Intermittent punishment of SΔ responding in matching to sample

Incorrect matching responses of two pigeons on matching to sample were either continuously (CRF) or intermittently (FR) followed by a time out (TO). The matching accuracy was examined as a function of both TO duration and TO frequency (ratio size). With intermediate TO durations (10 sec, 1 min), accuracy increased as the frequency of TO increased. With an extremely short (1 sec) and an extremely long (10 min) TO duration, accuracy was poor over the entire range of frequencies.     

Deconstructing the Time-Out: What Do Mothers Understand About a Common Disciplinary Procedure?

Time-out (TO) is one of the most common and effective disciplinary tactics used to address problem behavior; however, parents rate TO as one of the least useful behavior modification techniques. This may be due to a discrepancy between empirically supported TO procedures and how mothers are actually conducting TO. Fifty-five mothers were asked to define TO, provide information on how they conduct TO, and identify errors in TO procedures. Results indicate that maternal knowledge and implementation of TO differs considerably from the empirical ideal, potentially impacting the utility and frequency of TO usage in the home to address child problem behaviors.     

Changes in movement variables associated with transient overshoot of the final position

Transient overshoot (TO), which is assessed as the distance between the movement amplitude and the final position, was measured in a series of rapid, discrete elbow flexion movements performed under different distance and loading conditions by 7 participants. A positive relationship was found between kinematic variables (peak velocity, peak acceleration and deceleration, and the symmetry ratio) and the magnitude of TO, particularly in short movements performed against a light load. The relationships between TO and electromyographic (EMG) variables were low and mainly insignificant. Thus, TO contributes to the variability of rapid, discrete movements and therefore should be taken into account as an additional parameter in studies of the scaling of movement variables with movement mechanical conditions. TO could also represent a consequence of mechanical properties of the single-joint system rather than an independently programmed primary submovement.     

Discriminated timeout avoidance in pigeons: the roles of added stimuli

Two experiments examined pigeons' postponement of a signaled extinction period, or timeout (TO), from an ongoing schedule of response-dependent food delivery. A concurrent-operant procedure was used in which responses on one (food) key produced food according to a variable-interval schedule and responses on a second (postponement) key delayed the next scheduled TO according to a response-TO (R-TO) interval. A series of response-independent stimulus changes on the food key temporally partitioned the R-TO into three equal segments (S1, S2, and S3). Postponement responses, in addition to postponing TO, also reinstated S1, the stimulus correlated with the greatest temporal distance from TO. In Experiment 1, the R-TO interval was manipulated systematically across blocks of sessions (conditions) at a given ratio of R-TO:TO duration. This R-TO:TO ratio was manipulated across blocks of conditions (phases). Postponement response rates varied inversely with R-TO interval in each phase. Changes in the R-TO:TO ratio did not produce consistent differences except at the 1:10 ratio for some pigeons, where it disrupted postponement responding in some conditions. Most of the postponement responses occurred in the presence of S2 and S3, the stimuli most proximal to TO, whereas most of the food-key responses occurred in S1. In Experiment 2, the R-TO contingencies were systematically manipulated in the presence of the time-correlated stimuli. In one set of conditions, the R-TO contingencies were made either ineffective or less effective in the presence of one or more stimuli. Postponement responses typically shifted to stimuli in the presence of which responses were relatively more effective. Postponement responses decreased markedly when the added stimuli were removed, and then recovered when the stimuli were reinstated. Results from both experiments indicate that the added stimuli in a discriminated TO-avoidance procedure serve predominately discriminative functions, delineating periods during which behavior is maximally effective. The results parallel those obtained in shock-avoidance procedures, providing further evidence that TO functions as an aversive stimulus.     

Changes in Movement Variables Associated With Transient Overshoot of the Final Position

Transient overshoot (TO), which is assessed as the distance between the movement amplitude and the final position, was measured in a series of rapid, discrete elbow flexion movements performed under different distance and loading conditions by 7 participants. A positive relationship was found between kinematic variables (peak velocity, peak acceleration and deceleration, and the symmetry ratio) and the magnitude of TO, particularly in short movements performed against a light load. The relationships between TO and electromyographic (EMG) variables were low and mainly insignificant. Thus, TO contributes to the variability of rapid, discrete movements and therefore should be taken into account as an additional parameter in studies of the scaling of movement variables with movement mechanical conditions. TO could also represent a consequence of mechanical properties of the single-joint system rather than an independently programmed primary submovement.     

