MAINTENANCE FACTORS IN COERCIVE MOTHER-CHILD INTERACTIONS: THE COMPLIANCE AND PREDICTABILITY HYPOTHESES

Two stimulus control processes by which some parent-child dyads occasionally escalate their aversive exchanges into progressively more coercive interactions are described. The compliance hypothesis suggests that aversive actions have instructional properties for the dyad and that parent compliance with such child instructions maintains behavior chains of increasing aversiveness. The predictability hypothesis suggests that social interactions are most likely to function as aversive stimuli in the dyad when delivered in unpredictable fashion by either party and that responses instrumental in reducing dyadic unpredictability maintain aversive behavior chains. Expectations derived from both hypotheses are evaluated in a series of correlational analyses of mother-child interactions obtained in extended baseline observations of three dyads seeking psychological help for severe interactional problems. Results provide tentative support for the predictability hypothesis and suggest important avenues of further research.     

Infants at risk for child abuse

Child abuse is most likely to occur when socially isolated parents react impulsively to aversive stimuli emitted by their children. Certain child signals and characteristics are aversive to adults. Infant cries are aversive to all parents, but children who are unusually irritable or whose cries are especially grating may become aversive to their parents even when they are not crying. Studies show that the cries of premature infants and the cries of babies incorrectly labelled premature are more aversive to parents, and that abusive mothers and the mothers of premature infants find cries more aversive than other mothers do. The incidence of abuse would be reduced by the availability of supportive social networks and the elimination of distorted parental expectations.     

Transgenerational patterns of abusive parenting: Analog and clinical tests

Two studies were conducted to determine whether there was an association between punitive childhood histories and abusive parenting. In the first experiment, undergraduate students who reported more punitive childhood histories and undergraduates who reported mild or nonpunishing childhoods were tested with an Analog Parenting Task. The task used photographic stimuli to depict child behaviors and to elicit disciplinary choices in response to children's transgressions. Persons from the more punitive backgrounds were significantly more likely to endorse potentially injurious disciplinary responses. Additionally, in a post-hoc analysis, women with mild punishment backgrounds were more likely to indicate they were annoyed by the depicted child behaviors than women with the severe punishment backgrounds and men with both punishment histories. In the second experiment, childhood histories of parents of children seen at a psychiatric clinic were assessed. The data indicated an association between severely punitive backgrounds of parents and the probability that the referred child had been physically abused. Also, the punishment histories of the parents were associated with the presence of antisocial and aggressive presenting problems displayed by the referred child. The two experiments together were considered to provide support for a modified version of the trans-generational hypothesis of abuse.     

Fading—A new technique in the treatment of phobias

Phobias have been subject to more research by behavior therapists than any other psychiatric disorder. In 1975 Marks described more than 20 different techniques that have been developed for or used in the treatment of phobias.The technique to be described in this paper—fading—was first used by Barlow and Agras (1973) as an alternative to aversive techniques for homosexuals. Originally the technique was designed to change the stimulus control of sexual responsiveness by introducing or “fading in” heterosexual stimuli during periods of sexual arousal elicted by homosexual stimuli.One purpose of the single-case studies presented here was to explore the possibility of achieving a similar result with phobic clients. In other words, the aim was to create a state of calmness and positive sensations in the client and then to gradually “fade in” phobic stimuli. The hypothesis was that the stimulus control of anxiety exerted by the phobic stimuli would decrease and finally be extinguished due to the antagonistic effects of observing and imagining positive scenes.A second purpose of this application of fading was to develop a technique for reducing phobic anxiety which could give more control to the client than is the case in, for example, systematic desensitization.     

