difference in susceptibility to rumenal ulcers between prematurely weaned and control animals was observed only in the population of males. Novakova (1969) had used only male rats, but our results are particularly interesting hi view of the sex differences reported by Kraus et al. (1960). We have no data bearing on the hypothesis that

Figure 2. Effects of premature weaning on susceptibility to conflict-induced rumenal ulceration (S = separated from the mother at 15 days, CN = remained with the mother until 21 days but prevented from suckling after 15 days, C = weaned at 21 days).

8

ROBERT ADER the early weaning increased susceptibility by altering the nature of some interaction between sex hormones and the physiological responses induced by the conflict situation. On a behavioral level it could be argued that the increased susceptibility to ulcers resulted from the altered psychophysiological response to the conflict situation after early separation from the mother. The fact that the increase in ulcer susceptibility was observed only in males indicates that premature weaning had different effects in males and females. This difference, in turn, might be due to a difference in the maternal behavior of lactating females toward male and female pups. This possibility was investigated in an experiment (Ader & Grota, unpublished data) hi which female rats reared litters containing all males, all females, or half males and half females. Litter size was constant, and the animals were housed in a dual-chambered apparatus designed to monitor continuously the total time that the lactating female spent with its litter (Grota & Ader, 1969). The analysis revealed no difference in maternal behavior as a function of the sex distribution in the litter. When rats are subjected to a chronic conflict situation, the lesions that develop are confined, almost exclusively, to the rumen of the stomach. Under conditions of physical immobilization, gastric lesions develop in the glandular portion of the stomach. In the latter situation we were unable to demonstrate any difference in susceptibility between prematurely weaned and control groups. Comparing rats weaned at 16 and 30 days, Erdosova, Flandera, Kfecek, and Wiener (1967) did find that early weaning increased susceptibility to gastric erosions in animals immobilized before sexual maturation, but there were no differences in mature animals. Using still another pathogenic stimulus, the transplantable Walker 256 carcinosarcoma, it was found again that early separation from the mother could influence the organism's response. Weaning at 15 days of age did not affect the number of rats that developed tumors or the rate at which tumors developed, but prematurely weaned animals died at a faster rate than animals weaned at the usual time of 21 days (Ader & Friedman, 1965b). One also can observe differences in susceptibility to potentially pathogenic stimulation by separating the mother and litter temporarily rather than permanently (Ader, Beels, & Tatum, 1960). During the first or second 10 days of life lactating rats were taken away from their litters for periods ranging from 30 to 315 minutes each day. As adults the animals were subjected to the same conflict situation as had been used in our studies of 9

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY premature weaning. The animals that had experienced the transient separations from the mother during the first 10 days of life were more resistant to gastric ulceration than both the animals that had experienced the same interruptions from the mother during the second 10 days of life and a control group that experienced no interruptions. In studies such as this it can become difficult to distinguish between an experimental and a control group. Under laboratory conditions it is customary to cage a lactating female in a single cage with its litter. Under natural conditions, however, it is likely that the mother leaves the nest for varying periods of time, and recent data (Grota & Ader, 1969) indicate that under laboratory conditions a lactating female will, in fact, leave the nesting cage for varying periods of time when given the opportunity to do so. The majority of studies of early life experiences and subsequent resistance to "stress" have been of the "experimenter intervention" type — that is, studies in which the experimenter has directly manipulated the infant animals —and the most common forms of such intervention have been handling and electric shock. Handling has consisted of anything from stroking the infant animal (usually rats or mice) for periods of up to 10 minutes to simply removing the pup from the litter, placing it into an individual container, and then returning it to the litter after a short period of time. Handling or electric shocks (rarely both) have been administered throughout or during some part of the three-week period before weaning or immediately after weaning (rarely both). Among the advantages of manipulating infant animals in these ways are the ease with which the animals may be stimulated and the extent to which the duration, frequency, and distribution of stimulation can be varied. The effects of such stimulation on developmental, behavioral, and physiological processes clearly demonstrate the profound influence exerted by early life experiences on the psychophysiological functioning of the adult animal. Based on a review of the behavioral data, Denenberg (1969) has hypothesized that "stimulation before weaning appears to have its greatest effect upon affective-emotional behaviors, whereas stimulation after weaning is more likely to modify cognitive functions" (p. 42). In reviewing the data on physiologic and pathologic processes, it will become apparent that the available data are insufficient as yet to warrant any generalization other than that the adaptive significance of early life experiences depend upon the nature of the "stress" or the potentially pathogenic stimulation superimposed upon the individual. That is not to say that the principles underlying the 10

ROBERT ADER effects of early experiences on physiologic or pathologic processes are necessarily different from those underlying the effects on behavioral processes. For example, the data shown in Figure 3 (Ader, 1965) illustrate the effects of handling and electric shock stimulation administered during the pre-weaning period on subsequent emotional reactivity assessed by a reaction-to-handling procedure. These particular data were chosen because they illustrate (a) that emotional reactivity can be influenced by stimulation during the pre-weaning period, (b) that handling and electric shock stimulation do not necessarily have the same effects (in this instance a reduction in emotionality was observed only in handled groups), and (c) that there is an interaction between early life experiences and the subsequent social environment — for example, conditions of housing (in this instance, differences as a function of early experience were observed only in the individually housed population). In addition to the nature of the dependent measurements, variables such as the conditions of housing can be critical in determining the existence and directionality as well as the interpretation of differences in susceptibility to disease as a function of early life experiences. In a study examining the responses to the transplantable Walker 256 carcinosarcoma (Newton, Bly, & McCrary, 1962), individually caged rats

GROUP Figure 3. Effects of early experiences and differential housing on emotional reactivity as measured by a reaction-to-handling test administered at maturity. 11

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY were handled for 10 minutes each day during the three weeks immediately after weaning. At 45 days these animals and unmanipulated controls were injected with the carcinogen. Neither the incidence nor the size of the tumors differentiated between the handled and control groups, but handled animals did survive longer than controls. Ader and Friedman (1965a) subjected rats to handling or electric shock stimulation for 3 minutes each day during the first, second, or third week of life, or throughout the 21day pre-weaning period. The animals were group housed following weaning and at 45 days were inoculated with a suspension of Walker cells. There were no differences within the experimental groups that received one week of stimulation. Irrespective of age, neither one week of handling nor one week of electric shock stimulation influenced the growth of tumors relative to unmanipulated control animals. Similarly, electric shock experienced during the first three weeks of life did not affect tumor growth. However, as can be seen in Figure 4, tumor growth was retarded significantly in the rats that had been handled throughout the pre-weaning period. A totally different pattern of results emerged from an analysis of the mortality data. Among the handled animals, only the group manipulated during the first week of life differed from controls; these animals showed an increased mortality rate. Among the shocked animals, stimulation during the first week of life resulted in an increase hi mortality rate, as had handling. Unlike handling, electric shock experienced during the third week of life or throughout the pre-weaning period resulted in a decrease in mortality rate. The discrepancy between these results and those ob-

Figure 4. Percentage of animals developing subcutaneous tumors at a time greater than the overall median as a function of the kind and duration of stimulation experienced during the pre-weaning period. (Reprinted by permission of the holder of copyright, Academic Press, Inc., from R. Ader, The influence of psychological factors on disease susceptibility in animals, in M. L. Conalty, ed., The husbandry of laboratory animals, p. 229 [London: Academic Press, 1967].)

12

ROBERT ADER tained by Newton et al. (1962) might be due to the difference in quality or quantity of stimulation used, the age at which it was administered, the conditions under which animals were housed, or some interaction between two or more of these variables. Although different conditions of housing have no apparent effect on the response to the Walker 256 carcinosarcoma (Ader & Friedman, 1964), it would still be possible to observe an interaction between early life experiences and subsequent housing conditions. Actually, it is somewhat misleading to refer to these data as being discrepant or contradictory. The several differences in methodology are likely to have resulted in different alterations in the psychophysiological functioning of the animals, and, although the same pathogen was being used, it was being superimposed upon different organisms. Consequently, it is to be expected that under such circumstances different results could be obtained. Experimentally produced gastric lesions represent a pathologic process which has received considerable attention from physiologists and physiological psychologists, and there are a number of "experimenter intervention" studies involving the effects of early life experiences. Weininger (1956) handled rats for 10 minutes daily for the three weeks following weaning, and when they matured, he subjected the handled animals and unhandled littermates to 48 hours of physical immobilization. Handled animals suffered less hemorrhagic damage to the gastrointestinal system than did the unhandled controls. Winokur, Stern, and Taylor (1959) obtained similar results in a study in which the rats were handled for 5 or 10 minutes each day. They found no difference between the two handled groups, but both handled groups were more resistant to gastric lesions than unhandled controls. Ader (1965) subjected rats to daily handling or electric shock throughout the pre-weaning period, following which the two manipulated groups and a group of unmanipulated controls were equally divided into those housed in groups and those caged individually. Among the group-housed animals, handling reduced incidence of gastric erosions relative to electric shock stimulation, and shocked animals were more susceptible than controls. Although fewer handled animals had erosions than controls, these groups were not significantly different. Among the population housed individually, handled animals were significantly less susceptible to erosions than shocked or control animals; the latter groups did not differ from each other. These data, then, are hi basic agreement with the previous studies despite the differences in the strain and age of animals used; 13

Table 1. Effects of Early Experiences on Immobilization-Induced Gastric Lesions in the Rat

Source

Strain

Weininger (1956) Winokur et al. (1959) Ader (1965)

Wistar Sprague-Dawley Heterogeneous

Ader (unpublished) McMichael (1966)

Charles River (CD) Sprague-Dawley

' Mean number of bleeding points per animal.

