Why pigeons say what they do: reinforcer magnitude and response requirement effects on say responding in say-do correspondence

The effects of reinforcer magnitude and response requirement on pigeons' say choices in an experimental homologue of human say-do correspondence were assessed in two experiments. The procedure was similar to a conditional discrimination procedure except the pigeons chose both a sample stimulus (the say component) and a comparison stimulus that corresponded to it (the do component). Correspondence was trained on red, green, and white key colors before the duration of food presentations following correspondence on each key color (Experiment 1) and the number of key pecks required as the say response on each key color (Experiment 2) were manipulated in an attempt to influence the initial say response. The frequency of say responses on each key color coincided with programmed changes in the duration of food presentations and the key-peck requirements assigned to each key color. Correspondence accuracy remained stable in all conditions, even those in which the say responding occurred primarily on two of the three key colors. Implications for human behavior are discussed.     

Some thoughts on correspondence between saying and doing

Recent research on verbal-nonverbal correspondence is evaluated, and conceptual, methodological, and applied issues regarding correspondence are addressed. Directions for research concerning the correspondence training procedure and extended applications are suggested.     

Coding responses and the generalization of matching to sample in children.

Two experiments studied the conditions of stimulus control necessary for the generalization of relational matching to sample. Matching required the selection of comparison shapes rotated 90 degrees clockwise from the orientation of the corresponding sample. In Experiment 1, five children were taught to: (a) code the orientations of samples, (b) transform sample codings to account for the 90 degree rotation, and (c) repeat the transformed sample coding response to a comparison. High levels of generalization occurred with a set of novel stimuli for which stable sample-coding responses were initially available. In another novel set, where stable sample-coding responses were not initially available, low levels of generalized matching were recorded. Matching performance improved after stable coding responses were trained. In Experiment 2, two children and three adults were trained in a form of the matching task that produced poor generalization despite the presence of stable sample-coding responses. Retraining to modify the stimulus control exerted by these coding responses produced an immediate improvement in generalized matching to sample. Results suggest that the generalization of matching is dependent on structure of stimulus control that the component responses exert on each other.     

Sharing in preschool children: Facilitation, stimulus generalization, response generalization, and maintenance

Three approaches to facilitating verbal and physical sharing and of the generalizability and durability of the behaviors that were trained were investigated. During a free play period, groups of preschool children were taught to share verbally, to share physically, or to share verbally and physically; another group was not trained. Immediately following free play, the children were observed in a different setting. Follow-up was conducted 4 weeks after training ended. Physical sharing that was durable and generalizable resulted only when children were taught to share verbally. Increases in physical sharing produced by training children to share only physically were not durable and did not generalize. Training both verbal and physical sharing produced results with a magnitude slightly greater than teaching just verbal sharing. Despite a lack of special programming, some of the treatment effects generalized to another setting and were maintained during the Follow-up. There was response generalization of the effects of training verbal sharing to physical sharing but not vice versa. Problems with the concept of response class, a methodological suggestion for studying response generalization, and possibilities concerning why generalization and maintenance occurred without specific programming are discussed.     

Saying and doing: A commentary on a contingency-space analysis

This article addresses the contingency-space analysis (Matthews, Shimoff, & Catania, 1987) of the verbal regulation of behavior. From an applied perspective, the conceptualization of the relationship between saying and doing Matthews et al. present may be more complex than is necessary. The central issue in correspondence investigations is a simple one: does correspondence between what people say and what they do occur? The focus of this paper is on the applied and clinical importance of the relationship between verbalizations and relevant behavior and the implications for future research.     

Correspondence as conditional stimulus control: insights from experiments with pigeons.