Hypothesis analysis of sameness-difference learning-set by capuchin monkeys

Sameness-difference discriminations were presented to capuchin monkeys and hypothesis analysis was applied to the data. Learners and nonlearners evidenced differences in overall performance and in relative strengths of hypotheses. Learners initially displayed markedly more random than position responding whereas nonlearners evidenced more position than random responding and remained particularly prone to position habits. Stimulus preference and aversion, suppressed by learners by the end of training, reemerged at the onset of two-object discriminations containing previously preferred and aversive stimuli. Hypothesis analysis indicated that when preferred stimuli were positive the correct hypothesis was more evidenced, and stimulus preference or aversion as well as random hypotheses were less evidenced, than when aversive stimuli were positive.     

Compounding discriminative stimuli controlling free-operant avoidance

The performances of three rats were stabilized on a multiple schedule that maintained responding by a free-operant avoidance schedule during independent presentations of tone and light. The simultaneous absence of these stimuli signalled shock-free periods and controlled response cessation. Subsequently, test sessions were administered consisting of independent presentations of each stimulus and these stimuli compounded (tone-plus-light). During an extinction test, additive summation was observed to the compounded stimuli, i.e., more responses were emitted to the compound than to either tone or light. During a series of 28 maintenance-test sessions in which the shock schedule remained operative, the compounded stimuli produced a generally enhanced response rate and fewer pauses terminating with shock than either single stimulus condition. These results extend the generality of free-operant additive summation to responding maintained by aversive control. In addition, a comparison of the present study with previous experiments reporting additive summation of positively reinforced responding indicates that similar variables—rate and aversive differences between training stimulus conditions—should be considered in accounting for response distributions during stimulus compounding when responding is controlled by either positive or negative contingencies.     

Physical Environmental Adversity and the Protective Role of Maternal Monitoring in Relation to Early Child Conduct Problems

Research on the development of externalizing behaviors during early childhood has focused on child and parenting factors. Fewer studies have investigated effects of aversive features of the micro-level physical environment, such as overcrowding and chaos in the home, and the macro-level environment, such as neighborhood quality. This study extends research on physical environmental factors by examining their association with children's early externalizing behaviors, and exploring how maternal monitoring may serve as a protective factor in such contexts. 120 male toddlers at high risk for developing early externalizing behaviors were followed from ages 2 to 5 years. Direct longitudinal associations were found for micro-level environmental factors beginning at age 2 and for neighborhood risk beginning at age 3. Maternal monitoring served as a protective factor for child externalizing behaviors in the context of neighborhood risk. Implications for prevention research and the development of early externalizing behaviors are discussed.     

Constraint, Alcoholism, and Electrodermal Response in Aversive Classical Conditioning and Mismatch Novelty Paradigms

This study investigated whether low levels of the personality trait of constraint and early-onset alcoholism would be associated with deficits in aversive conditioning and smaller responses to novelty in a stimulus mismatch protocol. Personality traits (constraint and socialization) and skin conductance responses (SCRs) during conditioning and novelty paradigms were assessed in alcoholics (n=41) and non-alcoholics (n = 32). The conditioning protocol involved measuring SCRs after conditioned stimuli (CS+: tones) paired with shock, CS- tones unpaired with shock, and CS+ probes unpaired with shock. The mismatch protocol involved measuring SCRs to auditory stimuli consisting of a series of 5 pure tones of the same pitch followed a shorter white noise stimulus (the novel stimulus). Contrary to the hypothesis, alcoholics did not differ from non-alcoholics in SCRs to CS+ probes or on the mismatch measure (SCR novel tone-SCR to 5th tone). Higher levels of constraint and self-reports of fear during conditioning were associated with smaller responses to both the CS+ probes and the CS- tones as well as the mismatch measure within non-alcoholics, but not within alcoholics. In alcoholics, low constraint was associated with greater habituation to CS+ probes, and poor differential conditioning on measures of change across trials in SCR to CS+ probes and CS- stimuli. The results suggest that different processes influence levels of constraint in non-alcoholics and alcoholics. The data indicate that low constraint in non-alcoholics is associated with allocating fewer processing resources to potentially significant stimuli, rather than being associated with a specific deficit in aversive conditioning per se.     

