ON THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PREFERENCE ASSESSMENT OUTCOMES AND PROGRESSIVE‐RATIO SCHEDULE ASSESSMENTS OF STIMULUS VALUE

The current study examined whether stimuli of different preference levels would be associated with different amounts of work maintained by the stimuli, as determined through progressive‐ratio schedule break points. Using a paired‐choice preference assessment, stimuli were classified as high, moderate, or low preference for 4 individuals with developmental disabilities. The stimuli were then tested three times each using a progressive‐ratio schedule (step size of 1; the break‐point criterion was 1 min). In 10 of 12 possible comparisons, higher preference stimuli produced larger break points than did lower preference stimuli.     

EMERGENCE OF REINFORCER PREFERENCE AS A FUNCTION OF SCHEDULE REQUIREMENTS AND STIMULUS SIMILARITY

Tustin (1994) recently observed that an individual's preference for one of two concurrently available reinforcers under low schedule requirements (concurrent fixed-ratio [FR] 1) switched to the other reinforcer when the schedule requirements were high (concurrent FR 10). We extended this line of research by examining preference for similar and dissimilar reinforcers (i.e., those affecting the same sensory modality and those affecting different sensory modalities). Two individuals with developmental disabilities were exposed to an arrangement in which pressing two different panels produced two different reinforcers according to progressively increasing, concurrent-ratio schedules. When two dissimilar stimuli were concurrently available (food and a leisure item), no clear preference for one item over the other was observed, regardless of the FR schedules in effect (FR 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20). By contrast, when two similar stimuli were concurrently available (two food items), a clear preference for one item emerged as the schedule requirements were increased from FR 1 to FR 5 or FR 10. These results are discussed in terms of implications for conducting preference assessments and for selecting reinforcers to be used under training conditions in which response requirements are relatively high or effortful.     

个体创造性行为的动力来源探讨

个体创造性行为的动力来源一直是心理学研究者们争论的焦点,也是创造力研究领域中最为激动人心的话题。该文综述了人格特质理论、精神分析学派、人本主义、行为主义与社会心理学取向的研究者们对这一问题的看法。结论认为创造性行为的动力来源于个体内、外两个方面,社会心理学取向的研究具有特殊的实践意义,并且提出探讨环境作用的机制是进一步研究的方向。     

汉语儿童人称代词的获得

本文作两个方面的研究。研究一用追踪录音方法记录5名半岁到3岁半幼儿获得人称代词的过程。结果表明:汉语儿童一般在1岁半到3岁半这期间逐步掌握人称代词,顺序是从“我”、“你”到“他”。研究二用实验方法探讨28名3—4岁儿童掌握单数人称代词的情况。结果表明:儿童4岁时人称代词获得有一个发展比较迅速的时期。到这一年龄阶段,儿童对人称代词的掌握已比较完善。在以上两项研究的基础上,探讨和总结了汉语儿童人称代词发展的特点和规律以及语言的普遍性。     

THE EFFECTS OF MEAL SCHEDULE AND QUANTITY ON PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIOR

We present 2 case examples that illustrate the effects of meal schedule and quantity on displays of problematic behavior. In the first example, self-injury displayed by a toddler with severe developmental delays was maintained by parent attention, but only when he was satiated for food. When he was food deprived, self-injury decreased but did not appear to be differentiated across low or high social conditions. In the second example, crying and self-injury displayed by an elementary-aged girl with severe disabilities were correlated: Both behaviors were associated with food quantity, and neither behavior was responsive to social stimuli. These results replicate and extend previous findings demonstrating that meal schedule or food quantity can affect problematic behavior. In the present studies, brief functional analyses of aberrant behavior provided useful information for interpreting distinct patterns of behavior displayed by each child. We discuss these results in terms of the concept of establishing operations.     

