Perceptions of personal control and conformity of vocational choice as correlates of vocational development

This study examined differences in vocational maturity of women across different levels of internal-external control and typical versus atypical vocational choice. It was predicted that internally controlled women would have higher vocational maturity scores than externally controlled women; women who make atypical vocational choices would have higher vocational maturity scores than women who make typical choices. Data from the Attitude Scale of Crites' Career Maturity Inventory, MacDonald and Tseng's I-E Scale, and dichotomized ratings of typical versus atypical vocational choice were obtained from 179 freshmen to senior female student volunteers in a large New England university. Analysis of variance indicated that internally controlled women had significantly higher vocational maturity than externally controlled women (p <. 01); no differences were found in vocational maturity between those making typical or atypical vocational choices; the lowest level of vocational maturity was found for externally controlled females making atypical vocational choices. Implications of these findings for counseling are discussed.     

The design and evaluation of a worksharing system for experimental group living

Failure to share household chores equitably may be a major cause of the high failure rate of experimental group-living arrangements. A behavioral approach to worksharing based on a point system was implemented in one experimental group and its most important components experimentally evaluated. Experiment I showed that awarding credits produced more work than not awarding credits. Experiment II showed that making credits contingent on the outcome of a detailed inspection produced more work than awarding credits noncontingently. Experiment III demonstrated that awarding rent reductions contingent on credit earnings produced more work than awarding rent reductions noncontingently. Other evaluative data suggest that the resulting living arrangement is cheaper, more effective, and more satisfactory to the residents when compared to the most popular alternative living arrangements.     

A token economy program for chronic schizophrenic patients

Abstract.— A token economy program was applied on a ward for 12 chronic schizophrenic patients. An ABABC-design, i.e. a group reversal design with a noncontingent reinforcement phase at the end, was used to evaluate the treatment. The patients' activity-level increased from baseline to the treatment phase. During the reversal period the activity-level decreased but it increased again when the token economy was reintroduced. The non-contingent reinforcement resulted in the predicted decrease for two of the six behaviors recorded. Five of the twelve patients were discharged from the ward during the 8-month program period and none of them had been readmitted at the end of the one year follow-up. Individual treatment programs for two of the patients concerning aggressive acts, deficient eye-contact and lip-biting are described.     

Startbox-goalbox confinement durations as determinants of self-punitive behavior

Two levels of confinement duration (5 or 60 sec) in either startbox or goalbox were factorially combined with presence or absence of shock during extinction of a runway escape response in a self-punitive paradigm under a spaced-trials procedure. All groups were equated for amount and temporal spacing of handling before and after each trial. Shocked rats were more resistant to extinction than nonshocked rats only when startbox confinement was short. When startbox confinement was long, shock facilitated extinction. Long goalbox confinement enhanced running speed for shocked rats, but only in the presence of shock. It was suggested that duration of startbox confinement affects strength of conditioned fear, with long confinement leading to its extinction.     

A comparison of the key-peck and treadle-press operants in the pigeon: differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedule of reinforcement

Key pecking and treadle pressing in pigeons were compared under concurrent (key-treadle) and single-operant differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedules of food reinforcement ranging from 5 to 60 sec (concurrent procedure) or 5 to 120 sec (single-operant procedure). Under both procedures, the two operants followed the same general law: decreasing response rate and reinforcement rate and increasing number of responses per reinforcement as a function of increasing schedule interval. High correlations were found between key pecking and treadle pressing for the measures of response rate, reinforcement rate, and responses per reinforcement. Regression equations allowed the prediction of treadle pressing from key pecking. More bursting occurred in responding to the key, and key pecking showed a more precise temporal discrimination than treadle pressing. A test for sequential dependencies between key and treadle responses showed significant dependencies not only under the concurrent procedure but also in data created artificially by merging key and treadle sequences from different pigeons under the concurrent procedure and from the same pigeon under the single-operant procedure. It seems likely that the sequential dependencies found were due to the independent action of the schedule on each operant and that behavioral dependencies did not occur with the concurrent training procedure. The key-peck operant does not appear to have any special qualities that preclude its use in discovering general laws of behavior, at least under the differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedule. The usefulness of the key peck in other situations requires direct experimental study.     

The stages of acquisition in stimulus fading

Pigeons were exposed to a stimulus fading procedure in which control of responding was transferred from red and black stimuli to lines of different angular orientation. After superimposing one line on the red stimulus and the other line on the black stimulus, the intensity of the lines was gradually increased and that of the red stimulus was gradually reduced. Probes consisting of red and line stimuli presented separately were used during the course of fading to assess control exerted by each element of the compound. As the lines were faded in, they did not acquire control of responding. As red was faded out, control of responding was acquired first by the lower intensity red stimuli in combination with the line stimulus, and finally by the angular orientation of the lines. Probes also determined the point at which the line stimuli, presented alone, would maintain a high degree of stimulus control. The results demonstrated that new stimuli in fading acquire dimensional control of responding in two sequential stages. Acquisition of stimulus control in fading was explained in terms of attenuation of stimulus blocking.