Manipulation of self-destruction in three retarded children

The study attempted to isolate some of the environmental conditions that controlled the self-destructive behavior of three severely retarded and psychotic children. In the extinction study subjects were placed in a room where they were allowed to hurt themselves, isolated from interpersonal contact. They eventually ceased to hurt themselves in that situation, the rate of self-destruction falling gradually over successive days. In the punishment study, subjects were administered painful electric shock contingent on the self-destructive behavior. (1) The self-destructive behavior was immediately suppressed. (2) The behavior recurred when shock was removed. (3) The suppression was selective, both across physical locales and interpersonal situations, as a function of the presence of shock. (4) Generalized effects on other, non-shock behaviors, appeared in a clinically desirable direction. Finally, a study was reported where self-destructive behavior increased when certain social attentions were given contingent upon that behavior.     

JOB DEVELOPMENT FOR THE MENTALLY RESTORED PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT1

The experiences of the placement department of the Mental Health and Manpower Project have demonstrated that an effective team can be created to develop job opportunities for the mentally restored psychiatric patient. Composed of a vocational counselor and a placement counselor, the team is effective in securing meaningful employment and developing re-education programs in the community. While the vocational counselor provides the clinical information concerning the restored patient-client, the placement counselor serves as a more personnel oriented individual in finding the appropriate kind of employment position. The team points to the potential that the mental health center possesses in involving the general community in its programs.     

Control of responding by the elements of a compound discriminative stimulus and by the elements as individual discriminative stimuli

In the first of two studies, the responding of four albino rats was differentially reinforced in the presence of noise and light together and then tested in the presence of the noise and the light separately during extinction. The light exercised substantially more control of responding than did the noise. In the second study the responding of a similar group of four rats was differentially reinforced in the presence of the noise and the light separately. Control of responding by the light developed more rapidly than control by the noise. Results suggest that levels of control by stimuli after differential reinforcement with respect to the stimuli together can be predicted by the rates of development of control during differential reinforcement with respect to the stimuli separately.     

CHEMICAL TRANSFER OF ALTERNATION TRAINING IN THE SKINNER BOX

F jerdingstad , E. J. Chemical transfer of alternation training in the Skinner box. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1969, 10 , 220–224.—In six individual experiments one group of recipient mice was injected with brain extract from rat donors trained to alternate between bars in a Skinner box; another group was injected with extract from donors reinforced for pressing either bar irrespective of choice. During testing the recipients of 'alternation extract' showed a significantly higher tendency to alternate.     

INTENTIONAL COMMUNICATION IN THE TREE DRAWING TEST

K onttinen , R. & K arila , A. Intentional communication in the tree drawing test. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1969, 10 , 129–136—One way in which relationships between drawing variables and personality traits may be conceived is by interpreting the drawing as intentional communication. Some implications of this proposition were tested. Five formal variables of tree drawings were studied: angularity, size, form level, shading, and pressure. Only angularity can unambiguously be given a communication interpretation; but the other variables, too, may perhaps be used for intentional communication.