The influence of a model's reinforcement contingency and affective response on children's perceptions of the model

Following their observation of a videotaped model, boys and girls were asked to rate various characteristics of that model. In each of two experiments, the subjects were 90 primary grade children. The model's reinforcement (reward, punishment, or no consequences) and affective response (positive, neutral, or negative) constituted the independent variables. In both experiments, children who observed an affectively neutral model receive punishment, perceived his affective state as more negative than children who observed this model receive reward or no consequences. The converse attribution (i.e., inferring consequences based on depicted model affect) did not obtain. Also, data from both experiments supported the conclusions that (a) the punished model was less attractive than no-consequences and rewarded models, and (b) the model was perceived as less competent when he demonstrated negative affect or received punishment.     

奖惩对行为抑制能力和自主生理活动影响的时效性

将45名被试随机分配为奖励组、惩罚组和对照组, 实验进程按时间发展过程被分为五阶段, 采用停止信号任务探讨奖惩刺激对行为抑制能力和自主生理活动影响的时效性。结果显示：奖惩刺激对行为反应时和抑制失败率影响仅在第二、三阶段差异显著, 对心率影响的显著差异在第三阶段结束、而对皮电和指温影响的显著差异仍持续到第五阶段。结果表明：奖惩刺激对行为的抑制作用具有时效性, 有效时间内表现为仅奖励能提高行为抑制能力; 奖惩刺激对心率的影响具有时效性, 但对其它生理指标的影响则未显示出时效性。     

Situational moderators of leader reward and punishment behaviors: fact or fiction?

One assumption shared by many contemporary models of leadership is that situational variables moderate the relationships between leader behaviors and subordinate responses. Recently, however, R. J. House and J. L. Baetz (1979 in B. Staw & L. Cummings, Eds., Research in Organizational Behavior (Vol. 1), Greenwich, Connecticut, JAI Press) have suggested that the effects of some leader traits and behaviors may be relatively invariant; that is, have the same effects in a variety of situations. One possible class of leader behaviors which may have relatively consistent effects across situations are those known as leader reward and punishment behaviors. The first goal of the research reported here was to increase our understanding of the relationships between leader contingent and noncontingent reward and punishment behaviors and subordinate responses. Contingent reward behavior was found to have the most pronounced relationships with subordinate performance and satisfaction, followed by noncontingent punishment behavior. Neither leader noncontingent reward nor contingent punishment behavior were found to be related to either subordinate performance or satisfaction, with the exception that noncontingent reward behavior was negatively related to subordinates' satisfaction with work. The second goal of the research was to examine the effects of a variety of potential moderators on the relationships between leader reward and punishment behaviors and subordinate responses. The results of this study suggest that the relationships between leader reward and punishment behaviors and subordinates' performance are relatively free of moderating effects.     

Framing in Resource Dilemmas: Loss Aversion and the Moderating Effects of Sanctions

Two resource dilemmas, the commons dilemma, in which individuals take from a common resource, and the public goods problem, in which individuals give to a common good, were experimentally compared. Although they provide equivalent outcomes, the two dilemmas involve different frames of reference and are not psychologically equivalent. We also examined sanction systems, which involve contributions by individuals in the dilemma to provide rewards and penalties for cooperation. The results of Experiment 1 supported the hypothesis that public goods problems ("give dilemmas") activate greater loss aversion and less cooperation than commons dilemmas ("take dilemmas"), and that this effect is moderated by sanction systems. No difference between dilemmas was obtained when either the reward or penalty sanction was present, indicating that sanctions cause a shift in frame of reference to the aspiration of obtaining the reward or avoiding the penalty. The penalty sanction and especially the reward sanction produced greater cooperation. Also, as expected, loss aversion heightened exploitation: when the others were cooperative, a give dilemma generated less cooperation than a take dilemma. In Experiment 2, we extended the concept of frame and loss aversion to the structure of sanction systems, finding that subjects were more likely to contribute to a "take sanction" than to a "give sanction." We discuss potential sources of reference points and loss aversion in resource dilemmas and the likely impact on cooperation.     

