Possible decision-making preadaptations in the molly Poecilia sphenops

In many species females choose a mate from among several available males; in other species, the social system provides no apparent opportunity for making a decision among alternative suitors, and decision-making capacity is assumed to be minimal. The origins, bases, and logic of female mate choices are contentious questions with important cognitive implications. Female short-finned mollies, Poecilia sphenops, have never been observed to choose mates in the wild, where instead a male-contest social system prevails. Nevertheless they readily choose between models of males in the laboratory. Some of their decisions anticipate features found in males in more recently evolved species where the social system permits female choice. The willingness of females to choose traits in a species without such traits or evident need or opportunity for female choice in the wild is remarkable. These observations suggest that choice behavior can be latent in a species, and may direct or bias the development of behavioral preferences.     

Object relocation: a program for setting up, running, and analyzing experiments on memory for object locations

Object Relocation is a computer program for Windows 95, with which experiments on spatial memory for object locations can be designed, run, and analyzed. Because of its clear graphical user interface, no long and complex command syntax is needed. Basically, a stimulus consists of a frame that contains a chosen number of locations (i.e., the actual spatial layout) to which objects can be assigned. When the experiment is run, these stimuli are presented to the subject for a variable period of time. Subsequently (either with or without a delay), the objects are presented in a row above the frame and have to be relocated to the correct positions. Finally, the raw data can be analyzed efficiently, using various error scores, and an SPSS-ready output file can be produced. Object Relocation is a very flexible program: New objects and positions can easily be added, and various options for presentation and relocation are present.     

A method of matrix analysis of group structure

Matrix methods may be applied to the analysis of experimental data concerning group structure when these data indicate relationships which can be depicted by line diagrams such as sociograms. One may introduce two concepts,n-chain and clique, which have simple relationships to the powers of certain matrices. Using them it is possible to determine the group structure by methods which are both faster and more certain than less systematic methods. This paper describes such a matrix method and applies it to the analysis of practical examples. At several points some unsolved problems in this field are indicated.     

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A rational emotive behavioral theory

The PTSD Theory and practice of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is explained and compared with other forms of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) that help clients to dispute their dysfunctional cognitive processing and to use exposure. Because these other CBT Theoreries do not emphasize REBT's principles of absolutist musts and demands it is shown how REBT hypotheses may better explain some of the cognitive processing theories of other CBT formulations regarding PTSD.     

Individual differences in achieving tendency: Review of evidence bearing on a questionnaire measure

The Mehrabian Achieving Tendency Scale (MATS) provides a broad-scoped assessment of individual characteristics associated with achievement. The MATS is highly reliable and reasonably free of response bias. It correlated negatively with various measures of general (trait) anxiety and fear of success. The MATS successfully predicted performance in situations approximating real-life tests of work and school performance and academic attitudes (e.g., level of aspiration, interest and satisfaction, leadership and initiative). The MATS also predicted occupational choice and occupational/organizational commitment and attractive/appropriate self-presentation. Within a general model of personality and temperament, the MATS was shown to consist primarily of trait dominance and secondarily of trait pleasure. The model successfully predicted relationships of the MATS with a variety of personality measures.     

An experimental evaluation of three theories of auditory stream segregation

Three theories of auditory stream segregation were evaluated. In two-part trials, subjects heard an induction sequence, whose effects upon an immediately subsequent test sequence were measured. The rhythm and total duration of Induction Sequence tones were varied in two experiments. The similarity between induction and test sequences aided segregation, but rhythmic predictability and longer tone durations did not. Frequency alternation during the induction sequence was not necessary to induce segregation in the test sequence. Furthermore, peripheral processes inadequately account for the segregation effects found. The data suggest that, once a distinct percept emerges from an auditory scene, properties derived from the percept (particularly changes) are fed back to control the ongoing analysis of that auditory scene. A neural adaptation to stimuli with constant properties may form part of this analysis.     

The perceptual segregation of simultaneous vowels with harmonic,shifted, or random components

This experiment was an investigation of the ability of listeners to identify the constituents of double vowels (pairs of synthetic vowels, presented concurrently and binaurally). Three variables were manipulated: (1) the size of the difference in FO between the constituents (0, 1/2, and 6 semitones); (2) the frequency relations among the sinusoids making up the constituents: harmonic, shifted (spaced equally in frequency but not integer multiples of the FO), and random; and (3) the relationship between the F0 contours imposed on the constituents: steady state, gliding in parallel, or gliding in opposite directions. It was assumed that, in the case of the gliding contours, the harmonics of each vowel would “trace out” their spectral envelope and potentially improve the definition of the formant locations. It was also assumed that the application of different FO contours would introduce differences in the direction of harmonic movement (common fate), thus aiding the perceptual segregation of the two vowels. The major findings were the following: (1) For harmonic constituents, a difference in FO leads to improved identification performance. Neither tracing nor common-fate differences add to the effect of pitch differences. (2) For shifted constituents, a difference between the spacing of the constituents also leads to improved performance. Formant tracing and common fate contribute some further improvement (3) For random constituents, tracing does not contribute, but common fate does.     

Rational and irrational beliefs in counselling psychology

Rational-emotive therapy (RET) holds that people largely make themselves neurotically anxious, depressed, hostile, and self-denigrating by strongly holding major dogmatic, absolutist, musturbatory beliefs and that they can use several cognitive, emotive and behavioral methods to modify these beliefs and increase their emotional health. This paper presents some evidence supporting this hypothesis and outlines the counseling advantages and disadvantages of active-directive cognitive restructuring.Invited address to British Psychological Association, Leeds, England, April 16, 1988.     

Responses to Persons with AIDS: Fear of Contagion or Stigma?1

Recently it has been argued that responses to persons with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are more a function of the association of AIDS with homosexuality than they are concerns about contagion. This research provided a further test of these arguments using an experimental design in which the target disease's contagiousness and association with homosexuality were manipulated. The results indicated that willingness to interact with a disease victim was strongly related to the contagiousness of the disease but only weakly related to its association with homosexuality. These findings are in line with recent research on lay conceptions of physical illness and argue that avoidance of disease victims, including persons with AIDS, primarily reflects concerns over contracting the disease. The implications of these findings for lay illness conceptions and how lay people respond to disease victims are discussed.