Some effects of interreinforcement time upon choice

Pigeons' responses were reinforced on two identical and concurrently available chain variable-interval-schedules. Unlike the typical concurrent chains procedure, both links were operative throughout, thus producing three types of concurrency: (1) concurrent initial links; (2) concurrent initial and terminal links; (3) concurrent terminal links. Choice proportions in each of these three states suggested that the pigeons were sensitive to momentary likelihoods of reinforcement: choice proportions for a schedule were higher when the schedule had been operative for some time, resulting in a higher probability of reinforcement. The study also showed that the relative rates of responding did not match the relative rates of reinforcement in any of the three states of concurrency. Instead, the choice proportions in both the concurrent initial and in the concurrent terminal links were intermediate between the scheduled and the obtained relative rates of reinforcement, while the choice proportions for a terminal link concurrent with an initial link consistently overmatched the relative interreinforcement times (and were typically 1.00). These data indicate that an accurate characterization of choice may not be obtained by considering only the relative interreinforcement interval where one interreinforcement interval is segmented into a chain. Instead, the organism's choice for a schedule will be substantially lowered by the chaining operation.     

Choice for periodic schedules of reinforcement

Pigeons' responses in the presence of two concurrently available (initial-link) stimuli produced one of two different (terminal-link) stimuli according to identical but independent variable-interval schedules. Responding in the mutually exclusive terminal links was reinforced with food according to fixed-ratio schedules for six pigeons and according to fixed-interval schedules for two pigeons. None of the pigeons matched the proportion of (choice) responses in the initial links to the proportion of the rates of reinforcement obtained during the terminal links. Instead, as the values of each of the terminal-link schedules were increased by a constant amount, the choice proportions for the stimulus associated with the smaller of the two values increased, even though the relative rates of reinforcement during the terminal links decreased. These results are incompatible with those from previous studies with aperiodic (variable-interval or variable-ratio) schedules. The present results do suggest, however, that in transforming aperiodic schedules into their periodic equivalents, it may be necessary to consider the size of the smallest interreinforcement interval comprising the terminal-link schedules.     

评G.顾尔维奇主编的《社会学概论》(第二卷)

象这样规模的汇编不是一件可以轻易做到尽善尽美的工作;对于在概念方面的配备还在犹豫不决和专家们尚未达到确定其专阴术藉的一阴学科靛来,它儿乎是一项赌注。事实上,在社会学方面,用法文出版的这种类型的著     

辯証矛盾及其結构(问题的历史轮廓)

这是一篇探讨辩证矛盾的结构的文章。本刊已经发表了两篇有关这个问题的译文(参见本刊一九六四年第十二期Ф.Ф.维亚克列夫的《辩证矛盾的结构》和一九六五年第八期С.Г.鲍尔赫夫的《关于辩证矛盾的结构问题》)。作者认为在辩证唯物主义教科书中一般采用的那种把矛盾的发展分为三个阶段(①差别,②差别转变对立,即发展了的矛盾,③矛盾的解决)是根据马克思在《一八五七——一八五八年经济学手稿》中的一个思想来的,但是对这个思想作了不正确的理解,因而在上面提到的三个阶段中,“双重的有区别的存在”和“矛盾”(马克思语)都不见了。作者认为马克思在那部手稿中表述的矛盾的结构“显然是同黑格尔的图式相似的”(黑格尔的“本质篇”),但究竟相似到什么程度?联系这个问题,作者在本文中对辩证矛盾及其结构这个问题的历史演变进行了探讨。文章分三部分,分别地谈到黑格尔、马克思和列宁是如何理解辩证矛盾及其结构的。最后,他得出五点结论。请见本文第28页。作者在文章末尾,指出罗森塔尔在他的《马克思的〈资本论〉中的辩证法问题》一书中和在《马克思主义哲学原理》中,在阐述矛盾的结构时,都没有谈到矛盾的内在水平和外在水平、每个矛盾发展的特点等重要问题。而这个缺点已被发现。例如Ф.Ф.维亚克列夫的著作和文章就谈到了这个问题。作者也不完全同意维亚克列夫的看法,认为他把对立面统一的意义夸大了。     

哲学的历史性事业

本期发表了一组有关俄国哲学史的译文。19世纪末和本世纪初,俄国涌现出一大批在国内外深有影响的唯心主义哲学家和宗教哲学家。1985年以后,特别是近两年来,苏联哲学界一改以往的回避传统做法,着手出版百卷左右的《祖国哲学思想史丛书》,《哲学问题》等杂志特辟专栏,大量发表介绍这些哲学家生平的文章和他们的著作节选。这些现象不能不引起各国哲学工作者的注意和深思。这里介绍的三位哲学家是三个不同时期最具代表性的人物,但这里选登的三篇文章并不完全是他们的代表作。读者若能从这些文字中粗略地了解到俄国宗教唯心主义哲学之一斑,或进而看到苏联哲学已经并正在发生的变化,就不负编者的初衷了。     

社会主义生产关系的表现形式

一、社会主义生产关系的物化生产、分配、交换、消费以及经济关系的所有不同形态在实践中差不多总是表现为物的关系。生产关系直接或间接地同物发生联系。人生活和活动在物质世界中,与他人有密不可分的联系。但是,这种同他人的联系,在很大程度上是通过物表现出来的。一些人生产产品,而另一些人则消费产品。随着社会分工的发展,这种某一个人生产的产品被另一个人用于生产或者个人的消费的情况,正在越来越普遍。反之,每一个人消费的并不是他所生产的。一个人生产的物被另一个人所消费。物不仅应该通过生产过程,而且在进入消费之前还要通过分配和交换的过程。因此,在生产     

The effects of violence on infants and young children: international perspectives on prevention

People become subject to political and social violence when governments fail to give priority to basic health care or education. Attempts to meet foreign obligations also produce severe economic recessions which further impede efforts to improve the general quality of life of disadvantaged populations. Since multiple factors contribute to violence, a multidisciplinary approach is best suited to address the problem. For example, poverty and its associated risks are linked to violence, but living in poverty does not necessarily engender violence. Living in poverty may, however, fuel high rates of child mortality, illiteracy, malnutrition, excessive population growth, street children, and familial disintegration. An integrated action program was developed in Brazil for at-risk individuals and their families based upon the idea of building and reinforcing family ties and intergenerational togetherness. Undernourished infants, street children, the handicapped, women subjected to violence, and neglected senior citizens received special interventions in the program described in the text.     

Effects of differences between stimuli, responses, and reinforcer rates on conditional discrimination performance

In a discrete-trial conditional discrimination procedure, 4 pigeons obtained food reinforcers by pecking a key with a short latency on trials signaled by one stimulus and by pecking the same key with a long latency on trials signaled by a second stimulus. The physical difference between the two stimuli and the temporal separation between the latency values required for reinforcement were varied factorially over four sets of conditions, and the ratio of reinforcer rates for short and long latencies was varied within each set of conditions. Stimulus discrimination varied directly with both stimulus and response differences and was unaffected by the reinforcer ratio. Sensitivity to reinforcement, estimated by generalized-matching-law fits to the data within each set of conditions, varied directly with the response difference but inversely with the stimulus difference arranged between sets of conditions. Because variations in stimulus differences, response differences, and reinforcer differences did not have equivalent effects, these findings question the functional equivalence of the three terms of the discriminated operant: antecedent stimuli, behavior, and consequences.