Correspondence between saying and doing, typically studied in young children and individuals with developmental disabilities, was examined as an instance of conditional stimulus control. In Experiment 1, 3 pigeons were exposed to a two‐component repeated‐trials procedure. In the first—sample or say—component, two response keys transilluminated by different colored lights were presented and the pigeon pecked one of the keys. After 1 s of darkness in the chamber, the second—choice or do—component was presented, in which the two keys again were transilluminated, one by the color selected in the first component and the second by another color. Selecting the color that matched that selected in the say component resulted in access to food. Selecting the other color produced a blackout of the chamber. After an intertrial interval (ITI), the next say component was programmed, and the procedure was repeated. Correspondence remained at chance levels through several manipulations of ITI duration and sample response requirement. When a correction procedure was added such that only the originally selected sample stimulus was re‐presented until a correct choice response occurred, reliable correspondence developed in 2 pigeons. This correspondence was eliminated by making reinforcement independent of correspondence and subsequently was reestablished when reinforcement again depended on correspondence. In Experiment 2, 3 other pigeons rapidly acquired correspondence under the final procedure used in Experiment 1. Increasing the time interval between the say and do components diminished correspondence. The results of the two experiments suggest how correspondence may be considered an instance of conditional stimulus control and that it is possible to construct a homologue of human say‐do correspondence with pigeons.     

Saying and doing: A contingency-space analysis

Correspondences between verbal responding (saying) and nonverbal responding (doing) may be organized in terms of the classes of verbal/nonverbal relations into which particular instances of verbal/nonverbal response sequences can enter. Contingency spaces, which display relations among events in terms of the probability of one event given or not given another, have been useful in analyses of nonverbal behavior. We derive a taxonomy of verbal/nonverbal behavior relations from a contingency space that takes into account two conditional probabilities: the probability of a nonverbal response given a verbal response and that probability given the absence of the verbal response. For example, positive correspondence may be said to exist as a response class when the probability of doing is high given saying but is otherwise low. Criteria for other generalized classes, including negative correspondence, follow from this analysis.     

The influence of correlations between noncritical features and reinforcement on stimulus generalization

One strategy to program for generalization is to vary noncritical features in teaching exemplars, thereby avoiding noncritical features from being highly correlated with reinforcement and thus gaining faulty stimulus control. In the current translational evaluation, 2 groups of adults of typical development were taught to respond to arbitrary stimuli with experimenter‐defined critical and noncritical features in a matching‐to‐sample task. The teaching arrangement used for 1 group programmed for low correlation between noncritical features and reinforcement; the teaching arrangement used for the other group programmed for high correlation between noncritical features and reinforcement. Participants in the former group displayed (a) faster acquisition of matching, (b) less variability in correct responding, and (c) a decreased likelihood of faulty stimulus control developing during training. The results contribute towards advancing the study of stimulus control and developing an explicit technology of generalization to better serve consumers of the application of our science.     

Correspondence between definitions and procedures: A reply to Stokes, Osnes, and Guevremont

Stokes, Osnes, and Guevremont's (1987) implicit definition of correspondence classes appears close to ours (Matthews, Shimoff, & Catania, 1987). Their definition, however, is fundamentally procedural and thus may have to be modified as experimental methodologies are refined. The advantage of our contingency-space analysis is that it is independent of specific procedures and focuses attention on problems inherent in some procedural definitions. Specifically, a contingency-space analysis addresses the issue of distinguishing specific instances from classes and reminds us that correspondence can be identified as a class only on the basis of observing a population of opportunities for say/do sequences in which the subject sometimes does not say.     

The correspondence between Erich Neumann and C.G. Jung on the occasion of the November pogroms, 1938

In the light of recently‐published correspondence between Jung and Neumann, this paper considers and connects two aspects of their relationship: Jung's theory of an ethno‐specific differentiation of the unconscious as formulated in 1934, and the relationship between Jung and Neumann at the beginning of the Holocaust in 1938–with Jung as the wise old man and a father figure on one hand, and Neumann as the apprentice and dependent son on the other. In examining these two issues, a detailed interpretation of four letters, two by Neumann and two by Jung, written in 1938 and 1939, is given. Neumann's reflections on the collective Jewish determination in the face of the November pogroms in 1938 led Jung to modify his view, with relativization and secularization of his former position. This shift precipitated a deep crisis with feelings of disorientation and desertion in Neumann; the paper discusses how a negative father complex was then constellated and imaged in a dream. After years of silence, the two men were able to renew the deep bonds that characterized their lifelong friendship.     

