Theft reduction in a grocery store through product identification and graphing of losses for employees

Shoplifting and employee theft constitute a major problem for retailers. Previous research has described techniques for effectively reducing either type of theft but has not addressed the problem of thefts of unspecified origin. In a grocery store we evaluated the effect of identifying for employees frequently stolen products from three groups of items and graphing, twice weekly in the lunchroom, losses for the separate groups. After the products were identified and losses graphed, thefts from the three groups dropped from eight per day to two per day.     

Effects of response cost on the behavior of a million persons: charging for directory assistance in Cincinnati

An interrupted time-series analysis of local directory-assistance calls in the Cincinnati area from 1962 to 1976 revealed a significant reduction in the daily frequency of calls after charges were introduced in 1974. No reductions occurred in the daily frequency of long-distance directory-assistance calls, which remained free. The results attest to the efficacy of response-cost procedures with large subject populations in the natural environment. The applicability of response-cost procedures to social and business problems is discussed.     

The depth of a group's personality resources: Impacts on group process and group performance

The present study examines the productivity of task groups in relation to the personality resources of its members and its two dimensions of group process: task focus and shared exchange. It is hypothesized that the depth of a group's personality resources impacts upon productivity both directly through the application of its member's personality resources to successful group outputs, and indirectly through the mediating agency of group process variables that also contribute separately to successful group outputs. To test these hypotheses, the performance of 43 groups in a 3-month social psychology class was measured across three course assignments. This averaged performance score was related to the groups' process scores and to their total levels of personality resources measured by a comprehensive personality inventory administered at the beginning of the groups' life. Using multiple regression, we found that a group's performance was predicted by total member intellect, openness (negatively), and emotional stability (negatively). Blocked regression revealed that group intellect exercised a direct effect upon group performance, but that the effects of group openness and group emotional stability on performance were mediated through the group's two group processes of task focus and shared exchange. It is hoped that this demonstration of a two-step approach to studying the impact of group member's personality through its direct effects on group performance and its indirect effect on performance-linked aspects of group process will be extended to other types of personality measures, and to other types of groups addressing different tasks in other cultural settings.     

The effects of instructions, incentive, and feedback on a community problem: dormitory noise

A reinforcement system utilizing instructions, modelling, feedback, and group reinforcement was employed in an attempt to reduce disruptive noise on three university residence halls. A fourth hall received the same treatment program without the reinforcement component. Noise scores were determined by recording the number of discrete noise occurrences over a criterion decibel level. On all four residential floors, noise scores during treatment conditions were lower than initial and final baseline levels. Additionally, periods of noise reduction corresponded to the changing criterion multiple-baseline and reversal designs utilized. Pre- and posttreatment questionnaire responses from the three reinforcement floors paralleled changes in objective noise data. At posttreatment, residents reported less noise disturbance of study and sleep and more control over the noise situation and floor problems in general. These results indicated that a comprehensive behavior-modification treatment package was effective in reducing disruptive noise in university residence halls. Difficulties in data collection and anomalies in the data are discussed. Future directions for field-based behavior-modification research are outlined.     

Promoting positive parenting practices in primary pare: outcomes and mechanisms of change in a randomized controlled risk reduction trial

The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether a short parent-training program (PT) reduces risk factors related to development of childhood socio-emotional and behavior problems in a non-clinical community sample. Data were obtained from parents in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on PT for children aged 2 to 8 years (N=186) at pre-intervention, post-intervention and one-year-follow up. There were significant differences in the changes in the two groups, with reductions in harsh parenting and child behavior problems, an enhancement of positive parenting and of the parents' sense of competence in the intervention group. The effects on parenting and parents' satisfaction all lasted through one-year follow up. Our findings suggests that a shortened version of a well-structured parenting intervention, The Incredible Years program, implemented in primary care at community level, reduces harsh parenting and strengthens positive parenting and parents' sense of competence, as reported by the parents. Issues related to a public health approach to promote positive parenting are discussed.     

The momentum of human behavior in a natural setting

Adults with mental retardation in a group home received popcorn or coffee reinforcers for sorting plastic dinnerware. In Part 1 of the experiment, reinforcers were dispensed according to a variable-interval 60-s schedule for sorting dinnerware of one color and according to a variable-interval 240-s schedule for sorting dinnerware of a different color in successive components of a multiple schedule. Sorting rates were similar in baseline, but when a video program was shown concurrently, sorting of dinnerware was more resistant to distraction when correlated with a higher rate of reinforcement. In Part 2 of the experiment, popcorn or coffee reinforcers were contingent upon sorting both colors of dinnerware according to variable-interval 60-s schedules, but additional reinforcers were given independently of sorting according to a variable-time 30-s schedule during one dinnerware-color component. Baseline sorting rate was lower but resistance to distraction by the video program was greater in the component with additional variable-time reinforcers. These results demonstrate that resistance to distraction depends on the rate of reinforcers obtained in the presence of component stimuli but is independent of baseline response rates and response–reinforcer contingencies. Moreover, these results are similar to those obtained in laboratory studies with pigeons, demonstrating that the determination of resistance to change by stimulus–reinforcer relations is not confined to controlled laboratory settings or unique to the pigeon.     