Masculine Gender-Role Stress, Anger, and Male Intimate Abusiveness: Implications for Men's Relationships

Many men who are strongly committed to the traditional male role experience masculine gender-role stress (MGRS) when faced with situations they perceive as posing a threat to their masculine identity. Men who experience high levels of MGRS often turn to substance abuse as a means of managing insecurities regarding male role expectations, which may increase their risk of engaging in verbally and physically abusive behavior. In the present investigation, we examined the association between MGRS, anger, and intimately abusive behavior among substance-abusing men. Our sample consisted of 57% White and 43% African American male substance abusers. Approximately 72% of participants reported earning less than $20,000; about 19% earned between $20,000 and $39,999; 4% earned between $40,000 and $59,999; 5% earned between $60,000 and $79,999, and less than 1% reported earning over $80,000. It was hypothesized that, compared with low-MGRS substance-abusing men, high-MGRS substance-abusing men would report higher levels of anger and would be more likely to report engaging in verbally and physically abusive behavior directed at their female partners. In general, support was found for these hypotheses. Our results indicate that high-MGRS substance-abusing men experience higher levels of anger and that they were more likely to have engaged in abusive behavior in the context of their intimate relationships with female partners.     

Avoidance of pain of unpredictable intensity

Unpredictability of the intensity of an aversive event might be an important factor in producing negative effects of the event, especially if the UCS becomes stronger than could have been expected. The present experiment tested the hypothesis that unpredictability of intensity of a painful stimulus contributes to avoidance behaviour. The experiment was concealed in a shock working-up procedure, which was done to assess the pain level subjects were willing to tolerate in a subsequent experiment. The experimental subjects, who received an unannounced sudden increase of the pain stimulus during the working-up procedure, tolerated less pain on a subjective as well as on an objective level (avoidance of high levels of pain) than the control subjects, who received the stimuli in a predictable pattern. The results support the hypothesis that unpredictability of intensity of an aversive event contributes to avoidance behaviour.     

Constraint, alcoholism, and electrodermal response in aversive classical conditioning and mismatch novelty paradigms

This study investigated whether low levels of the personality trait of constraint and early-onset alcoholism would be associated with deficits in aversive conditioning and smaller responses to novelty in a stimulus mismatch protocol. Personality traits (constraint and socialization) and skin conductance responses (SCRs) during conditioning and novelty paradigms were assessed in alcoholics (n=41) and non-alcoholics (n=32). The conditioning protocol involved measuring SCRs after conditioned stimuli (CS+: tones) paired with shock, CS− tones unpaired with shock, and CS+ probes unpaired with shock. The mismatch protocol involved measuring SCRs to auditory stimuli consisting of a series of 5 pure tones of the same pitch followed a shorter white noise stimulus (the novel stimulus). Contrary to the hypothesis, alcoholics did not differ from non-alcoholics in SCRs to CS+ probes or on the mismatch measure (SCR novel tone—SCR to 5^th tone). Higher levels of constraint and self-reports of fear during conditioning were associated with smaller responses to both the CS+ probes and the CS− tones as well as the mismatch measure within non-alcoholics, but not within alcoholics. In alcoholics, low constraint was associated with greater habituation to CS+ probes, and poor differential conditioning on measures of change across trials in SCR to CS+ probes and CS− stimuli. The results suggest that different processes influence levels of constraint in non-alcoholics and alcoholics. The data indicate that low constraint in non-alcoholics is associated with allocating fewer processing resources to potentially significant stimuli, rather than being associated with a specific deficit in aversive conditioning per se.     

How do social fears in adolescence develop? Fear conditioning shapes attention orienting to social threat cues

Social fears emerging in adolescence can have negative effects on emotional well-being. Yet the mechanisms by which these risks occur are unknown. One possibility is that associative learning results in fears to previously neutral social stimuli. Such conditioned responses may alter subsequent processing of social stimuli. We used a novel conditioning task to examine how associative processes influence social fear and attention orienting in adolescents. Neutral photographs were paired with socially rewarding or aversive stimuli during conditioning; a dot-probe task then assessed biases in attention orienting. The social conditioning task modified subjective ratings of the neutral stimuli. Moreover, for the neutral stimulus that was paired with the aversive stimulus, the strength of conditioning showed a relationship with subsequent attentional vigilance. The findings elucidate mechanisms by which negative peer experiences during adolescence may affect emotional processing.     

