Fairness and preference

Two equity models were evaluated by fitting them to subjects' judgments of the fairness of payment distributions to “self” and “other” under hypothetical work situations. Neither the E. Walster, G. W. Walster, and E. Berscheid (Equity: Theory and Research, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1978) equity formulation nor Harris' (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1976, 12, 194–209) linear model adequately accounted for the fairness judgments regardless of whether self worked more or less than other. Subjects also were asked to indicate their most preferred payment distributions and these preferences were significantly different from the fairness judgments. Results suggested that fairness judgments were influenced by a bias in the direction of overpayment to self.     

A heuristic method for the comparison of related structures

By extending a technique for testing the difference between two dependent correlations developed by Wolfe, a strategy is proposed in a more general matrix context for evaluating a variety of data analysis schemes that are supposed to clarify the structure underlying a set of proximity measures. In the applications considered, a data analysis scheme is assumed to reconstruct in matrix form the given data set (represented as a proximity matrix) based on some specific model or procedure. Thus, an evaluation of the adequacy of reconstruction can be developed by comparing matrices, one containing the original proximities and the second containing the reconstructed values. Possible applications in multidimensional scaling, clustering, and related contexts are emphasized using four broad categories: (a) Given two different reconstructions based on a single data set, does either represent the data significantly better than the other? (b) Given two reconstructions based on a single data set using two different procedures (or possibly, two distinct data sets and a common method), is either reconstruction significantly closer to a particular theoretical structure that is assumed to underlie the data (where the latter is also represented in matrix form)? (c) Given two theoretical structures and one reconstruction based on a single data set, does either represent the reconstruction better than the other? (d) Given a single reconstruction based on one data set, is the information present in the data accounted for satisfactorily by the reconstruction? In all cases, these tasks can be approached by a nonparametric procedure that assesses the similarity in pattern between two appropriately defined matrices. The latter are obtained from the original data, the reconstructions, and/or the theoretical structures. Finally, two numerical examples are given to illustrate the more general discussion.     

Why we are fairer than others

Subjects wrote lists of either fair or unfair things that they or others did. A pervasive tendency was found for subjects to associate themselves with fair behaviors and others with unfair behaviors. When different subjects rated samples of the written behaviors for fairness and frequency we found that fair behaviors were rated as more frequent than unfair behaviors and self-ascribed behaviors were rated as fairer than behaviors ascribed to others. These findings and others are shown to result from a tendency for subjects to perceive a stronger link between the fairness and frequency of their own behavior than between the fairness and frequency of the behavior of other people. A final analysis showed that the subcategories of unfair behavior that subjects associated with others were different from those associated with themselves.     

Sequential item selection: Optimal and heuristic policies

This paper considers testing in which the goal is to minimize the number of test items required to establish a learner's state of ability. Focus is on optimal or near optimal selection over a well-defined universe of items or stimuli. Selection policies are determined for the case in which the items have hierarchical or partial hierarchical relationships. Derivation of an optimal policy rests upon techniques from dynamic programming. For situations in which an optimal policy may be too costly to compute, two heuristic approximations are offered. One heuristic counts the hypothetical estimates of ability that remain tenable following a response to each item and chooses the item that minimizes the expectation of that number. The other selects the item that maximizes the statistic of information.     

The effect of training and stimulus variables on the reversal-shift ontogeny

Linear functions fitted to the proportion of optional reversal-shifts as a function of log CA were used to assess the effect of stimulus and training variables on the reversal-shift ontogeny. The results were: (1) when the dimensional salience of the two sets of cues in the stimulus compound were similar, there was no significantly different effect of size, color, or form cues on the rate parameter, suggesting that the rates of mediational development for these cues are similar. Reversal-shifts were, however, more likely with the color-form compound than with the size-color compounds throughout the tested age span, indicating that some stimulus conditions are more likely than others to produce mediated processing at all age levels. (2) The facilitative effects of labelling on reversal-shifts were greatest at the younger ages and decreased systematically over age. (3) Overtraining increased reversal-shifts at most ages but whether the facilitative effect interacts with age remains moot. (4) Neither labelling nor overtraining eliminated ontogenetic differences.     

VOT discrimination by four to six and a half month old infants from Spanish environments.

