Evaluating ecological,behavioral, and process consultation interventions

The present study evaluated the differential effectiveness of conceptually distinct consultation programs (ecological, behavioral, and process) in inner-city elementary schools. Program children, evidencing acting-out problems, were monitored through baseline, treatment, and follow-up phases, using an observational format incorporating behavioral, process, and ecological dimensions. Significant reductions in observed and rated behavioral problems occurred only in classes provided behavioral consultation. Significant increases in achievement scores were noted for children provided process consultation. Few consistent changes were noted for those in the ecological and control classes. The teachers rated the behavioral and process consultation approaches as most beneficial and helpful.     

Children's understanding of conversational principles

Sixteen preschool, first-, and third-grade children were presented with short stories ending with a verbal statement by a story character. Two alternative ending statements were provided. One alternative violated a postulate (H. P. Grice, 1975, in P. Cole & J. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and Semantics (Vol. 3), New York: Academic Press) or a reasonable request condition (D. Gordon & G. Lakoff, 1971, Conversational postulates, papers from the seventh regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, University of Chicago, Department of Linguistics), while the other alternative did not. The child's task was to choose the “funny or silly“ ending, i.e., the violation. Data analysis showed that 100% of the third-graders, 83% of the first-graders, and 19% of the preschoolers performed with significant (P < .02) accuracy. These results suggest that children's understanding of conversational principles improves considerably between preschool and first grade. There were no significant differences among four types of conversational principles examined.     

On signalling that it's your turn to speak

The operation of a “speaker-state signal” in two-person, face-to-face conversations is hypothesized. Display of this signal by an auditor appears to indicate, among other things, that he is claiming the speaking turn, differentiating this action from a “back-channel behavior” by which he merely acknowledges some portion of the speaker's message. The signal also appears to play a part in the resolution of situations in which both participants simultaneously claim the speaking turn. The signal is defined as the display of at least one of a set of four behavioral cues, two in paralanguage and two in body motion.     

Training cooperation in the Prisoner's Dilemma

Female Ss' choices in two types of mixed-motive game situations were used to select Ss who had predominantly Own Gain and Ss who had predominantly Relative Gain goals. On the basis of simple reward notions, it was predicted that the former but not the latter would change from competitive to cooperative responding in decomposed Prisoner's Dilemma game situations when interacting with a conditionally cooperative other. Corresponding yoked controls were not expected to become cooperative. The availability of social comparison with an outcome which was smaller than the mutually cooperative outcome but larger than the mutually competitive out-come was expected to lead Own Gain Ss to more rapid learning of cooperation but not to affect the responses of corresponding yoked controls or of Relative Gain Ss. A 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 factorial design was used in which the factors were goal orientation (Own Gain vs Relative Gain), strategy of the other (conditionally cooperative vs yoked control), the availability vs unavailability of the social comparison, and trials. The results strongly supported each of the expectations. The results were discussed in terms of how the operation of the reward mechanism would be affected by the operation of some other social psychological processes.     

An informational analysis of actors' and observers' belief attributions in a role-playing situation

An actor's belief in a proposition was inferred by both the actor himself and an observer on the basis of information concerning (a) the actor's preparation and delivery of a speech on the proposition to an unseen audience, and (b) the audience's belief in the proposition. The availability of this information to judges was systematically varied. The position advocated by the actor in his speech and the audience's opinion affected both the actor's belief in the test proposition and the belief attributed to the actor by a disinterested observer. However, neither effect depended upon whether or not other belief-relevant information was also available. These results were interpreted as more consistent with a summative model of information integration than with an averaging model. Actors' behavior had similar effects upon both actors' estimates of how the audience would judge their beliefs and observers' actual estimates of these beliefs. However, these effects were both greater than the effect of their behavior on their own estimates of their beliefs. The apparent strength of the audience's belief in the target proposition had a positive influence upon both actors' beliefs in the proposition and observers' estimates of actors' beliefs, but had a negative, or contrast effect upon actors' expectancies for how the audience would judge their beliefs. Results were more consistent with the differential perspective hypothesis of actor-observer differences proposed by Jones and Nisbett than with the hypothesis that actors and observers differentially weight the implications of their past experience in formulating their judgments. Results had additional implications for the assumptions that persons make when using their behaviors as indications of their beliefs.     

