Effects of alternative modeling strategies on outcomes of interpersonal-skills training.

The effects of two alternative modeling strategies-using multiple scenarios and combining negative and positive model displays-on outcomes of a behavior modeling training program were explored. Trainees (N = 72) participated in a program on assertive communication structured to allow for a controlled experimental design that crossed scenario variability (one vs. multiple scenarios) with model display variability (positive model displays vs. positive and negative model displays). Outcomes assessed included trainee reactions, learning, and retention and behavioral measures of reproduction and generalization. The effects of multiple scenarios were negligible, but the positive and negative combination of model displays had a significant positive effect on trainee generalization and a significant negative effect on reproduction. Implications for future modeling research and practice are discussed.     

Political attitudes: Interactions of cognition and affect

Commonly held political opinions provide an ecologically relevant focus for studying the interactions of environmental context, affect or emotion, and cognition. To explore this approach to information processing, John T. Lanzetta helped initiate a series of experiments examining how emotional responses to politicians' nonverbal displays influence changes in attitude toward these leaders. Although this line of research has revealed how a number of variables interact when humans respond to known individuals in meaningful situations, the precise relationship between mood state or affect prior to a stimulus and subsequent emotions and cognitions remains unclear. Based on recent theories of modular brain function, an experimental paradigm was designed to test the hypothesis that the effects of a mood state on information processing depend on the subject's awareness of the affect as well as on its valence. Preliminary data from such a study, in which preconscious images of emotionally evocative stimuli were used to induce positive or negative affect prior to viewing the leader, suggests that the induction of negative affective states can lead to more positive attitudes. Reflected in such public opinion phenomena as the rally-round-the-flag effect, this mood-incongruent attitude change challenges many traditional theories of emotion and cognition.This research was supported by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences and the William H. Spoor Grant for Leadership Issues. We would like to extend a note of special appreciation to William N. Morris, Ph.D.     

The value of everyday examples in the teaching of learning: a comment prompted by machado and silva (1998)

Why are so few psychology students and professors interested in the study of learning? Part of the answer lies in the techniques we use for teaching behavioral psychology and communicating its relevance to numerous aspects of life. We add to this journal's discussion of the teaching of learning by explaining the importance of using examples drawn from everyday life: Numerous familiar examples provide powerful pedagogical tools for showing the importance of learning theory and helping students learn behavior principles. This approach does not exclude using other strategies and techniques in our quest to communicate the value of learning theory and teach our behavioral science in meaningful and thought-provoking ways.     

Family interactions and sex education in the home

Despite the tremendous growth of family systems theory in recent years, sex education within a family systems context has received little attention. This study examined patterns of interaction within the family and the possible relationship of these patterns to the amount of sex education occurring in the home. Ninety-six adolescents (ages 13-14, 43% male, 90% Caucasian) and the parents of 63 of them (61 mothers and 45 fathers) completed three questionnaires: (1) FACES-II, a measure which categorizes family interactions as Balanced, Midrange or Extreme based on the two dimensions of cohesiveness and adaptability; (2) the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale; and (3) the Home Discussion Questionnaire, a measure of the amount of discussion about 17 sex education topics. Adolescents who reported open communication and satisfaction with family interactions reported significantly more sex education in the home. Although mothers' reports of sex education were not related to their perceptions of family communication or interactions, fathers who reported the healthiest family interactions also reported the most involvement in the sex education of their adolescent.     

The two-alternative observing response procedure in rats: Preference for nondiscriminative stimuli and the effect of delay

A two-alternative choice procedure was used with rats to examine preference for discriminative stimuli (correlated with the occurrence of reinforcement) versus uncorrelated cues. Choice of discriminative stimuli was below chance, despite the use of very low levels of reinforcement (12.5% for some rats) known to produce a preference for discriminative cues. Levers that had been retracted during the stimulus presentation in Experiment 1 were extended in Experiment 2 to assess the role of response elicitation during the observed stimuli. In Experiment 3, the impact of cue-duration behaviors was further evaluated by lengthening the duration of the cues and providing an opportunity for an escape response. The preference for nondiscriminative stimuli was reversed only with increased exposure to the cues. The present results point to fundamental differences in the prevailing context of the choice procedure as compared to the usual free-operant observing design.     

On the cued activation of situational motivation

We examined the hypothesis that situational (or state) motivation can generalize from one situation to another via activation by associated cues. In an experimental setting, a neutral cue (a computer tone sequence) was paired repeatedly with controlling feedback. We then assessed the effect of presenting this conditioned cue during a subsequent task on participants’ motivation for that novel task. In two studies we found evidence that cued activation of controlledness significantly undermined participants’ self-determined motivation toward this subsequent task. These findings demonstrate that subtle cues, including contextual primes, can influence people’s motivational state.     

The role of rational and experiential processing in influencing the framing effect

Research on individual differences and the framing effect has focused primarily on how variability in rational processing influences choice. However, we propose that measuring only rational processing presents an incomplete picture of how participants are responding to framed options, as orthogonal individual differences in experiential processing might be relevant. In two studies, we utilize the Rational Experiential Inventory, which captures individual differences in rational and experiential processing, to investigate how both processing types influence decisions. Our results show that differences in experiential processing, but not rational processing, moderated the effect of frame on choice. We suggest that future research should more closely examine the influence of experiential processing on making decisions, to gain a broader understanding of the conditions that contribute to the framing effect.     

The Relationship between Hoarding Symptoms,Intolerance of Uncertainty,and Error-Related Negativity

Individuals who hoard report poor tolerance for uncertainty. They also exhibit error-monitoring abnormalities and increased activation of the anterior cingulate during possession-relevant decision-making, potentially reflecting a context-dependent error sensitivity. Together, these underlying vulnerabilities may lead individuals who hoard to avoid uncertain acquiring and discarding decisions. The current study explored electrophysiological indices of error-monitoring (error-related negativity; ERN) in possession-related and possession-unrelated contexts, and how this related to self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU). Undergraduate students (N = 29) completed self-report measures of hoarding symptoms and intolerance of uncertainty, and then engaged in a Go/NoGo task and a novel Discard/NoDiscard task with concurrent EEG measurement. Regression analyses revealed that hoarding symptoms predicted ERN amplitude for possession-related errors but not possession-unrelated errors, and that this relationship was influenced by IU in possession-related contexts. These findings have theoretical implications for understanding vulnerability in hoarding.     

Driver fatigue: The importance of identifying causal factors of fatigue when considering detection and countermeasure technologies

Driver fatigue is an ill-defined term in the literature. It has been broadly used to refer to a wide range of driver states, each with different causal mechanisms. Technologies currently exist which enable detection of driver fatigue and interventions that have the potential to dramatically reduce crash probability. The successful implementation of these technologies depends on the cause and type of fatigue experienced. Sleep-related (SR) forms of driver fatigue result from accumulated sleep debt, prolonged wakefulness or troughs in the circadian rhythms. SR fatigue is resistant to most intervention strategies. Conversely, technologies for detecting and countering task-related (TR) fatigue (caused by mental overload or underload) are proving to be effective tools for improving transportation safety. Methods of detecting and counteracting the various forms of driver fatigue are discussed. Emphasis is placed on examining the effectiveness of existing and emerging technologies for combating TR forms of driver fatigue.