DIS-UNIFIED PLURALIST ACCOUNTS OF CAUSATION

One way of assessing the philosophical literature on causation is to consider views on the nature of the causal relation. Early theorists were 'monists', taking there to be one causal relation. More recent theorists, however, have turned to pluralism, which holds that the causal relation is only accurately captured by two (or more) relations. I argue that one way of being a pluralist – the way which takes there to be exactly two types of causation – is self defeating, if it promises to handle intuitions about all causal situations. I illustrate the point via neuron diagrams.     

A FURTHER STUDY OF VELOCITY SYNTHESIS

C ohen , R. L. A further study of velocity synthesis. Scand.J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 137–142.—A prediction as to the variation of estimates of subjects performing on the velocity synthesis apparatus, if the intensity of one of the twin spots were to be decreased, was made on the basis of the signal/interference approach. This prediction was then verified by experiment, where it was found that the mean score of a group of subjects estimating absolute velocity was influenced to a far greater extent than that of a group estimating relative velocity, when the intensity of one of the twin spots was decreased stepwise to a level just above the threshold value.     

MODIFICATION OF SHUTTLE BOX TO IMPROVE RATE OF AVOIDANCE LEARNING IN RATS

W allgren , H. & S avolainen , S. Modification of shuttle-box to improve rate of avoidance learning in rats. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 78–80.—Acquisition by rats of a conditioned avoidance response seems to be retarded in an ordinary shuttle-box by the necessity to re-enter the compartment where shocks have previously been received. To avoid this, a four-compartment box was introduced in which the animals can proceed in one direction. Rats were given either continuous trials until nine avoidance responses were made during 10 consecutive trials, or 30 trials per day until 27 correct responses were made during one session. With both methods of training, the rate of learning was approximately 40 per cent more rapid in the four-compartment box than in the ordinary shuttle-box.     

EMPIRICAL TEST OF A MODEL RELATING MAGNITUDE AND CATEGORY SCALES

E isler , H. Empirical test of a model relating magnitude and category scales. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 88–96.—The function K =α log( φ+ q/k) +β seems to describe the relation between category scale values K and subjective magnitudes φ. The additive constant q/k is obtained from the S ds of the magnitude estimates.
The model was empirically confirmed for the loudness and softness of white noise scaled by the methods of magnitude estimation and category rating.     

THE PROPERTIES OF DISTRIBUTIONS OF MAGNITUDE ESTIMATES OF LOUDNESS AND SOFTNESS

JOHN, I. D. The properties of distributions of magnitude estimates of loudness and softness. Scand. J. Psychol. 1971, 12, 261–270.–Distributions of magnitude estimations (MEs) of loudness and softness made by ten Ss to ten repetitions of ten stimuli were examined. Skew and relative variability of the distributions of MEs of individuals Ss was inconsistent with hypotheses advanced by Stevens & Guirao (1962) and Eisler (1962). The results were interpreted as consisted with Eriksen & Hake's (1957) subjective standard hypothesis, and a tendency to use large numbers with relatively greater consistency than smaller numbers. A reciprocal relationship was not found between MEs of loudness and softness.     

ON THE DETERMINATION OF VARIANCE ATTRIBUTABLE TO PREVIOUSLY ISOLATED FACTORS

H olley , J. W. & E lmgren , J. On the determination of variance attributable to previously isolated factors. Scand.J. Psychol ., 1969, 10 , 74–80.—The paper describes a method for extracting variance which can be attributed to factors which have been isolated previously. An illustration is given, using hypothetical data.     

PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO INFUSIONS OF A MIXTURE OF ADRENALINE AND NORADRENALINE

F rankenhaeuser , M. & J ärpe , G. Psychophysiological reactions to infusions of a mixture of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 21–29.—Psychophysiological reactions to a mixture of adrenaline and noradrenaline (average dose 6.99 + 6.99 μg/min.) given as a continuous intravenous drip for periods of about 40 min. were studied in 11 subjects. Control data were obtained from placebo infusions. The catecholamine infusions produced marked subjective and overt symptoms as well as changes in heart rate and blood pressure. These reactions were—on the whole—similar to those produced by infusions of adrenaline only. Time experience was also affected by the catecholamines in that more was retained of the previously perceived time intervals.     