Thirty 4–6.5 mo-old-infants from monolingual Spanish speaking homes were tested for discrimination of bilabial stop consonants differing in VOT. Discrimination was determined by the habituation and dishabituation of the orienting reflex as indexed by cardiac deceleration. Subjects were placed in one of three groups of ten subjects each. The three groups were used to determine whether bilabial stops with VOT values of ?60 and ?20 msec, ?20 and +20 msec or +20 and +60 msec could be discriminated. Subjects were presented eight trial blocks of ten repetitions of a CV syllable; these eight trial blocks were followed by two trial blocks of ten repetitions of a different CV syllable. The only difference between the CV syllables presented during the first eight and the last two trial blocks was the VOT value of the bilabial stop consonants. Subjects in the ?20 and +20 msec group showed no signs of being able to discriminate these stimuli while the subjects in the ?60 and ?20 msec group and the +20 and +60 msec group did. These results correspond to those reported for infants from English speaking families but do not correspond to those reported for Spanish speaking adults. Thus, the failure to find evidence of discrimination in the ?20 and +20 msec group suggests that experience has little effect in determining bilabial stop phonetic categories in 4–6.5 mo-old infants.     

Functional significance of stimulus orientation: effects on orientation discrimination.

Children (6- and 9-year-olds) and adults were required to discriminate identical pairs of visual stimuli from mirror images. It was hypothesized that a key factor in performance would be the extent to which orientation was a functionally significant attribute of the stimuli. Two variables were manipulated, type of orientation discrimination and stimulus class. The first variable refers to the fact that the mirror images could be produced by either left/right or top/bottom reversals. Three classes of stimuli, varying in the extent to which a particular orientation was emphasized, were used: mobile objects (for which left/right orientation is assumed to be important); stationary objects (which lack comparable relevance for left/right orientation); and novel, abstract forms. The prediction was that if the discrimination task involved left/right reversals, as contrasted with top/bottom reversals, subjects would show an advantage for mobile objects, producing an interaction between stimulus class and orientation discrimination. In the first study, the subjects were children and performance was measured in terms of error rates. In the second study adults were tested, and reaction times were measured. Both studies manifested the predicted interaction. Results are discussed in terms of an information-processing framework, in which the incorporation of orientation-related features in the code representing a stimulus varies with the functional significance of the orientation to the stimulus class.     

The group attribution error

There is a parallel between our tendency to infer the attitudes of an individual on the basis of his or her behavior, regardless of the external constraints (Jones & Harris, 1967; Ross, 1977), and our tendency to infer the attitudes of a group on the basis of the group's decision, regardless of the group decision rule. The present research focuses on this latter process. What we term the group attribution error consists of the tendency to assume that group decisions reflect members' attitudes. This assumption can be erroneous because group decision rules, in addition to members' attitudes, can influence group decisions. In Experiment 1, members of a community in which a water conservation law was or was not instituted were assumed to have correspondent attitudes, regardless of how the community decision was made. In Experiments 2 and 3, subjects inferred a greater correspondence between out-group decisions and out-group attitudes than between an in-group decision and in-group attitudes. The fourth experiment found that subjects committed the group attribution error because they attended as much to the outcome of a recall election as to the actual proportion of voters for and against the recall. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that subjects' inferences of jury members' attitudes were influenced not only by the final jury vote but also by the actual decision, which was determined by the vote plus the decision rule by which the jury was bound. The results are related to previous research on the fundamental attribution error, stereotyping, and polarized appraisals of out-groups.     

A theory of catharsis

This paper first discusses the history of the idea of catharsis, suggesting that the differences between the advocates of catharsis and its critics may be reconcilable. A definition of emotion is proposed which involves interactions between biological, psychological, and social systems. This definition gives rise to a theory of catharsis which seems to reconcile the claims of the advocates of catharsis with the criticisms that have been made of their claims. The discussion of the theory also suggests methods of testing it. As a preliminary example of one such test, the results of a pilot study of the effects of laughter on tension levels are presented.     

Children's judgments of numerical quantity: A new view of early quantification

Three experiments investigated the role of length, density, and number dimensions in children's numerosity judgments of linear arrays of beads. The number dimension is physically defined by a length × density rule. Judgments based, even in part, on the number dimension would show signs of a length × density rule. Experiment 1 examined numerosity judgments of large arrays. Results showed that judgments by 3- and 4-year-olds obeyed a length + density rule, providing cogent evidence for a general adding strategy in young children's judgments of quantity. The physical length × density rule emerged gradually with increasing age. Experiment 2 showed that numerosity judgments of small arrays by 3- and 4-year-olds obeyed a length × density rule, indicating response to the number dimension. This result was expected and thereby validated the linearity of the response scale at the youngest ages. Experiment 3 verified the integration rules for individual 3- and 4-year-olds. The integration rules were interpreted in terms of Piaget's stages of the development of quantification. No evidence for Piaget's initial stage was found. This leads to a new view of early quantification which grants young children the ability to integrate stimulus dimensions.     