Effects of punishment on response latency in extraverts

Previous findings indicate that in comparison to introverts, extraverts are prone to form responses that are resistant to interruption by punishment. Because the tendency to stop and reflect following punishment may be crucial for subsequent learning, the present study was designed to examine differences between introverts' and extraverts' reactions to punishment using response latency on the trial following punishment as the dependent variable. Sixty-six extraverted and 66 introverted male undergraduates performed a pattern-matching task in which they received noncontingent 50% success and 50% failure feedback under three incentive conditions including reward only, punishment only, or both. As predicted, a significant interaction was found in the both condition, reflecting the tendency of extraverts to respond more quickly and introverts more slowly following punishment feedback than following reward feedback. No significant effects were found in the other two conditions; however, a tendency was noted for extraverts to respond more quickly overall when only reward was given. A second experiment using reward-only and punishment-only feedback replicated this finding and yielded a significant interaction of Group X Condition. The results indicate that in contrast to introverts, extraverts are activated by the availability of reward and, paradoxically, that punishment may facilitate rather than interrupt extraverts' reward seeking behavior.     

Valence specific response reversal deficits and risk for mania

Response reversal deficits are well documented in bipolar disorder (BD). Although frequently construed as an index of reward processing abnormalities, these response reversal deficits might simply result from more general cognitive inflexibility. Given that both are implicated in BD, our goal was to more carefully test whether reversal learning deficits are specific to reward processing or reflect more general cognitive inflexibility. To more carefully assess deficits, a novel variant of the response reversal task was used to separate responses to in reward versus punishment feedback. In addition, while response reversal deficits are well documented in BD, it is still unknown if these deficits are observable in people at risk for the disorder, whose performance would be unconfounded by medication use and illness course. To assess the presence of premorbid response reversal deficits, we tested students at risk for developing BD, as defined by the well-validated Hypomanic Personality Scale. Undergraduates (n?=?99) were randomly assigned to complete either a reward only or a punishment only version of a response reversal task. Mania risk was related to difficulty reversing responses following reward, but not punishment feedback. Findings suggest that a deficit in response reversal may be an index of reward dysregulation in BD, and that this deficit can be observed even in those at high risk for the development of BD.     

Reward, Punishment, Privatization, and Moral Suasion in a Commons Dilemma

Strategies such as privatization, counterreinforcers, and moral suasion have been suggested and tested as means of preserving shared, slowly regenerating resources such as whales, clean air, and forests. We hypothesized that reinforcers would preserve a shared simulated resource best when it was shared in a commons dilemma format, and would be relatively ineffective when the resource was divided into private territories. Subjects in groups of three played a game in which they had to harvest resources from a slowly regenerating pool without depleting the resource. Three levels of reinforcement (reward, punishment, or no reinforcement) were crossed with three game structures (territoriality. Golden Rule moral suasion, and basic structure). Results showed that neither reward nor punishment helped the management of the commons when the resource was broken down into private segments, but both reward and punishment helped in the Golden Rule and basic structure conditions. Subjects perceived the territorial condition to be more competitive and more under their control compared to the moral suasion or basic structure conditions. In the moral suasion condition. subjects enjoyed either reinforcement condition (reward or punishment) more than no reinforcement.     

Film-facilitated arousal and prosocial behavior

The present investigation sought to test the applicability of the excitation transfer model (P. Tannenbaum & D. Zillmann. In L. Berkowitz, Ed., Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 8, New York: Academic Press 1975) to prosocial behavior. This model predicts that for individuals predisposed to act prosocially, arousal transferred from an unrelated source will facilitate such behavior. Two studies were conducted in which male college students, treated in either a positive or neutral manner and shown an arousing erotic or nonarousing control film, ostensibly rewarded and punished a confederate for performance on a memory task. Contrary to predictions, the first experiment found the arousing film increased reward regardless of treatment. In the second experiment, where the neutral treatment was given a more negative tone, the predicted interaction was found. Specifically, subjects treated in a positive manner and shown an arousing film were significantly more rewarding than were similarly treated subjects shown the nonarousing film. While type of film had no effect on neutral subjects' reward behavior, the arousing film did increase their punitive behavior. These results, coupled with physiological and self-report data, strongly support the excitation transfer model.     