Drinking and cholinergic mechanisms in the abstinence after chronic barbital treatments

Male rats were treated with barbital in the drinking water for 32–33 weeks (intake 195 mg/kg/day). This treatment ended on day 0. On days 23–29, 1.5 mg/kg/day of atropine was given. The changes induced by the treatments alone or combined were recorded either as a sensitivity to hexobarbital in the brain determined with a threshold method or as water intake calculated on data obtained with weekly intervals. The hexobarbital threshold test indicated that the barbital treatment had induced a tolerance which at the time of the atropine treatment was variable. In the rats also given the atropine treatment this tolerance was after a delay of approx. 2 weeks more marked and less variable. The water intake in only barbital treated rats showed, compared with untreated controls, an increase which had a maximum on days 28–35. During the atropine treatment given on days 23–29 there was in the previously barbital treated rats no certain effect, but immediately after the end of treatment there was an approx. 25 per cent increase in water intake above that found in only barbital treated rats. No return to control levels was seen within a 14 weeks observation period. This increase resembled supersensitivity but did not correspond over time with the changes seen in hexobarbital sensitivity.     

LOUDNESS AS A FUNCTION OF THE DURATION OF AUDITORY STIMULATION

The perceived loudness of a 1000 c/s tone was measured by a direct scaling method under different conditions of intensity (19–35 db) and duration (50–500 msec) of stimulation. It was found that loudness grows as a logarithmic function of stimulus duration; the relation was verified for ten individual subjects and four levels of intensity. In addition, the relation between temporal threshold and level of intensity was tentatively described.     

INTERINDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN SIMILARITY ESTIMATES OF PAINTINGS

KÜNNAPAS, T. & NORMAN, M. Intel-individual differences in similarity estimates of paintings. Scand. J. Psychol. , 1971, 12, 161–167.–Nine paintings by Cézanne were studied by the method of multidimensional similarity analysis. Three different groups of painters, students, and art school pupils participated in three experiments. Three factors were found: Factor I is called 'Complex horizontally arranged motive'; Factor II, 'Vertical central figure'; and Factor III, 'Central figure without background'. Comparison of different groups showed (1) that for paintings with the greatest loading in one of these factors no differences were obtained, (2) that differences between the groups are smallest in Factor I and greatest in Factor III, (3) that differences between the painters and students are greater than those between the painters and pupils, or between the pupils and the students, and (4) that interindividual differences between the groups are due, at least partly, to the formal artistic aspect which is most dominant in painters, in lower degree in pupils, and very little in students.     

Experts on age estimation

The aim of this investigation was to study the biases and accuracy in age estimation of persons selling alcohol. Two experiments are reported, both suggesting that the accuracy in age estimation of Swedish alcohol salespersons is higher than that of control persons. This expertise in age estimation is probably the result of the extensive training Swedish alcohol salespersons go through as a natural part of their profession. Nonetheless, their estimates were not free from bias. Salespersons overestimated the age of target persons below 20 years of age and thus too young to buy alcohol. The results also revealed that controls, in contrast to salespersons, assimilated their estimates towards their own age (i.e. an own-anchor effect). Furthermore, female participants were shown to estimate the age of old target persons (56–65 years) more accurately than male participants. These results are discussed in relation to previous findings on training in age estimation and present jurisdiction.     

VALIDITY OF SELF-ASSESSMENT: A FIELD EVALUATION

This study evaluated the validity of self-assessment in a natural setting. It also addressed the possibility of improving the utility of self-assessment by cautioning subjects that their responses could be compared with other existing data on them. Subjects were 357 males, aged 18–19 years, who were being screened for a prestigious military course. During the screening, they participated in small groups for nine days of tests, class exercises, and field simulations supervised by veteran commanders. On the ninth day, ratings were collected from commanders, peer group members, and the subjects themselves on dimensions related to eventual success in the training course. The experimental group was told their reports would be compared with those from other sources; the control group was not. Predictive and convergent validities were examined on three criteria: course success, commander ratings, and peer evaluations. Self-assessments from both experimental and control group were valid; however, those of the experimental group did not yield consistently higher validities. Findings are discussed in regard to their practical ramifications.     

Emergent, untrained stimulus relations in many-to-one matching-to-sample discriminations in rats

The present experiment investigated whether rats formed emergent, untrained stimulus relations in many-to-one matching-to-sample discriminations. In Phase 1, rats were trained to match two samples (triangle and horizontal stripes) to a common comparison (horizontal stripes) and two additional samples (circle or vertical stripes) to another comparison (vertical stripes). Then, in Phase 2, the rats were trained to match the one sample (triangle) to a new comparison (black) and the other sample (circle) to another comparison (white). In the Phase 3 test, half the rats (consistent group) were given two new tasks in which the sample-correct comparison relation was consistent with any emergent stimulus relations that previously may have been learned. The remaining 6 rats (inconsistent group) were given two new tasks in which the sample-correct comparison relation was not consistent with any previously learned emergent stimulus relations. Rats in the consistent group showed more accurate performance at the start of Phase 3, and faster learning to criterion in this phase, as compared with rats in the inconsistent group. This finding suggests that rats may form emergent, untrained stimulus relations between the discriminative stimuli in many-to-one matching-to-sample discriminations.     

