The Systematic Measurement of French and Raven's Bases of Social Power in Workgroups

A typology of five bases of social power developed by French and Raven (1959) has been used to study small-group behavior in field settings by various researchers but interpretation of these data is limited by several methodological shortcomings. This study describes the development and testing of questionnaire measures for the Legitimate, Expert, Referent, Reward, and Coercive bases of social power and attempts to correct some of the scale format confounds that have affected previous empirical efforts. Analyses of Likert-scaled responses from the 23-item questionnaire show for the first time that these five constructs are factorially identifiable and orthogonal. Scale responses are shown to accurately reflect hierarchical status differences in an organization and to correlate significantly with such common leader behaviors as Initiation of Structure and Consideration.     

大鼠作业成绩与脑内亮氨酸脑啡肽含量变化的相关性研究

本工作采用穿梭式电击回避反应法和脑啡肽的放射免疫测定法,分析比较了大鼠作业成绩与脑内壳氨酸脑啡肽(Leu-enkephalin,LEK)含量的关系,在本实验条件下,观察到作业成绩不良组纹状体内LEK含量显著高于成绩优良组和对照组,并由实验证明,它们之间的差异不是由于在实验中接受电击的次数或电击总量不同造成的。这一结果提示,内源性亮氨酸脑啡肽可能参与记忆获得的调制。     

Daily stress and anxiety and their relation to daily fluctuations of symptoms in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients

Although stress and anxiety have long been assumed to play an exacerbatory role in asthma, no study has systematically documented that daily exacerbations of asthma symptoms are related to stress and/or anxiety. In this study, 24 airways obstruction patients (12 asthmatics and 12 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients) were instructed to monitor the severity of daily respiratory symptoms. In addition, subjects recorded their daily anxiety level and the number and perceived impact of daily stressors. The results showed that although there were differences between high- and low-stress days for both groups, there were no differences between groups on symptom severity or between high- and low-anxiety days, as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Thus, although the number and impact of daily stressors were found to be directly associated with the severity of asthma symptoms, anxiety does not appear to have a direct role in the exacerbation of asthma. The findings failed to support the anxiety theory of asthma but provided an explanation for the poor results obtained in previous treatment studies which employed anxiety management with asthmatics.     

PROMOTING STIMULUS CONTROL WITH TEXTUAL PROMPTS AND PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK FOR PERSONS WITH MILD DISABILITIES

We assessed whether written task analyses would serve as textual prompts for performing functional tasks by persons with mild disabilities. Several variables that could influence the effectiveness of textual prompts to promote stimulus control were examined across four groups. A consistent finding was that written specific task analyses combined with end-of-trial performance feedback were effective for promoting the acquisition and generalization of several tasks. Performance transferred immediately to natural discriminative stimuli when the written task analyses and feedback were withdrawn for most tasks and participants. For 2 participants, transfer of stimulus control was accomplished by prompt fading, using individualized written task analyses either with or without performance feedback (Group 1). When feedback was not provided, the effectiveness of written specific task analyses was inconsistent across groups. In contrast to the controlling effects of written specific task analyses, written generic task analyses, which specified only major task outcomes, when combined with performance feedback (Group 1) did not control responding. Overall, this research demonstrated the effectiveness of written specific task analyses and performance feedback to promote stimulus control for persons with mild disabilities.     

Signalling and incentive processes in instrumental reinforcer devaluation

We have previously reported that conditioning an aversion to the reinforcer using an isotonic lithium chloride (LiCl) solution following instrumental training reduces performance in a subsequent extinction test only if animals are re-exposed to the reinforcer prior to the test. Rescorla (1992), in contrast, reported an immediate devaluation effect using a hypertonic LiCl solution that did not depend upon re-exposure. In two experiments we examined the effect of using a hypertonic LiCl solution to condition the aversion to the reinforcer on subsequent instrumental performance in extinction, with and without re-exposure. In Experiment 1 thirsty rats were trained to press a lever for a sucrose solution before being injected with 0.6 M LiCl either immediately or after a delay. Half of the immediate and delay groups were then re-exposed to the sucrose in the absence of the lever, with the remainder being exposed to water. Contrary to the previously reported effects of isotonic LiCl, a hypertonic solution induced a reinforcer devaluation effect in all the immediately poisoned animals, which did not depend upon re-exposure to the reinforcer. In Experiment 2 the possibility that this devaluation effect was induced by the discomfort associated with the hypertonicity of the solution was assessed by replicating Experiment 1 but, in addition, using two immediately poisoned groups given the LiCl injection under anaesthesia. In the absence of anaesthesia, the devaluation effect observed without re-exposure to the reinforcer in Experiment 1 was replicated. When the injection was given under anaesthesia, however, a reinforcer devaluation effect was observed only in animals that were re-exposed to the reinforcer prior to the extinction test. These results were interpreted as evidence that a reinforcer devaluation effect induced by pairing the reinforcer with illness depends upon a process of incentive learning, whereas a devaluation effect mediated by learning a signalling relationship between the reinforcer and somatic discomfort does not.     

Gender and temporal differences in identifying sources of stress

Much of the methodology in stress research focuses on stress manifestation and organismic reactions to life’s crises. In contrast, the present study sought to identify the major sources of stress and the nature of those sources. The results revealed a consistent pattern in high and low stressors throughout the 3-year period of the study, and differences only of intensity between males and females, not type of stress. Except for individuals’ temporal variations in critical events, the highest stressors for the groups were external, primarily financial and time management. Internal sources, such as personal relationships and self-absorption, were typically the lowest concerns. Everyday problems arising from current life styles seem to be significant sources of stress.     

个人化设计在临床研究中的应用——从个体角度研究个体差异

本文从有关研究证据的基础上,介绍了个人化设计的理论基础和实验设计,并在此基础上讨论了个人化设计在临床研究领域中的应用价值,总结出一种适合临床病人使用的研究程序。个人化设计允许对个体的个人价值进行分析,并能同时研究不同刺激信息的作用,在个体水平上分析个体差异。通过简化了的实验程序,个人化设计为解决临床研究中的问题提供了一种新的思维方式。文中还对相关研究法的局限进行了讨论。     

Premissary relevance

Premissary relevance is a property of arguments understood as speech act complexes. It is explicable in terms of the idea of a premise's lending support to a conclusion. Premissary relevance is a function of premises belonging to a set which authoritatively warrants an inference to a conclusion. An authoritative inference warrant will have associated with it a conditional proposition which is true— that is to say, which can be justified. The study of the Aristotelian doctrine of topoi or argument schemes may contribute to the task of identifying authoritative warrants.