An information-processing approach to attribution of responsibility

The research literature on defensive attribution of responsibility is reviewed within the framework of a nonmotivational information-processing model which proposes that attributed responsibility is a function of the difference between the perceived contingent probability (congruence) of an outcome, given a perpertrator's behavior, and the noncontingent probability (prior expectancy) of that outcome. Results of previous research on effects of the characteristics of outcomes, perpetrator, and victim on responsibility ratings are reinterpreted in terms of the influence these factors have on estimates of congruence and prior expectancy. Secondary analyses of data from a recent study of causal reasoning resulted in a correlation of .78 between attribution of responsibility and a simple additive model of estimated contingent and prior probabilities of an accident.     

Some deterministic models of concept identification

It is shown that deterministic models can compete effectively with stochastic models in summarizing concept identification behavior. Three groups of deterministic models are examined. Examination of individual learners' trial by trial behavior in a concept experiment shows: (1) One person exhibited behavior consistent with a Hypothesis Permutation (HP) model despite being a nonlearner who showed no evidence of improvement over a period of 24 trials. However, when all 50 persons studied in each of two treatment groups were examined, only 22 members of one group and 10 of the other showed no inconsistencies with deterministic local consistency assumptions. (2) Certain deterministic computer programs could find at least one satisfactory order for predicting all responses by 18 of the 22 consistent solvers and 6 of the 10 consistent solvers, respectively, in the two groups just mentioned. For these 24 persons, then, a less restrictive deterministic model is adequate than for the others. (3) Those 38 original members of the first treatment group who met a stringent learning criterion were compared with respect to predictions generated by stochastic and mathematized deterministic models. One deterministic model (RSS-U 9-state) is in some respects the best of the models examined, but this success is a partial reflection of estimating eight parameters from the data.     

The dispositional shift in attribution over time

Two experiments examined the effect of time on causal attributions. In Experiment I, subjects who described themselves into a tape recorder assumed more personal responsibility for their behavior after 3 weeks' time than others who explained their behavior immediately after its occurrence. In Experiment II, actor-subjects took part in a getting acquainted conversation and explained their behavior more dispositionally and less situationally after 3 weeks' time than they had initially, while observer-subjects experienced no change over time. Results were interpreted in terms of an altered self-perspective in memory and the diminished salience of situational details over time.     

Behavioral contrast and generalization across settings in the treatment of autistic children

Previous research on the generalization of treatment gains across settings has typically focused on the question of whether generalization occurs or does not occur. However, the experimental literature suggests another possibility: that behavioral contrast may occur in extra-therapy settings if the reinforcement procedures in the therapy setting are highly discriminable from those in other settings. Therefore, this investigation was designed to systematically assess whether: (1) a highly discriminable treatment procedure in one setting would produce a behavioral contrast effect in other unmanipulated settings; and (2) such contrast-like trends could be eliminated if initially different reinforcement procedures in two settings were subsequently made similar. The results for the eight autistic children who participated in this investigation showed that: (1) When very different reinforcement procedures (primary rewards or punishment in therapy settings, and no rewards or punishment in extra-therapy settings) were in effect, the children showed contrast-like behavior changes in the untreated extra-therapy settings; and (2) such trends in responding could be eliminated, resulting in generalization of treatment gains, if the reinforcement procedures were subsequently made relatively similar in the two settings, even if the procedures consisted essentially of noncontingent reinforcement.     

Effects of counselor sex,student sex,and student attractiveness on counselors' judgments

Thirty-two male and thirty-two female high school counselors in a large metropolitan school district were provided with routine student profile data and asked to make predictions about the student's potential for post-high school education and to suggest occupations for the student to explore. All data reviewed by the counselors were identical except for a photograph of the student attached to the profile. Within counselor sex groups, counselors were randomly assigned to one of the following four photograph conditions: (a) attractive female; (b) unattractive female; (c) attractive male; and (d) unattractive male. Male subjects were found to discriminate on the basis of student sex when they suggested occupations for the student to explore. Predictions of post-high school education and the social status of suggested occupations were not found to be related to counselor sex, student sex, or student attractiveness.