Self-reinforcement: Appealing misnomer or effective mechanism?1

The purpose of these two experiments was to test the motivational explanation for the effectiveness of self-reinforcement techniques. In each experiment, the classic self-reinforcement procedure (a desirable consequence following a target behavior) was compared with variations. In Experiment 1, undergraduate females (n = 61) showed no more self-recorded exercise when they performed a classic self-reinforcement procedure (high-probability activities following exercising) than when they only self-monitored exercise or engaged in one of three related procedures (high-probability activities preceding exercise, or low-probability activities following or preceding exercise). Indeed, only this last group produced significantly more self-recorded exercise. In Experiment 2, undergraduates (n = 62) attempted more workbook questions following a reading session in which they read a page and then ate a chosen food (classic self-reinforcement procedure) or ate a chosen food and then read a page, than when they read and ate in no particular order. More importantly, more workbook questions were answered correctly by the group who ate a chosen food and then read a page than by the other two groups. No differential results were produced by subjects' level of food deprivation. The classic self-reinforcement procedure showed no advantage over the variations in either experiment. These results call into question the motivational explanation for the effectiveness of self-reinforcement techniques. An alternative stimulus or cuing explanation is offered: that self-reinforcement is effective because it cues the long-term environmental consequences that actually control the frequency of the target behavior.     

Behavior change and individual differences in self-control

The use of self-control has become a major emphasis in recent behavioral treatment approaches. This has been especially true for the modification of appetitive disorders: high frequency behavior with immediate positive and delayed negative consequences, such as smoking and overeating. While the results have. for the most part. been promising, they have been marked by a high degree of intersubject variability: even the most generally effective programs have had only selective success (Mahoney, 1972). This variability might well be a function of fundamental interindividual differences in the ability to implement various self-control procedures. Kanfer (1971) has conceptualized self-control as a three component, closed loop process: self-monitoring followed by self-evaluation followed by self-reinforcement. The utilization of each component, the nature of their interaction and their implementation are all learned. Given the complexity of the process and idiosyncratic learning histories, individual differences are to be expected in each component of the self-control sequence. The effectiveness of any therapeutic program emphasizing self-control should, therefore, be a function of the ability and disposition of the patients to implement the self-control sequence or the specifie component required by the procedure. An individual having low facility to administer effective self-reinforcement might, for example, do poorly in a program that required self-reinforcement by containing little or no external supports. Someone who has not learned to accurately selfevaluate might contravene a program by administering self-reinforcement inappropriately.One way to test this contention would be to administer a self-control based treatment to individuals identified as differing in self-control ability: high self-controllers would be expected to do better. That method of attack might, however, be deferred. Lichtcnstein (1971) has suggested that before conducting extensive, elegantly designed treatment research, clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of the procedures be gathered. That approbation can be applied to the evaluation of the general hypothesis presented above, which has not yet had direct empirical support. An alternative, more conservative research strategy would be to precede a treatment study with an examination of individuals who had already changed their own behavior: a process that by definition requires the effective use of self-control. Were the hypothesis valid, differences in the general predisposition (or ability) to emit self-control responses should be observed between individuals who have modified their own behavior (e.g., quit smoking, lost weight) and those unable to do so. The purpose of the present study was to offer some preliminary data on this issue by comparing a group of people who had lost weight or quit smoking with a group that had failed at either. The component of self-control selected for study was self-reinforcement. It was predicted that individuals able to modify their own behavior would have a greater predisposition to use positive self-reinforcement than those unable to do so.     

Development and validation of the Male Body Talk Scale: A psychometric investigation

This paper details the development of the Male Body Talk (MBT) scale and five studies supporting the psychometric soundness of scores on this new measure. Participants were 18–65-year-old men recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk, introductory psychology courses, and snowball sampling. The MBT scale assesses the frequency with which men engage in negatively valenced body-related conversations with others. Two subscales were identified through a combination of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The Muscle Talk subscale assesses men's tendency to express concerns regarding degree of muscularity and being too small. The Fat Talk subscale assesses men's tendency to express concerns regarding level of body fat and being overweight. Scores on the MBT scale demonstrated strong internal consistency and moderate test–retest reliability. Evidence of convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of scores on the MBT scale is presented. This new measure is a useful tool for examining how often men engage in negative body talk.     

The Correlates of Antinuclear Activism: Attitudes, Subjective Norms, and Efficacy

Ajzen's (1988) theory of planned behavior was modified and used to examine antinuclear behavior. Subjects completed a questionnaire measuring their antinuclear attitudes, their perceptions of support for taking antinuclear action, and their perceptions of efficacy in this arena. Then, an antinuclear behavioral intentions questionnaire was presented, as well as several opportunities to engage in various antinuclear actions. Regression analyses indicated that Ajzen's model was supported to the extent that attitude emerged as a significant predictor of antinuclear intentions and behaviors. Subjective norms and efficacy were not significant predictors of either intentions or behaviors. Models incorporating behavior-specific attitude measures accounted for more variance than did models using more general attitude measures toward nuclear war/weapons.     