Age in Days during Stimulation

Animals per Cage

Hours of Restraint

21^1 23-43 1-21 1-21 1-10 & 21-30 1-22

1 15 5-6 1 1 2

48 48 18 18 18 57-65

Percentage of Animals with Gastric Lesions Control Handled Shocked 3.38a 67.0 80.8 80.0 27.5 55.5

.56s 22.5 66.7 42.8 0.0 33.3

100.0 81.2 25.0 22.2

ROBERT ADER the type, duration, and age of handling; and the type and duration of immobilization (see Table 1). McMichael (1966) also restrained rats that had been handled, shocked, or unmanipulated during the pre-weaning period, but found no differences in the incidence of ulcers and/or bleeding points in the stomach. The difference between these and previous results could relate to the pre-immobilization treatment of the animals (stimulation associated with deprivation and water diuresis tests) and the duration of restraint (57-65 hours). Going back even further in experiential history, Ader and Plaut (1968) handled pregnant rats throughout the period of gestation and determined the incidence of gastric erosions induced by immobilization of the offspring. At parturition the offspring of handled and unhandled females were fostered to unhandled females in order to obviate postnatal maternal influences. In one experiment the animals were group housed after weaning and then individually housed before behavioral testing and thereafter. The female offspring of handled animals were more susceptible to erosions than control animals, but there were no differences between the males of these groups. In a second experiment half the prenatally handled and unhandled animals were group housed and half were caged individually after weaning. The group-housed population was moved to individual cages for the behavioral testing, but -was returned to the original group housing after testing. In this experiment there were no differences in susceptibility to lesions among the group-housed animals. Among the individually housed animals, however, both the male and female offspring of animals handled throughout pregnancy were more susceptible to gastric erosions than were controls. In studies such as the above, the technique of immobilization and the measurement of gastric lesions (or the imposition of food and water deprivation and the measurement of mortality, or subjecting animals to electric shock and measuring adrenocortical response) are frequently used simply to reflect differences in resistance to "stress." Clearly, this is an appropriate procedure in view of the simplicity of the immobilization technique, the parametric data that are available regarding immobilization, the ease and reliability of measuring erosions, and the demonstrated sensitivity of lesion susceptibility to variations in experiential history. However, frequently one encounters the implicit assumption that immobilization (or any one of these procedures) is representative of "stressful" situations and that the incidence or severity of gastrointestinal lesions defines resistance 15

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY to "stress." These are oversimplified assumptions that have led to minor problems hi interpreting data such as the depreciation of differences hi lesion susceptibility unless there are "consistent" differences hi behavior or hi other physiological responses as well. Such assumptions can also lead to more serious theoretical difficulties when one finds that animals which differ hi one direction to a given set of stimulus conditions (e.g., conditioning, testing for emotional reactivity, etc.) may differ hi the opposite direction in response to immobilization or to some other set of stimulus conditions. Neither immobilization nor any other potentially pathogenic stimulus can be considered representative of the abstraction labeled "stress." In contrast to the results on experimentally induced gastric lesions and on certain other pathogenic processes, there are instances where early life experiences do not influence susceptibility. For example, the spontaneous development of leukemia in AKR mice was unaffected by handling or electric shock stimulation experienced during the first 21 days of life or for a three-week period immediately following weaning (Friedman, Glasgow, & Ader, 1969). Similarly, we were unable to differentiate between handled, shocked, and unmanipulated control rats in response to a diabetogenic dose of alloxan. Bevan, Grodsky, and Bostelman (1956) found no differences hi susceptibility to audiogenic seizures between control animals and those handled following weaning. However, in this experiment the nonhandled animals were housed individually whereas the handled animals were caged hi groups, and, as we have seen, the interaction between early experiences and conditions of housing may be critical in determining the response to superimposed stimulation. Griffiths and Stringer (1952) also failed to distinguish between the susceptibility to audiogenic seizures of rats subjected to a variety of noxious stimuli and animals that were similarly treated but not exposed to the "stressful" stimuli. In this instance the animals were stimulated before weaning, but it is difficult to know whether the groups represented a comparison of two different kinds or intensities of stimulation or a comparison of a stimulated and nonstimulated (control) group. It is also possible to observe an increase hi susceptibility to pathogenic stimuli hi manipulated as compared with unmanipulated animals. Levine and Cohen (1959) handled DBA/2 mice during the first 24 days of life. In a series of three experiments the lymphoid leukemia L-1210 subsequently was transplanted into the handled animals and an unmanipulated 16

ROBERT ADER control group. In each experiment the handled mice showed a significantly shorter survival time than did the controls. It has also been reported (Levine, 1962) that, in response to electroconvulsive shock, a higher percentage of tonic-clonic seizures is shown by rats who had been stimulated during infancy than by unmanipulated controls. Another possible outcome of such studies on different early life experiences and susceptibility to pathogenic stimuli was observed in mice inoculated with encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus (Friedman et al., 1969). Animals remained unmanipulated or were subjected to handling or electric shock stimulation twice daily during the first 21 days of life or between 42 and 63 days of age. Immediately after the last period of manipulation the groups were inoculated intraperitoneally with EMC virus (2 X 103 PFU). The results of this experiment are shown in Figure 5. There were no differences between the unmanipulated control animals and those stimulated during the pre-weaning period. Attempts to reduce the overall mor-

Figure 5. The effects of handling and electric shock stimulation experienced preand post-weaning on mortality to encephalomyocarditis virus in mice (H = handled; S = shocked; C = controls). (Reprinted by permission of the holder of copyright, the New York Academy of Sciences, from S. B. Friedman, L. A. Glasgow, & R. Ader, Psychosocial factors modifying host resistance to experimental infections, in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1969.) 17

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY tality by diluting the inoculum also failed to uncover significant differences between control animals and groups that were handled or shocked on days 1-21. The data for the groups manipulated between days 42 and 63 represent a combination of four independent populations of animals. There were no differences among the females, but in each population of males the mice previously subjected to electric shock were somewhat more resistant to the virus than the handled or control animals. The consistency of this difference in the percentage of males that died did yield statistically significant results. In contrast to the above studies we found here an instance where stimulation during infancy did not influence subsequent disease susceptibility, whereas the same stimulation superimposed upon a more mature animal did effect differences. Moreover, in this instance an increase in resistance to the pathogen resulted from electric shock stimulation but not from handling. In reviewing the data with respect to the effects of early life experiences on susceptibility to potentially pathogenic stimuli, the following conclusions seem appropriate. First, it is apparent that early life experiences (at least those chosen for study) do not influence the individual's response to all pathogens. Premature weaning, for example, influences the subsequent response to a conflict situation evocative of rumenal ulcers and also influences mortality to a transplanted tumor, but early separation from the mother has no effect upon immobilization-induced gastric erosions. Similarly, handling infant rats and mice influences their subsequent resistance to a transplanted tumor and a transplanted murine leukemia, electroconvulsive shock, and immobilization-induced gastric erosions, but has no effect on susceptibility to alloxan diabetes, a viral disease, or the spontaneous development of leukemia in a genetically predisposed strain of animals. Second, the differential effects of early life experiences on susceptibility to disease are not always in the same direction. For example, handling administered throughout the pre-weaning period increases resistance to gastric erosions and retards the growth rate of a transplanted tumor, whereas this same stimulation decreases subsequent resistance to a transplanted leukemia and to electroconvulsive shock. Third, animals with different experiential histories may respond differently to the same environmental or potentially pathogenic stimulation; that is, the effects of different types of stimulation experienced during early 18

ROBERT ADER life are not necessarily equivalent. Frequently, the behavior of handled, shocked, and control animals differs depending upon other independent variables in the study as well as upon the dependent measurements involved. Likewise, handled animals are more resistant to gastric erosions than either shocked or unmanipulated animals which do not differ. The same result is obtained when the growth of a transplanted tumor is measured. Mortality rate to the same transplanted tumor is retarded in handled and shocked animals relative to controls if the stimulation is experienced during the first ten days of life, but stimulation throughout the pre-weaning period retards mortality rate only in the shocked animals. Finally, though the data are meager, there does not appear to be any general "critical period" for the effects of early life experiences on subsequent resistance to organic disease. In order to demonstrate that a particular kind of stimulation experienced "early" in life is critical in determining subsequent behavior or resistance to disease, it must be shown that the same stimulation occurring at some later time does not have equivalent effects. The several studies of the effects of handling infant animals on adult susceptibility to gastric erosions, for example (Table 1), indicate that handling increases resistance to erosions whether the handling is experienced pre- or post-weaning. In contrast, resistance to conflict-induced gastric ulceration is increased if animals maintained in the laboratory experienced transient separations from the mother during their first ten days of life; the same experience imposed during the second ten days of life had no effect. Considering the rapid growth and development which is characteristic of the first three weeks of life in the rat, it can be argued that although the number, duration, and distribution of separations from the mother were the same during the first as during the second ten days of life, these manipulations of the mother-young relationship were being superimposed upon different organisms. Such an argument does not depreciate the fact that during the first ten days of life the rat may be particularly sensitive to the nature of the relationships between the mother and litter. It does, however, point up the logical possibility that some other appropriate manipulation (appropriate being defined in terms of its meaningfulness to the organism) during the second ten days of life or later might also exert an influence on the organism's subsequent response to "stressful" stimulation. This point is illustrated further in the data on the effects of handling and electric shock stimulation on susceptibility to EMC virus. In this instance stimulation during the pre-weaning period had no 19

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY effect, whereas electric shock (but not handling) experienced during a period after weaning increased resistance to the pathogen. We do not know all the psychophysiologic changes produced by handling or electric shock stimulation in animals of different ages, nor are we aware of all the physiologic mechanisms mediating susceptibility to viral disease. Nevertheless, it can be postulated that of the manipulations used, only electric shock stimulation administered to mice after weaning resulted in a complex of psychophysiologic changes capable of modifying the responses unconditionally elicited by the pathogen to influence the organism's adaptation to the disease. The Effects of Early Experience on Physiological Reactivity The data reviewed in the previous section provide ample evidence that experiences which occur early in life are capable of influencing the organism's subsequent response to potentially pathogenic stimuli. Differences in susceptibility to disease are, presumably, due to differences in psychophysiological reactivity to the prevailing pathogens. These, in turn, are due, at least in part, to differences in past history. We are then led to ask how early life experiences are translated into altered psychophysiological states, and how these altered psychophysiological states interact with the responses that are unconditionally elicited by the action of specific pathogens to result in manifest disease. One approach to this complex process of interactions is to begin by asking what physiological changes are effected by certain types of early life experiences. Studies of adrenocortical function have been a popular choice in initiating such investigations. Some of the reasons for this emphasis are the demonstrated and assumed relations between adrenocortical activity and certain aspects of overt behavior, the central role of the adrenal gland in integrated endocrine function, the observation that an adrenal response appears to be a common denominator in the organism's response to virtually all environmental stimulation, and the relatively recent development of biochemical techniques for the direct measurement of adrenal steroids. In an effort to determine if infant animals adapt to handling and electric shock stimulation administered early hi life, Ader, Friedman, Grota, and Schaefer (1968) measured the plasma corticosterone response to handling and electric shock in unmanipulated rats and in those previously subjected to these same stimuli during the first week or during the first two 20