A comparative analysis of the effects of social skill training and teacher-directed contingencies on social behavior of preschool children with disabilities

This study investigated the effects of an analog social skill training program and a teacher-directed contingency strategy on promoting social responding among four preschool children with mild disabilities and their peers. The social skill training program consisted of five lessons targeting the skill areas: Initiating, responding, and maintaining social interactions. The teacher directed contingency consisted of prompting target children when they were not socially involved with peers, and providing verbal praise when they were socially involved with peers. Subjects were divided into two training pairs and received both interventions in a reversal design. Presentation order was counterbalanced across the two training pairs. Results indicated that the teacher directed contingency was more effective in promoting higher levels of social responding in a free-play setting. Results also suggest that social skill training may not always be a necessary prerequisite to promote increased social interactions among children who display low rates of social interaction with peers, but possess necessary skills.     

Stimulus generalization of behavioral history: Interspecies generality and persistence of generalization gradients

Four pigeons were exposed to a tandem variable-interval (VI) fixed-ratio (FR) schedule in the presence of a 50-pixel (about 15 mm) square or an 80-pixel (about 24 mm) square and to a tandem VI differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedule when a second 80-pixel or 50-pixel square was present. The values of the VI and FR schedules were adjusted to equate reinforcement rates in the two tandem schedules. Following this, a square-size continuum generalization test was administered under a fixed-interval (FI) schedule or extinction. In the first testing session, response frequency was a graded function of the similarity of the test stimuli to the training stimuli for all pigeons. These systematic generalization gradients persisted longer under the FI schedule than under extinction.     

B. F. Skinner: The Writer and His Definition of Verbal Behavior

Skinner's definition of verbal behavior, with its brief and refined versions, has recently become a point of controversy among behavior analysts. Some of the arguments presented in this controversy might be based on a misreading of Skinner's (1957a) writings. An examination of Skinner's correspondence with editors of scientific journals shows his sophisticated mastery of English and his knowledge of contemporary approaches of linguistics, and might help to settle the meaning of the passages involved in the controversy. A more precise definition of verbal behavior, deduced from Skinner's distinction between verbal and nonverbal operants, is suggested, and a possible reason why Skinner did not define verbal behavior in the terms proposed by this alternative definition is discussed. The alternative definition is more compatible with a functional approach to behavior and highlights what is specific to verbal behavior by pointing to the conventions of the verbal community. Some possible consequences of adopting this alternative definition are described.     

The generalization of shared reality: When communication about one target shapes evaluations of other targets

Communicators often tune their message about a target to the audience's attitude toward that target. This tuning can shape a communicator's own evaluation of the target, which reflects the creation of a shared reality with the audience. So far, evidence for shared‐reality creation has been confined to one specific target. In two experiments, we examined whether and when a shared reality would generalize to other targets. In Experiment 1, shared‐reality creation about an ambiguous sexist target generalized to the evaluation of a new ambiguous sexist target for which no audience attitude was provided. However, this happened only when there was high (vs. low) commonality with the audience regarding previous judgments. In Experiment 2, we investigated conditions for the temporal persistence of generalization. One week after message tuning to a high‐commonality audience, a shared reality generalized to a new ambiguous sexist target when participants recalled the shared‐reality creation about the initial target, but it did not generalize in conditions without such recall. Also, no generalization occurred for non‐ambiguous or non‐sexist targets. Results suggest that shared reality generalization depends on perceived commonality with the audience, recollection of shared reality at time of judgment, and similarity between new and initial targets.     

The legacy of Guttman and Kalish (1956): Twenty-five years of research on stimulus generalization

This paper is a selective review of the methods, problems, and findings in the area of operant stimulus generalization over the 25 years since the publication of the original paper by Guttman and Kalish (1956) on discriminability and spectral generalization in the pigeon. The paper falls into five main sections, which encompass the main themes and problems stemming from the Guttman and Kalish work and its immediate successors. The first section addresses the relationship between stimulus generalization and stimulus control, as well as the variety of testing procedures and dependent variables used to measure generalization. The next section reviews the limited literature on the effects of early rearing on the generalization gradient. The relationship between discriminability among test stimuli and the slope of the spectral gradient is discussed in the third section, with emphasis upon recent reassessments of the pigeon's hue discriminability function. The fourth section reviews the topic of inhibitory stimulus control, one which developed with the discovery of the peak shift following intradimensional discrimination training. Problems of definition and measurement are discussed in conjunction with the gradient forms used to index inhibitory control. The last section is devoted to attentional effects and the two principal theories postulated to account for them. A survey of different attentional paradigms is provided and the possible role of constant irrelevant stimuli as a source of control is examined. A brief conclusion summarizes the contribution of the generalization technique toward an understanding of the nature and acquisition of stimulus control.     

