Consumers' and clients' pretreatment acceptability ratings of classroom group contingencies

Group contingencies are popular with teachers and have been demonstrated to be effective for managing children's classroom behavior. Children's views of the acceptability of such techniques, however, have not been assessed systematically and may have important consequences for long-term treatment effectiveness. In addition, little is known about psychologists' sense of the acceptability of such techniques. The present analog study investigated fifth graders', teachers', and school psychologists' assessment of the acceptability of three types of group contingencies (dependent, independent, and interdependent) that entail a consequence of positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior. Variables of treatment type, sex of rater, and the severity of a hypothetical classroom problem were examined to determine their influence on intervention acceptability scores on a child's and an adult's version of the Intervention Rating Profile. Fifth graders rated all three types of group contingencies mildly acceptable. Teachers and school psychologists rated the dependent form of the group contingency unacceptable, and the independent and interdependent forms acceptable.     

Assessment of students' acceptability ratings of teacher-initiated interventions for classroom misbehavior

Fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-grade students (N=146) completed the Children's Intervention Rating Profile (CIRP) in response to eight teacher-initiated intervention methods designed to correct classroom behavior problems. The results of a factorial analysis of variance indicated that students generally are able to differentiate between various methods of improving student classroom behavior. Specifically, all students reported liking home-based interventions and did not rate public reprimand as a desirable method for changing another student's behavior. Educational ramifications and future research investigations are discussed.     

A comparison of concept formation strategies in pattern recognition tasks

We used two experiments to explore the effects of two kinds of strategies (nonanalytic and analytic) in concept formation. In Experiment 1, nonsense shapes were used as stimuli, which created ill-defined categories of concepts to be discovered by the subjects. In Experiment 2, highly recognizable geometrical patterns were used as stimuli, hereby placing an emphasis on the identification of highly salient categories of concepts. Subjects were better able to classify stimuli correctly in both experiments relying on memory (nonanalytic strategy) than on rule learning (analytic strategy). Here we discuss implications of nonanalytic strategy for understanding the nature of creativity.     

Computerized fuzzy ratings: The concept of a fuzzy class

In this paper, we outline the concept of a fuzzy class used in programs for eliciting computerized fuzzy ratings. Fuzzy ratings allow respondents to provide symmetrical or asymmetrical latitudes of acceptance around a preferred point. These ratings have been used in research testing career theories and person-environment fit models. The variables defining the fuzzy class and the various functions that can be performed by it are described in the paper. The idea of a fuzzy class may be of interest to those involved in expert systems, knowledge engineering, or in fuzzy classification and measurement in general. A program, FUZRATE, written in object-oriented C++ code that uses the concept of a fuzzy class, is available on request. Both source code and a binary (executable) file are available.     

A general framework for the analysis of concept identification tasks

A general framework is presented for concept identification based on hypothesis-testing theory. It is a modification of the duoprocess theory presented by Chumbley (1972). It is shown how Markov models for various complex concept identification tasks may be derived from this framework and how such models may be analyzed by making use of probability generating functions. Two experiments are described. In experiment 1 three tasks were used: two simple tasks, where the subject either only had to select the relevant dimension in order to solve the problem or only had to learn a short list of paired-associates, and a more complex task, where both processes were needed to reach the solution. The results were in general favorable to the theory. Experiment 2 was designed to test the application of the theory to the four-choice concept problem. The predictions of the theory are compared to those of the subproblem learning theory of trabasso and Bower (1964), modified to include a ‘learning-on-errors’ assumption. The fit of the duoprocess theory was reasonably good and superior to that of the subproblem learning theory.     

Identity concept learning in matching-to-sample tasks by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

The abstract concept of equivalence is considered one of the bases of higher-order cognition, and it has been the subject of considerable research in comparative cognition. This study examined the conditions under which tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) are able to acquire an identity concept. Six capuchin monkeys were trained to solve a visual matching-to-sample (MTS) task on the basis of perceptual identity. The acquisition of the identity rule was inferred from the subject’s ability to solve transfer tests with novel stimuli. We evaluated the ability of the capuchin monkeys to match the shape of novel stimuli after training with both several small stimulus sets (Experiment 1) and a large stimulus set (Experiment 2). Moreover, we examined the ability of capuchins to transfer the concept to novel visual dimensions, such as colour and size and to transfer to novel spatial arrangements of the stimuli (Experiment 2). We demonstrated that the ability of capuchins to match novel stimuli was improved by increasing the number of stimuli used during training (Experiments 1 and 2) and that after a widely applicable identity concept based on the stimulus shape was acquired, the capuchins were able to match stimuli according to an identity rule based on both the colour and size of the stimuli and when the spatial arrangement of the stimuli was varied (Experiment 2). This study is the first to demonstrate that the size of the training set affects the acquisition of an abstract identity concept in an MTS task in non-human primates.     

Preference ratings of images representing archetypal themes: an empirical study of the concept of archetypes

Archetype Theory is consistent with the full range of empirical psychological research, yet has not itself been empirically studied. As part of a project to integrate psychological theory, especially psychotherapeutic theory, with empirical research, I asked 151 subjects to rate their preferences for images representing archetypal themes and factor analysed their responses. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that archetypal themes determine affective responses in adults. Archetype theory may prove itself to be useful in operationalizing a number of contemporary psychological theories.     