ROBERT ADER or three weeks of life. The major findings (Fig. 6) were obtained from the groups sampled at 21 days of age. Although three weeks of handling or electric shock stimulation (administered twice daily) did not eliminate the adrenocortical response to these stimuli, there was an attenuation of the plasma corticosterone elevation relative to that elicited in previously unmanipulated animals. After three weeks of handling, the resting (or nonstimulation) corticosterone level in handled annuals was significantly lower than that in controls. Moreover, the corticosterone response to a further period of handling stimulation was significantly less for the previously handled animals than for the unmanipulated control animals at each sample time following the stimulation. The resting corticosterone level of the rats that had experienced daily electric shock stimulation did not differ from that of the controls. Previously shocked animals showed an initial attenuation of the adrenocortical response to a further period of electric shock stimulation, but the maximum corticosterone elevation to electric shock in previously shocked and unmanipulated control animals did not differ. As can be seen in Figure 6, unmanipulated control annuals showed different temporal patterns in their adrenocortical response to handling and electric shock stimulation.

Figure 6. Plasma corticosterone response to handling and electric shock stimulation at 21 days of age in previously handled, shocked, and unmanipulated control animals. (Reprinted by permission of the Pergamon Publishing Company from R. Ader, S. B. Friedman, L. J. Grota, & A. Schaefer, Attenuation of the plasma corticosterone response to handling and electric shock stimulation in the infant rat, Physiology and Behavior, 1968, 3, 327-331.) 21

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Although the temporal pattern remained unchanged as a function of prior experience with these stimuli, there was a significant attenuation of the response to handling in previously handled animals whereas previous experience with electric shock produced only a partial attenuation of adrenocortical reactivity. As far as the handled animals are concerned, the above experiment represents a close approximation to the procedures and results described by Denenberg and Haltmeyer (1967) and Levine (1967). Despite differences in the strain of animals used, the kind of handling, and the kind and duration of the test stimulation, all these data showed lower resting corticosterone levels and reduced adrenocortical reactivity in handled relative to unmanipulated control animals when they are tested at 21 days of age. Data on the physiological reactivity of rats that had been subjected to electric shock stimulation during the pre-weaning period are sparse, but the results obtained by Ader et al. (1968) indicate that such animals are not equivalent to animals subjected to handling in terms of their adaptation to the daily stimulation experienced during infancy. Whether this is a function of qualitative or quantitative (or both) differences between these stimuli, or, more precisely, the psychophysiological responses induced by these stimuli, is not known at this time. Do the differences in physiological reactivity between handled and unhandled animals and between handled and shocked animals persist into adulthood? Levine, Haltmeyer, Karas, and Denenberg (1967) found that rats handled during the pre-weaning period showed a lesser plasma corticosterone response than unhandled controls in response to the stimulation provided by testing for emotionality in an open field. Similar results were obtained by Ader (1968) in an experiment in which the animals were tested for emotional reactivity but were not removed from their cages, and in a study by Ader and Grota (1969) in which the animals were simply removed from their cages, placed into a different cage for a period of 5 seconds or 3 minutes, and then returned to their home cages. These latter studies included groups of animals that were subjected to electric shock stimulation as well as groups that were handled and those that remained undisturbed. The temporal pattern of the adrenocortical response to these novel and apparently innocuous stimuli is shown in Figure 7. The data from both studies have been combined because the results were the same, the absolute steroid values were comparable, and the duration of stimulation did not exert any differential effects on the adrenocortical responses 22

ROBERT ADER

Figure 7. Temporal course of the adult plasma corticosterone response to novel stimulation in rats that were stimulated (handled or shocked) or unmanipulated during the pre-weaning period.

of the groups. The handled and shocked groups have been combined into a single "stimulated" group because in both studies the handled and shocked animals showed a lesser adrenocortical response to the testing procedures as compared with unmanipulated control animals, but the handled and shocked groups did not differ from each other — despite the finding that there were differences in emotional reactivity between these differentially manipulated groups (Ader, 1968). It would appear, therefore, that the attenuated adrenocortical response observed in handled animals at weaning does persist into adulthood. However, the consistent finding of reduced adrenocortical reactivity in handled relative to control animals must be evaluated in terms of the environmental situation used to stimulate an adrenocortical response and to assess adrenocortical reactivity. In all of the above studies a seemingly innocuous stimulus situation was used. Under other circumstances other results are observed. Levine (1962) found that rats subjected to daily handling throughout the pre-weaning period showed a more rapid and sustained steroid response than unmanipulated control animals when subjected to electric shock stimulation at maturity. These data and the findings that handling results in a lesser steroid response to relatively mild stimulation prompted the hypothesis (Levine & Mullins, 1966) that handling endows 23

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY the animal with the capacity to respond more appropriately to its environment (and more appropriately to stress) than do animals that receive little or no extra stimulation during the course of development. It is predicted, therefore, that handled animals would show greater physiological reactivity (and a more rapid return to a base-line state) in response to distinctly noxious or stressful stimuli but would respond to relatively innocuous stimulation with a lesser reactivity than unmanipulated control animals. As we have seen, it has consistently been reported that handled animals are, in fact, less responsive to apparently innocuous stimulation. The results are not nearly so consistent when the adrenocortical response to more intense stimulation is measured. Denenberg and Haltmeyer (1967) handled animals for varying periods of time or throughout the pre-weaning period. At 21 days the rats were placed into a shock box, and half the handled and half the unmanipulated animals were subjected to electric shock while the remainder remained unstimulated. Of the groups that were simply placed into the novel environment, there was a linear decrease in plasma corticosterone levels as a function of the number of days of handling. However, hi contrast to the results reported by Levine (1962), there were no differences in corticosterone levels between the handled and unhandled groups that were subjected to electric shock. The authors assumed that the intensity of the electric shock acted to mask the effects of the earlier experiences. Methodological parameters aside for the moment, it is also relevant that these results were obtained from 21-day-old animals whereas Levine's data were based on mature animals. In a study reported by Levine and Mullins (1966) groups of handled and nonhandled rats were subjected to electric shock stimulation at 3-day intervals throughout the pre-weaning period. Handled animals showed a significant increase in plasma corticosterone concentration at 3 days of age, whereas unhandled animals did not show a significant elevation in steroid levels in response to electric shock until 9 days of age. From 9 days on the pattern of results is inconsistent. At 9 days there was no elevation in steroid levels in handled animals. At 15 days of age the handled group again showed a significant increase in corticosterone level, but the control animals showed a minimal response. At 18 days both groups reacted with equivalent elevation in steroid Levels, and at 21 days the magnitude of the adrenocortical response in handled animals was less than that hi controls. Using adult animals Haltmeyer, Denenberg, and Zarrow (1967) did 24

ROBERT ADER find that the initial adrenocortical reactivity to electric shock stimulation was greater in handled than in unhandled rats. Having found (in immature animals) that there was no difference between the reactivity of handled and unhandled animals in response to 0.8 ma. of electric shock (Denenberg & Haltmeyer, 1967), the animals hi this study were subjected to 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8 ma. of shock. The intensity of stimulation did not differentially influence the adrenocortical response of handled and unhandled animals, and, again, it was suggested that all these shock levels were too intense to allow for such a differentiation. In the study by Ader and Grota (1969) no electric shock was used. In an attempt to vary the magnitude of stimulation the manipulated and unmanipulated animals were simply placed into a novel cage for 5 seconds or for 3 minutes before being returned to their home cages to await subsequent sampling (another methodological variable of potential significance). The temporal course of the steroid response to these two durations of stimulation had previously been demonstrated to be different (Ader & Friedman, 1968). As noted above, however, the animals manipulated (handled or shocked) before weaning were significantly less reactive than controls irrespective of the magnitude of stimulation. In a more recent study (Ader, unpublished data), magnitude of stimulation was varied by placing adult rats into a novel cage for a period of 60 seconds during which they received 0, 1, 4, or 12 2-second electric shocks, following which they were returned to their individual home cages. The temporal course of the adrenocortical response over 60 minutes was measured hi animals that had been handled daily throughout the pre-weaning period, during the three weeks immediately after weaning, or not at all. As in our previous studies (Ader, 1968; Ader & Grota, 1969), animals that had been handled during the pre-weaning period were less reactive than controls (reactivity having been measured by the absolute magnitude of the adrenocortical response or the rate at which corticosterone concentrations returned to resting levels). Interestingly, animals that had been handled during the immediate post-weaning period were also less reactive than controls and showed a temporal pattern similar to that of the animals handled before weaning. There were no significant differences among the groups as a function of the magnitude of stimulation, that is, the number of shocks received. I mentioned that observations on adrenocortical reactivity as a function of early life experiences must be evaluated hi terms of the environmental situation used to stimulate an adrenocortical response and to assess reac25

