A cognitive behaviorist approach to the study of animal behavior

Traditional psychological approaches to animal learning and behavior have involved either the atheoretical behaviorist approach proposed by B. F. Skinner (1938), in which input-output relations are described in response to environmental manipulations, or the theoretical behaviorist approach offered by C. L Hull (1943), in which associations mediated by several hypothetical constructs and intervening variables are formed between stimuli and responses. Recently, the application of a cognitive behaviorist approach to animal learning and behavior has been found to have considerable value as a research tool. This perspective has grown out of E. C. Tolman's cognitive approach to learning in which behavior is mediated by mechanisms that are not directly observable but can be inferred from the results of critical experiments. In the present article, the author presents several examples of the successful application of the cognitive behaviorist approach. In each case, the experiments have been designed to distinguish between more traditional mechanisms and those mediated by hypothesized internal representations. These examples were selected because the evidence suggests that some form of active cognitive organization is needed to account for the behavioral results.     

A method for the objective study of tool-using behavior

Key pecking for food was shaped in four crows within a conventional operant-conditioning test chamber. When pecking stabilized, a metal screen with openings 2.5 cm high by 1.0 cm wide, was placed over the response key, so that the crow could still see but could no longer peck the key. At the same time, several dozen wooden matchsticks, which could be used to operate the key, were placed in the test chamber. The crows made no use of these during 50 to 75 hr of exposure to this condition. Subsequently, the behavior of two crows was shaped so that they approached the matchsticks, picked one up in their beaks, approached the response key with the matchstick in their beak, and finally operated the response key by poking the matchstick through the screen. This shaping procedure was ineffective with the two other crows. However, these birds were successfully trained through positional fading of the tool. This involved suspending a metal rod from the ceiling so that it hung directly in front of the response key, and the crow had only to peck it to operate the key. Then, the rod was gradually lowered by lengthening its tether until it eventually rested on the floor of the test chamber. The principal advantage of this methodology is the automatic recording of the terminal (tool-using) behavior under study.     

The stages-of-change approach for prosocial behavior: Message tailoring to encourage blood donation

This research applied the Trans-Theoretical Model and the Construal Level Theory to framing messages for blood donation. People can be at different degrees of readiness for blood donation and are, therefore, dispersed into discrete stages of change. These stages of change correspond to varying psychological distances that define the extent to which a person's thinking on the suggested behavior is abstract (high construal level) or concrete (low construal level). Differences in psychological distance thus affect whether individuals focus on how easy it is to donate blood (feasibility) or on why it is important to donate blood (desirability) in the ad message. This research conducted two studies using a 2 (types of message: feasibility vs. desirability—manipulated) × 3 (stages of change: pre-contemplation vs. contemplation/preparation vs. action/maintenance—measured) between-subject, randomly assigned factorial design experiment. The results of both studies showed that for individuals in the pre-contemplation stage, desirability, rather than feasibility, messages were more likely to produce favorable attitudes toward the ad, its sponsoring organization, and blood donation behavior itself, whereas the opposite was true for those in the action/maintenance stage. Those differences were weakened or not observed for those in the contemplation/preparation stage. These patterns of interaction were not replicated for behavioral intention. Collectively, these findings suggest that tailoring a message according to the intended audience's stage of change should promote positive attitudes for blood donation. Meanwhile, future research is needed to bridge the attitude-behavior gap when it comes to blood donation.     

Perceived susceptibility and self-protective behavior: a field experiment to encourage home radon testing

Tested in a field experiment (N = 647) the hypothesis that perceptions of personal susceptibility are important in decisions to test one's home for radioactive radon gas. Experimental group subjects received a personal telephone call to tell them they lived in a high-risk area and a personal letter to reinforce the telephone message. After the intervention, experimental subjects were significantly more likely than minimal-treatment subjects to acknowledge the possibility of high radon levels in their homes. Perceptions of susceptibility and illness severity were significantly correlated with orders of radon test kits and with testing intentions. Nevertheless, there were no differences between groups in test orders or intentions. Results are discussed in terms of the difficulty of getting people to acknowledge susceptibility and the factors other than risk perceptions that influence self-protective behavior.     