The sources of developmental differences in children's incidental processing during discrimination trials

Crane and Ross reported that second graders learned more than sixth graders about attributes made relevant after solution of a discrimination task. Here two experiments are reported that enlighten the sources of this developmental difference. Both make use of an experimental technique whereby children verbalize their hypotheses during solution of a discrimination problem. The results indicate that ten-year-olds do not learn about incidental attributes that they tested while irrelevant in the pre-solution period, but that five-year-olds and seven-year-olds do. Children of all three ages process incidental information about attributes that they did not sample pre-solution. With some qualification, the incidentally processed information is retained throughout a five-minute delay interval. The results bear on developmental trends in the distribution of attention and on theoretical accounts of incidental learning in discrimination tasks.     

Infants' discrimination of photographs of faces following redundant presentations

Infants' discrimination of photographs of faces, as indicated by fixation toward novel targets, was the criterion used to evaluate familiarization conditions designed to facilitate the exercise of selective attention. Groups of 19- and 23-week-old infants were shown either pictures of different faces of the same sex, differing poses of the same face, or repeated exposures of the face that served as a test stimulus. The older infants demonstrated differential attention to novel over familiar stimuli during subsequent recognition tests, and an examination of their responsiveness during familiarization presentations indicated differing trends of looking activity.     

Self-punitive behavior with changing percentages of reinforcement: The proper role of discrimination

Past research on self-punitive behavior has been interpreted as supporting a theoretical éxplanation based on a vicious circle rather than a discrimination hypothesis. Using rats, Melvin (1964) found that self-punitive behavior is not reduced when discrimination is aided by changing the percentage of shock trials from acquisition to extinction. This past research is inconclusive because it is based on a misinterpretation of what is the critical discrimination for extinction, namely the new response-punishment contingency. Using humans, the present study provides evidence that subjects can and do discriminate the change in percentage, but continue to show self-punitive behavior until they make the discrimination that responding results in shock rather than escape.     

Image tracing: An analysis of its effectiveness in children's pictorial discrimination learning

Previous research has shown that requiring children to trace from memory the correct member of a pictorial discrimination pair markedly facilitates performance. The experiment reported here offers support for a presumed component of this learning strategy, namely, “memory imagery.” In particular, subjects who traced directly on top of the correct picture did not perform as well as those who traced it from memory. Various theoretical explanations of the image-tracing phenomenon are considered, including depth of processing, dual coding, and frequency.     

Balance,agreement, and attraction in hypothetical social situations

Sixty subjects rated hypothetical P-O-X situations involving two persons and an unspecified but important “thing” for pleasantness, tension, and consistency. The situations varied in terms of whether P and O liked or disliked each other and whether P and O agreed or disagreed regarding X. Half of the subjects rated eight situations used by Gutman and Knox (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1972, 24, 351–357) in which a unit relation was induced between P and O by describing them as necessarily having to continue interacting with one another in the future. The other half of the subjects rated situations that were identical to those of the unit condition, except that stipulation of continued interaction was omitted, so that no unit relation was specifically induced. Results showed that preferences for agreement and attraction were stronger for pleasantness and tension ratings than for consistency ratings, while the preference for balance was stronger for consistency ratings than for pleasantness and tension ratings. When no unit relation was specified, the balance preference increased, whereas the attraction preference decreased. Moreover, the effect of attraction decreased more from the unit to the no unit condition for pleasantness than for tension ratings and more for tension than for consistency ratings. The results underscore the need to consider the influence of both the described characteristics of hypothetical social situations and the type of dependent measure employed on the weighting of preferences for balance, agreement, and attraction.     

Effects of defensiveness and self-actualization on a Herzberg replication

Two hundred workers were tested for self-actualization, internal vs external locus-of-control, repression vs sensitization, need for approval, and the tendency to attribute job satisfaction and dissatisfaction to motivators and hygienes. Results indicated that self-actualization is related to the attribution of satisfaction to both motivators and hygienes and that external locus of control, sensitization, and low need for approval are related to the attribution of dissatisfaction to both motivators and hygienes. Discussion includes a caution on the design of Herzberg replications and a suggestion that attribution of job feelings may be a function, in part, of personality variables affecting only a good or only a bad feeling.     

Internal external control of reinforcement as a determinant of study habits and academic attitudes

This study tested Rotter's hypothesis that internals would show more achievement-striving behaviors than externals using a direct measure of such behavior. Rotter's I-E scale and the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA) were administered to 123 male and 130 female undergraduate subjects. Significant sex differences were found on the SSHA scales but not on the I-E scale. Results indicated significant differences between internals and externals within each sex in terms of the average SSHA profiles and the individual SSHA scales. Using H. L. Mirels' (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1970, 34, 226–228) I-E subscales, similar results were obtained with the personal-control scale but not the political-control scale. Results provide additional evidence supporting the multidimensional interpretation of the I-E scale.     