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY tivity. This is undoubtedly the case for other physiological systems as well. As far as the current emphasis on the pituitary-adrenal axis is concerned, the data reviewed above as well as other observations on infant and adult rats (Ader & Friedman, 1968; Ader, Friedman, & Grota, 1967; Zarrow, Denenberg, Haltmeyer, & Brumaghin, 1967; Zarrow, Haltmeyer, Denenberg, & Thatcher, 1966) demonstrate that the adrenocortical response to environmental stimulation is determined by an interaction between the kind of stimulus used, the duration or intensity of stimulation, the time following stimulation when corticosterone levels are sampled, and the point in the 24-hour adrenocortical rhythm upon which the stimulation is superimposed. Clearly, then, studies of the physiological pathways which mediate the observed differences resulting from early life experiences become extremely complex to execute and to interpret. Many of these difficulties may be circumvented by studying naturally developing biologic processes. That is, by studying a naturally occurring biologic process one can obviate the need for a series of essentially arbitrary decisions. Therefore, instead of measuring the adrenocortical response to environmental stimulation or a stressful event, our approach began with a study of the development of the 24-hour rhythm in adrenocortical activity as a function of early life experiences. Biologic rhythms, including, particularly, circadian rhythms, are generally thought to be endogenous and merely synchronized by environmental cues. Perhaps it is the assumption of and the concentration on the inherent nature of rhythmicity that has resulted hi the relative neglect of a developmental approach, despite the fact that circadian rhythms are not necessarily present at birth. Presumably, they depend upon the functional maturation of central nervous system areas which are presently unknown. It seems reasonable to assume, therefore, that a developmental approach might provide some hints about where one might look for controlling mechanisms. Adult animals maintained under a 24-hour day with 12 hours of light alternating with 12 hours of darkness display a precise 24-hour rhythm in adrenocortical activity. In the rat, plasma corticosterone levels are at their maximum approximately 2 hours before the beginning of the 12-hour period of darkness and are at their nadir approximately 2 hours before the onset of light (Ader et al., 1967; Critchlow, Liebelt, Bar-Sela, Mountcastle, & Lipscomb, 1963; Guillemin, Dear, & Liebelt, 1959; Saba, Saba, Carnicelli, & Marescotti, 1963). The adrenocortical rhythm is not present 26

Figure 8. Development of the 24-hour adrenocortical rhythm in handled, shocked, and unmanipulated control rats reared under a 12-hour light-dark cycle (light bars = crest values, hatched bars = trough values; vertical lines = standard error of the mean). (Reprinted by permission from R. Ader, Early experiences accelerate maturation of the 24-hour adrenocortical rhythm, Science, 1969, 163, 1225-1226. Copyright 1969 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.)

27

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY at birth. In the rat the rhythm is first observed when the pups are between 21 and 25 days old (Ader, 1969). If, however, infant rats are subjected to daily handling or, particularly, electric shock stimulation beginning on the first postnatal day of life, development of the 24-hour rhythm in adrenocortical activity is markedly accelerated. Figure 8 contains the results of this study (Ader, 1969), in which rats were handled or shocked daily up to but not including the day on which they were sacrificed. In this population unmanipulated control animals did not show a difference between steroid concentrations sampled 2 hours before darkness and 2 hours before light until 25 days of age. The extent to which maturation of the adrenocortical rhythm was accelerated by handling is somewhat conjectural, since there was a difference between crest and trough values at 20 days but there was no difference at 22 days. Animals that had been subjected to daily electric shock stimulation showed a daily rhythm hi steroid levels as early as 16 days of age. Despite the consistency hi the data indicating accelerated maturation in the annuals that had been subjected to electric shock stimulation, the experiment was repeated to verify the results and to control for the oversight of having stimulated these animals at the same tune each day, a possible tune cue for the developing infants. In this subsequent study pups were subjected to electric shock stimulation at a different time each day. The results (Table 2) indicated, again, that electric shock accelerated the maturation of the 24-hour, light-synchronized rhythm in adrenocortical activity. Although the relevant chain of events cannot yet be specified, such results indicate that early life experiences are capable of influencing the development of neuroendocrine control mechanisms. Similarly, the functional significance of accelerated maturation, in this instance accelerated maturation of the 24-hour adrenocortical rhythm, remains to be deterTable 2. Effects of Daily Electric Shock Stimulation on Maturation of the 24-Hour Adrenocortical Rhythm (Mean ± Standard Error) Age in Days 14 16 18 21

Sampled 2 Hr. before Darkness 6.7 •+- 0.79 7.4 -t- 0.45 8.1 -+- 1.07 9.3-+- 1.11

28

Sampled 2 Hr. before Light 5.7 5.4 6.4 4.5

H- 0.56 •+• 0.65 H- 0.54 •+• 0.22

ROBERT ADER mined. Electric shock stimulation accelerates the maturation of the adrenocortical rhythm and appears to be a more effective stimulus for accelerating this maturation than is handling. On the other hand, we have observed that animals subjected to electric shock during infancy do not adapt to this form of stimulation to the same extent or at the same rate as handled animals are capable of adapting to handling. Both these observations may reflect only the difference in the intensity of these two kinds of stimulation. In any case, these results, like those describing the effects of differential early experiences on behavior and on susceptibility to pathogenic stimuli, indicate that handling and electric shock stimulation are qualitatively and/or quantitatively different in terms of the responses induced in the animal or the manner in which they alter the psychophysiological functioning of the organism. In contrast to these developmental differences, the adrenocortical reactivity of handled and shocked animals does not differ at maturity; both kinds of stimulation generally result in an attenuation of the adrenocortical response to environmental stimulation as compared with that response in animals undisturbed during early life. Moreover, as far as handling is concerned, there is a reduction in adult adrenocortical reactivity whether the animals are handled before or after weaning, yet, again, there are behavioral differences between rats subjected to handling and those subjected to electric shock, and there are behavioral differences between rats that are handled before and after weaning. Here, too, we are faced with the problem of determining the adaptive significance of a reduction in adrenocortical reactivity. Taken together, then, the available data provide little support for any hypothesis emphasizing the role of the adrenocortical system in the mediation of early experience effects. On the contrary, the available data seem to underscore the futility of seeking any single physiological system or unitary conceptualization to account for the diverse effects of differential early life experiences. Discussion The generalization that early life experiences are capable of influencing subsequent resistance to "stress" is an appropriate one. Still, there is no simple answer to the question, What is the effect of early experience on resistance to stress? Based on the data reviewed above, the response to such a question would have to be, What kind of early experience and what kind of stress (and, of course, in what species)? The data clearly indicate 29

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY that early life experiences do not influence the response to all stressors, that the effects, when observed, are not always in the same direction, and that animals with different experiential histories may respond differently to the same environmental stimulation. Therefore, our working assumptions have been that different kinds of early experiences, for example, may be qualitatively as well as quantitatively different with respect to the changes induced in the individual and, secondly, that there are qualitative as well as quantitative differences in the responses that are unconditionally elicited by the potentially pathogenic stimulation ("stress") to which the animals may be subsequently exposed. The implication of these assumptions is that whether or not there will be a difference hi differentially manipulated animals' susceptibility to potentially pathogenic stimuli will depend upon the interaction between the psychophysiological changes induced by the prior experience and the responses unconditionally elicited by the pathogen. A high level of predictability will therefore depend upon knowledge of the relevant aspects of both of these effects. Another implication of these assumptions is that no value judgments can be associated with any particular kind of experience. The effects of early handling or electric shock stimulation, of premature weaning, or any other kind of environmental stimulation are neither uniformly beneficial nor detrimental to the organism. Such experiences merely result in changes, in altered psychophysiological states, the adaptive value of which depends upon the stimuli to which these individuals are subsequently exposed. These assumptions also constitute a rejection of the concept of "stress." To label stimulus situations as "stressful" — that is, to refer to handling or electric shock as "stress" applied to infant animals — or to refer to responses to electric shock, avoidance conditioning, immobilization, conflict, and so forth as responses to "stress" appears to contribute little to an analysis of the mechanisms that may be involved in determining the responses. Actually, this generalization may even impede progress in this area by its implicit assumption of an equivalence of stimuli which fosters the search for simple, one-cause explanations. There is ample justification for studying the effects of early life experiences on the development and subsequent reactivity of the pituitary-adrenal system. However, as a general, nonspecific, physiological response to environmental stimulation, the adrenocortical system does not appear to be a likely mediator of the differences in behavior and susceptibility to pathogenic stimuli which char30

ROBERT ADER acterizes animals with different experiential histories. On the contrary, differences in adrenocortical reactivity would seem to be independent effects of differences in early life experiences. If we are to understand all the ramifications of manipulating early life experiences, it will be necessary to gather a considerable body of data based on a variety of experimental manipulations. It is not sufficient — and, perhaps, it is grossly misleading — to derive a theory regarding the effects of early experience primarily from the effects of handling infant animals. Similarly, the effects of different manipulations of experiential history must be evaluated in relation to a wide variety of test situations, not only to provide evidence for the generality of the effects of early experience but also to take advantage of differences that do occur in response to different test situations which may lead to additional hypotheses about mediating mechanisms. These suggestions in no way depreciate the systematic analysis of the effects of any given kind of early experience on any given physiologic system. Considerably more data of this kind is needed. Mason's (1968) overall hormonal balance approach to an analysis of the organism's psychophysiologic adaptation to the environment is a good example here; the emphasis on the intimate interactions that exist within a highly integrated neuroendocrine system will, we hope, stimulate even more sophisticated research in the area of early experience. The extent to which the psychophysiological changes resulting from early experiences are due to the direct action of hormones on the developing central nervous system (as proposed by Levine & Mullins, 1966) and the extent to which they may be the result of the conditioning of visceral and glandular responses (a possibility that suggests itself on the basis of the recent studies of Miller, DiCara, and their associates [Miller, 1969]) also provide exciting avenues for future research. Finally, I suppose I cannot close a paper such as this hi a volume such as this without commenting on the relevance of these animal studies to human development and to research on man's susceptibility to disease. I am not concerned with the direct generalization of these data to man. It is of little concern to me whether handling an infant rat, for example, is at all comparable with any kinds of stimulation to which human infants may be exposed, nor am I concerned that the disease processes studied in animals may not be exactly the same as those in man—or, for that matter, that the disease processes even exist in man. What I am concerned with are the principles to be derived from such research. All animals (including 31