奖惩对行为抑制及程序阶段中自主生理反应的影响

采用停止信号任务探讨奖惩条件对行为抑制和程序阶段中自主生理反应的影响。结果显示：(1)奖惩组的反应时显著高于控制组, 抑制失败率则显著低于控制组; (2)奖励组与其它两组相比表现出心率显著增加和皮肤电活动显著降低; (3)各生理指标在准备、工作和奖惩阶段中的奖惩差异性显著(4)奖惩条件下皮肤电活动呈现出一致性程序阶段变化。结果表明：奖惩条件均对行为具有抑制作用, 但在自主生理反应上则有显著差异; 各生理指标在准备、工作和奖惩阶段的情绪效价显著; 皮肤电活动的程序阶段变化显著, 但其奖惩效价较为稳定, 很少接受程序阶段变化的影响。     

Asymmetrical effects of reward and punishment on attributions of morality

The authors found that 3 experiments revealed that compliance with a pro-social request for an anticipated reward as opposed to a threatened punishment resulted in greater inferences of personal morality. In Experiment 1, participants received information about a teaching assistant (TA) who was either promised a reward or threatened with a punishment when asked for compliance. The participants perceived the TA as more moral for complying given the positive incentive as opposed to the negative incentive. Experiment 2 replicated this finding in a different culture, using different vignettes and incentives. Last, in Experiment 3, the results revealed that a perceived actor's real intentions mediated the effect of incentive valence on dispositional causation. That is, given a reward relative to a punishment, participants were more likely to assume that the agent would have helped even if no incentive had been offered.     

Transfer of approach responding between punishment, frustrative nonreward, and the combination of punishment and nonreward

Rats trained to make an approach response with either partial reward, intermittent punishment, or a combination of partial reward and intermittent punishment, were tested for persistence to extinction, punishment with reward, or punishment during extinction. Partial reward, alone or with punishment, produced greates resistance to extinction, while intermittent punishment, alone or with partial reward, produced greatest persistence to punishment with reward. Transfer of persistence from partial reward to punishment with reward and intermittent punishment to extinction was also demonstrated. However, partial reward alone did not increase persistence to punishment during extinction, whereas intermittent punishment and partial reward combined with intermittent punishment did increase such persistence. These results were interpreted in Amsel's (1958, 1962) conditioning-model theory by extending the hypothesized similarity of frustrative nonreward and punishment.     

奖赏预期对面孔情绪加工的影响：一项事件相关电位研究

采用事件相关电位(ERPs)技术考察了奖赏预期对人类面孔情绪识别的影响。实验采用线索-目标范式, 分别记录了被试在奖赏预期条件下以及无奖赏预期条件下对正性、中性和负性面孔进行情绪辨别任务的ERP数据。行为结果显示, 被试在奖赏预期条件下的反应时快于无奖赏预期条件下的反应时, 对情绪面孔的反应时快于对中性面孔的反应时。ERPs数据显示, 奖赏线索比无奖赏线索诱发了更正的P1、P2和P300成分。目标刺激诱发的P1、N170波幅以及N300均受到奖赏预期的调节, 在奖赏预期条件下目标诱发了更正的ERPs。P1、N170、VPP等成分没有受到面孔情绪的影响, 而额中央位置的N300波幅显示情绪(正性与负性)面孔与中性面孔加工的差异。重要的是, N300波幅出现奖赏预期与情绪的交互作用, 正、负情绪加工效应以及负性偏向效应受奖赏预期的差异性影响。正性情绪加工效应不受奖赏预期的影响, 而负性情绪加工效应和负性偏向效应在奖赏预期条件下显著大于无奖赏预期条件下。这些结果说明, 奖赏预期能够调节对面孔情绪的加工, 且不同加工进程中奖赏对情绪加工的调节作用不同。动机性信息调节注意资源的分配, 促进了个体在加工面孔情绪时的负性偏向。     