MICROANALYSIS OF CONCRETE REASONING

Subjects with median age 5–11 were given 24 triads of elementary + and - operations with one unit (AS items), besides pre- and posttests of conservation of quantity. A strong initial resistance to use the 'equal' category was observed. A considerable proportion of the subjects acquired conservation. The difficulty of the AS items seemed to be mainly determined by the number of required intellectual transformations and non-redundant elements to be processed. Degree of perceptual support and codability of element combinations also appeared to be likely determinants.     

Response cost,reinforcement, and children's porteus maze qualitative performance

Sixty fourth-grade children were given two different series of the Porteus Maze Test. The first series was given as a baseline, and the second series was administered under one of four different experimental conditions: control, response cost, positive reinforcement, or negative verbal feedback. Response cost and positive reinforcement, but not negative verbal feedback, led to significant decreases in the number of all types of qualitative errors in relation to the control group. The reduction of nontargeted as well as targeted errors provides evidence for the generalized effects of response cost and positive reinforcement.     

Familial handedness and its relation to spatial ability following strategy instructions

This study compared subjects from right-handed families with subjects from nonrighthanded families in their ability to solve a mental-rotation task when instructed to use one of two different spatial strategies. All subjects completed a pretest Vandenberg. Next, one of the following procedures was presented prior to administering the Vandenberg posttest: Group 1 was given mental-rotation instructions, Group 2 was given spatial-orientation instructions, and Group 3 (control group) was given no special directions. For familial right-handers, no condition effects were found. In contrast, familial nonright-handers benefited significantly from mental-rotation instructions when compared both to their own control group and to familial right-handed subjects given the same instructions. However, with orientation instructions, the familial nonright-handers showed significantly less posttest improventnt than their control group. These results suggests familial non-rright-handers may be stronger in ability to use one spatial strategy, transformation of mental images, and weaker on a second, reorientation in relation to left-right cues. The educational and research implications of these findings are discussed.     

Variation of the susceptibility to information according to sociometric position and focusing of attention

Studied the effect of social support and increased self-attention on the ways of dealing with information of subjects who were suspicious about the influence of the experiment. All 48 subjects were students from psychology classes who had previously been informed of the processes of social influence. The experimental design was based on two variables: on the one hand, the social support variable, ranging from a strong, medium, weak, to one with no reference at all to social support; the focus of selfattention variable, on the other hand, materialized in the videotaping of half of the subjects. Subjects were asked to make estimates on a number of points. During some of the trials, subjects were given a piece of information consisting of answers supposedly made by other subjects which were in fact their own estimates with a constant number added to them. The experiment has shown that as the social support given to videotaped subjects increased, the subject's confidence in his own estimate increased. This result is partly at variance with the objective self-awareness theory and shows the importance of the subject's artitude towards the experimental situation (‘emprise experimentale’).     

The effects of alcohol and variable amount of cognitive stress on the estimation of time

Abstract.— The estimated durations of 4 standard intervals, 3, 5, 7, and 9 sec, and of the total experimental period, 11.5 min, were studied (a) in the absence of stress, during the rising and falling blood alcohol level phases, and (b) in situations involving variables stress (maximum, control, and anti-stress). Alcohol was found to lead to underestimation (a verbal estimate smaller than a given standard) in the absence of stress, but did not affect the estimates when stress was involved. A pronounced central effect was found under maximal stress which was not affected by alcohol. Ss under stress tended to overestimate the length of the experiment when compared to Ss under anti-stress. The Ss rated their current mood on 16 variables, but no significant effects could be related to their time estimates.     

THE EFFECTS OF CONTINGENT AND NONCONTINGENT REWARDS ON THE I.Q. SCORES OF CHILDREN OF ABOVE-AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE1

This study investigated the effects of candy reinforcement on I.Q. test scores in first and second graders of above-average intelligence. Thirty-six subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups and either given candy contingent on correct responses, noncontingently, or not given candy. After measuring all subjects on Form L of the revised Stanford Binet, each subject in the contingent group was given an M & M immediately following each correct answer on Form M, while a yoked-comparison subject received the same number of M & M's before responding to a question and therefore without regard to correctness of answers. It was expected that both types of candy administration would produce higher I.Q. change scores than the no-candy control group, but there were no statistically significant differences among the three treatments. The differences between the first and second test scores were 4.17 (contingent), 4.67 (noncontingent), and 1.00 (no reinforcement). Reasons for this failure to replicate previous findings were discussed.