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY man) are exposed to potentially pathogenic stimuli almost all the time, and an increasing number of researchers are coming to accept the experimentally neglected proposition that past history (genie, prenatal, early experiential, and current psychosocial factors) do exert an influence on the individual's response to latent pathogens (Dubos, 1959;Engel, 1962; Simon, 1960). Our concern with the effects of early life experiences on subsequent susceptibility to disease is a concern with the irreversible psychophysiological changes hi the organism which may be effected by events which occur during a period of rapid growth and development, and with how such changes could interact with the changes induced hi the organism by the superimposition of potentially pathogenic stimulation to result in manifest disease. It is the principle of the interaction among these events in animal subjects, which constitutes an analogy to the interaction likely to occur hi man, that is of primary concern. Jaynes (1969) has urged that the comparative psychologist distinguish between generalization and analogy in relating his animal studies to human conditions. The clinician and researcher working with humans also might well make this distinction when interpreting data derived from animals. Doing so will facilitate the recognition of relevant variables and the formulation of hypotheses that are consistent with an evolutionary perspective. References Ader, R. Social factors affecting emotionality and resistance to disease in animals: III. Early weaning and susceptibility to gastric ulcers. A control for nutritional factors. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1962, 55, 600602. . Effects of early experience and differential housing on behavior and susceptibility to gastric erosions in the rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1965, 60, 233-238. -. The influence of psychological factors on disease susceptibility in animals, in M. L. Conalty, ed., The husbandry of laboratory animals, pp. 219-236. London: Academic Press, 1967. -. Effects of early experiences on emotional and physiological reactivity in the rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1968, 66, 264-268. -. Early experiences accelerate maturation of the 24-hour adrenocortical rhythm. Science, 1969, 163, 1225-1226. -, C. C. Beels, & R, Tatum. Social factors affecting emotionality and resistance to disease in animals: II. Susceptibility to gastric ulceration as a function of interruptions in social interactions and the time at which they occur. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1960, 53,455-458. Ader, R., & S. B. Friedman. Social factors affecting emotionality and resistance to disease in animals: IV. Differential housing, emotionality, and Walker 256 carcinosarcoma in the rat. Psychological Reports, 1964, 15, 535-541. . Differential early experiences and susceptibility to transplanted tumor in the rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1965, 59, 361-364. (a) 32

ROBERT ADER . Social factors affecting emotionality and resistance to disease in animals: V. Early separation from the mother and response to a transplanted tumor in the rat. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1965, 27, 119-122. (b) . Plasma corticosterone response to environmental stimulation: Effects of duration of stimulation and the 24-hour adrenocortical rhythm. Neuroendocrinology, 1968, 3, 378-386. & L. J. Grota. "Emotionality" and adrenal cortical function: Effects of strain, test, and the 24-hour corticosterone rhythm. Animal Behaviour, 1967, 15, 37-44. & A. Schaefer. Attenuation of the plasma corticosterone response to handling and electric shock stimulation in the infant rat. Physiology and Behavior, 1968, 3, 327-331. Ader, R., & L. J. Grota. Effects of early experience on adrenocortical reactivity. Physiology and Behavior, 1969, 4, 303-305. Ader, R., & S. M. Plaut. Effect of prenatal maternal handling and differential housing on offspring emotionality, plasma corticosterone levels, and susceptibility to gastric erosions. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1968, 30, 277-286. Ader, R., R. Tatum, & C. C. Beels. Social factors affecting emotionality and resistance to disease in animals: I. Age of separation from the mother and susceptibility to gastric ulcers in the rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1960,53,446-454. Bevan, W., M. Grodsky, & G. Bostelman. Taming and susceptibility to audiogenic convulsions. Science, 1956, 124, 74-75. Critchlow, V., R. A. Liebelt, M. Bar-Sela, W. Mountcastle, & H. D. Lipscomb. Sex differences in resting pituitary-adrenal function in the rat. American Journal of Physiology, 1963,205, 807-815. Denenberg, V. H. Animal studies of early experience: Some principles which have implications for human development, in J. P. Hill, ed., Minnesota symposia on child psychology, Vol. 3, pp. 31-45. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1969. & G. C. Haltmeyer. Test of the monotonicity hypothesis concerning infantile stimulation and emotional reactivity. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1967, 63, 394-396. Denenberg, V. H., & G. G. Karas. Effects of differential infantile handling upon weight gain and mortality in the rat and mouse. Science, 1959, 130, 629-630. . Interactive effects of infantile and adult experiences upon weight gain and mortality in the rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1961, 54, 685-689. Dubos, R. Mirage of health. New York: Harper, 1959. , D. Savage, & R. Schaedler. Biological Freudianism: Lasting effects of early environmental influences. Pediatrics, 1966, 38, 789-800. Engel, G. L. Psychological development in health and disease. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1962. Erdosova, R., V. Flandera, J. Kfec'ek, & P. Wiener. The effect of premature weaning on the sensitivity of rats to experimental erosions of the gastric mucosa. Physiologica Bohemoslovaca, 1967,16,400-407. Friedman, S. B., L. A. Glasgow, & R. Ader. Psychosocial factors modifying host resistance to experimental infections. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1969,164, 381-392. Griffiths, W. J., Jr., & W. F. Stringer. The effects of intense stimulation experienced during infancy on adult behavior in the rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1952, 45, 301-306. Grota, L. J., & R. Ader. Continuous recording of maternal behaviour in the rat. Animal Behaviour, 1969,17,722-729. 33

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Guillemin, R., W. E. Dear, & R. A. Liebelt. Nychthemeral variations in plasma free corticosteroid levels of the rat. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1959,101, 394-395. Haltmeyer, G. C., V. H. Denenberg, & M. X. Zarrow. Modification of the plasma corticosterone response as a function of infantile stimulation and electric shock parameters. Physiology and Behavior, 1967, 2, 61-63. Jaynes, J. Generalization and analogy in comparative psychology, in N. S. Thompson, chm., The social significance of animal studies. Symposium presented at the Eastern Psychological Association, Philadelphia, April 1969. Kraus, M., J. Andel, H. Dlouha, V. Flandera, J. Kfecek, J. Kfeckova, & J. Rokos. The development and length of life of rats weaned normally and prematurely and living on a free choice of electrolyte solutions, in E. F. Adolph, ed., The development of homeostasis, pp. 117-121. New York: Academic Press, 1960. Levine, S. Plasma-free corticosteroid response to electric shock in rats stimulated in infancy. Science, 1962, 135, 795-796. . Maternal and environmental influences on the adrenocortical response to stress in weanling rats. Science, 1967, 156, 258-260. & C. Cohen. Differential survival to leukemia as a function of infantile stimulation in DBA/2 mice. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1959, 102, 53-54 Levine, S., G. C. Haltmeyer, G. G. Karas, & V. H. Denenberg. Physiological and behavioral effects of infantile stimulation. Physiology and Behavior, 1967, 2, 5559. Levine, S., & R. F. Mullins, Jr. Hormonal influences on brain organization in infant rats. Science, 1966,152,1585-1592. Levine, S., & L. S. Otis. The effects of handling before and after weaning on resistance of albino rats to later deprivation. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 1958, 12,103-108. McMichael, R. E. Early-experience effects as a function of infant treatment and other experimental conditions. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1966, 62,433-436. Mason, J. W. Organization of psychoendocrine mechanisms. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1968, 30, 565-808. Miller, N. E. Learning of visceral and glandular responses. Science, 1969, 163, 434445. Newton, G., C. G. Ely, & C. McCrary. Effects of early experience on the response to transplanted tumor. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1962, 134, 522527. Novakova, V. Premature weaning of the rat: Its effects on the higher nervous activity and on the chemical pattern of neuron, in S. Kazda & V. H. Denenberg, eds., Postnatal development of phenotype. London: Butterworths, 1969. Saba, G. C., P. Saba, A. Carnicelli, & V. Marescotti. Diurnal rhythm in the adrenal cortical secretion and in the rate of metabolism of corticosterone in the rat. I. In normal animals. Acta Endocrinologica, 1963,44,409-412. Seitz, P. F. D. Infantile experiences and adult behavior in animal subjects: II. Age of separation from the mother and adult behavior in the cat. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1959, 21, 353-378. Simon, H. J. Attenuated infection. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. Weininger, O. Mortality of albino rats under stress as a function of early handling. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 1953, 7, 111-114. . The effects of early experience on behavior and growth characteristics. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1956, 49, 1-9. Winokur, G., J. Stern, & R. Taylor. Early handling and group housing: Effect on 34

ROBERT ADER development and response to stress in the rat. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1959, 4, 1-4. Zarrow, M. X., V. H. Denenberg, G. C. Haltmeyer, & J. T. Brumaghin. Plasma and adrenal corticosterone levels following exposure of the two-day-old rat to various stressors. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1967, 125, 113-116. Zarrow, M. X., G. C. Haltmeyer, V. H. Denenberg, & J. Thatcher. Response of the infantile rat to stress. Endocrinology, 1966, 79, 631-634.

35

VIRGINIA C. CRANDALL AND ESTHER S. BATTLE

The Antecedents and Adult Correlates of Academic and Intellectual Achievement Effort

THIS paper is concerned with a portion of the findings from an extensive longitudinal study of achievement development. The overall study is concerned with three areas of achievement in young adulthood: intellectual, vocational, and academic. One of its aims is to examine certain behaviors which occurred during childhood and adolescence hi order to discover earlier behavioral precursors of motivational orientations and achievement behaviors in those three areas. Another focus of the study has to do with the antecedent maternal behaviors which might influence children's achievement development. Still another has to do with the contemporary correlates of these kinds of achievement hi young adulthood. For the overall study we made use of the rich body of longitudinal data in the records of the Pels Research Institute. The sample consisted of 74 Pels subjects born between the years 1939 and 1947. Although there were NOTE: This research was primarily supported by NIMH Grant MH-02238 and partly supported by NTH Grants FR-05537 and FR-00222. The larger study from which the present findings are taken was originally begun in 1964 by Virginia Crandall in collaboration with Jerome Kagan, who was at that time a member of the staff of the Pels Research Institute. Some time after Dr. Kagan's move to Harvard in the fall of 1964, he was obliged to withdraw from the project because of other professional demands. We are grateful to him for those contributions he was able to make. Esther Battle then joined Virginia Crandall on the project in 1966. We also want to express our appreciation to Suzanne Good, Laurel Paster, and William Phillips, who administered the experimental procedures for the adulthood assessment; to Robert McCall and Robert Liebert for their critical reading of the manuscript; and to the many research assistants who aided in data processing and analysis.