Effects of Nonlinearity and Heteroscedasticity on the Validity of Conscientiousness in Predicting Overall Job Performance

Most research on the relationship between personality and overall job performance assumes linearity and homoscedasticity. This study investigated the prevalence and nature of nonlinearities and heteroscedasticies in relationships between conscientiousness and supervisory ratings of overall job performance across five independent samples using both concurrent (k = 4) and predictive (k = 1) designs. Hierarchical polynomial regression analyses found evidence of robust linear effects but no evidence of statistically significant quadratic or cubic effects. A statistically and practically significant heteroscedastic effect was found in only one sample such that lower errors of prediction were evidenced in the ends in comparison to the middle of the bivariate distribution. Implications for the use of conscientiousness in personnel selection are suggested. Limitations of the current study and directions for future research are noted.     

Effects of ethanol on reinforced variations and repetitions by rats under a multiple schedule.

Response sequences emitted by five Long-Evans rats were reinforced under a two-component multiple schedule. In the REPEAT component, food pellets were contingent upon completion of a left-left-right-right (LLRR) sequence on two levers. In the VARY component, pellets were contingent upon variable sequences (i.e., a sequence was reinforced only if it differed from each of the previous five sequences). The rats learned to emit LLRR sequences in the REPEAT component and variable sequences in VARY. Intraperitoneal injections of ethanol (1.25, 1.75, and 2.25 g/kg) significantly increased sequence variability in REPEAT, thereby lowering reinforcement probability, but had little effect on sequence variability in the VARY component. These results extend previous findings that alcohol impairs the performance of reinforced repetitions but not of reinforced variations in response sequences.     

公交行业一线员工人格特质对工作绩效影响的实证分析--以工作态度作为调节变量

通过问卷调查法,探讨在工作态度调节下大五人格特质与工作绩效的关联。对1277名公交行业一线员工的研究结果表明：(1)人格特质与工作绩效有显著的相关,工作态度在这一关系中起到调节作用。在高工作态度中,人格特质与任务绩效联系较为紧密,工作绩效的良好预测指标是尽责性和外向性;在低工作态度中,人格特质与关系绩效联系较为紧密,工作绩效的良好预测指标是宜人性和外向性。(2)在高工作态度的环境中,人们更看重工作的完成;在低工作态度的环境中,人们更看重关系的协调。工作态度调节着人格特质对工作绩效的影响。     

The Effects of a Common In‐group Prime on Intentions to Help Indigenous and Homeless Australians

The article reports on research designed to test Australian attitudes towards helping impoverished members of the Australian society, in particular, indigenous and homeless people. Australian university students completed a questionnaire to measure their attitudes towards helping homeless and indigenous people under conditions that primed a common Australian identity. The findings showed that priming an inclusive identity led to relatively stronger intentions to help indigenous Australians but not homeless people. It was also found that participants preferred to endorse more autonomy than dependency help to both indigenous and homeless Australians. Whereas the findings indicate that helping intentions towards those living with poverty may be accentuated by priming a common in‐group, they also imply that helping attitudes vary with the type of help being sought and the way people perceive the cause of someone's poverty.     

Effects of Trust in Superiors and Influence of Superiors on the Association Between Individual-Job Congruence and Job Performance/Satisfaction

This research examines the moderating influences of trust in superiors and influence of superiors as elements of an organization communication system on the association between individual-job congruence and job performance/satisfaction. Data from 302 employees were used to assess the research design variables of growth need strength, job scope, trust in superiors, influence of superiors, job performance, and job satisfaction. Moderated regression analysis gave weak support to trust and influence as moderators of the association between individual-job congruence and both job performance and satisfaction. The results did, however, provide justification for trust in superiors and influence of superiors as predictors of performance and satisfaction. The data suggest that other factors may account for changes in the research variables.     

Effects of a pairing contingency on behavior in a three-person programmed environment

Four groups of three subjects resided for 10 days within a continuously programmed environment. Subjects followed a behavioral program of contingently scheduled activities that determined individual and social behaviors. A triadic condition was in effect when all three subjects were required to select simultaneous access to a group area before it became available for a social episode. A dyadic condition was in effect when access to a group area was permitted to any combination of two, and only two, subjects. The effects of these two conditions on individual and social behaviors were studied in reversal designs with several successive days devoted to each condition. Results showed that durations of social activities and synchronization of individual activities were greater during triadic conditions than during dyadic conditions. Under both conditions, wake-sleep cycles departed from a typical day-night rhythm for most subjects. Instances when subjects did not respond to each others' attempts to initiate conversations using the intercom were generally more frequent during dyadic than triadic conditions. Physical distance during triadic social episodes was found to be related to sociability levels during dyadic conditions.     