Electrophysiological measurement during a time-out procedure in stuttering and normal speakers

Eight stuttering and eight normal speaking subjects were given a time-out (TO) procedure during reading. Simultaneous measures of heart rate and galvanic skin response were obtained in order to infer anxiety level during the TO period. Multivariate and univariate analysis of variance procedures indicated that stutterers, when compared to normals, initially relax during a TO period compared to base rate levels. Near the latter part of the TO period stutterers anticipate the onset of speech and become relatively more anxious. This anxiety level increases even more during the actual speech intervals. Normal speakers resent the intrusion of the TO interval and become more anxious during this period.     

Time-Out Training Without Put-Backs,Spanks, or Restraint: A Brief Report of Deferred Time-Out

We demonstrate the effectiveness of a procedure to increase compliance in young children who are resistant to Time-out (TO). Parents of two boys, 3 and 4 years of age, were unable to enforce TO without resorting to physical guidance and restraint. With deferred TO (DTO), if a child resists TO, caregivers no longer interact with the child or provide the child with tangibles or activities that the child cannot access independently. When the child requests a preferred item or activity from the caregiver that cannot be obtained independently, the child must first serve TO. Once TO is served, the caregiver may fulfill the child's request. Data suggest that DTO reduces the latency between the parental TO command and compliance with TO without put-backs, spanks, or restraint.     

Organisational effects of neonatal and pubertal testosterone on sexually differentiated behaviours in the open-field and head-dip apparatus

On days 1 and 4 after birth rats were injected with 100 μg of testosterone propionate (TP) or vehicle, and at 35 days of age they were injected intramuscularly with 400 μg of testosterone oenanthate (TO), a long acting androgen, or the vehicle. There were four groups (oil-oil, TP-oil, oil-TO, TP-TO), each group subdivided by sex. Females treated with testosterone neonatally or at puberty were masculinised or defeminised on adult open-field behaviours, being less active and rearing less than oil-oil females; the oil-TO group also defaecated significantly more than controls. The TP-TO female group was indistinguishable from the oil-TO group. In a second experiment, sex differences were found in head-dipping behaviour as well as in activity and rearing. Females treated with TP or TO reared less and defaecated more than controls, and TP also decreased activity, but neither hormone treatment affected head-dipping behaviour. There is thus a peripubertal as well as a neonatal period when testosterone can act organisationally to masculinise or defeminise female rats. Potentiation between effects of neonatal and pubertal androgens was found on female body weights. TO alone had no effect, but TP-TO females were significantly heavier than controls at 90 days of age and by 130 days of age the TP-oil group was also heavier than controls.     

Gender differences in STEM undergraduates' vocational interests: People–thing orientation and goal affordances

This study addressed why women have greater representation in some STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields compared to others by linking two theoretical approaches, people–thing orientation (PO, TO) and role congruity theory, which emphasizes occupation goal affordances associated with traditionally feminine and masculine roles. Vocational interest and goal affordance ratings (having a positive social impact, family, and occupation status) for occupations characterized as working with people or things were assessed in 1848 students (42% female; 81% white non-Hispanic) majoring in biology (gender balanced), non-biology STEM (male-dominated), and female-dominated health fields. Participant PO and TO interests were also collected. Results indicated that non-biology STEM majors showed lower PO and higher TO interests than biology and health majors. Non-biology STEM majors also endorsed PO and TO interests at similar levels, but the other two major groups indicated higher PO than TO. People Jobs were perceived to more likely afford goals related to family and positive social impact; whereas Thing Jobs were perceived to more likely afford status goals. Interest in People Jobs was similar for women in both STEM major groups. Female non-biology STEM majors were equally interested in People and Thing Jobs; whereas biology majors preferred People Jobs. PO, TO, and goal affordance ratings independently predicted interest in People and Thing Jobs, and gender accounted for very little additional variance. Taken together, the findings point to the importance of using both person–thing orientation and role congruity theory when explaining varied gender representations in different STEM fields.     

Reducing Time-Out Assignments for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders in a Self-Contained Classroom

This study assessed the impact of a class-wide time-out/re-directing strategy on (a) the frequency of teacher-assigned time-outs and (b) the time students spent in disciplinary sanctions. Twelve students with emotional/behavioral disorders, enrolled in a self-contained elementary classroom were taught an alternative time-out strategy (Active Response Beads-Time Out), while teachers were taught a re-directing strategy, in an attempt to decrease the amount of student's time spent in time-out (TO) and the number of TO assigned by staff. Using a multiple baseline design across academic classroom periods, results showed that Active Response Beads Time-Out (ARB-TO) and teacher re-directions decreased the total time spent in time-out and number of TO assigned across the three class periods. Results maintained at one, two and four week follow-up sessions.     