36

VIRGINIA C. CRANDALL actually 96 children brought into the Pels program during that period, these 74 were selected for this investigation because their childhood data were most complete. In 1965-1967 we asked those 74 subjects to return to the Institute for an adult assessment and 65 of them were able to do so. They were then eighteen to twenty-six years of age; 38 were men, 27 were women. Although adult data were not available for the remaining 9 of the 74 subjects, their childhood, maternal, and adolescent data were retained for those portions of the study. The present study has some relevance to that reported by Kagan and Moss (1962), which used an earlier sample of Pels subjects, but this study was not designed primarily as a replication of that work. Unlike the Kagan and Moss investigation, this project incorporates a much more detailed examination of achievement behaviors, consistent with our continuing theoretical orientation. At the beginning of the adulthood assessment, we were not at all certain that an attempt to distinguish between academic and intellectual achievement was a worthwhile endeavor. However, we decided to take separate, but parallel measures relative to the two kinds of achievement situations and let the empirical chips fall where they might. If there proved to be enough independence between the two sets of measures, then it seemed appropriate to seek their separate antecedents. If not, we could collapse them into one set of broader intellectualacademic variables. This paper is the result of that undertaking. Findings will be presented indicating that there is some distinction between the amount of approach behavior in academic and intellectual achievement situations, the strength of motivational orientations associated with each of them, and the degree of skill or competence acquired in them. The report will then focus on the expenditure of academic and intellectual effort and will trace the precursors of each in childhood and their contemporary correlates in adulthood.

Previous Research Much of the extensive body of research on academic achievement has been concerned with the prediction of performance competence. The indexes of competence are usually grades, standardized achievement test scores, graduate record exam scores, final exam scores in a particular course, and so forth. Prediction of performance level is usually sought through the use of demographic variables (birth order, social class, race, 37

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY sex, etc.), motivational variables (« Achievement, general anxiety, test anxiety, etc.), and/or measures of general intellectual functioning or "aptitude" (intelligence test scores, aptitude tests). To draw conclusive generalizations from the widely scattered and often contradictory results would be unwarranted. In one review, David Lavin (1965) has made an attempt to organize the disparate findings from these studies and has come to much this same conclusion. The interested reader is referred to Lavin's volume and to summaries of the literature by Kornrich (1965), Pervin, Reik, and Dalrymple (1966), Summerskill (1962), Taylor (1964), and Torrance and Strom (1965) for a comprehensive description of studies of academic performance. These reviews generally describe the following as associated with poor academic performance: (a) lack of realism about one's self and the environment; (b) defensiveness about one's inadequacies; (c) a negative self concept; (d) poor "social adjustment" including dependency, impulsivity, and irresponsibility; (e) strong motivation for social activities and weak motivation for academic endeavors; (f) high anxiety about academic performance; (g) ineffective study habits; and (h) disappointed expectations about college. Few investigations of academic achievement, however, have examined variables at the behavioral level of analysis. For the most part, demographic characteristics or motivational factors are used as independent variables and are related directly to level of academic performance. The goal approach behavior which mediates the relation between the two — that is, the effort which translates motivational orientations into acquired skills — is less often studied directly. One line of research has sometimes made inferences about, and occasionally attempted to obtain indexes of, approach efforts toward academic goals. These references occur in the studies of "overachievement" and "underachievement." The terms arise from disparities between some measure of general intellectual performance (intelligence tests) or broad skills required in academic tasks (verbal, mathematics "aptitude" tests, etc.) on the one hand, and level of classroom performance (grades, final exam scores, etc.) on the other. Depending on the direction of the difference between general performance and classroom performance, the individual is identified as an "underachiever" or an "overachiever" and explanations for these differences are sometimes sought in variations in goal approach behaviors as they are indicated in measures of persistence, perseverance, endurance, and so on. 38

VIRGINIA C. CRANDALL The endurance scale of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was found to differentiate freshmen college students with poor high school performance who were able to obtain passing grades in college from those who failed in college as they had in high school (Merrill & Murphy, 1959 ) This same scale differentiated over- and underachievers in a study of freshman engineering students (Krug, 1959). Weigand (1957) reports that probationary college students who were successful in attaining a C average were more likely to persist in their study efforts hi spite of adverse situational conditions than those who failed to reach the necessary C level. Furthermore, within a sample of third-grade students who had high intelligence test scores, those who attained higher achievement test performance were found to have greater persistence than those with lower achievement test scores (d'Heurle, Mellinger, & Haggard, 1959). Some studies have examined the relation of motivational variables to academic effort. For example, Simono (1967) found that among "gifted" high school students, those rated as high on need for achievement were more likely to carry a larger number of academic courses and to elect honors courses when they were offered. And studies by Atkinson and Litwin (1960) and Smith (1964) demonstrated that college subjects with higher intelligence test scores persisted longer in an academic examination if they had higher test anxiety than n Achievement scores, whereas those with lower intelligence test scores persisted longer if they had a relatively higher n Achievement than test anxiety score. Effort is not, however, always productive. Brophy, Shipman, and Hess (1965) found that lower-lower-class four-year-old children, working with their mothers to solve a difficult problem, expended the least effort (time and number of trials) among four SES groups. Although the upperlower-class group spent significantly more time and effort on the problem, they were no more successful in solving it than their less persistent peers. Coleman et al. (1966) found that twelfth-grade Negroes reported spending more time studying outside of school than whites and more than any minority group except Oriental Americans. In spite of this effort, however, the Negroes' academic achievement test scores were lower than those of any other group. Some of these investigators have analyzed their data separately by sex and found differing results for the two sexes. Others have neglected to consider the possibility of sex differences hi achievement behavior. For the purposes of this study, the term intellectual effort is used to 39

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY mean behaviors which exercise, maintain, or increase knowledge or intellectual skills in activities that are not demanded by the individual's vocation, academic status, or other pragmatic demands of his life situation. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no studies attempting to probe the historical antecedents of such intellectual effort in adulthood, yet implications for continued personal satisfaction and possible social contribution are obvious. There has been passing reference to the fact that such activities as leisure time reading are characteristic of certain samples (Coleman et al., 1966; Oden, 1968; Terman, 1925; Terman & Oden, 1947), but there has been little examination of factors which might contribute to individual differences hi general intellectual effort. In the 1962 study, Kagan and Moss investigated the childhood precursors and maternal antecedents of a variable called "intellectual concern" in adulthood. Their findings indicated that intellectual concern hi adult males was related to high maternal protectiveness and low maternal hostility during the first 3 years of the boy's life, followed by maternal acceleration of the boy's achievement skills during the ages 3 to 10. The adult women with high intellectual concern, however, had mothers who had been hostile toward them and lacking in protectiveness during the first three years, and who had accelerated the girls' achievement skills during the same period and again during the years 6-10. As for the subjects themselves, few childhood antecedents were found to relate to adulthood intellectual concern. Males with greater concern about intellectual competence had evidenced more fear of bodily harm during the preschool years 3-6 and less athletic mastery during the years 10-14. For the females, the single earlier behavioral correlate was a negative relationship with "avoidance of dangerous activity" at ages 10-14 —that is, the girls who were bold and daring during that age period became those with high intellectual concern hi adulthood. It should be noted however, that the "intellectual concern" rating used in the Kagan and Moss study differs from the academic and intellectual effort variables under consideration here. Intellectual concern hi that study was an attitudinal rather than a behavioral variable. It was based on referents indicating the importance or value the individual held for "education, cultural sophistication, curiosity, and acquisition of knowledge" (p. 134), rather than the amount of behavioral effort he expended to acquire such goals. Intellectual concern also differs in that it included referents 40

VIRGINIA C. CRANDALL which were a combination of those for academic goals and nonacademic intellectual goals.

Context for the Present Study The present study grows out of a program of research on children's achievement in which the present authors have been engaged for the past several years. This program has dealt with the demographic characteristics, motivational orientations, and situational determinants of children's achievement behaviors. In addition, it has investigated some of the parental behaviors which influence the course of children's achievement development. The selection of the variables assessed in the current study was guided by the theoretical model and the previous findings which have grown out of our larger research program, as well as the findings of others working in the field of children's achievement. For the purposes of this report, it is not necessary to give a full explanation of the theory which guides our total achievement program. Definitions of the major motivational concepts follow, however, because certain findings pertaining to them will be discussed in this report. In order to distinguish achievement behavior from other goal-directed behavior we have defined it as "behavior directed toward attainment of positive reinforcement or avoidance of negative reinforcement (from oneself or from others) specifically for the competence (skill) of one's performance in tasks or situations where standards of excellence are applicable." The working model we use has been influenced by the theories of Lewin and Tolman, but it has its most direct roots hi Rotter's Social Learning Theory (Rotter, 1954). As we have applied that general theory of behavior to our work in achievement, however, a number of extensions and modifications have been made. An early explication of this miniature system may be found hi Crandall, Katkovsky, and Preston (1960), a later modification hi Battle (1965; 1966), and its most recent formulation in Crandall and Battle (1969). The model falls hi the general class of expectancy-value formulations. We use the term Attainment Value to mean the importance, weight, or significance which the individual attaches to reinforcements for the competence or skill of his instrumental behavior — the importance to him of attaining positive reinforcement or avoiding negative reinforcement for skill. By Expectancy, we mean the amount or level of reinforcement which the individual estimates he can obtain on a particular achievement task 41

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY or is characteristically able to obtain in that class of achievement tasks. Expectancy and value have been found to be important determinants of overt goal approach attempts in achievement tasks and situations (Battle, 1965; Crandall, 1969; Crandall & McGhee, 1968; Crandall, Katkovsky, & Preston, 1962), although the strength of prediction has varied a great deal by sex, age, and the particular kind of approach behavior under investigation. Unlike Atkinson and Feather (1966), we do not assume that expectancy and value are negatively related to each other. We measure each of them separately and have found empirically that they are relatively hidependent of one another. In the present sample this is also true. Expectancy and value for reinforcements of an academic nature share 13 per cent of their variance in common for males and 16 per cent for females. Intellectual expectancy and value share 9 per cent of their variance in common for males and only 4 per cent for females. Because the relationships are positive in direction, there is, if anything, some small tendency for the subject to value what he can do competently, to devalue what he expects to do poorly. Since value and expectancy have both been demonstrated to be important to the prediction of achievement striving and effort, and assumptions cannot be made about the one simply by knowing the extent of the other, we have been seeking hi this study the possible antecedents of each of them for each kind of achievement. We have also found another motivational orientation helpful hi the prediction of approach behavior. This concept is called the Minimal Standard of reinforcement. In the complex task situations in which achievement behavior occurs, it seems to us that there is rarely a true dichotomous, success-fail, all-or-nothing situation. Most tests provide a range of scores, academic institutions provide a continuum of letter or numerical grades, and so forth. The Minimal Standard is the cutting point on a continuum of reinforcers above which the individual interprets the reinforcement as positive and subjectively experiences success, and below which he interprets the reinforcement as negative and experiences subjective failure. Since this cutting point varies for different individuals, the same objective reinforcer may be perceived as success by one individual, as failure by another. Two individuals, for example, may both expect to receive B's in a course; thus, then: expectancies are equivalent. A B is the objective reinforcer for which they both hold the greatest probability of attainment and represents the level at which they expect to be reinforced. 42

