Metaphysics of causation

Conclusion The world contains not only causes and effects, but also causal relations holding between causes and effects. Because causal relations enter into the structure of the world, their presence has various modal and probabilistic consequences. Causation and necessary and sufficient conditions do often go hand in hand. Causation, however, is a robust ingredient within the world itself, whereas modalities and probabilities supervene on the nature of the world as a whole, and on the resulting relations between one possible world and others. Some modalities, therefore, are essentially causal; but causation is not essentially modal.¹⁹     

Faking personality questionnaires: Fabricating different profiles for different purposes

Over fifty subjects completed four personality measures used in personnel selection. Based on a latin-square design they were asked to fill them in as they would if they were trying to present themselves as ideal candidates for the job of librarian, advertising executive or banker, while on one questionnaire they gave “honest,” actual responses. The results indicated, as previous research in this area has shown, that the questionnaires are all highly susceptible to faking, and that a quite different prototypic profile arose for each of the three different jobs. The results are discussed in terms of the templates of fakers for specific jobs; the methods of detecting fakers, and what dissimulation studies tell us about theories of both occupations and personality.     

Overt responding in computer-based training

This experiment compared the extent to which students learned facts included in computer-based-training frames that required an overt response to those that did not. Frames included two types of facts: Some facts had one word missing which had to be supplied by the student (active facts). Other facts had no missing words and required no overt response (passive facts). Each student completed four 14-fact modules in random order. Two of the modules contained frames with all active facts. Each frame in the other two modules contained one active and six passive facts. Paper pretests and posttests showed that students learned twice as many facts when all facts in the module were active than when only one in seven were active. The modules that included passive facts required one-fifth the time to complete than those with only active facts. Students learned more facts per minute of training in one of the two modules that included passive facts than in the two modules with only active facts.     

MEMORY PROCESSES IN DELAYED SPATIAL DISCRIMINATIONS: RESPONSE INTENTIONS OR RESPONSE MEDIATION?

Pigeons were trained on a pair-comparison task in which left versus right choices were reinforced following different sequences of two center-key stimuli. Choice accuracy was higher when retention intervals occurred after the entire sequence than when they separated the two stimuli comprising it, and this effect occurred independently of whether the initial and terminal stimuli came from the same or different dimensions. The initial stimulus from the prior trial was a source of proactive interference only in groups for which the retention interval separated the two sequence stimuli. By contrast, differential delay-interval behavior was observed only in groups for which the retention interval followed presentation of the entire sequence. These results indicate that coding processes in delayed discriminations are influenced by the location of the retention interval, and that response mediation affects retention performances if the reinforced choice can be determined prior to the interval.     

追踪作业中几种心理负荷评估指标敏感性的研究

本研究在模拟追踪作业情境下 ,对主任务绩效测定、主观评定和若干生理测量在心理负荷评估中的敏感性进行了实验。实验采用重复测量的被试者内设计 ,2 0名被试 (男女各半 )在六档负荷下分别从事五分钟追踪作业。所选用的指标有追踪作业平均误差距离、追踪警告次数、主观负荷评定、心率、心率变异和血压。结果发现 :1主任务绩效在评估追踪作业心理负荷中具有最高的敏感性 ,主观评定次之 ,心率变化率和心率变异变化率也随负荷变化 ,血压指标随负荷变化的趋势不明显 ;2除血压指标外 ,其余各指标之间均存在明显的相关 ,这提示它们在评估追踪作业心理负荷中具有较大的可靠性。     

A Cross-Cultural Content Analysis of Children's Television Advertisements

Two sets of television advertisements were video-recorded from weekend children's television in London and New York and were coded by two white women in terms of their gender-role portrayals. The advertised products covered by this analysis included snack and fast food, toys and breakfast cereal. Each advertisement was coded according to nine criteria including the ethnicity and gender of the people appearing, gender of central figure and of any voice over in the commercial, presence or absence of music, and other sales-related content. In general, males were more numerous than females in both American and British advertisements. There were more similarities than differences between the two national markets in terms of the nature of gender-role portrayals, with males generally occupying more central and authoritative positions. Only two analyses yielded significant differences. Girls outnumbered boys in American commercials, but the opposite was true of British commercials. Hispanic males were present in American commercials but not in British commercials.     

Some correlates of health locus of control among multicultural individuals

The relationship of locus of control to depression, anxiety, hostility, and physical health was assessed in a sample of multicultural college students (N = 162). Powerful Others Health Locus of Control was correlated with depression, anxiety, hostility, and recent physical symptoms while Chance Health Locus of Control (CHLC) was correlated with all of the above as well as chronic physical symptoms and major health problems. When controlling for a variety of health risk factors (viz., age, sex, body mass, exercise, smoking, salt, alcohol, and caffeine), only CHLC remained significant in the physical health models. Results support the cognitive model of mental health which emphasize the importance of adaptive beliefs. Specifically, they suggest that issues about control are related to negative affect and indicate that the often-cited relationship of an external locus of control to depression and anxiety also holds for hostility. The findings do not, however, support the view that anxiety and depression are associated with different types of external locus of control but rather suggest a unified set of locus of control beliefs underlying the three types of negative affect. In addition, evidence is provided for the external validity of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) Scales with respect to mental health. Further, the results indicate that belief about one’s health may play a significant role in one’s physical health and that the health behavior model of the relationship between locus of control and physical health is insufficient to explain the relationship. As the Chance and Powerful Others MHLC scales were not related to health habits in this sample but were related to mental health (viz., depression, anxiety, and hostility), locus of control beliefs may be related to physical health via their relationship with mental health.     

Hippocampal synaptic plasticity during instrumental learning

present research examined the role of hippocampal NMDA-dependent synaptic potentiation on appetitive instrumental conditioning under a continuous reinforcement schedule. In the first experiment, low (.025 mg.kg) or moderate (.05 mg/kg) dosages of the NMDA receptor antagonist, MK801, failed to increase the number of training days required to reach acquisition criterion; number of training days required to reach criterion for extinction were also unaffected. In the second experiment, a higher dosage (.10 mg/kg) of MK801 or induction of long-term potentiation failed to alter the number of responses occurring during acquisition. These data suggest that hippocampal synaptic potentiation does not play a prominent role in instrumental learning with simple contingency conditions. It is suggested that hippocampal LTP reflects a perceptual process that contributes differentially to spatial cognition, classical and instrumental conditioning.