Effects of Reward and Response Cost on Response Inhibition in AD/HD, Disruptive, Anxious, and Normal Children

In previous research, children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) have demonstrated impaired response inhibition on the stop paradigm. In this study we examined whether this impairment in fact reflects a motivational deficit. Four groups of children (age range 7–13 years) participated in the study: 14 AD/HD children, 21 normal controls, 14 disruptive children, and 14 anxious children. The psychopathological groups were recruited from special educational services and mental health outpatient clinics. Parent, teacher, and child questionnaires were used to select children with pervasive disorders. Normal controls attended regular classes and scored low on all questionnaires. Children were tested once with reward contingencies and once with response cost contingencies in a randomized cross-over design. We hypothesized that if a motivational deficit underlies poor response inhibition in AD/HD children, this deficit will be remedied by response contingencies. Despite the presence of response contingencies, AD/HD children showed poor response inhibition compared with normal controls. Findings argue against a motivational explanation for the response inhibition deficit in AD/HD children     

Effects of atropine on the repeated acquisition and performance of response sequences in humans.

The present study assessed a 24-hr time course for the acute effects of intramuscular injections of atropine sulfate (0, 1.5, 3.0, and 6.0 mg/70 kg) in healthy adult humans responding under a two-component multiple schedule of repeated acquisition and performance of response sequences. Subjects resided in an inpatient research ward for the duration of the study. In each component of the multiple schedule, subjects completed a different sequence of 10 responses in a predetermined order using three keys of a numeric keypad. In the acquisition component, the subjects' task was to acquire a new sequence each session. Eight sessions were conducted daily: one immediately before administration of the drug and then 0.5, 1.5, 3.0, 5.0, 7.0, 9.0, and 24.0 hr after administration. In the performance component, the response sequence always remained the same. Overall percentage of errors increased and overall response rates decreased in the acquisition and performance components as an orderly function of drug dose. However, these effects were selective in that behavior in the acquisition component generally was affected at lower doses than in the performance component. When behavior was affected in both the acquisition and performance components, the time courses of effects were similar. Drug effects began at 0.5 or 1.5 hr, reached peak effects between 3.0 and 5.0 hr, and returned to placebo levels between 7.0 and 9.0 hr postdrug in both schedule components. None of the drug doses produced reliable effects the day after drug administration (24-hr postdrug) in either schedule component. The present study provides the first within-subject assessment of the magnitude and duration of the effects of an anticholinergic on repeated acquisition and performance baselines and extends to atropine the selective effects on these two baselines demonstrated previously with other compounds in humans and nonhumans.     

Information on response requirements compared with information on food density as a reinforcer of observing in pigeons

On a variable-interval schedule, pecking the key to the pigeon's right (observing response) produced red or green displays relating to the delivery of grain and its dependence on pecking the key to the left (food key). During various blocks of sessions, mixed (no stimulus change) schedules including the following pairs of components were temporarily converted by the observing response to their corresponding multiple (correlated stimuli) schedules: variable-interval 60-s, extinction; variable-interval 60-s, variable-time (response-independent) 60-s; extinction, variable-time 60-s. Differences in food delivery maintained substantial rates of responding on the observing key, without regard to pecking requirements on the food key. Although stimuli correlated with differences in the response requirement on the food key maintained higher observing rates than those maintained by uncorrelated stimuli, they were much lower than those based on food. The value of predictive stimuli as reinforcers is determined by the value of the events predicted. In particular, the cost of pecking appears to be low, and this may place limitations on the applicability of energy-based and economic models of behavior.     

Effects of d-amphetamine and cocaine on strained ratio behavior in a repeated-acquisition task.

Pigeons acquired a different four-response chain each session by responding sequentially on three keys in the presence of four colors. When the fixed-ratio requirement for food presentation was five completions of the chain, d-amphetamine and cocaine disrupted the behavior. As the dose of each drug was increased, the overall response rate decreased, the overall accuracy was impaired (i,e., percent errors increased), and there was less within-session error reduction (acquisition). In contrast, when the fixed-ratio requirement was either 20 or 50 completions of the chain, certain doses of both drugs produced large increases in the overall response rate by eliminating the extended pausing (ratio strain) that was characteristic of the control sessions. These rate-increasing effects were accompanied by error-decreasing effects, both during acquisition and after the response chain had been acquired. Taken together, the results show that the effects of d-amphetamine and cocaine on behavior in a repeated-acquisition task can be modulated by manipulating the value of the fixed-ratio schedule maintaining the behavior.