Discriminated time-out avoidance in pigeons

Performances of two pigeons were studied on a concurrent discriminated TO avoidance-VR schedule. Each avoidance response postponed a TO from a VR 140 for a specified RS interval. The warning stimulus on the TO avoidance schedule was a discontinuous clock which consisted of a series of discrete color changes that varied systematically with the RS interval. Experimental manipulations established that the avoidance behavior was under the control of the avoidance schedule and the discontinuous clock. Five-min TOs maintained higher avoidance rates than shorter TO durations; a 15-min TO maintained less avoidance responding than the 5-min TO. Chlorpromazine hydrochloride increased TO avoidance behavior and decreased concurrent VR behavior.     

Self‐specific Optimism Bias in Belief Updating Is Associated with High Trait Optimism

People learn more from new information when it leads to favorable future outlooks and thus can maintain optimism despite conflicting evidence. In two studies (N = 20 and 26), we investigated whether this optimism bias in belief updating is self‐specific by modifying a recently introduced learning paradigm. In each trial, participants had to estimate the probability of experiencing a negative future event, were then presented with the population base rate of that event, and were subsequently asked for a second, updated estimation. In half of the 88 trials with varying events, estimations were made for oneself, in the other half for a similar other. We tested whether the updates (differences between the first and second estimates) following undesirable base rate were lower than those following desirable base rates, and whether this difference was greater for self relative to other. In both studies, the overall results support the presence of a self‐specific optimism bias in belief updating. However, taking into account trait optimism (TO) as a moderator variable revealed that this was the case only in participants with high TO, whereas those with low TO showed optimistic belief updating for both self and other. In Study 2, we additionally controlled for possible misclassifications of base rate desirability. Taken together, the optimism bias in belief updating was demonstrated by a selective neglect of unfavorable information. A self‐specific influence of this bias in individuals with high TO may ultimately cause the impression of a more positive future outlook relative to others. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of two types of response-contingent time-out on compliance and oppositional behavior of children.

The present study examined the effects of two time-out (TO) procedures, within-room and out-of-room, on compliance and oppositional behavior. Subjects were 24 nonclinic 5-year old children and their mothers. Mother-child pairs were assigned to one of three groups (within-room time-out, out-of-room time-out, or control) and observed in a laboratory setting under each of three experimental conditions: pretraining, training, and posttraining. The results indicated that, relative to the control group, both out-of-room and within-room TO reduced oppositional behavior and increased compliance. The two time-out procedures were equally effective in changing the two target behaviors; however, the within-room approach required significantly more administrations of time-out than the out-of-room technique.     

Escape from SD associated with fixed-ratio reinforcement

Throughout ascending and descending fixed-ratio (FR) sequences, rats were allowed to terminate the FR stimulus control by pressing a time-out (TO) lever. To minimize chance or accidental responses on this second lever, three presses were required to produce the 30-sec S^Δ period. As FR performance became more “strained,” there was an increased predisposition to escape from the time-in stimulus complex. The generality of this finding was extended by obtaining recoverability (independent of the direction of stimulus change) of the FR-TO function in the descending series. Typically, escapes were produced only during the post-reinforcement pause; however, under a mixed FR FR schedule, their occurrence shifted to a point within the inter-reinforcement interval corresponding to the unreinforced completion of the lower ratio component. It appears that the point where the rat can discriminate the size of the ratio requirement will be the place where TOs are imposed. This inference was supported by a substantial increase in TO frequency accompanying a shift from CRF to extinction on the FR lever. Finally, the escape lever was placed on a progressively increasing FR schedule and later extinguished to demonstrate that the TO condition was in fact reinforcing.     

How to Become Famous: On Simonton's Greatness: Who Makes History and Why

Many studies reveal that adaptors are more ready to accept the status quo, whereas innovators are less likely to do so. This raises the question: Do adaptors and innovators subscribe to opposing values? A study is conducted with the following hypotheses. H1 predicts that adaptors are more likely to subscribe to CONSERVATION values like security, conformity, and tradition. H2 predicts that innovators are more likely to subscribe to OPENNESS TO CHANGE values like self-direction and stimulation. The respondents consisted of 243 students from Singapore with an average age of 17.9 years and 195 students from Australia with an average age of 19.1 years. These respondents answered a survey that contained the Kirton Adaption-Innovation (KAI) inventory and the Schwartz value survey. For the Singapore sample, KAI was negatively correlated with CONSERVATION: r = –.39, p < .0001; but it was positively correlated with OPENNESS TO CHANGE: r = .14, p < .05. For the Australian sample, KAI was negatively correlated with CONSERVATION: r = –.15, p < .05; but it was positively correlated with OPENNESS TO CHANGE: r = .32, p < .0001. A standard regression analysis indicated that CONSERVATION was the most significant predictor (β = –.43, p < .0001) of KAI, followed by OPENNESS TO CHANGE (β = .37, p < .0001) and Nationality (β = .21, p < .0001). The significant finding associated with Nationality could be attributed to the fact that the Singaporean respondents were a highly select and innovative group of individuals who were aspiring to work in the media industry.     