Toward an animal model of type A behavior

Time estimation and dominance tests were used to differentiate the behavior of Mongolian gerbils to be analogous to Type A and Type B human behavior. Preliminary classification of animals as "Type A" or "B" was based upon differential performance on DRL 20-sec and DRL 60-sec reinforcement schedules. To retain their preliminary classification, Type A and Type B animals were required to be dominant and subordinate, respectively, in matches with each of three same-sex animals of opposite behavioral classification. Following classification, breeding pairs were constituted and classification procedures were repeated with two succeeding generations. Animals that exhibited Type A timing "won" significantly more dominance matches than did Type B animals. Incidence rates of Type A and Type B behavior in the two selectively bred generations were significantly greater than frequencies in the original stock generation. The usefulness of the present animal model for investigating the association of Type A behavior with coronary heart disease is discussed.     

A method to analyze the spatial distribution of behavior

This article presents a method comprising an experimental environment, infrared detection system, data collection and processing software, behavior categories, and suggested quantitative analysis methods for studying some spatial properties of behavior. In the chamber, the location of a rat is determined at regular intervals by a 24 × 24 grid of infrared beams; the status of each line used interactively to determine changes in the environment are stored on disk for later analysis. From the status of the receptors, the computer decodes the location of objects in the chamber, and a binary 576-cell matrix is obtained for each sample. The series of matrices allows a number of behavior categories to be defined includingexploration, activity, andtime allocation. Exploration curves and time allocation surfaces are compared using a goodness-of-fit test; activity is assessed with time-series methods. Potential applications to psychological, pharmacological, and ethological research are considered.     

Persistent depression of rearing behavior in rats after extensive septal lesions.

Extensive septal lesions produced a persistent (76 days) reduction in rearing behavior which was not directly attributable to altered deprivation states, emotionality, activity levels, or competing behaviors and which occurred in familiar as well as various novel testing environments. Changes in visual, olfactory, or conspecific stimuli ameliorated or had no effect on the lesion effect. The results indicate that the septal area is importantly involved in normal rearing behavior and that lesion-induced alterations in responsiveness to some forms of stimulation may play a modulatory role in reduced rearing. It is also suggested that the septal area may constitute a portion of a neural system responsible for the initiation of this form of response.     

A.R. luria's contribution to the study of the verbal control of behavior

Summary This paper examines Luria's contribution to research on the verbal control of behavior, which spanned from the 1930s to 1962. The speechmotor method utilized in the original Soviet experiments is reviewed, and the central methodological issues discussed. The internalization of speech is suggested as a theoretical problem yet to be adequately explained in cognitive or behaviorist theory.     

Attempts to predict intelligent behavior: II. A study of problem solving

In Experiment I a group of pupils from a secondary school was given a test of general intelligence, a test of the ability to categorize objects in a flexible way, and five different problem-solving tasks. Subjects who were successful on the problems had higher scores on the intelligence test than the rest. The Categorizing Test was not, however, a good indicator of success. In Experiment II a comparison was made between scores on different parts of the so-called Family Test. With high school pupils and university students as subjects, correlation coefficients in the neighborhood of 0.40 were found between scores when suggesting possible classifications of objects, and scores when choosing a classification to fit different sets of objects. The triangular form of the scatterplots was taken as an indication that an ability to present different interpretations of one's experience is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for success in problem-solving tasks.     

道教劝善书中的伦理思想及其教育方法

劝善书,又称善书,是产生于北宋末南宋初、盛行于明清时期的一些专门宣传伦理道德、劝人弃恶从善的小册子,其中心思想是“诸恶莫作,众善奉行”。善书的书写形式通俗易懂,有劝善文、劝善歌、劝善图说、功过格、宝卷等。这类书籍儒释道三家都有,而道教劝善书因出现的时间较早、影响较大而起了带头的作用,如被誉为“善书三圣经”的善书即是道教的《太上感应篇》、《文昌帝君阴骘文》和《关圣帝君觉世真经》,其中《太上感应篇》还被誉为“善书之祖”。在本文中,笔者主要从教育的视角以一些道教重要善书为例简要探讨其伦理思想。一、道教劝善书伦…     

Conditional reflexes as related to hypnosis and hypnotic techniques.