Tacting and manding in correspondence training: effects of child selection of verbalization.

We investigated correspondence between verbal and nonverbal behavior in preschool children in a play setting. Four children (4 years old) participated in a multiple baseline across subjects design. Children were asked what toy(s) they were going to play with during an immediately upcoming play period. When no contingencies were placed on either verbal or nonverbal behavior, children showed high rates of correspondence. When children were required to verbalize about a toy from a restricted range of infrequently used toys, but no contingencies were placed on correspondence, low rates of correspondence were observed. High rates of correspondence were noted when reinforcement was contingent on it. Results are discussed in terms of tacting and manding.     

Improving the driving practices of pizza deliverers: Response generalization and moderating effects of driving history

A practical intervention program, targeting the safety belt use of pizza deliverers at two stores, increased significantly the use of both safety belts (143% above baseline) and turn signals (25% above baseline). Control subjects (i.e., pizza deliverers at a third no-intervention store and patrons driving to the pizza stores) showed no changes in belt or turn signal use over the course of 7-month study. The intervention program was staggered across two pizza stores and consisted of a group meeting wherein employees discussed the value of safety belts, received feedback regarding their low safety belt use, offered suggestions for increasing their belt use, and made a personal commitment to buckle up by signing buckle-up promise cards. Subsequently, employee-designed buckle-up reminder signs were placed in the pizza stores. By linking license plate numbers to individual driving records, we examined certain aspects of driving history as moderators of pre- and postintervention belt use. Although baseline belt use was significantly lower for drivers with one or more driving demerits or accidents in the previous 5 years, after the intervention these risk groups increased their belt use significantly and at the same rate as drivers with no demerits or accidents. Whereas baseline belt use was similar for younger (under 25) and older (25 or older) drivers, younger drivers were markedly more influenced by the intervention than were older drivers. Individual variation in belt use during baseline, intervention, and follow-up phases indicated that some drivers require more effective and costly intervention programs to motivate their safe driving practices.     

The logic of generalization: Five principles common to experiments and ethnographies

Both experiments and ethnographies are highly localized, so they are often criticized for lack of generalizability. The present article describes a logic of generalization that may help solve such problems. The logic consists of five principles outlined by Cook (1990): (a) proximal similarity, (b) heterogeneity of irrelevancies, (c) discriminant validity, (d) empirical interpolation and extrapolation, and (e) explanation. Because validity is a property of knowledge claims, not methods, these five principles apply to claims about generalization generated by any method, including both ethnographies and experiments. The principles are illustrated using Rizzo and Corsaro's interesting ethnographies as examples.     

Moderation of the effects of discrimination-induced affective responses on health outcomes

Objective: The goal of the study was to examine differential mediation of long-term effects of discrimination on health behaviour and health status by internalising (anxiety and depression) and externalising (hostility and anger), and to explore moderation of these effects, specifically, by the presence of support networks and coping tendencies.

Design: The current analyses employed structural equation modelling of five waves of data from Black female participants of the Family and Community Health Study over 11 years (M age 37–48).

Main Outcomes Measures: The main outcome variables were health status and alcohol use (frequency and problematic consumption).

Results: Perceived racial discrimination was associated with increases in internalising and externalising. In addition, internalising reactions to discrimination were associated with deterioration in health status and increases in problematic drinking; externalising reactions were associated with increases in frequency of drinking. These relations were attenuated by availability of support networks, and exacerbated by use of avoidance coping.

Conclusion: The current study (a) replicated previous research suggesting that two different types of affective reactions mediate the relations between perceived racial discrimination and physical health status vs. health-impairing behaviours: internalising and externalising, and (b) revealed moderation of these effects by coping mechanisms.