An analysis of fidgeting and associated individual differences

Fidgeting was defined as engaging in manipulations of one's own body parts or other objects, such actions being peripheral or nonessential to central ongoing events or tasks Two studies employed preliminary fidgeting questionnaires of 70 and 106 items, respectively, tapping a wide range of habitual behaviors Item selection and factor analyses led to the development of a final, 40-item, individual difference measure of fidgeting tendency which is balanced for response bias and has an alpha reliability coefficient of 89 Convergent and construct validity were supported by positive correlations between the fidgeting tendency measure and measures of tendencies to engage in extraneous activities (consuming alcoholic drinks, cigarette smoking, eating, daydreaming, restlessness, insomnia) while preoccupied with certain situations and tasks These findings implied that fidgeting is an activity overflow and that it is more probable when the organism's physical activity is constrained by the central or focal act Fidgeting tendency also correlated positively with binge eating and with physical activity In two additional studies, questionnaire fidgeting tendency scores correlated positively with direct observations of fidgeting by subjects and with peer predictions Personality correlates of fidgeting tendency were well defined More fidgety persons were more unpleasant and more arousable (i e, more anxious or hostile) Fidgeting tendency did not correlate significantly with subject sex or with arousal-seeking tendency     

SACRAL: toward the meaning and measurement of friendliness

Friendliness was regarded as a construct or dispositional tendency consisting of four components: Self-concept (S), the person's beliefs about self related to peer relationships; Accessibility (AC), giving behaviors involving attention and respect; Rewardingness (R), the giving of more tangible rewards, such as money and compliments; and Alienation (AL), personal beliefs about acceptance and the world as a friendly place. A 40-item questionnaire was developed to assess these components of friendliness. Studies of the questionnaire with college students and children supported its internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, construct validity, and discriminant validity. Although virtually all respondents reported themselves as friendly, high SACRAL scorers, when compared with low scorers, less frequently experience loneliness and in a variety of contexts claim to be more apt to engage in friendly behaviors. The impression that emerges of relatively low scorers on SACRAL is of people whose professed actions are somewhat inconsistent with their personal beliefs.     

Dialectical thinking: A cross-cultural study of Japanese,Chinese, and British students

Peng and Nisbett found that Chinese people are more apt to engage in dialectical thinking (DT) than Americans. We gave the Dialectical Self Scale questionnaire and 10 pairs of opposing opinions to high school and university students of Japanese, Chinese, and British nationality. We asked them to fill in the questionnaire, to rate how strongly they agreed with each opinion, and to rate how wise it is to think dialectically. The scores on the questionnaire were higher among Easterners than among Westerners and higher among university students than among high school students. But the results of opinion agreement indicated that the dialectical tendency was stronger among the Chinese and British than among the Japanese. Furthermore, however, Japanese participants judged DT as wiser than Chinese and British did, and Chinese university students believed it was wiser than Chinese high school students did. We propose that this effect is attributed to Marxist education in China.     

GENERALIZATION OF THE EFFECTS OF TEACHER- AND SELF-ADMINISTERED TOKEN REINFORCERS TO NONTREATED STUDENTS

Ten, black, second-grade boys served in a series of single-subject studies. They were from poor families, did not do well in arithmetic, were deficient in sustained attention, and presented behavior problems at school. One boy was a therapeutic confederate. Of the remaining nine nontreated students, three observed the confederate reinforced by a teacher, three observed the confederate self-reinforce without having an opportunity to use “self-reinforcement” themselves, and three observed self-reinforcement while having an opportunity to use “self-reinforcement.” The target behavior was attending. Other measures of outcome were glancing, academic achievement, and accuracy of reinforcement. The basic experimental design consisted of an ABAB withdrawal applied to the confederate while the nontreated students remained on baseline. Generalization was expressed as a ratio (i.e., percent change in the generalization measure divided by percent change in the target behavior). Teacher-administered reinforcers to the confederate did not produce generalization of any kind. Both arrangements of self-administered reinforcers to the confederate produced across-subjects generalization and subject-response generalization. Additionally, the confederate manifested response generalization.     