Susceptibility to Affect: A Comparison of Three Personality Taxonomies

This study had three major goals: to clarify the relationships between Eysenck's, Gray's, and Cloninger's personality taxonomies, to show that traits from these taxonomies predict differential sensitivities to emotional states, and to explore the relationship between sensitivity to an emotional state and how much that state is actually experienced. A factor analysis of traits from Eysenck's, Gray's, and Cloninger's personality taxonomies resulted in three factors that were named reward sensitivity, impulsivity-thrill seeking, and punishment sensitivity. These factors predicted a global measure of affect, emotional reactions to a laboratory mood induction, and self-reported affect in daily life. Generally, reward sensitivity predicted positive, but not negative emotions, whereas punishment sensitivity predicted negative, but not positive emotions. Impulsivity-thrill seeking predicted few emotions in either context. Coherence among the relationships found across methodological contexts suggests that the traits that predict emotion susceptibilities in the laboratory similarly predict emotional experience in ongoing daily life.     

Cognitive dissonance as a function of self-esteem and logical inconsistency

An experiment was conducted to test the importance of self-esteem in the arousal of cognitive dissonance. Recently, Aronson (1969) suggested that the reason an attitude-discrepant speech can arouse dissonance is that it is an indecent act committed by an individual who likes to think of himself as a good and decent person. Looking at counterattitudinal behavior as a discrepancy with one's self-concept rather than as a logical discrepancy between behavioral and attitudinal cognitions differs from Festinger and Carlsnuth's (1959) original notion In the experiment reported, subjects volunteered to take a personality inventory and received either neutral, very favorable, or very unfavorable feedback In this way, subjects' level of self-esteem was raised or lowered Following this procedure, subjects were induced to record a speech that was known to be discrepant with their private beliefs. They were offered either a small or a large inducement for their statements. It was predicted that, regardless of their level of self-esteem, subjects would manifest the inverse relationship between incentive magnitude and attitude change predicted by dissonance theory The major analysis of the results, and the concomitant internal analysis, generally supported the prediction With one qualification, the results were held to be consistent with Festinger and Carlsmith's version of dissonance arousal and inconsistent with the self-esteem analysis     

Reinforcement and Helping Behavior1

A study was conducted to determine the effects of reinforcement following helping in one situation on subsequent helping behavior. It was predicted that helping behavior would increase following positive reinforcement and decrease following negative reinforcement. It was also predicted that the attractiveness of the dispenser of reinforcement would affect subsequent helping. The study was conducted using a 3 × 2 × 2 design with the variables bemg nature of reinforcement, attractivcness of the confederate, and sex of S. The data indicated that subsequent to negative reinforcement, helping responses decrease. There were no differences between the positive, neutral or control conditions. Sex of S interacted with reinforcemcnt condition, with mcn helping more than women following negative reinforcement. Malcs and females also differcd in quality of help given, with men offering more physical help than women, particularly following neutral reinforcement.     