VIRGINIA C. CRANDALL Yet one individual, whose Minimal Standard is "nothing less than an /4" may interpret the expected B as subjective failure and be discouraged from approaching such a goal. The other, who has a lower Minimal Standard and considers C's "good enough," will perceive the expected B as an index of success. Thus, he expects to be positively reinforced, and should continue his effort. Baron (1966) uses a similar concept, called Social Reinforcement Standard, and has also found that it has predictive utility. (The terms success and failure have often been used to mean that the individual has attained some specific, externally defined standard of excellence on whatever scale of measurement is applied to performance of that sort. However, the external standard may or may not be consonant with the standard used by the individual; he may define success differently. We cannot be certain, without a specific measurement of his minimal standard, that his internal standard and the environmental standard are, in fact, in agreement. For this reason, we tend to avoid use of the terms success and failure, for they carry the implication that there is some absolute, objective, external definition of them.) It seems to us that reinforcers given in achievement tasks are awarded contingently on the individual's skill in that task. In any situation in which reinforcement is known to be contingent on skill, and the individual must display skill hi order to acquire it, we would define his efforts as achievement behavior. The level of reinforcement which actually eventuates from his effort is not relevant to its definition as achievement behavior. It also follows that behavior directed toward the acquisition of skill (e.g., practicing, studying) is also achievement behavior, even though the gratification is only anticipated and must be delayed. Since we have defined achievement behavior as that behavior which is directed toward attaining self-reinforcement or reinforcement from others for the competence or skill of one's performance, it is, of course, critical that the reinforcement available in a given situation first be perceived as having been caused by one's own instrumental behavior. If the situation is perceived as one in which the outcome occurs as the result of luck, or chance, or at the whim or discretion of powerful others, then the competence or skill of the individual's response appears to him to be irrelevant, for he does not even see a contingency between his response and the occurrence of the event. If, on the other hand, he perceives that it is his own behavior which is responsible for the reinforcements he receives, then he has reason to exert instrumental effort in an attempt to increase the prob43

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY ability of obtaining reward or avoiding punishment for the competence of those efforts. Thus, the propensity to perceive reinforcements as caused by one's own behavior (internal control) rather than perceiving them as caused by someone or something else in the environment (external control), might be considered a sine qua non of achievement behavior, a necessary though not sufficient condition for its occurrence. Perceptions of internalexternal control have been investigated hi many of our preceding studies (Battle, 1963; CrandaU, Katkovsky, & Crandall, 1965; Crandall, Katkovsky, & Preston, 1962; Katkovsky, CrandaU, & Good, 1967; McGhee & Crandall, 1968) and their long-term antecedents are also being sought hi this longitudinal investigation. SITUATIONAL SPECIFICITY OF ACHIEVEMENT BEHAVIOR

For some time now, we have been interested in the situational specificity of achievement approach behavior. Common observation would indicate that the same individual does not strive equally hard in all potential achievement situations. Some individuals work very hard on their academic assignments but never participate in any kind of sports; some play bridge with a vengeance but never tackle a mechanical task. It seemed that one aspect of the situation which might help to account for this variability of behavior lay hi the nature of the skill required in the task. This observation was tested with 6- to 9-year-old children hi free play at the Pels Day Camp (Crandall, 1965). Time sampled observations were taken of the amount of tune the children chose to spend hi intellectual tasks and activities and the intensity of their striving hi them, and the same observations were also obtained relative to their behavior in mechanical tasks, physical skills activities, and artistic tasks and activities. These measures were made hi an unconstrained, free choice situation because we expected motivational factors to be evidenced more clearly hi such a setting. The results demonstrated that even though inter-rater reliability was high for the amount of time the subjects spent hi each area and for the intensity of striving in each, there were no significant positive relations among these behaviors across skill areas. Differentiation in the amount of approach to tasks in the four skill areas, then, was already apparent in children of ages 6-9. The results from this study led us to think that the .achievement need system might be less global and undifferentiated than concepts such as the achievement motive or need achievement imply. It seemed that the strength of motivational orientations (values, expecta44

VIRGINIA C. CRANDALL tions, standards) might vary markedly for achievement reinforcement in different skill areas and would require separate measurement relative to the skill requirements of the task behavior we were interested in predicting. Solomon, too, has found that approach behavior (perseverance) is not general across achievement tasks (Solomon, 1969; Solomon, Houlihan, Busse, & Parelius, in press). In fact, he has found six task and situational dimensions which emerged from factor analyses of fifth-grade children's achievement behaviors. Further evidence of this situational specificity lay hi the fact that the task and situational factors had different parental, child behavioral, and personality antecedents or contemporary correlates. Thus, the skill requirements of the task may turn out to be only one of the parameters by which the achievement situation may need to be specified. At the time this study was designed, it seemed quite possible to us that some young adults might value very highly being bright, knowledgeable, verbally facile, and quick-witted, although they dismissed the importance of demonstrating academic competence with good grades. In contrast, other individuals might work hard for academic grades and honors, but not read anything of consequence outside of class requirements, nor keep abreast of current events, play chess, or engage in any other intellectual activities not required by course work or by current jobs. In order to determine whether such differentiation might exist, we decided to assess a number of competence measures, approach behaviors, and motivational variables separately in the academic and the general intellectual areas.

The Present Study SUBJECT SAMPLE

The 74 Pels subjects used hi this study came from 45 families. Although they now reside in all parts of the country, they were reared within a thirtymile radius of the Institute in southwestern Ohio. The socioeconomic status of their families constitutes a normal distribution, but the mean is slightly higher than national norms: between classes two and three on the Hollingshead five-class scale (Hollmgshead, 1957). None of the families was in the lowest (fifth) class, however. The mean Otis IQ score of the 5s' fathers was 107 (SD = 14.2) and that of the mothers was 110 (SD = 13.4), but fully half the fathers and a third of the mothers had attained at least a bachelor's degree. In fact, only one father and one mother had not completed high school. Thus, in spite of the fact that their intellectual skill was only slightly greater than that of the general population, their 45

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY relatively high levels of education reflect the premium these parents placed on academic training. The same thing is true of the subjects themselves. Their Wechsler-Bellevue scores in early adolescence had a mean of 110 (SD = 12.4); the mean of their Primary Mental Abilities Test scores in late adolescence was 107 (SD= 13.1). At the time of the young adulthood assessment, however, 53 of the 65 subjects, or 84 per cent, had already had at least some college courses. Many of them were, in fact, still in college; nine were in graduate school; and two had advanced graduate degrees. Each S's educational level was highly dependent on his age at the time of the adult assessment, of course. These subjects are not, then, a sample of "gifted" children, nor are their parents, but both generations are better educated than is true of the general American population. SOURCES OF DATA

The following constitutes a very brief description of the historical data obtained from the Pels records, and of the measures given the subjects hi young adulthood. More complete descriptions are given hi Crandall (1965).* Childhood, Adolescent, and Maternal Data. Part of the childhood and maternal data used from the Pels files consisted of lengthy narrative reports of observations which had been made in the 5s' homes by the Pels home observers. These trained clinical psychologists had visited each S's home for two hours to half a day at approximately six-month intervals from birth to six years of age, then annually from age 6 to 10. In addition to these narrative reports, they had also rated the mothers' behaviors after each observation on the Pels Parent Behavior Rating (PER) scales (Baldwin, Kalhorn, & Breese, 1945), and we also made use of those ratings. Additional child behavioral data came from the narrative reports made by other Pels observers during the child's semi-annual attendance at the Pels nursery school during the preschool years, and his later yearly attendance at Pels day camp. Nursery school and day camp data used were from the approximate ages of 2V2 to lO1/^ years. Direct observation of behavior * Because of the large number of rated variables involved in this paper, space limitations preclude the presentation of the definitions, behavioral referents, and cue points for each. However, the complete rating manuals may be obtained from the authors, and we shall also be happy to provide full descriptions of the development and pretest of the experimental procedures and scales and the interview schedules. 46

VIRGINIA C. CRANDALL during home visits and nursery school and day camp attendance, then, provided the basis for all child and maternal behavioral variables used in this study. Gesell Developmental Schedule scores from 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of age; Stanford-Binets given every half year from age 2l/2 to 5, then annually through age 12; the Wechsler-Bellevue given at age 13; and finally, the Primary Mental Abilities Test (PMA) , given at age 17 or 18, were also used. Measurements of height and roentgenographic chest diameter at the ninth rib were taken from the records for ages 3, 6, 10, and 15 years. Although there were additional projective tests and interview data in the files, it was decided to use only scores from the standardized instruments, the physical measurements, and the reports and ratings from direct observation of mother and child behavior described above. There were no observational data in the files for the adolescent period, however. For this reason, we made use of taped interviews which had been conducted with 60 of these subjects during their adolescent years. These had been done by three senior staff members who were at Pels at that time — Vaughn Crandall, Jerome Kagan, and Leonard Lansky. All data were divided into three childhood periods: birth to 3 years, 3 to 6, and 6 to 10; an adolescent period of 13 to 17; and finally, the young adulthood assessment at 18-26, making a total of five age periods. We would have liked to use finer age categories, but the materials were insufficient to make reliable assessments within shorter time intervals. Our own previous research and that of many other investigators would indicate that the most critical omission of all is data on fathers' behaviors and relationships with their children. However, because fathers were rarely at home when home visits were made, ratings of paternal variables could not be obtained reliably from the observational reports, nor were they reflected in the PBR'S rated by the home visitors after each home visit. We used two independent raters for each of the five age periods.* Each pair of raters rated only the data for one of the five age periods, and they had no knowledge of the subjects before or after the period with which they were working. This precaution was taken in order to prevent the appearance of developmental consistency which was spurious and due only to "haloing" across age periods. For the three childhood periods, ratings * In addition to the two authors, the following people served as raters: Jacqueline Allaman, Gayle Henkin, Elizabeth Holin, Carol Joyce, Paul McGhee, Susanna Sak, Sara Winter, and David Zern. We appreciate their contribution.

