Conciliatory strategies and relative power

In an investigation of variations of a conciliatory strategy, 96 subjects, half female and half male, played a modified Prisoner's Dilemma in which their relative power, in terms of control over the other's outcomes, was less than, equal to, or greater than that of a simulated other. After 10 trials on which (s)he was 50% competitive, the other either did or did not send a handwritten note of general intent to be cooperative. In the second block of 10 trials, the other either was 100% cooperative or began with cooperation and stayed with it as long as the subject did not exploit. When the subject did exploit, the other made the competitive choice on the following trial as a form of retaliation, but followed this retaliation by a return to cooperation on the next trial so that there were never two consecutive competitive choices. During this second block, the simulated other always signaled in advance, with an explicit message, which choice (s)he was about to make. In a third block, the other was 100% cooperative in all conditions and sent no messages. As hypothesized, subjects whose power was equal to or less than that of the other were more cooperative in response to conciliation than were subjects whose power was greater than that of the other. Subjects who received the general note of intent were more cooperative than those who did not, but only in the equal and low power conditions. The subjects in the equal power condition who experienced retaliation were more cooperative than those who did not, but those in the unequal conditions tended to react negatively to retaliation. The results were discussed in terms of Osgood's (Peace Research Reviews, 1979, 8(2), 77–92) GRIT strategy and outcome control in interaction.     

Three theories of self-disclosure exchange

The present study tested predictions derived from equitable exchange, social attraction, and normative information theories of self-disclosure. Variables relevant to each theory were manipulated orthogonally in the following factorial design: (1) intimate vs. superficial vs. no confederate disclosure, (2) positive vs. negative evaluation delivered by the confederate, and (3) intimate vs. non-intimate disclosure as normative for the experimental situation. Groups in which the subject was exposed to one of the independent variables in the absence of the others were included, to yield 18 cells with 10 female subjects per cell. The findings conformed to equitable exchange theory, in that subjects were more willing to disclose to a high- than a low-revealing partner. However, disclosure appeared to be suppressed in response to low disclosure, rather than enhanced by intimate disclosure. Also, true reciprocity of disclosure did not occur, in that subjects did not completely match the intimacy of the confederate. Normative information proved to be a potent determinant of disclosure tendency. No support was found for social attraction theory. Although confederate evaluation was the best predictor of interpersonal attraction, it was the poorest predictor of intent to disclose. Attraction was not found to parallel disclosure level.     

Updating memory using mnemonic devices

The process of memory updating enables people to recall information most recently associated with a particular stimulus context and to ignore or forget information previously associated with it. In a series of five experiments utilizing mnemonic devices it was found that when associative interference was maximized, only a limited disruption of updating resulted. In addition, mnemonic recall was not dependent on the utilization of higher-order memory components. However, support was found for the hypothesis that memory can be searched using temporal cues and for the idea that the size of the search set formed in memory is important. It was found that the older the event was to be recalled, the greater were the number of events in the search set and therefore the greater was the magnitude of the recall error. The size of the search set created in memory and the role of temporal-contextual cues in defining this search set may be important factors not only in mnemonic recall but in other types of learning and recall as well.     

Binocular disparity as a discriminable stimulus parameter for young infants

The ability of 8-week-old infants to discriminate between projected stereograms with and without retinal disparity was tested with an habituation-dishabituation paradigm. Infants in two experimental groups received six trials with either the disparity or the nondisparity stimulus and then were given two trials with the other display. Infants in two control groups viewed the same stimulus, either disparity or nondisparity, on all eight trials. There was a suggestion of some response decrement over time in both cardiac deceleration and sucking suppression, although this effect was not significant. However, significant increment was obtained on the dishabituation trials for heart rate in the group that was shifted from the nondisparity to the disparity stimulus. These results were interpreted as indicating that the infants could discriminate between stimuli when the only difference between them was binocular disparity.     

A biographical data analysis of career patterns in engineering

This study focuses on an instrument that appears useful for career guidance or job assignment purposes — the Biographical Data Blank. Responses of three groups of engineers (holding research and development, management, and nonengineering positions) to a life history questionnaire were analyzed. Results indicate that groups could indeed be differentiated using response patterns. In addition, items defining these patterns were related to demands of actual career paths chosen.     

The Missouri Children's Picture Series: Correlates of the aggression scale in normal fourth-grade males

Missouri Children's Picture Series (MCPS) Aggression scale scores and four more traditional measures of aggression were intercorrelated for 40 normal fourthgrade boys. Results indicated that the MCPS Aggression scale must be viewed as a highly specific instrument which has little if any usefulness in a public school setting. In addition, the failure of the five aggression measures to be interrelated significantly suggests that aggression may be a highly situational response, with children varying in the modality through which they are able to express aggressive feelings and motives.     

Preference for shock signals as a function of the temporal accuracy of the signals

Three groups of rats were exposed to pairs of three different contingencies on two sides of a shuttlebox. One signaled contingency provided 10-min danger and safety cues plus an additional 10-sec cue immediately preceeding shock (P-S), another signaled contingency provided 10-min danger and safety cues but random 10-sec cues with respect to shock (R-S), and an unsignaled contingency provided no safety period, but only a 20-min danger period during which shock could occur (NS). Signaled P-S and R-S contingencies were preferred in a choice test to the unsignaled NS contingency, and P-S was preferred to R-S. Independent tests of the fear-eliciting properties of the cues made in an off-baseline test of suppression of ongoing exploration indicated more freezing (fear) to the 10-sec cue in rats experiencing the P-S contingency. The results were interpreted as indicating a preference for cues providing more precise information about the temporal location of shock even when those cues were fear-eliciting.     

Generality of persistence: The role of stimulus and response factors in persistence to punishment

Previous research has shown that intermittent punishment of a response increases its persistence to continuous punishment and that intermittent punishment training in one situation produces persistence to continuous punishment in other situations. Experiment 1 showed that as long as the instrumental response and punishing stimulus were held constant from intermittent to continuous punishment marked differences between these situations had no decremental effect on persistence. Experiment 2 showed that intermittent punishment training of one response resulted in substantial persistence to continuous punishment of a different and apparently incompatible response and that such response change had no more than a marginal effect on persistence. The results were seen as requiring some revision to the traditional conditioning-model interpretation of persistence to punishment.     

Perceptions of school psychology services from a staff perspective

This investigation examined how staff in an elementary school district perceived their school psychologists and how these perceptions differed across components of service and staff groups. We developed a School Psychological Service Questionnaire and then analyzed responses from regular education teachers, special education teachers, principals, and school psychologists in an urban school district. Although the findings are numerous, most noteworthy are, first, that consumer groups in the district had different perceptions than school psychologists about how school psychologists allocate their time and how this time should be allocated in the future. Second, consumer perceptions of school psychologists' knowledge generally were favorable. Third, in terms of domains appropriate for involvement by school psychologists, a factor analysis of consumer ratings revealed three relatively clear dimensions of recommended service provision — special education activities, interpersonal or school-climate activities, and administrative responsibilities. Fourth, the helpfulness of school psychologists, as perceived by consumers, related positively to frequency of contact. Fifth, differences in perception of school psychological services were evident across staff groups. Finally, comparisons between master's level and doctoral level school psychologists suggested numerous differences in how the staff perceived these service providers.