Hypnosis has never been adequately explained in terms of conceptual framework of most schools of psychotherapy. The psychoanalytic concept that it consists of submission and surrender of important ego functions to the therapist does not explain all observed facts. During my wartime studies and since, I have been impressed by the observation that the patient's ego is by no means powerless and defenseless, even during a deep state of trance, i.e., in states of trance sufficiently deep to eliminate awareness of painful body injuries (1965). Erickson (1954) has shown on many occasions that in resistant subjects one of the best ways to induce trance is to encourage the patient to resist as much as he can. Haley (1963) has pointed out in detail that at the beginning of any hypnotic relationship there evolves a subtle battle for "one-upmanship." These observations certainly show that surrender in the psychological sense is by no means an aspect of even the most successfully induced trance states.     

Dimensions of hypnotic depth: an exploratory study

Hypnotic depth, hypnotic susceptibility, and the relationship between the two were studied in two separate samples. In the first study, 45 aubjects were tested on the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS) and the induction part (i.e. the eye closure item) of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form A (SHSS:A). Retrospective depth reports were taken, and hypnotic responsiveness scores on the CIS was assessed. The results demonstrated significantly higher depth scores for the SHSS:A (eye closure) than for the CIS. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between hypnotic susceptibility and depth score on the CIS. In the second study, 19 subjects were again tested on the CIS and the eye closure item of the SHSS:A. As in the first study, spontaneous depth estimates were elicited. In addition, the subjects were required to estimate their experiences retrospectively according to three distinct operationalizations of hypnotic depth, i.e. depth in terms of bodily relaxation, absorption, and dissociation. Analysis of variance revealed a highly significant effect for depth measures, and a significant depth measure by hypnosis method interaction effect. Hypnotic depth defined as bodily relaxation produced the highest score, followed by absorption. The mean scores were lowest for spontaneous depth and dissociation. Again, significant correlations between susceptibility and depth reports were found.     

The human side of animal behavior

An important element of behavioral research with nonhuman animals is that insights are drawn from it about human behavior, what is called here the human side of animal behavior. This article examines the origins of comparing human behavior to that of other animals, the ways in which such comparisons are described, and considerations that arise in evaluating the validity of those comparisons. The rationale for such an approach originated in the reductionism of experimental physiology and the understanding of the commonalities of all life forms promulgated by Darwinian evolutionary biology. Added more recently were such observations as the relative simplicity of animal behavior, tempered by the constraints placed on resulting comparisons by the absence of verbal behavior in animals. The construction of comparisons of human behavior to that of animals may be framed on the basis of Skinner's (1957) distinction between the metaphorical and generic forms of the extended tact. Both ordinary and systematic comparisons of animal and human behavior are congruent with Skinner's extended tact framework. The most general consideration in evaluating comparisons of animal and human behavior is that a functional basis for the claimed similarity be established. Systematic analysis and convergent evidence also may contribute to acceptability of these comparisons. In the final analysis, however, conclusions about the human side of animal behavior are nondeductively derived and often are assessed based on their heuristic and pragmatic value. Such conclusions represent a valuable contribution to understanding the human animal and in developing practical solutions to problems of human behavior to which much of psychology is dedicated.     

A social-cognitive skills approach to the successful modification of hypnotic susceptibility

Subjects low and medium in hypnotic susceptibility were administered cognitive strategy and instructional set information and also practiced responding to test suggestions in order to enhance susceptibility. Those in one modification treatment received this information both from the experimenter and by observing a videotaped female model who responded successfully to suggestions and reported on the cognitive strategies she used to do so. Those in a second modification treatment received the information and practice but were not exposed to the model. Low and medium susceptibles in a third condition (practice alone) received a hypnotic induction procedure and practice suggestions but neither modification information nor modeling. No-treatment controls performed a filler task. All subjects were posttested on two different susceptibility scales. Information plus modeling produced significantly greater increments on all objective and subjective indices of susceptibility on both posttests than did practice-alone or control treatments. Susceptibility increments in the information without model treatment always fell between those of the model and practice-alone treatments. In the modeling treatment, over half of the initial low susceptibles and over two thirds of the initial medium susceptibles scored as high susceptibles on both posttests. These findings provide strong support for a social-cognitive skill formulation of hypnotic susceptibility.