Re-exposure to reinforcement in Context A during treatment in Context B reduces ABC renewal

Previous work from our laboratory showed that intermittently re-exposing rats to reinforcement for lever pressing in a training (A) context, while eliminating lever pressing in a second (B) context, increased ABA renewal of lever pressing relative to rats that experienced only Context B during response elimination. In the current study, we replicated these procedures while assessing renewal in the presence of a novel context (i.e., ABC renewal). Unlike the findings described above, renewal was reduced in the group that experienced re-exposure to Context A during lever-press elimination relative to rats that experienced only Context B. These findings suggest that alternating between contexts associated with reinforcement and extinction during treatment reduces the probability that organisms will respond in novel contexts. These outcomes may be the result of discrimination and/or generalization processes. Moreover, this training procedure may offer a potential mitigation strategy for ABC renewal.     

Bias in the use of base rates: Racial prejudice in decision-making

Two studies investigated biases in the use of base rate information when assessing the probability of a witness' accurate identification of a white or West Indian as a burglar. An adapted version of the Kahneman-Tversky cab problem was used, to provide a social decision in which biases could be measured against some normative standard. Ethnicity of youth (white/West Indian) and nature of base rate (incidental/causal) were manipulated in a 2 × 2 between-subjects design. A significant interaction effect revealed that subjects took no account of the base rate for a West Indian subject, but used the base rate only when it was causal and the youth was white. This ‘prejudice effect’ against a West Indian youth and ‘exoneration effect’ for a white youth were replicated in a second study, using a microcomputer and chronometric analyses. Results are discussed in terms of heuristic decision-making, social schemata, and the cognitive versus motivational bases of bias in the use of base rates.     

Insight-oriented group psychotherapy of latency-age children in an acute care setting

Traditional approaches to group therapy with latency-age children have stressed activity and nonverbal therapeutic interventions. These approaches originated in the 1940s with Slavson's activity aroup therapy. A review of the literature of the past 25 years reveals that many clinicians have increasingly employed verbal techniques with latencyage groups. Most such reports describe groups for latency-age out-patients. In this paper, a verbal, interpretive technique for group therapy with latency-age inpatients is described. Clinical vignettes are included to illustrate this technique. Our experience suggests that such a technique can become an integral part of the inpatient treatment program for the latency-age child.     

A longitudinal study of the effects of various crime prevention strategies on criminal victimization,fear of crime,and psychological distress

Examined the effects of precautionary behavior on subsequent criminal victimization, fear of crime, and psychological distress. A sample of 538 adults was interviewed three times at 6-month intervals. Four different aspects of precaution were assessed: vigilance (alertness), locks (access control), neighbors (informal cooperation), and professionals (formal programs). In logistic regressions that controlled for 14 risk factors, precaution had no preventive effects on the occurrence of subsequent crimes. LISREL models revealed that use of neighbors was the only precaution not to increase fear of crime, although both locks and neighbors showed a capacity to buffer the effects of fear on generalized distress. It was concluded that the most promising strategy was protective neighboring. Altogether, however, the promotion of citizen-initiated prevention appears highly inadequate as a policy response to problems of crime and fear.     

On the Relation Between Time Perception and the Timing of Motor Action: Evidence for a Temporal Oscillator Controlling the Timing of Movement

Studies of time estimation have provided evidence that human time perception is determined by an internal clock containing a temporal oscillator and have also provided estimates of the frequency of this oscillator (Treisman, Faulkner, Naish, & Brogan, 1992; Treisman & Brogan, 1992). These estimates were based on the observation that when the intervals to be estimated are accompanied by auditory clicks that recur at certain critical rates, perturbations in time estimation occur. To test the hypothesis that the mechanisms that underlie the perception of time and those that control the timing of motor performance are similar, analogous experiments were performed on motor timing, with the object of seeing whether evidence for a clock would be obtained and if so whether its properties resemble those of the time perception clock. The prediction was made that perturbations in motor timing would be seen at the same or similar critical auditory click rates. The experiments examined choice reaction time and typing. The results support the hypothesis that a temporal oscillator paces motor performance and that this oscillator is similar to the oscillator underlying time perception. They also provide an estimate of the characteristic frequency of the oscillator.     

Beliefs about condoms and accessibility of condom intentions in Hispanic and African American youth

The construct accessibility model (CAM) holds that constructs are most likely to influence behavior when they are accessible in memory. While the theory of reasoned action sees intention as an important determinant of behavior, the CAM predicts that the intention to act upon a given health behavior is not likely to be acted upon unless the intention is in an accessible state. Therefore, people who frequently talk about or think about using condoms are likely to have condom related constructs available and use them when needed. This paper reports findings from the pilot phase of a project to identify beliefs which influence condom use in Hispanic and African-American youth living in Detroit. 15 male and 15 female Hispanics and 17 male and 17 female African-Americans aged 15-21 years of mean and median age 18.5, were interviewed face-to-face in 1989 with the goal of identifying condom beliefs which may influence their condom use. 80-82% of male participants, 53% of Hispanic females, and 100% of Black females had experienced sexual intercourse, with age at first intercourse ranging between 13.1 and 16.5 years. 88% of Black women and 7% of Hispanic women were pregnant at the interview. Regarding participants' level of preventive knowledge, all but 1 recently immigrated Hispanic female knew HIV was transmitted by needles and sexual intercourse. 87% of Hispanics and 94% of African-Americans responded that condoms protect against AIDS, but only 13% of Hispanics and 47% of African-Americans knew that nonlatex condoms do not. Some participants expressed concern that condoms reduce sensitivity and/or break during intercourse. Controlling for sexual activity, 25% of Hispanic females, 83% of Hispanic males, 71% of African-American females, and 80% of African-American males had ever used a condom; no Hispanic and 14% of Blacks reported using them consistently in the 12 month period preceding the interview. With 100% of African-American males and 97% of Black females reporting thinking about using condoms compared to 80% of Hispanics, the study findings suggest that condom intentions are more accessible in African-Americans than among Hispanics.