47

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY from both raters were averaged for each subject for each variable. However, because the adolescent and adulthood interviews were so long, the reliability raters rated only twenty-five randomly selected adolescent interview tapes and twenty-eight adult tapes. Thus, the ratings used for the last two periods are those of the "criterion" raters, each of whom rated all the interviews for her age period. VCC was the adult interviewer and criterion rater. In addition to keeping herself ignorant of all data for previous age periods, she did not inform herself of the subjects' responses to the experimental measures or scales given them during the adulthood assessment until after her ratings were completed. Data from the Adulthood Assessment. The individually administered adult battery took from IV2 to 2 days for each subject. It consisted of a five- to seven-hour semi-structured interview (interspersed with several "breaks" and sometimes extending into the second day). The interview covered motivational and behavioral variables relative to academic achievement hi young adulthood (i.e., for college and graduate school, where that was applicable), the same variables concerned with present jobs or vocational fields, for the ultimate anticipated life vocation, and for general intellectual achievement; material about identification models; active-passive modes of response to difficult achievement tasks and to difficult interpersonal situations; present and desired achievement skills; skills which constituted sources of anxiety and of special satisfaction; and orientations and behaviors related to attributes and skills typically considered part of masculine and feminine sex roles. (These latter had been determined by pretest to be the most salient characteristics of sex role definitions for a comparable but independent sample of young adults.) The adult assessment battery also included the following four experimental procedures: a. Anagrams Task. 5s were told to form as many words as possible consisting of three or more letters from the stimulus letters ERSAILH. A penalty system was invoked for listing nonexistent or fictitious "words" (hereafter referred to as incorrect words). Two measures of competence of performance were obtained from this task (total number of correct words and total number of incorrect words) and three measures of goal approach (total persistence time, mean persistence time per word, and mean of the last three time intervals between each of the S's final three words and the time he left the task). In order to allow for maximum persistence, the S 48

VIRGINIA C. CRANDALL was told, correctly, that ninety-nine actual words could be devised from the stimulus letters given him. b. Matching Familiar Figures (MFF). This is an adult version of a task previously developed by Kagan for use with children (Kagan, 1965; Kagan, Rosman, Albert, Day, & Phillips, 1964). For each of twelve trials, the 5 was presented with a line drawing to use as a visual standard, seven close variants on that standard, and a duplicate of the standard embedded among the variants. He was required to find the drawing which exactly matched the standard. If the S's initial response was wrong, he was told so and allowed to continue until he found the duplicate of the standard. One competence measure was taken from this task: total number of correct first responses across the twelve trials. Two measures used to determine conceptual tempo were also taken: mean latency to the first response for each of the trials (whether correct or incorrect), and total number of incorrect responses over the twelve trials. c. Memory versus Motor Tasks. Expectancy was raised to high and equivalent levels on an intellectual (memory) task and on one requiring motor skill. Identical reinforcement schedules were administered in the two tasks. On the intellectual task, the S was required to reproduce patterns of geometric figures from memory after a ten-second exposure to the stimulus pattern. For the motor task, he was required to pull two cords smoothly and evenly to raise a steel ball, which was balanced on a tiny platform, to the top of a vertical shaft. The index of intellectual Attainment Value was the proportion of a subsequent series of trials that the 5 chose to perform on the intellectual rather than the motor task. This was taken as an index of his relative preference for reinforcement for intellectual versus motor skill. Two measures of intellectual Expectancy were obtained from the procedure: the initial Expectancy estimate given by the S after task requirements were explained to him but before he had actually performed on the task, and the change between this estimate and the one given after completion of the first block of reinforced trials. d. Level of Aspiration (L of A) Verbal Task. This task required the S to respond to a two-syllable stimulus word with a two-syllable rhyming word within a prescribed time limit. To control for verbal fluency, Ss with above-median scores on the PMA Verbal Fluency subtest were given 3second tune limits, those below the median were given 6 seconds. A penalty system for over- and underestimating was invoked to keep the S's estimates as close as possible to his internally held expectancies. An initial 49

MINNESOTA SYMPOSIA ON CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Expectancy estimate was taken after the task had been explained, but before the S had had any experience with it. Subsequent estimates were taken before each of the ten blocks of trials. The usual level-of-aspiration derived scores were computed from his performance and Expectancy estimates (e.g., the mean difference between preceding performance and next estimate, number of shifts in expectancy, mean size of expectancy shifts, etc.). The four following scales were also administered: a. The Internal-External Control Scale (Rotter, 1966) was used to assess individual differences in 5s' generalized perceptions of the locus of reinforcement control in a variety of situations. Each of the twenty-three items in this forced-choice instrument provides an internal and an external alternative relative to reinforcements in several dispositional and behavioral domains. The scale was developed at Ohio State University by Rotter, Seeman, Crowne, and Liverant and is referred to below as the OSU I-E. It was scored hi the internal direction. b. The Adult Achievement Responsibility (AAR) Scale was especially developed to assess perceptions of internal-external control, specifically in achievement situations. It, too, has a forced-choice format and consists of thirteen items. It was also scored in the internal direction. c. The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (M-C SDS) is a thirty-three-item true-false instrument. Each item poses a behavior or attitude which is culturally sanctioned and approved but is improbable of actual occurrence. A number of studies are summarized in Crowne and Marlowe (1964) which indicate that socially desirable responding is motivated by the individual's concern about others' approval-disapproval or his value for others' evaluations. d. The Parent Behavior Inventory (FBI) was developed by Schaefer (1965) using data from Pels Ss. Schaefer devised a shortened twentyfour-item form for inclusion in this study. It is a Likert-type scale in which the S is required to rate his mother's and father's behaviors toward him as he recalls them from childhood. Four subscale scores are obtained for each parent: Acceptance, Individuation, Rejection, and Hostile Detachment. The Acceptance and Individuation subscores are also summed to yield a Total Acceptance score; and the Rejection and Hostile Detachment scores are summed to yield a Total Rejection score. Finally, a Combined Score is obtained by subtracting the Total Rejection score from the 50

VIRGINIA C. CRANDALL Total Acceptance score, indicating the extent to which the parent is recalled as more accepting than rejecting. Demographic and Status Characteristics. Those measures included in the study were: educational and occupational level of each parent, intelligence test scores of each parent, S"s ordinal position, and number of siblings. Since the occupations of both mothers and fathers changed over the course of their children's development, occupational status was rated for each age period of the subject. This procedure was followed in order to determine whether the values, behaviors, and life styles usually associated with occupational level might have more impact at one developmental period than another. A consideration of commonly used occupational scales (Hatt& North, 1947; Hollingshead, 1957; Warner, Meeker, &Eels, 1949) revealed that they did not provide adequate differentiation at the upper end of the occupational range to promise good prediction for our Pels sample. Thus, members of our staff devised a new measure of occupational status by using the existing scales as guidelines, but forcing more spread at the upper end. This scale proved to have acceptable reliability (.82 for fathers, .86 for mothers). Ratings made by the two raters were averaged for use in the statistical analyses.* A list of all variables in this study has been deposited with the National Auxiliary Publications Service. For those variables which were assessed from ratings, inter-rater reliabilities are also provided.** A COMPARISON OF INTELLECTUAL AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

The similarity or dissimilarity of academic and intellectual achievement hi young adulthood was examined first. Correlations between competence measures, goal-approach behaviors, and motivational variables assessed relative to the two kinds of achievement situations appear in Table 1. All of the academic variables, except effort, were assessed separately for the major field of study and for a combination of all other courses outside the major. It will be noted in the table that some of the variables in the intellectual area were taken from the experimental procedures described above, as well as from the interview, but there are no experimental measures for the academic area. This is because we did not feel that we could create in the laboratory at Fels conditions which could be presented realistically as * We are grateful to Suzanne Good and Laurel Paster for making these ratings. * * To obtain this list, order document 00644 from ASIS National Auxiliary Publications Service, c/o CCM Information Sciences, Inc., 909 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022; remit $1.00 for microfiche or $3.00 for photocopies. 51

Table 1. Relations between Adult Intellectual and Academic Variables Variables

Male

Intellectual Competence and Academic Competence Primary Mental Abilities score Grades in major field Primary Mental Abilities score Grades in other courses Number of correct words, Grades in major field anagrams task Number of correct words, Grades in other course anagrams task MFF, number of correct first Grades in major field responses MFF, number of correct first Grades in other courses responses Intellectual Effort/Persisand Academic Effort tence Academic effort* Intellectual effort" Task persistence, total time, Academic effort* anagrams Task persistence, mean time Academic effort* last three intervals, anagrams Task persistence, time per Academic effort* word, anagrams Intellectual Motivations Intellectual Expectancy* Intellectual Expectancy* Intellectual Minimal Standards* Intellectual Minimal Standards* Intellectual Attainment Value" Intellectual Attainment Value: number of memory versus motor trials chosen First Expectancy, L of A, verbal task First Expectancy, L of A, verbal task First Expectancy, memory task First Expectancy, memory task

and

Academic Motivations Expectancy for major field* Expectancy for other courses* Minimal Standards, major field* Minimal Standards, other courses* Attainment Value, major field* Attainment Value, major field* Expectancy for major field* Expectancy for other courses*

.08

.26

.35*

.58***

.20

---.05

.14

--.24

---.03

.32

--.16

.38

.06

.29

.14

.10

.10

--.23

.11

.08

.61****.24 .64****.19 .17

.06

.38**

.23

.32

--03

--.12

---.03

.24

.09

.37**

.27

Expectancy for major field* -.05 Expectancy for other --.21 courses*

'These variables were rated in the adult interview. *p