Setting Generalization during Self-Reinforcement with Educationally Handicapped Children

Eight educationally handicapped boys ranging in age form 10 to 11 years old and described as the worst behavior problems in their class participated in a series of single-subject studies carried out in their self-contained classrooms. Three served as target subjects, using self-reinforcement procedures to increase their sustained on-task behavior in a treatment setting; five served as generalization subjects. Data were collected in three settings within the self-contained classroom; an early morning treatment setting, a late morning generalization setting, and an afternoon generalization setting. The three target subjects averaged a 51% increase over their baseline median levels of sustained on-task behavior in the treatment setting. They averaged 84% and 96% generalization to the late morning and afternoon generalization settings, respectively. These results demonstrate that self-reinforcement can produce setting generalization of treatment effects in the absence of prior externally determined reinforcement. Evidence for subject and subject-setting generalization was also obtained.     

The Role of Perceived Wealth Competence,Wealth Values,and Internal Wealth Locus of Control in Predicting Wealth Creation Behavior1

The aim of this research was to explore the possibility that Wallston's (1992 ) modified social learning theory would apply to wealth creation behavior. We hypothesized that those who have high scores on internal wealth locus of control, perceived wealth competence, and wealth value would be more likely to engage in wealth creation behavior, both currently and in the future. A community sample of 317 adults completed measures of all these constructs. Factor structure and reliability of the scales were established prior to analysis. Two separate hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted: The moderation hypothesis was not supported. Perceived wealth competence was identified as a predictor of wealth creation behavior, current and future, in terms of both statistical and practical significance.     

Ignoring biased feedback: Membership in a stigmatized group as a moderator of mnemic neglect

A personal history of being the target of biased negative evaluation may lead individuals to habitually divert attention from negative feedback when it is possible to do so. Two studies tested for the first time the hypothesis that people belonging to a stigmatized group (Black students on a predominantly White campus) will, relative to non-stigmatized people, be more likely to engage in mnemic neglect—that is, they will reveal a greater tendency to insulate themselves from the effects of negative self-relevant feedback by means of motivated forgetting. The results of Study 1 supported that hypothesis. In Study 2, priming the concept of egalitarianism reduced the tendency of Black participants to engage in higher levels of mnemic neglect, consistent with the idea that the higher observed levels of mnemic neglect among stigmatized individuals derives from expecting biased, discriminatory responses from other people.     

A PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT APPROACH FOR IMPROVING DIRECT-CARE STAFF PERFORMANCE IN AN INSTITUTIONAL SETTING

The present study evaluated a participative management approach for increasing the frequency of interactions between institutional staff and severely/profoundly retarded residents. The participative management approach involved teaching staff how to use self-monitoring, standard setting, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement procedures. These procedures were then used by staff with minimal involvement of supervisory personnel. Although supervisors provided feedback and praise to staff for using these self-management behaviors, feedback and praise were never dispensed contingent on staff interactions with residents. Results indicated that during the participative management program there was an increase in staff interactions that were contingent on appropriate resident behavior. The increase in this type of staff interaction was accompanied by an increase in appropriate resident behavior. Follow-up data on both staff and resident behaviors, although showing moderating trends, suggested generally good maintenance of the initial behavior changes. Acceptability data suggested that staff were quite receptive to the program. The advantages of participative management procedures for improving staff performance in residential settings are discussed.     

Sustainability,future orientation and water conservation

Time orientation, as a psychological determinant of sustainable behavior, is addressed in this paper. One hundred and seventy-seven individuals in two Mexican cities responded to a questionnaire investigating future orientation (i.e. the tendency of some people to establish and achieve goals and to plan strategies for meeting long-term obligations) and sustainable behavior, indicated by the self-report of water conservation practices. The relationship between these two factors was estimated within a structural equation model (SEM), which revealed that future orientation significantly and positively affects sustainable behavior. Between-group contrasts have not revealed significant differences in future orientation and water conservation given by economic income, gender and educational level. However, younger individuals (< 18-year-old) were significantly less future-oriented than older people, while persons living in a city experiencing water scarcity tended to engage more frequently in water conservation practices.     

Self-reinforcement

Self-reinforcement in operant situations generally refers to those arrangements in which the subject delivers to himself a consequence, contingent on his behavior. However, it is noted that the definition of all other types of reinforcement make its delivery contingent on the subject's behavior. What is actually at issue is the agent who defines whether or not the response required for reinforcement has been met. In self-reinforcement, the subject himself defines this. In the laboratory, this requirement is machine-defined; in school examinations, it is teacher-defined; and in many clinical self-control situations, it is also independently defined. A reinforcement contingency presupposes such independence, absent in self-reinforcement. Implications for research and practice are discussed and alternative formulations are offered.     

Self-control revisited: Or why doesn't anyone actually read Skinner anymore?

Self-control continues to develop as a major source of explanatory concepts within cognitive behavior therapy. The recent history of self-control is reviewed, and three related areas of disagreement between radical behaviorists and cognitive behaviorists are discussed. The logical status of self-reinforcement, reciprocity, and private events is examined and evaluated. This review suggests that a radical behavioral approach continues to offer psychology the most effective program for the analysis of behavior.     

