Schedule-induced behavior in hyperactive children

A schedule-induced behavior paradigm was used to investigate the activity patterns of hyperactive children in a standardized situation. In Experiment I, 10 hyperactive and 10 normal control children matched for age, sex, and IQ were observed under conditions of baseline and schedule. Measures of a number of categorized activities were taken on a time-sampling basis. Hyperactive children were more active than controls in baseline and did not respond to the schedule, unlike the controls who became significantly more active in schedule conditions. In Experiment II, 12 hyperactive and 6 normal children were again subjected to the same experimental paradigm, but in two of the four experimental sessions the stimulant drug methylphenidate was administered in an attempt to reduce the amount of baseline activity. Results were substantially similar to those of Experiment I, with hyperactive children more active than controls in baseline and insensitive to the schedule. There was no overall effect of drug administration on the behavior of either group. There were some ratedependent effects of both drug and schedule conditions.     

Performance differences following exposure to predictable and unpredictable noncontingent outcomes in high and low achievers

Two experiments are described in which subjects rated as high or low in achievement motivation were exposed to uncontrollable outcomes on a cognitive task. Effects on subsequent performance on a different cognitive task were shown to depend on level of achievement motivation, on whether the uncontrollable outcomes were predictable or unpredictable, and on whether the uncontrollable outcomes were positive or negative. These findings have important theoretical implications which are discussed.     

Successful psychotherapy

This paper develops an existential explanation for the position that different psychotherapeutic modalities enjoy comparable success rates. The explanation provides necessary and sufficient conditions for a successful outcome, related to the actualization level of both client and therapist, and is shown to imply equal theoretical probability of success across modalities.     

When left hands touch: shadow vows and Jung’s quaternity

Is there a connection between the exchange of vows and the fighting and suffering of couples that are unique to the institution of marriage? This essay introduces the concept of Shadow Vows, the unacknowledged assumptions, agreements, and obligations each partner brings to the relationship, which the authors believe are often responsible for longstanding marital discord and strife. The authors ground the existence of shadow vows in Jung’s quaternity, alchemy, typology, archetypal theory, and depth approaches to couple therapy. The essay concludes with a list of themes indicative of shadow vow enactments in clinical work with couples.     

Individual response patterns in binary choice tasks with nondiscriminable stimuli

The present experiment sought to determine whether individual Ss tend to employ repeatedly the same response patterns in binary choice tasks containing nondiscriminable stimuli and, if so, whether the response sequences when used to constructstimulus sequences improve the performance of other choice tasks. Information and frequency analyses of the response sequences of 48 Ss showed moderate consistency of patterning within a light and within a tone task. Performance of a card task following the light and tone tasks was closely related to the task (light or tone) from which the stimulus sequence was obtained. The frequency analysis showed that repetition patterns were preferred by most Ss but at the expense of alternation responses. The presentation of reinforcement in the card task did not improve performance over that observed in the light and tone tasks.     

Collusion after a collision: Witnesses' reports of a road accident with and without discussion

In a study of the accuracy of recall of witnesses to a road accident, subjects watched a video recording of a natural scene for a few minutes. Two vehicles collided, and reports from the witnesses were taken using a version of the report form used by officers investigating road accidents in the UK. Witnesses were asked questions about the scene of the accident, about each of the two vehicles, and about the timing of the collision relative to a traffic signal. Does the accuracy of report depend upon the isolation of the witness? The study investigated this question by having some witnesses watch the video recording and complete the questionnaire alone, while other witnesses were encouraged to discuss their perceptions and recollections both while watching the recording and during an interval of a few minutes prior to administration of the questionnaire. All witnesses completed their reports in isolation. As a check on witnesses' expectancies, some of them, both individual and group witnesses, were informed prior to seeing the video recording that they would see a road accident and that they would be asked about it. The ‘uninformed’ witnesses were told to expect questions about the road scene. There was no overall difference between the recall accuracy of individual and group witnesses, but there was an interaction between groups and expectancy. When expecting to see a collision the group witnesses were more accurate than the individuals. Social facilitation in recall was restricted to occasions when the witnesses could anticipate the focus of the questions to be asked.     

Time-stamping computer events to report .1-msec accuracy of events in the Micro Experimental Laboratory

A critical problem in most real-time programming tasks is the verification that timing of the presented displays and recorded events occur at the expected times. It is often difficult for psychologists to verify critical timing because of the lack of costly specialized tools and technicians to measure events with millisecond accuracy. Algorithms utilized in a new Time Audit mechanism, added to the Micro Experimental Laboratory, are described. This new mechanism involves the recording and time stamping of all input and output events with 0.1-msec accuracy. This allows the experimenter to determine the initiation, duration, and termination of each event and also makes it possible to relate these events to the synchronization of the screen refresh cycle. A customized user interface provides a time log and event-tracing feature that enables nonprogrammers to determine the duration of command execution to the .1-msec level, allowing rapid, precise assessment of program execution. The resulting time log provides a detailed specification of the experimental events for debugging and a permanent record of the experimental procedure.