Punishment of an extinguishing shock-avoidance response by time-out from positive reinforcement

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of punishment by time-out from positive reinforcement on the extinction of discriminated shock-avoidance responding. Subjects were trained initially to bar press for food on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement and, concurrently, to avoid shock at the onset of a warning signal. Experiment I compared avoidance extinction performance under no punishment and when avoidance responding resulted in a 30-sec TO from reinforced appetitive responding. In Exp II, the contingent use of TO punishment was compared with its random, or noncontingent use. The results of both experiments showed that in the absence of punishment, avoidance extinction was characterized by short latencies and nearly 100% avoidance responding. Avoidance responding in extinction was little affected by noncontingent TO punishment. When TO was made contingent upon avoidance responding, however, avoidance latencies immediately increased and the frequency of avoidance responses subsequently decreased to zero.     

On advancing behavior analysis in the treatment and prevention of battering: Commentary on Myers

MYERS OFFERS AN IMPORTANT CHALLENGE TO BEHAVIOR ANALYSTS: eliminating the battering of women. In this commentary, we extend the conceptual model advocated by Myers, urge a bidirectional approach that focuses more on the battered woman and less on the battering man, caution against the indiscriminate use of marital therapy approaches, and argue that the most important contributions in the field may come from behavioral prevention rather than treatment interventions.     

Discriminative functions based on a delay in the reinforcement relation

Pigeons were shown to come under discrimination control when the S^D and S^Δ were temporally separated from reinforcement and non-reinforcement. S^D and S^Δ consisted of distinctive key illuminations presented separately. Responding on an FR 5 in the presence of S^D or S^Δ produced a third stimulus containing a schedule requirement. If this third (or interpolated) stimulus was preceded by S^D, responding in its presence produced reinforcement followed by a time-out (TO). If, on the other hand, the third stimulus was preceded by S^Δ, responding produced TO alone. In this fashion, the same stimulus and the same response requirement were imposed between S^D and the reinforcement as between S^Δ and the TO. In Experiment I, the schedule employed during the interpolated stimulus was FR; in Experiment II, FI. Discrimination reversal was accomplished in both experiments.     

Reviews

TO THE LENGTHS OF GOD. TRUTHS AND THE ECUMENICAL AGE by B. Brinkman SJ
THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION 1875–1980 by Alan P.F. Sell
DOMINIC: THE PREACHER by Barbara Cahill OP
A SENSE OF THE SACRED. A BIOGRAPHY OF BEDE GRIFFITHS, by K. Spink
JOURNEY TO FREEDOM. THE PATH TO SELF-ESTEEM FOR THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE by J.G. Sullivan
UNDERSTANDING MARITAIN: PHILOSOPHER AND FRIEND. Edited by Deal W. Hudson and Matthew J. Mancini     

REVIEWS

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION: INTIMACY IN CONTEXT
The Psychology of Intimacy. K aren J. P rager .
WOMEN'S RELATIONSHIPS IN BLACK AND WHITE
Divided Sisters: Bridging the Gap Between Black Women and White Women. M idge W ilson and K athy R ussell .
COMING TO TERMS AND MOVING FORWARD
Psychology and Sexual Orientation: Coming to Terms. J ane S. B ohan .
COMING TO TERMS AND MOVING FORWARD
Bisexuality: The Psychology and Politics of an Invisible Minority. B eth A. F irestein (Ed.).
TWO VERSIONS OF FEMINIST PSYCHOLOGY
The Social Psychology of Gender. S hawn M eghan B urn .
TWO VERSIONS OF FEMINIST PSYCHOLOGY
Feminist Social Psychologies: International Perspectives. S ue W ilkinson . (Ed.).
WOMEN'S LEISURE—ANOTHER IMPORTANT SPACE FOR RESISTANCE TO TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES
Women, Leisure and the Family in Contemporary Society: A Multinational Perspective. N icole S amuel (Ed.).