The effects of exposure to dynamic expressions of affect on 5-month-olds’ memory

The purpose of this study was to examine the behavioral effects of adults’ communicated affect on 5-month-olds’ visual recognition memory. Five-month-olds were exposed to a dynamic and bimodal happy, angry, or neutral affective (face–voice) expression while familiarized to a novel geometric image. After familiarization to the geometric image and exposure to the affective expression, 5-month-olds received either a 5-min or 1-day retention interval. Following the 5-min retention interval, infants exposed to the happy affective expressions showed a reliable preference for a novel geometric image compared to the recently familiarized image. Infants exposed to the neutral or angry affective expression failed to show a reliable preference following a 5-min delay. Following the 1-day retention interval, however, infants exposed to the neutral expression showed a reliable preference for the novel geometric image. These results are the first to demonstrate that 5-month-olds’ visual recognition memory is affected by the presentation of affective information at the time of encoding.     

The effects of “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” reinforcement contingencies on task behavior

In spite of a substantial number of observations to the contrary, some behavioral scientists have concluded that salient extrinsic reinforcers not only do not maintain or support task behavior, they decrease or extinguish it by somehow destroying or impairing “intrinsic motivation.” In this study it was once again demonstrated that when behavior is sustained in a task setting in the apparent absence of salient extrinsic reinforcers, quite subtle but nevertheless palpable response-produced stimulus changes are found to be involved. Moreover, when a signaled extrinsic monetary reinforcement contingency was applied, it not only did not impair the effects of the intrinsic reinforcers, it produced a significant increase in task performance during the time the extrinsic reinforcement contingency prevailed, and it did not produce a decrement in self-reports of task attractiveness nor in performance during a discretionary period in which the contingency had been deliberately withdrawn. We conclude that there is little reason to believe that the design and implementation of effective extrinsic reinforcement contingencies will destroy one's pride in one's work, the intrinsic worth or meaningfulness of the job, or one's “intrinsic motivation” to perform it.     

The effects of redundant communications on the behavior of listeners: Does a picture need a thousand words?

Using a referential communication paradigm, two types of, informative messages, contrastive and redundant, were compared developmentally in terms of their relative effects on the accuracy of listeners' responses as a function of task variables. Contrastive messages contained the minimal information necessary to distinguish a referent from a nonreferent. Redundant messages contained additional information. We predicted that redundant messages would be more effective than contrastive ones when the stimulus array was too complex for a listener to notice all aspects of it in the allotted time. Also manipulated were the order of presentation of the message and array and the delay between the two in order to determine how these factors would contribute to task complexity. Subjects were first-and third-graders and college students. The stimuli were drawings of cartoonlike figures. The results confirmed our predictions for the older subjects but not for the younger ones. The discussion of the data centered on why the picture-message sequence, was a more difficult sequence than the message-picture one for all age groups.     

The evolution of consciousness as a self‐organizing information system in the society of other such systems

The evolution of consciousness is seen in the context of energy driven evolution in general in which energy and information, or the in‐forming of complex structure, are seen as two sides of the same coin. From this perspective consciousness is viewed as an ecological system in which streams of cognitive, perceptual, and emotional information form a rich complex of interactions, analogous to the interactive metabolism of a living cell. The result is an organic, self‐generating, or autopoietic, system, continuously in the act of creating itself. Evidence suggests that this process is chaotic, or at least chaotic‐like, and capable of assuming a number of distinct states best understood as chaotic attractors. Such systems do not exist in isolation, but function most normally in hypercomplex attractor patterns termed societies.     

The effects of high school context and interpersonal factors on students’ educational expectations: a multi-level model

This study examines the effects of some aspects of the school normative, academic and institutional context together with individual and interpersonal factors, on educational expectations among Palestinian students in Israel. The data consist of a sub-sample of 1601 students in 40 high schools. Hierarchical linear modelling technique (Multilevel analysis) is used to investigate the effect of the school context and the interpersonal factors on students educational expectations (SEE). The results of this study clearly demonstrate that both sets of variables are highly related to the outcome variable, providing new evidence that SEE, perhaps like other educational outcomes, are developed through interpersonal and contextual effects. While recent research indicates that the school institutional context mediates the effects of interpersonal factors (Buchmann & Dalton, 2002), this study suggests that among Palestinian students in Israel, interpersonal relations exert significant influences on SEE, regardless of, or despite, the schools institutional context.     