How do social fears in adolescence develop? Fear conditioning shapes attention orienting to social threat cues

Social fears emerging in adolescence can have negative effects on emotional well-being. Yet the mechanisms by which these risks occur are unknown. One possibility is that associative learning results in fears to previously neutral social stimuli. Such conditioned responses may alter subsequent processing of social stimuli. We used a novel conditioning task to examine how associative processes influence social fear and attention orienting in adolescents. Neutral photographs were paired with socially rewarding or aversive stimuli during conditioning; a dot-probe task then assessed biases in attention orienting. The social conditioning task modified subjective ratings of the neutral stimuli. Moreover, for the neutral stimulus that was paired with the aversive stimulus, the strength of conditioning showed a relationship with subsequent attentional vigilance. The findings elucidate mechanisms by which negative peer experiences during adolescence may affect emotional processing.     

Effects of noun imagery and awareness of the discriminative cue upon differential eyelid conditioning to grammatical and ungrammatical phrases

Two differential eyelid conditioning studies employed grammatically correct and incorrect adjective-noun phrases as conditioned stimuli. For different groups of subjects, the nouns were either high or low in imagery. The hypothesis that congruency between grammatical correctness and reinforcement consequences (i.e., the aversive stimulus contingent upon presence of incorrect rather than correct grammar) would facilitate conditioned discrimination was not supported, but the hypothesis that high noun imagery would facilitate differential response to syntax received strong support. Cognitive awareness of the syntactic discriminandum was also related to effective differential responding, as well as being implicated as a mediating mechanism in the imagery effects. Finally, performance was also significantly related to conditioned-response topography, with better conditioned discrimination by voluntary-form (V) than by conditioned-form (C) responders, and also evidence of more effective utilization of contingency awareness by Vs than by Cs.     

Empathy and risk status for child physical abuse: the effects of an adult victim's pain cues and an adult victim's intent on aggression

It has been proposed that abusive parents and parents at high risk for child physical abuse could be more likely to view children's behavior as being motivated by hostile intent [e.g., Milner, 1993], as compared to nonabusive and low‐risk parents. This kind of misattribution of other's behavior may inhibit empathic emotion, and therefore, could block the inhibiting effect of a victim's pain cues on aggression [Baron, 1979]. An experiment was designed to analyze the moderating effect of an adult victim's intent on aggression in high‐ and low‐risk participants for child physical abuse. A 2 × 2 factorial design based upon two levels of the participant's risk status (high, low) and two levels of victim's intent (positive, ambiguous) was employed. All participants observed an adult victim's pain cues. Ninety‐five (48 high and 47 low risk for child physical abuse) undergraduate females enrolled in courses at the University of the Basque Country participated in the experiment. The main effects of victims' intent and of participants' risk status were statistically significant. Participants in the ambiguous victim's intent condition aggressed significantly more than participants in the positive victim's intent condition. Moreover, high‐risk participants aggressed more than low‐risk participants regardless of the victim's intent. A significant interaction between risk status and victim's intent was expected. High‐risk subjects for child physical abuse were expected to aggress more than low‐risk subjects only in the ambiguous victim's intent condition. However, results did not support this hypothesis. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–12, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Experiments with a hollow mask and a reverspective: top-down influences in the inversion effect for 3-D stimuli

Earlier psychophysical and physiological studies, obtained mostly with two-dimensional (2-D) stimuli, provided evidence for the hypothesis that the processing of faces differs from that of scenes. We report on our experiments, employing realistic three-dimensional (3-D) stimuli of a hollow mask and a scene, that offer further evidence for this hypothesis. The stimuli used for both faces and scenes were bistable, namely they could elicit either the veridical or an illusory volumetric percept. Our results indicate that the illusion is weakened when the stimuli are inverted, suggesting the involvement of top down processes. This inversion effect is statistically significant for the facial stimulus, but the trend did not reach statistical significance for the scene stimulus. These results support the hypothesis that configural processing is stronger for the 3-D perception of faces than it is for scenes, and extend the conclusions of earlier studies on 2-D stimuli.     