Maintenance and transfer of self-reinforcement functions

In order to examine conditions maintaining self-reinforcement functions, pigeons were trained to reward their own performances and then tested for adherence to work requirements under decreasing likelihood of punishment for undeserved self-reward. Contingent self-reinforcement was stably maintained given moderate to high probability that unmerited self-reward would incur punishing consequences. In successive reversals of treatment and test conditions, the amount of behavior performed for each self-reward covaried with self-reinforcement rate. A further experiment demonstrated that self-reinforcing practices, involving both performance and consummatory contingencies, transfer to new activities for which the animal had never been trained to reward himself contingently. Adherence to performance requirements was more stringent, however, than to limitations on amount of rcinforcers consumed from freely available provisions.     

Religiosity and agency and communion: their relationship to religious judgmentalism

The present study is an introduction to the construct of religious judgmentalism, defined as a willingness to make religious or moral judgments of others based on a limited period of observation; the study offers a prediction about which individuals will engage in such judgmental behavior. It was predicted that agency motives would significantly predict religious judgmentalism in a religious population but that communion motives and intrinsic religiosity would moderate this effect. Overall, the findings supported these predictions. Agency motives were positively correlated with religious judgmentalism. Intrinsic religiosity predicted a general unwillingness to make religious evaluations of others. Both intrinsic religiosity and communion motives did moderate the effects of high agency motives. Specifically, increases in communion motive and intrinsic religiosity, at high levels of agency motives, significantly predicted lower scores for religious judgmentalism. These findings were conceptualized as preliminary evidence for the position that interpersonal motives, rather than religiousness or religious motivation, predict social intolerance and criticism in religious individuals.     

A systematic comparison of three sadism measures and their ability to explain workplace mistreatment over and above the dark triad

The present study investigated a potential antecedent of workplace mistreatment, sadism, which represents the dispositional tendency to engage in cruel, demeaning, or harmful behavior for dominance or pleasure. Time-lagged data from 379 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers showed that sadism positively predicted interpersonal deviance, instigated incivility, and cyberbullying frequency above and beyond the dark triad. Moreover, relative weight analyses consistently identified sadism as the most important predictor of workplace mistreatment compared to other dark triad predictors. This study also sought to identify possible differences among three popular sadism scales. The three scales were interchangeable in terms of predicting the outcomes. Confirmatory factor analyses and differential item functioning analyses both revealed, however, that only the SSIS was invariant across sex groups.     

Motivations for Self‐Injury,Affect, and Impulsivity: A Comparison of Individuals with Current Self‐Injury to Individuals with a History of Self‐Injury

Individuals who report nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) are characterized by the tendency to act rashly while experiencing distress (negative urgency), the tendency to act without thinking, and endorsement of both social and affect regulation motives for the behavior. However, very little research has identified characteristics that distinguish current self‐injurers from those with a history of the behavior. The purpose of this study was to compare individuals with current self‐injury to a history of self‐injury on impulsivity‐related personality traits, motives for self‐injury, and distress. Among a sample of 429 undergraduates, 120 reported self‐injury. Among these 120 individuals, 33 endorsed self‐injury within the past month, with a mean frequency of 4.77 acts of NSSI. Within the self‐injury group, current self‐injurers reported higher endorsement of affect regulation motives for NSSI, and higher levels of current negative affect than individuals with a history of self‐injury. There were no differences between current and former self‐injurers on measures of impulsivity, endorsement of social motives for NSSI, or positive affect. We propose that individuals who use NSSI to regulate negative affect may be more likely to repeatedly engage in this behavior over time.     

The sexual overperception bias is associated with sociosexuality

As reproductive rates have the potential to be higher in men than women, it is more costly (from an evolutionary perspective) for men to miss a mating opportunity than women. This asymmetry in costs has been proposed to result in men being more sensitive to cues to sexual opportunity than women, and thus men are more likely than women to misperceive sexual interest from opposite sex others. To investigate this sexual misperception bias, smiling male and female faces were presented to participants who were asked to judge whether the face appeared friendly or flirtatious. Participants also completed a sociosexual orientation questionnaire in order to assess their current attitudes towards sexual relationships. In general, we found that males perceive female faces as flirtatious significantly more often than females. However, our results also suggested that people with high scores on the sociosexuality inventory (who rated themselves as more likely to engage in short-term, casual relationships), regardless of sex, had a tendency to perceive the faces of potential mates as more flirtatious, and that this variable explained more variance than sex alone. Our findings demonstrate that sociosexuality may mediate biases in perceiving the sexual intent of others.