A nice online source for these sorts of questions about words is the MRC Psycholinguistic Database at http://www.psy.uwa.edu.au/mrcdatabase/uwa_mrc.htm . I used the Simple Letter Match to locate words that started with k and words that had k as the third letter. Now, there are numerous options about which types of items to include or exclude.So the answer is going to depend on what you consider a word (and how it is coded in the database). I included all of the items that were coded as "standard" as opposed to obsolete, foreign, etc. I also excluded non-word morphemes such as prefixes and suffixes. Anyway, here are the results from my search: Words beginning with k = 297 Words with k as 3rd letter = 158 David Kreiner Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean of The Graduate School University of Central Missouri [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> Rick Froman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 3/20/2008 12:28 PM >>> Thanks, Jon. I will look there. I hope that Myers cites a primary source for this statement but even better would be a program or a site that would allow for the demonstration of this difference (possibly some kind of onilne crossword dictionary). Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________ From: Jonathan Mueller [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 11:56 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Availability Heuristic Activities? Rick, According to Myers (2005), there are two to three times as many "k's" in print in the third position than in the first. Myers, D. G. (2005). Social psychology. (8th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Jon =============== Jon Mueller Professor of Psychology North Central College 30 N. Brainard St. Naperville, IL 60540 voice: (630)-637-5329 fax: (630)-637-5121 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu<http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/> >>> Rick Froman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 3/20/2008 11:20 AM >>> I know that there are supposed to be more with the letter in the third position than in the first but does anyone have a source of an actual count or estimate of English words of how often letters appear in the first or third position? Or possibly a program or website that would allow for making such an estimate? Thanks, Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 [EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ________________________________ From: Christopher D. Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 10:58 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Availability Heuristic Activities? Julie Osland wrote: Hi Tipsters-- I'm going to be covering heuristics in a week, and I need demonstration/activity for the availability heuristic. In years past, I used a handout comparing causes of death (such as asthma, lightning strike, stroke, tornado, all accidents, etc) but have found it to no longer work (most students answer the items correctly). Any ideas of something new and different to try? How about the old standby: How many English words start with "R"? How many have "R" as the third letter? Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
