SOME RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONSCIENCE AND ATTENTIONAL PROCESSES

22 1ST-GRADE AND 22 6TH-GRADE SS WERE ADMINISTERED MEASURES OF ATTENTION BASED ON AN RT TASK INVOLVING VARYING PREPARATORY INTERVALS WITH ASSOCIATED GSR MEASURES, AND EXPERIMENTAL AND TEACHER-RATING MEASURES OF RESISTANCE TO TEMPTATION (RTT) TO CHEATING. IN BOTH GROUPS SIGNIFICANT CORRELATIONS WERE FOUND BETWEEN GOOD PERFORMANCE ON ATTENTION MEASURES AND RTT. THE HIGHEST CORRELATION (R'S = .61, .59) WAS BETWEEN HIGH VARIABILITY STANDARD DEVIATION OF RT AND HIGH CHEATING. ORTHOGONALLY ROTATED FACTOR ANALYSES INDICATED 3 SIMILAR FACTORS AT EACH GRADE: (1) TASK CONFORMITY INCLUDED PSYCHOMOTOR EFFICIENCY AND TEACHER RTT RATING VARIABLES, (2) INNER STABILITY INCLUDED EXPERIMENTAL RTT AND PSYCHOMOTOR STABILITY VARIABLES, AND (3) RESTLESSNESS INCLUDED NONSPECIFIC GSR AND RTT RATING VARIABLES. IT IS NOTED THAT ATTENTION (PSYCHOMOTOR) AND MORAL VARIABLES WERE LOADED ON EACH FACTOR RATHER THAN BEING SEPARATED BY THE FACTOR ANALYSIS. THE RELATIONS OF THE PSYCHOMOTOR TO THE MORAL VARIABLES AT THE 2 AGES ARE DISCUSSED. AN EGO- RATHER THAN A SUPEREGO-STRENGTH INTERPRETATION OF MORAL BEHAVIOR IS ADVANCED TO FIT THE FINDINGS. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT MORAL TEMPTATION DISTRACTORS FROM TASK PERFORMANCE ARE PSYCHOLOGICALLY RELATED TO THE ORDINARY DISTRACTORS OF TASK PERFORMANCE. (40 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.