Processing the information contained in another's behavior

This study investigates attributions based on behavior congruent with situational demands (in-role) and those based on behavior incongruent with situational demands (out-of-role). By analyzing these processes in terms of a Bayesian inference model, it was possible to determine (a) the diagnostic values observers intially assign to behaviors, (b) the actual informational impact of these behaviors, and (c) the degree of optimality in processing information contained therein. The main results can be summarized as follows: (1) The diagnostic value and actual informational impact of out-of-role behaviors were much higher than those of inrole behaviors. (2) Information about out-of-role behaviors was less optimally processed than information about in-role behaviors. (3) Observers assigned smaller diagnostic values to behaviors which were described in great detail than to behaviors which were described in summary statements. (4) Observers' attitudes influenced their initial beliefs about the actors but not the processing of new information about the actor. (5) The Bayesian inference model predicted observers' inferences reasonably well.     

Stimulus control in a simple instrumental task: The role of internal and external stimuli

Two experiments using rats in a straight alley runway task tested the hypothesis that standard stimuli such as tones and lights (“external” stimuli) and schedule-generated aftereffect stimuli (“internal” stimuli) operate similarly and are similarly subject to the compounding rules specified by R. A. Rescorla and A. R. Wagner (In A. Black & W. Prokasy (Eds.), Classical conditioning II: Current theory and research. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1972). The experimental task was an instrumental analog of the classic blocking experiment (L. J. Kamin, In M. R. Jones (Ed.). In Experiment 1, blocking of an external discriminative stimulus by a different asymptotic discrimination was accomplished. In Experiment 2, blocking of an internal stimulus discrimination by an asymptotic external stimulus discrimination was obtained. The present results support the view that internal and external stimuli are indeed similar and function in the same manner with regard to blocking of stimulus control.     

Audience reaction as a determinant of the speaker's self-persuasion

This paper tests effects of audience feedback on speaker attitudes. One hundred and seven male subjects with initial beliefs on both sides of an issue (women's role) were assigned to speak for or against their own position; then an “audience” provided one of three types of feedback (speaker was sincere, speaker was insincere, no feedback) in a 2 × 2 × 3 design. Subjects who received sincere feedback showed greater change in the direction of their speech than did those who received insincere feedback. No feedback treatments resulted in intermediate change. This sincere > no feedback > insincere ordering of means held for both pro- and counterattitudinal speakers and for both pretest attitudes. A main effect for pretest attitude was also obtained. Two additional control groups allow for a separate analysis of the effects of (1) preparing and delivering the speech, and (2) audience reaction to the speech.     

Female preferences for male physiques

A pair comparison design was used to gather information concerning female preferences for male physiques. By independently varying the size of one of four body areas (the arms, upper trunk, lower trunk, or legs), 19 male silhouettes were constructed. Thurstone scale values indicating relative preferences among these silhouettes were generated for each of 64 female subjects. Correlations were calculated between subject variables, e.g., own physical appearance, personal habits, male and female sex-role attitudes, etc., and the underlying preference factors for male physiques. While the bulk of the significant correlations were low, accounting for approximately 5–10% of the variance, the general trend of the results suggest that women's preferences for male physiques can be summarized in terms of feminine and masculine sex-role stereotypes. Women who are traditionally feminine show a preference for traditionally masculine physiques, i.e., tapering V physiques, while less traditional women express more nonstereotyped preferences. It is also suggested that a female's preferences for male physiques may serve as an initial delimiter in narrowing the field of eligibles in heterosexual pairing.     

The layman's use of trait and behavioral information to predict behavior

This study investigated conditions that determine subjects' preferences for information about another person's traits versus his specific past behavior in order to predict his future behavior. The similarity-dissimilarity between the situation for which past behavior was available and the one to which predictions had to be made strongly influenced the choice of specific behavioral information versus more general trait information. As expected, behavioral information was preferred most when the situation to which behavior had to be predicted was highly similar to the one for which the past behavioral data were available. On the other hand, more general trait information was preferred in predicting to situations that were not directly similar to those for which past behavioral information was available. The effect of the temporal span covered by available information was also explored.