Sensation seeking and the aversive motivational system

Sensation seeking (SS) has traditionally been viewed as a phenomenon of the appetitive motivational system. The limited SS research exploring contributions from the aversive motivational system reveals greater anxious reactivity to dangerous activities among low sensation seekers. The present study extends this line of work by comparing levels of fear and anxiety during anticipation of predictable and unpredictable aversive stimuli across high- and low-SS groups. Low sensation seekers displayed greater fear-potentiated startle (FPS) to predictable aversive stimuli, and only those low on SS showed FPS and skin conductance response effects during experimental contexts in which aversive stimuli were delivered unpredictably. Findings implicate enhanced apprehensive anticipation among those low on SS as a potential deterrent for their participation in intense and threatening stimulus events.     

Inferior olive lesions impair concurrent taste aversion learning in rats.

Taste aversion learning can be established according to two different procedures, concurrent and sequential. For the concurrent task, two different taste stimuli are offered at the same time, one associated with simultaneous intragastric administration of an aversive stimulus and the other associated with physiological saline. This discrimination is learned by sham-lesioned control animals and by animals with lesions in the cerebellar cortex but not by rats lesioned in the inferior olive. At the same time, animals with lesions in the inferior olive and sham-lesioned animals achieve sequential learning when the gustatory stimuli are offered individually during each daily session. The results obtained show that electrolytic lesions in the inferior olive impair acquisition of concurrent learning and are analyzed in terms of an anatomical system consisting of the vagus nerve, inferior olive, and cerebellum, which differentiates between the two modalities of taste aversion learning, concurrent and sequential.     

Prospective versus retrospective coding of samples of stimuli,responses, and reinforcers in delayed matching with pigeons

Pigeons' performance with samples of stimuli (red and green), number of responses (1 and 20), and reinforcers (food and no food) was assessed in a matching-to-sample preparation. Samples of red, 20 responses, and food were each associated with the red comparison stimulus; samples of green, 1 response, and no food were each associated with the green comparison stimulus. Interest focused on whether physically different samples associated with the same comparison stimulus each establish a unique memorial representation embodying the physical attributes of the sample (retrospective coding), or whether they activate a unitary memorial representation embodying an instruction for test responding (prospective coding). In the first experiment, accuracy of choice responding was independent of whether successive sample presentations within a trial involved the same physical sample or physically different but associatively identical samples. A second experiment revealed that, in contrast to other matching preparations, accuracy was not reduced when sample elements were compounded during presentation. It was concluded that physically different samples which are associated with the same comparison stimulus are coded prospectively in terms of an instruction for choice responding.     

Self-control in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): controlling for differential stimulus exposure

Previous research on self-control using macaques (Macaca fascicularis) showed these animals have a strong bias for a delayed, larger reinforcer (Self-control) over an immediate, smaller reinforcer (Impulsive). Typical studies of self-control have used a discrete trials methodology with a secondary discriminative stimulus during the delay periods. This results in a greater exposure to the stimulus representing the self-controlled option and may account for some of the early exclusive preference for self-control observed. The present experiment examined self-control bias in three rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) while controlling for differential durations of stimulus exposure. Subjects were presented stimuli via a computer monitor and made choices by touching the stimulus at which point both stimuli were removed for the delay periods. All three subjects displayed a nearly exclusive bias for the delayed, larger reinforcer self-control). These results are consistent with previous studies, despite the variations in methodology and species.