Concurrent activities and instructed human fixed-interval performance.

Two experiments explored the effects of two types of concurrent activity on human fixed-interval performance. Eight adult subjects were given access to either reading material or a working television set across three fixed-interval values (60 s, 300 s, and 600 s). During Experiment 1, 2 subjects produced "scalloped" patterns and reported no verbal regulation (e.g., counting) in the presence of the reading material, but shifted to low-rate patterns and reported verbal regulation when the reading material was withdrawn. The 2 other subjects in Experiment 1 produced consistent low-rate performances and reported verbal regulation during access to reading material. However, when these subjects were given access to a working television set, they produced scalloped patterns and reported no verbal regulation. During Experiment 2, 4 experimentally naive subjects showed consistent scalloped patterning and no verbal regulation across fixed-interval values when they were allowed to watch television. When access to the television was denied, subjects reliably reported verbal regulation, and low-rate patterns emerged. These behavioral effects focus our attention on the contingencies that control human performance on fixed-interval schedules.     

Combining personality and cognitive ability predictors for hiring service-oriented employees

Recent developments in personality theory and assessment have led to calls for inclusion of personality measures in personnel selection. A measure of service-oriented personality was used in conjunction with cognitive and perceptual ability tests in a concurrent validation study of 202 medical clerical positions. The ability tests explained 5% of criterion variance; an additional 5–8% was accounted for by the personality measures. The results were interpreted as tentative support for broadening use of personality measurement in personnel selection, although a need for greater attention to construct validation was also emphasized.We would like to acknowledge the financial assistance provided by the University of Colorado Graduate School of Business for data entry and analysis, as well as the cooperation of the National Computer Systems Corporation and of Kaiser Permanente and its employees. We are also indebted to Garth Coombs, Deborah Crown, and Chuck Hulin for their insightful comments.     

Psychoticism and sexual arousal to rape depictions

This study tested the hypothesis that high scorers on the Eysencks' P scale would become more sexually aroused by erotic material of a violent nature than low scorers. One hundred and forty-five college Ss were exposed to erotic auditory messages varying in degree of violence and pain experienced by the victim. Personality was assessed by a median split on the Eysencks' P scale. Sexual arousal was assessed by mercury strain gauge and self-report. Results, as predicted, showed a significant interaction between psychoticism and level of violence (rape vs nonrape): high P scorers showing greater sexual arousal (by both self-report and physiological assessment) to rape as compared to nonrape depictions whereas the opposite pattern occurred for low P scorers.     

The implications of processing event sequences for theories of analogical reasoning

Sternberg (1977a, 1977b) has proposed a componential theory of information processing on analogies. The current study attempts convergent validation of the basic findings in verbal analogies by a method that is based on different underlying assumptions. Although the data were generally consistent with Sternberg’s theory, the data indicated thatapplication is better described by two separate events. Furthermore, the extent of individual differences in strategy models was so substantial that a higher level processing operation, such as control strategies, should be postulated, rather than to support a single-strategy model as characterizing Analogy solving.     

A transfer of self-discrimination response functions through equivalence relations

The present study tested the idea that human self-discrimination response functions may transfer through equivalence relations. Four subjects were trained in six symbolic matching-to-sample tasks (if see A1, choose B1; A1-C1, A2-B2, A2-C2, A3-B3, A3-C3) and were then tested for the formation of three equivalence relations (B1-C1, B2-C2, B3-C3). Two of the B stimuli (B1 and B2) were then used to train two different self-discrimination responses using either detailed instructions (Subjects 1 to 3) or minimal instructions (Subject 4) on two complex schedules of reinforcement (i.e., subjects were trained to pick the B1 stimulus if they had not emitted a response, and to pick the B2 stimulus if they had emitted one or more responses on the previous schedule). All 4 subjects showed the predicted transfer of self-discrimination response functions through equivalence relations (i.e., no response on the schedule, pick C1; one or more responses on the schedule, pick C2). Subjects also demonstrated this transfer when they were required to discriminate their schedule performance before exposure to the schedule (i.e., “what I intend to do”). Four control subjects were also used in the study. Two of these (Subjects 5 and 6) were not exposed to any form of matching-to-sample training and testing (nonequivalence controls). The 2 remaining subjects (7 and 8) were exposed to matching-to-sample training and testing that incorporated stimuli not used during the transfer test; C1 and C2 were replaced by N1 and N2 during the matching-to-sample training and testing, but C1 and C2 were used for the transfer tests (equivalence controls). All 4 subjects failed to produce the self-discrimination transfer performances observed with the experimental subjects.     

The social sources of the current religious revival

Conclusion It has been contended that the current revival of interest in religion cannot be explained only in terms of the search for meaning and security in the face of the anxieties associated with social disruption. Other social forces of our time seem also to have stimulated the current revival and seem to be operative in its maintenance. Four of these forces have been specified, examined, and analyzed in this paper. It has not been intended through the drawing of these interpretations to suggest that, in his rediscovery of religion, the individual may not also be influenced by more universal and, depending upon one's values, possibly more appealing motives.     

Cognitive processes involved in smooth pursuit eye movements

Ocular pursuit movements allow moving objects to be tracked with a combination of smooth movements and saccades. The principal objective is to maintain smooth eye velocity close to object velocity, thus minimising retinal image motion and maintaining acuity. Saccadic movements serve to realign the image if it falls outside the fovea, the area of highest acuity. Pursuit movements are often portrayed as voluntary but their basis lies in processes that sense retinal motion and can induce eye movements without active participation. The factor distinguishing pursuit from such reflexive movements is the ability to select and track a single object when presented with multiple stimuli. The selective process requires attention, which appears to raise the gain for the selected object and/or suppress that associated with other stimuli, the resulting competition often reducing pursuit velocity. Although pursuit is essentially a feedback process, delays in motion processing create problems of stability and speed of response. This is countered by predictive processes, probably operating through internal efference copy (extra-retinal) mechanisms using short-term memory to store velocity and timing information from prior stimulation. In response to constant velocity motion, the initial response is visually driven, but extra-retinal mechanisms rapidly take over and sustain pursuit. The same extra-retinal mechanisms may also be responsible for generating anticipatory smooth pursuit movements when past experience creates expectancy of impending object motion. Similar, but more complex, processes appear to operate during periodic pursuit, where partial trajectory information is stored and released in anticipation of expected future motion, thus minimising phase errors associated with motion processing delays.     

“Yet That's Not Much”: Age Differences in Othello

Critics recently have focused attention on the roles of race and gender in Shakespeare's Othello, examining how the play interrogates social norms and disagreeing over whether those norms ultimately are subverted or upheld. However, in focusing on the play's Caucasian, patriarchal society, critics have largely overlooked the textual issue of age: Othello and Desdemona are separated by as much as a generation. The mature Othello would bring to mind for early modern audiences several theatrical and social conventions, from the Roman comedic tradition to the role of the aged cuckold. These conventions generally are challenged in the early part of the play, then upheld in later acts as Othello descends into Iago's alternative reality. This article demonstrates how early modern views of age and aging work with racial stereotypes both to ennoble the character of Othello and to destroy him.