Student volunteers from introductory psychology classes who received credit for participation were sampled near the beginning, middle, and end of the quarter. Half the subjects were given a hidden-figures task; half a visual-search task. All 174 subjects then rated several concepts using a semantic differential and completed a social desirability and an authoritarianism scale. A significant performance decrement was found for later samples on the visual-search task but not on the hidden-figures task. There was a significant decline in favorableness of self-evaluation over quarters for subjects given the visual-search task but not for those given the hidden-figures task. Females evaluated themselves more favorably when given the hidden-figures task; males did not. The hidden-figures task was rated more favorably, and females rated research more favorably. Results are discussed in terms of varying motivations in early vs late volunteers and in terms of the level of interest evoked by the tasks.

Forty-eight male Betta splendens were assigned to three groups of 16 (eight pairs) each. In two of the groups, pairs of fish were first allowed to fight until a dominance-subordinance relationship was established. Then each subject was tested on measures of time spent in approach and threat display toward either (1) its own pair member, with which it was experienced and familiar (Group EF), or toward (2) another combat-experienced fish, with which it was unfamiliar (Group EV). A third group of inexperienced and unfamiliar individuals (Group IV) were first exposed to their own mirror images and then tested for approach and threat-display duration. Pairs of these fish were then allowed to fight until dominance was determined. The three major findings were: (a) Dominant subjects approached and displayed significantly more than subordinates in all three groups; (2) Dominant subjects of Group IU did not differ significantly from dominants in the other two groups with respect to time spent in approach and display; and (3) Fish exposed to mirrors prior to combat required significantly fewer sessions to establish dominance than fish not receiving mirror exposure. Results suggest that dominant fish can be distinguished on the basis of their approach tendency and threat-display scores prior to actual physical combat. An habituation model of dominance determination was proposed.The threat display of the male Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens, is characterized by extension of the gill covers, erection of the fins, a deepening of body color, and a sequence of vibrating body movements (Simpson, 1968). This threat display is reliably emitted whenever a male encounters an unfamiliar male conspecific, and it will even occur with considerable vigor in response to a male model, or in response to the male's own mirror image (Johnson, 1972). Furthermore, Bettas will

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In a recent Rorschach investigation (Potkay, 1971), only 4 of 36 experienced clinicians used no personal history information in answering clinical questions. Thus, the clarity with which strict Rorschach information contributed to moderately high judgmental accuracies (56%-83%) was obscured. The present study attempted to determine whether clinical judgments derived from Rorschach information which included access to personal history data (RPD) would differ from judgments derived from personal history data (PD) alone. Additionally, would RPD and PD judgments differ from those based only on best guesses (BG) of clinicians? BG, PD, and RPD clinician samples (N = 105) answered questions of diagnosis, anxiety, and intelligence estimation. RPD clinicians were the participants in the Potkay (1971) study. BG and PD responses were obtained through mail surveys characterized by relatively low return rates of 16% and 28%, due to the experimental request that clinical questions be answered using only minimal information. However, the three samples were not significantly different with regard to age (M = 45.2, SD = 7.4) and years of experience since the PhD (M = 14.4, SD = 6.9).