An adjusting avoidance procedure with multiple auditory and visual warning stimuli

Male albino rats were trained on an adjusting avoidance schedule in which each lever press accumulated a given amount of shock-free time. Multiple auditory and visual stimuli were programmed for each discrete temporal distance from the shock in an effort to place the avoidance behavior under the control of the shock proximity. The effects of the stimuli were further examined by presenting part of them and then by removing them altogether. With the combined auditory and visual stimuli, the rat spent most of the time relatively close to the shock and usually started to respond only when the shock was near. With the visual stimuli only, the rat kept the shock at intermediate temporal distances and responded more variably. The behavior with the auditory stimuli alone was quite similar to that produced by the combined stimuli, thus indicating that the auditory stimuli exercised the greater control. When all stimuli were removed, the animal usually kept the shock as far away as the procedure permitted. When only a single pre-shock stimulus was presented, the rat remained quite close to the shock and started to respond predominantly in the pre-shock step.     

Punishment of SΔ responding of humans in conditional matching to sample by time-out

Human subjects were intermittently reinforced with money for performing correctly on a conditional matching-to-sample task. The matching performance was examined as a function of a) the duration of Time-Outs (TOs) which followed every incorrect response and b) the frequency (FR value) with which TOs followed incorrect responses. The matching accuracy increased with longer TOs and decreased with less frequent presentation of TOs.     

Self-Discovery and the Role of the Counselor

The major thesis of this philosophic treatise is that unless the counselor realizes in his own life the full import of the search for meaning and self-understanding, he will be unable to empathize adequately with the struggles of another human being who likewise seeks to realize his highest potential. Hindering our self-discovery are the problems of meaninglessness, alienation, and the loss of our freedom. The path toward breaking out of our insulated selves is: (a) to accept fully, on a personal level, a sense of responsibility for what we are, and (b) to realize that self-fulfillment occurs within a social context. The former involves a sense of personal integrity and the latter gives a contextual frame of reference to our search for meaning. The path to self-understanding is difficult and threatening, but as the counselee perceives—on both the intuitive and operational levels—the counselor's sincerity in his own quest for fulfillment, the goals we seek to achieve in the counseling relationship will be facilitated.