Cartoons varying in low-level pain ratings,not aggression ratings,correlate positively with funniness ratings

In three studies, cartoons were rated for aggression, pain, and funniness in order to determine whether aggression, pain, or both correlated with funniness and whether a positive or inverted-U function described the relationship. Pain correlated more reliably with funniness than did aggression. A probable explanation for this is that cartoons showed greater variability in pain than in aggression ratings, since pain could be self-inflicted or could result from a mishap or from another's aggression. Funniness increased to asymptote within the first third of the pain dimension and was unaffected by further pain increases. No significant downward trend in funniness was observed with increased pain ratings. The results were interpreted by assuming that cartoon violence is a salient dimension, in which to create discrepancies, and that the discrepancies were reflected in the pain ratings.These studies were supported by Ball State University Research Grants.     

Developmental inter-relationships among concrete operational tasks: An investigation of Piaget's stage concept

One hundred and one primary school children were tested on eight concrete operational tasks. Each child's performance on each task was classified as either preoperational, transitional, or fully operational. Cross-classification tables were constructed showing the joint classification of children's performance on all possible pairs of the eight tasks. Two models of intertask relations, Wohlwill's (The study of behavioral development. New York: Academic Press, 1973) divergent-decalage and reciprocal-interaction patterns, were evaluated for their fit to the cross-classification data using χ² goodness-of-fit procedures. Instances of both these patterns were identified in the data. The findings give some support to Flavell and Wohlwill's modification of Piaget's stage concept, in which individual groupings (e.g., seriation) are the structural basis of the interrelationships among concrete operational tasks. Tasks based on the same rule showed a degree of developmental interdependence (reciprocal-interaction patterns), while tasks based on different rules appeared to develop independently (divergent-decalage patterns). However, only one-half of the cross-classification tables were adequately described by either the divergent-decalage or the reciprocal-interaction patterns.     

Bizarreness effects in verbal tasks and subject-performed tasks

Abstract

Recognition and cued recall of ordinary action phrases (e.g. “open the book”) and bizarre ones (e.g. “plant the hammer”) were compared under two encoding conditions: in verbal tasks (VTs), subjects learned the phrases by simply listening to them; in subject-performed tasks (SPTs), subjects learned the phrases by performing the denoted actions (without real objects). Memory performance was better after SPTs than after VTs in recognition and cued recall. In addition to this already established finding, it was observed that recognition was better for bizarre phrases than for ordinary ones after VTs and that bizarreness was unrelated to recognition after SPTs. Cued recall, on the other hand, depended on bizarreness after VTs as well as after SPTs and, in contrast to the recognition findings, ordinary phrases were recalled better than bizarre phrases. This pattern of findings was explained by the assumptions that lexical and conceptual information is encoded after VTs and motor information is additionally encoded after SPTs, and that different kinds of information are used in recognition and cued recall, and after VTs and SPTs.     

Item and order information in subject-performed tasks and experimenter-performed tasks

This study investigated the enactment effect from the perspective of the item-order hypothesis (e.g., M. Serra & J. S. Nairne, 1993). The authors assumed that in subject-performed tasks (SPTs), item encoding is improved but order encoding is disrupted compared with experimenter-performed tasks (EPTs), that order encoding of EPTs is only better in pure lists, and that the item--order hypothesis is confined to short lists. Item information was tested in recognition memory tests, order information in order reconstruction tasks, and both item and order information in free-recall tests. The results of 5 experiments using short (8 items) and long lists (24 items) in a design with list type (pure, mixed) and encoding condition (EPT, SPT) as factors supported the hypotheses.     

On the acceptability of biopharmaceuticals

The issues relating to the licensing of a biopharmaceutical are described. In particular attention is focused on the mind of the regulator who has the responsibility of recommending licensure. There are two key factors which operate on the mind when confronted with such a task: psychology and ethics. The different factors which influence the psychological acceptability of a product for licensure are many and varied; they include perceived need, novelty, education, context and others. Also involved is the regulator’s view of the ethicality of such products and the organisms which make them, with particular reference to those which are genetically engineered. These ethical views are in turn derived by reference to basic systems of ethics which provide guidelines for behavior. It is important for the manufacturers of biopharmaceuticals to be aware of both the psychological and ethical aspects of the regulator’s mind when addressing such individuals with a view to obtaining a license to manufacture a particular biopharmaceutical.     

Adolescents and adults: ratings and expected ratings of themselves and each other

This study compares perceptions of adolescents and adults on twenty personality characteristics. Ratings based on tables originally constructed by Hess and Goldblatt (1957) were applied to 35 adolescents randomly selected from the population of a Southern California high school. These subjects then took complementary forms home for their parents to fill out, 45 of which were returned. The results were compared with those obtained by Hess and Goldblatt, and were further analyzed for possible differences by age, sex, ethnicity, and family size. The differences between parent and adolescent views were much less extreme than the differences found by Hess and Goldblatt. Their conclusion that conflict is based upon divergent "expected reputations" was marginally supported. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed no significant differences on any of the variables examined: age, sex, ethnicity or family size.