The boston bio-bang: The emergence of a “Regional system of innovation”

In this article we will describe the emergence of a great number of small, regionally concentrated, innovative biotech companies. We see these organizations as “hosts” of concepts and ideas, greatly influencing their spreading over the sector. We have chosen an evolutionary perspective following individual companies in their struggle for survival, describing it as “obtaining food” and “fooling predators.” This struggle gives insight in the behavior of the biotech companies and related institutions as a “system of innovation.” One of our findings is that the variety of biotech companies is conditioned by their selection environment, but that this selection environment allows great variety and even encourage variety by keeping the companies small. Haiko Van der Voort is a research associate who lectures and publishes in a wide range of issues including precess management and system innovations. Martin De Jong is associate professor of public management.     

Addressing “The criterion problem” in the assessment of aggressive behavior: Development of a new taxonomic system

Aggressive behavior is a highly complex construct that is very challenging to measure. While advancements in the assessment of aggression have been made, some fundamental problems persist. First, the operational definition of aggressive behavior and its various subtypes are frequently misinterpreted and lack sufficient conceptual clarity. Second, due to these definitional problems, assessment instruments frequently correspond to different conceptualizations of aggression. In the present review, we attempt to resolve these limitations by proposing a new taxonomic system of aggressive acts that (a) corresponds to a hybrid definition of aggressive behavior, and (b) increases conceptual clarity between subtypes of aggressive behavior. It is argued that this classification system will permit greater precision in the assessment of aggression and lead to the improvement of theories, diagnostic systems, and clinical interventions.     

The effects of social change within a group on membership preferences: to leave or not to leave?

Two studies examined immediate (Study 1) and long-term (Study 2) behavioral consequences of previously documented asymmetries in cognitive and evaluative reactions to change in majority and minority positions within a group. Study 1 found an overall decrease in preferences for group membership immediately following change, which was preceded by decategorization and devaluation of the group in response to loss, together with lack of categorization and positive evaluation in response to gain of the majority position. Study 2 found a gradual increase in preference to stay with (vs. exit) the group among former minorities with prolonged interactions that confirmed their gained majority position. A gradual increase in preference for group membership was paralleled with gradual increases in perception of both inclusion within and differentiation from the group.     

Chemosignalling effects of human tears revisited: Does exposure to female tears decrease males’ perception of female sexual attractiveness?

Gelstein et al. reported the results of three experiments suggesting a dampening influence of inhalation of female emotional tears on males’ arousal and perception of female sexual attractiveness, specifically in non-sexual situations. This prompted the hypothesis that crying exerts its influence on others not only via the auditory and visual mode but also via chemosignals. In three studies, we attempted to replicate and extend Gelstein et al.’s findings by including an additional condition with irritant tears, by using pictures of sexually attractive women, and by testing related hypotheses on the pro-social effects of exposure to tears. All three studies, separately or combined in a meta-analysis, failed to replicate the original inhibitory effects of tears. In addition, sniffing tears did not affect measures of connectedness, aggression and pro-social behaviour. It is concluded that the effects of female tears on male arousal and perception of female sexual attractiveness, if any, are very weak at best. Rather, it seems that crying exerts its strong inter-personal effects through the visual and auditory sensory channels.     

The effects of extrinsic rewards on “intrinsic motivation”: A critique

Recently a number of cognitive theorists have prescribed widely against the use of reinforcement procedures in organizations, citing as evidence those studies in which contingent extrinsic reinforcers seemed to impair intrinsically motivated behavior. However, a review of those studies reveals that (a) there is no acceptable evidence that extrinsic reinforcers inevitably disrupt behavior maintained by other, but perhaps less obvious, reinforcing events and (b) the meaning of “intrinsic motivation” remains obscure. Unfortunately, the postulation of autonomous central processes continues to produce studies that neither clarify those processes nor increase our knowledge of the manner in which human task performance is acquired and maintained. A reinforcement analysis is proposed as a more fruitful alternative.     

Children's “naive psychology”: The use of behavioral and situational information for the prediction of behavior

Two studies are reported that concern children's use of situational and behavioral information to predict the behavior of other persons. It was hypothesized that younger subjects would give more weight to the former and older subjects, more weight to the latter type of information. In Experiment 1, subjects were presented with vignettes relevant to assessing actors' athletic abilities and personality traits (generosity/stinginess) as well as information about related situations. Subjects then made predictions for actors' future behavior in the latter situations. Predictions made by older subjects (8–9 years old) were consistent with the previous behavioral information presented, whereas this was true to a lesser degree for predictions made by younger subjects (5–6 years old). In Experiment 2, 5- to 6-year-olds again made behavioral predictions, with the information supplied by the vignettes being either visually salient or not. The results replicated the findings of Experiment 1 and partially supported the idea that young children's tendency not to relate past to future behavior may best be characterized as a production deficiency. However, they also suggest that although young children may indeed show a tendency to see behavior as under external control, they do not automatically accord information about the situation special status when making social judgments. In addition, it seems that conflicting results in the literature may result from the sensitivity to contextual factors of younger children's predictions.     

