CONDUIT standards and procedures: A practical experience

Standards and procedures for the CONDUIT program are described.     

Prior experience and complex procedures

The role of prior knowledge in learning complex procedures was investigated in a transfer task in which subjects learned two related procedures in sequence. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the conceptual and structural similarity between the two procedures; in Experiment 2, we manipulated whether the order of the steps within subprocedures was the same or different during training and transfer, or whether the order of the subprocedures was the same or different. The results lead us to hypothesize that transfer in complex procedures is mediated primarily by a memory for specific steps rather than by conceptual understanding or problem solving. In particular, we were able to model the results precisely on the assumption that subjects use superficial similarity to retrieve the sequences of steps needed to perform segments of the procedure.     

The Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: Insights from Aversive Racism

Within the United States, declines in the overt expression of racial prejudice over several decades have given way to near universal endorsement of the principles of racial equality as a core cultural value. Yet, evidence of persistent and substantial disparities between Blacks and Whites remain. Here, we review research that demonstrates how the actions of even well-intentioned and ostensibly non-prejudiced individuals can inadvertently contribute to these disparities through subtle biases in decision making and social interactions. We argue that current racial attitudes of Whites toward Blacks in the United States are fundamentally ambivalent, characterized by a widespread contemporary form of racial prejudice, aversive racism , that is manifested in subtle and indirect ways, and illustrate its operation across a wide range of settings, from employment and legal decisions, to group problem-solving and everyday helping behavior. We conclude by describing research aimed at combating these biases and identify new avenues for future research.     

Procrastination: Self-regulation in Initiating Aversive Goals

Procrastination is a common phenomenon that is easily recognised as one of the behaviours involved in not doing and avoiding work. However, work motivation theories have not devoted much attention to why people don't do things at work. Just as the study of abnormal behaviour is used to understand normal behaviour, so can the study of procrastination enhance the understanding of self-regulation. In this paper, procrastination is defined as the avoidance of the implementation of an intention. It is characterised by the avoidance of the intention and the preference for behaviour or thoughts that distract from the aversiveness of the intention. Individual difference variables, processes, and conditions are identified. Strategies to overcome procrastination are suggested.     

Aversive racism and selection decisions: 1989 and 1999

The present study investigated differences over a 10-year period in whites' self-reported racial prejudice and their bias in selection decisions involving black and white candidates for employment. We examined the hypothesis, derived from the aversive-racism framework, that although overt expressions of prejudice may decline significantly across time, subtle manifestations of bias may persist. Consistent with this hypothesis, self-reported prejudice was lower in 1998–1999 than it was in 1988–1989, and at both time periods, white participants did not discriminate against black relative to white candidates when the candidates' qualifications were clearly strong or weak, but they did discriminate when the appropriate decision was more ambiguous. Theoretical and practical implications are considered.     

Aversive conditioning in the sociopath

Results of two experiments on differential conditioning of the skin conductance (SCR) in sociopaths and normal control subjects are described. In the first experiment it was found that an equal number of sociopaths and control subjects were aware of the conditioning contingency. However, only the normal subjects displayed reliable differential SCR conditioning. Sociopaths showed a dissociation between verbal learning and conditioning of a physiological change. The second experiment examined the differential conditioning of normal subjects and sociopaths in partial remission. The number of aware subjects in the two groups did not differ. Aware subjects in both groups showed differential SCR conditioning. Differential conditioning in sociopaths did not persist over trials as it did in control subjects. A deficiency in ACTH 4–10 as well as neurological dysfunctions were considered possible factors in the etiology of sociopathy. Further research on the relation of neuropeptides to the etiology and treatment of sociopathy is suggested.     

Aversive smoking therapies: A conditioning analysis of therapeutic effectiveness

Rapid smoking (RS) and a less aversive rapid-puffing (RP) treatment were compared on ability to enhance the impact of a behavioral-counseling (BC) procedure on psychophysiological, attitudinal and behavioral response to cigarettes. Data reveal that both aversive smoking treatments resulted in less smoking once treatment began, reduced smoking in post-treatment taste tests, and superior follow-up performance at 6 months and 1 yr. At 1 yr, RS S s achieved the highest number of days abstinent of any group. Regression analyses showed that Ss' confidence ratings of remaining abstinent were highly predictive of follow-up status, and that these ratings were related to number of cigarettes smoked during treatment and amount of smoking during post-treatment taste tests.     

The Use of an Aversive Smell to Eliminate Autistic Self-Stimulatory Behavior

Commercially available smelling salts were used to provide an aversive smell which was compared with a time-out procedure in the modification of self-stimulation in an autistic child. The aversive smell was much more effective that time out whether applied on an FR 1 or VR 3 schedule. The FR 1 schedule of the aversive smell was also associated with a marked decline in self-stimulation in non-experimental environments. The effectiveness, ease of application, and acceptability of smellin salts all indicate the value of continued research with this stimulus in the elimination of self-stimulatory and other autistic responses.