Sex differences in impulsivity: a meta-analysis

Men are overrepresented in socially problematic behaviors, such as aggression and criminal behavior, which have been linked to impulsivity. Our review of impulsivity is organized around the tripartite theoretical distinction between reward hypersensitivity, punishment hyposensitivity, and inadequate effortful control. Drawing on evolutionary, criminological, developmental, and personality theories, we predicted that sex differences would be most pronounced in risky activities with men demonstrating greater sensation seeking, greater reward sensitivity, and lower punishment sensitivity. We predicted a small female advantage in effortful control. We analyzed 741 effect sizes from 277 studies, including psychometric and behavioral measures. Women were consistently more punishment sensitive (d = -0.33), but men did not show greater reward sensitivity (d = 0.01). Men showed significantly higher sensation seeking on questionnaire measures (d = 0.41) and on a behavioral risk-taking task (d = 0.36). Questionnaire measures of deficits in effortful control showed a very modest effect size in the male direction (d = 0.08). Sex differences were not found on delay discounting or executive function tasks. The results indicate a stronger sex difference in motivational rather than effortful or executive forms of behavior control. Specifically, they support evolutionary and biological theories of risk taking predicated on sex differences in punishment sensitivity. A clearer understanding of sex differences in impulsivity depends upon recognizing important distinctions between sensation seeking and impulsivity, between executive and effortful forms of control, and between impulsivity as a deficit and as a trait.     

The effect of monetary reward and punishment on the repetition of responses under open and closed task conditions

Subjects were given one study and two test trials on a list of paired associates. Critical responses on the first test were those which were rewarded or punished by gain or withdrawal of money. Between subjects variables were (a) whether the critical responses on test 1 were right or wrong, and (b) whether subjects were informed of the second test before or after test 1. On test 2, subjects were asked to repeat their test 1 responses to the appropriate stimuli. When subjects were unaware that they would receive a second test, rewarding a response on test 1 increased its probability of repetition on test 2; punishment had no significant effect. When subjects were aware that they would be tested again, the reward/ punishment treatment had no effect. An explanation based on the Law of Effect is rejected in favour of a cognitive explanation, utilizing the total time hypothesis.     

预期惩罚调节认知控制权衡：来自行为和fNIRS的证据

为了探讨预期惩罚是如何影响认知控制权衡,本研究采用fNIRS技术考察被试在完成有惩罚和无惩罚AX-CPT任务时的行为表现和大脑激活模式。行为结果发现：与无惩罚的基线条件相比,惩罚条件下个体偏向主动性控制。脑成像结果发现：与无惩罚的基线条件相比,惩罚条件下大脑前额叶皮层在线索阶段处于负激活状态。这说明,惩罚条件下在线索阶段个体需要更多的注意资源,因此,脑成像的结果也表明惩罚使被试更偏向主动性控制。     

Interaction of reinforcement conditions and developmental level in a two-choice discrimination task with children

A total of 540 first, fourth, and eighth graders, equally divided by sex, were run on a two-choice discrimination task under one of three reinforcement conditions: reward (R) for correct responses, punishment (P) for incorrect responses, or reward and punishment (RP) for correct and incorrect responses. Half the Ss were tested by a male E; half, by a female E. Across all developmental levels, learning was superior in the P group. Complex interactions involving sex of S and E underline the importance of organismic variables in discrimination learning and in specifying parameters of reinforcer effectiveness.     

Imitative behavior

This article reviews the results of experimental studies on imitative behavior reported by various investigators, and then discusses the possible brain mechanisms responsible for this behavior. It was found that human infants in their first hours of life were already capable of spontaneous imitation of simple motor acts demonstrated by an adult, without previous training or reward; these observations suggest that imitative behavior is an innate process that can be considered anunconditional reflex of imitation. It was also found that satiated animals resumed eating when they saw their companions eating. In the latter case, the imitative reflex triggered the previously acquired feeding behavior. Similar mechanisms could be responsible for the phenomenon of eating more in the presence of companions than in their absence, as well as that of preferring the food chosen by companions. When followed by a reward, the imitative act can be learned—that is, transformed into aninstrumental conditional response; learning by imitation of simple motor acts was observed in animals, and that of complex motor acts was observed in children who had already achieved a certain developmental stage. In animals, learning complex motor tasks was facilitated by previous observation of a companion performing this task. In this case, the presence of the observer during the session could lead to habituation of the experimental situation and production of associations between this situation and stimuli or emotions related to the reward or punishment, and might result in more efficient learning later. The imitative behavior can be inhibited by stimuli producing responses antagonistic to the act of imitation.