The ecology of self-monitoring effects on memory of verbal productions: Does speaking to someone make a difference?

Experiments involving verbal self-monitoring show that memory for spoken words varies with types of sensory feedback: memory is better when words are spoken aloud than when they are lip-synched or covertly produced. Such effects can be explained by the Central Monitoring Theory (CMT) via a process that matches a forward model reflecting expected sensory effects of practiced forms and sensory information during speech. But CMT oversees factors of shared attention as achieved by speaker–listener gaze, and implies that sensory feedback may not affect the learning of unpracticed forms (non-words). These aspects of CMT were examined in two experiments of self-monitoring focusing on oro-sensory feedback. In Experiment 1 we show that varying feedback creates differential effects on memory for spoken words and that speaker–listener gaze alters these effects. Using non-words, Experiment 2 shows the absence of differential feedback effects. The results confirm CMT but suggest the need to refine the theory in terms of processes that mediate attention.     

Prism adaptation: The “target-pointing effect” as a function of exposure trials

The amount by which target pointing enhances prism adaptation (the “target-pointing effect”) was examined as a function of exposure trials. Each S served in three conditions—target-pointing, no-target, and control—wearing 20-diopter prism goggles in the first two. The S was measured prior to the exposure period on target-pointing accuracy with normal vision but with no visual feedback regarding his performance. Similar measures were taken after the 5th, 10th, 15th, 25th, 35th, 55th, and 95th exposure trials and after each of two consecutive 5-min postexposure periods in the dark. The two experimental conditions led to sharply rising and negatively accelerated adaptation (“negative aftereffect”) curves, the asymptotes of which differed markedly, in favor of the target-pointing condition. This difference in asymptotes indicates that the target-pointing effect is not limited to the early portion of the exposure period but, instead, is a relatively permanent phenomenon. There was no decline in adaptation during the postexposure period.     

Are the fruits of research available to all? The effects of sex and academic rank on reprint-sending behavior

There is considerable evidence in the psychological literature that perceived status often has a major effect on behavior. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of two status variables in an academic setting by monitoring reprint-sending behavior. Reprints were requested from 1,200 authors of psychological articles by men and women of varying academic rank. Neither sex nor academic rank of requester had any significant effect on the total number of responses returned. However, male requesters received responses significantly faster than did female requesters. In addition, subsequent analyses indicated that reprint requests were more likely to be honored by male authors than by female authors.     

“The interviewer is a machine!” Investigating the effects of conventional and technology-mediated interview methods on interviewee reactions and behavior

Despite the growing number of organizations interested in the use of asynchronous video interviews (AVIs), little is known about its impact on interviewee reactions and behavior. We randomly assigned participants (N = 299) from two different countries (Switzerland and India) to a face-to-face interview, an avatar-based video interview (with an avatar as a virtual recruiter), or a text-based video interview (with written questions) and collected data on a set of self-rated and observer-rated criteria. Overall, we found that whereas participants reported more negative reactions towards the two asynchronous interviews, observer ratings revealed similar performance across the three interviews and lower stress levels in the two AVIs. These findings suggest that despite technology-mediated interview methods still not being well-accepted, interviewees are not at a disadvantage when these methods are used in terms of how well interviewees perform and how stressed they appear to external observers. Implications are discussed.     

The effects of conversation on attention and peripheral detection: Is talking with a passenger and talking on the cell phone different?

In this study conversation with a remote person (hands-free phone), an in-vehicle person (passenger), and a no conversation (baseline) condition were compared on measures of attention and peripheral detection. We held conversation pace constant so that any difference found in attention or peripheral detection could be attributed to the distinctive feature of the type of conversation (remote, in-vehicle). The difficulty level of the verbal task was included as a second independent variable. Forty-eight undergraduate students participated in all conditions of a within-subjects design. The results revealed that conversation resulted in slower reactions and fewer correct responses on both attention and Peripheral Detection tasks compared to no conversation, while conversation type (remote/in-person) did not make a significant difference. Difficulty of the verbal task affected performance on the Peripheral Detection task but not on the attention task. These findings imply that conversation has a negative effect on attention and peripheral detection which are important components of driving. This effect may be greater with difficult conversations.