A PROCEDURE FOR THINNING THE SCHEDULE OF TIME-OUT

Few studies have evaluated ways to thin punishment schedules. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using variable ratio (VR) schedules to thin the time‐out schedule gradually. Warnings were used in some conditions to assist potentially with schedule thinning, but this analysis was limited. Participants were 3 young students who engaged in problem behavior during enriched time‐in periods. Dense schedules of intermittent time‐out were effective at reducing problem behavior.     

老年人短时记忆特点的研究

本工作以50名青年作对照,对240名65—90岁正常老人的短时记忆特点进行了研究。结果看到:1.在逻辑故事记忆、图象自由回忆、数字广度和指向记忆四项记忆成绩上,均有随年老而衰退的明显趋势。其中除数字广度外,其他三项记忆在入老年后(65岁至90岁)有继续减退的趋势。在逻辑故事、指向记忆和总分上还见到有65岁和70岁组、75岁和80岁组成绩接近的现象;2.老年人顺背数字成绩较好,对刺激序列中末端刺激的正确回忆率较高,均说明老年人的初级记忆受损较少;3.四项记忆成绩比较,青年组故事分节分最高,然后依次为图象自由回忆、顺背数字和指向记忆,而老年组则无此明显顺序;4.文化因素对记忆成绩有明显影响。     

决策任务反应模式对偏好反转的影响

在经典彩票问题研究的基础上,探讨了匹配和选择两种反应模式及其先后顺序对被试偏好反转的影响,以及被试性别与其偏好反转的关系。研究结果发现:(1)反应模式的变化导致偏好反转的发生;(2)偏好反转存在反应顺序效应,先匹配后选择条件下的偏好反转率显著大于先选择后匹配条件下的偏好反转率;研究结果不支持后悔理论;(3)不同性别被试在选择和匹配任务中的偏好及其反转率没有显著性差异。     

SEX-RELATED ATTITUDES AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES

First, differences in attitudes and beliefs towards masculine and feminine roles as well as legal and social facts in the U.S. are presented. Due to women's and civil rights movements those differences are changing now. However, inequalities and barriers for changing are still not completely overcome, often referring to differences in temperament and motivation between men and women which are assumed to be based on biological and/or socializing factors. In the U.S. sample, sex differences emerged on the following variables: Marriage importance (F> M), Masculinity score for self (M > F), Femininity score for self (F > M), Femininity score for ideal man (F > M), Masculinity score for ideal women (F > M) and Competitiveness (M > F). Academic orientation also influences the Educational Aspirations and Expectations (college > technical) and the Masculinity score for the ideal woman (college > technical). Suggestions are given for future research work: finding techniques to decrease sex stereotypes and focusing research on the conditions which were responsible in the past for the traditional masculine and feminine roles in the American Society and how these roles no longer are appropriate.     

THE NATURE OF PERSONAL FREEDOM

For there is a struggle for human freedom to be waged not only against external centers of irresponsible power but against those equally irresponsible internal forces which in varying degrees dominate the mind and heart of every man. Because of them, man may be free politically and economically, yet deeply enslaved. He can be free of all arbitrary external controls, yet live under the power ol internal compulsions which make of him an automaton: insatiable in his needs, inflexible in his methods, and incapable of learning intellectually or of maturing emotionally through experience. Because of these inner processes, man may be an absolute monarch or a constitutionally elected president, an abstract artist or a precise scientist, a criminal or a clergyman, yet not possess the greatest of all freedoms–the freedom to change.¹     

西方心理学发展中的若干倾向之我见

西方心理学发展过程中存在着若干思想倾向：１．个体主义,指的是在心理学的研究中仅从个全的角度出发分析人的思想与行为,忽视社会历史文化因素对人的影响;２．非理性主义,这种思维倾向把意志,情感,本能冲动、原始欲望等非理性因素看成是心理的本质,贬低理性思维的作用;３．客观主义这种思想倾向把客观性作业一种教条进行崇拜,对客观化研究的强调到了无以复加的地步,给心理学的发展带来不利的影响。