An addendum to the understanding and treatment of individuals with motivational deficits

A brief philosophical addendum to the traditional cognitive-behavioral treatment of individuals with motivational deficits is presented. A distinction is drawn between long-term desire, or motivation, and short-term willpower. It is asserted that willpower deficit is typically self-defined by individuals who report they do not wish to, and therefore believe they are unable to, act upon a previous commitment. In addition to utilizing the already-established strategies for treating these individuals, it is suggested that drawing the distinction between motivation and action can often serve to move unmotivated clients.     

Measuring reaction time and controlling the video display in experiments on an IBM PC

The problems of using the IBM PC XT/AT or their clones in experiments are recognized because of the slow, inadequate and awkward timing procedures of these microcomputers. Some specific solutions to these problems are described, including a compiled BASIC approach using real time procedures accurate to 1 millisecond (although resolution to 1 microsecond can be achieved) and synchronization of the video display with the program. Programs are available from the authors on receipt of a 5 1/4 inch floppy disc or $10.     

Effects of chlorpromazine on lateralization,cued reaction time,and dichotic listening

In a double-blind cross-over design sixteen subjects took 50 mg of chlorpromazine or placebo in tablet form 2 hours prior to completing a dichotic listening and simple reaction time task with and without warnings. In the simple reaction time task, blocks of 80 stimuli were presented to each ear with and without warning cue under drug and placebo conditions. On the dichotic listening task the expected right ear advantage for reporting digits was obtained. While the drug had no main effect on the number of errors, there were more trials on which an ear advantage was present than in the placebo condition. In the reaction time task there were main effects of drug, warning cue and foreperiod: warnings facilitated reaction; chlorpromazine retarded reaction; and reaction times were most facilitated by warning foreperiods in excess of 1200ms. Several findings were of interest: On uncued trials, with placebo, right ear responses were faster than those for stimuli presented to the left ear. Drug also interacted with foreperiod duration. These results were interpreted in the light of Tucker and Williamson’s (1984) review of the role of Pribram and McGuinness’s Arousal and Activation sytems in lateralized behavior.     

Influence Tactics in Combination: The Interactive Effects of Soft Versus Hard Tactics and Rational Exchange

The effects of multiple influence tactics in dyadic compliance-gaining situations are underexplored. In a laboratory experiment, we exposed subjects to a scenario-based influence attempt within which tactics that convey a rational exchange of benefits were juxtaposed with soft tactics that project friendliness and flattery. We found support for the prediction that soft tactics would heighten compliance more in the absence, rather than presence, of an offered exchange. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

The Impact of Self-Presentations on Self-Beliefs: Effects of Social Identity and Self-Presentational Context

To examine the impact of self-presentations on private self-appraisals, subjects were induced to characterize themselves positively or negatively during a face-to-face interview, during a written interview, or on a private questionnaire. As hypothesized, subjects high in Social Identity (the tendency to root identity in social sources of experience) shifted their self-appraisals in the direction of their positive or negative role after a face-to-face interaction, but were less affected by role in their private self-characterizations. In contrast, subjects low in Social Identity were primarily affected by a private, positive self-characterization. The latter subjects were not indifferent to how they appeared to others, as indicated by their attempts to rationalize negative, face-to-face self-presentations; they simply did not define themselves in terms of their public appearance.     

Semantic networks: visualizations of knowledge

The history of semantic networks is almost as long as that of their parent discipline, artificial intelligence. They have formed the basis of many fascinating, yet controversial, discussions in conferences and in the literature, ranging from metaphysics through to complexity theory in computer science. Many excellent surveys of the field have been written, and yet it is our belief that none of them has examined the important link between their use as a formal scheme for knowledge representation and their more heuristic use as an informal tool for thinking. In our consideration of semantic networks as computerized tools, we will discuss three levels of abstraction that we believe can help us understand how semantic networks are used. I.     

Territorial Defense in Parking Lots: Retaliation Against Waiting Drivers

Three studies showed that drivers leaving a public parking space are territorial even when such behavior is contrary to their goal of leaving. In Study 1 (observations of 200 departing cars), intruded-upon drivers took longer to leave than nonintruded-upon drivers. In Study 2, an experiment involving 240 drivers in which level of intrusion and status of intruder were manipulated, drivers took longer to leave when another car was present and when the intruder honked. Males left significantly sooner when intruded upon by a higher rather than lower status car, whereas females' departure times did not differ as a function of the status of the car. There was evidence that distraction might explain some of this effect. In Study 3, individuals who had parked at a mall were asked about how they would react to intruders. Compared to what they believed other people would do, respondents said they would leave faster if the car were just waiting for them to leave but they would take longer to leave if the driver in the car honked at them.     

Task-Oriented Versus Other-Referenced Competition: Differential Implications for Children's Peer Relations1

We conceptualized a multidimensional construct of competitiveness among children. In our model, competing in order to achieve task mastery is distinct from competition motivated by social comparison. Competition is further differentiated by domain, with a distinction between the physical and cognitive domains. Peer- and self-report measures were developed to measure these dimensions. In general, these factors emerged as well-defined and as having somewhat different implications for peer relations. There was little concordance between the peer-nomination and self-report data. The peer nominations indicated that task-oriented competition was generally associated with acceptance and prosocial behavior, whereas other-directed competition was generally associated with being liked less and being seen as aggressive. There was little corroboration of these links in the analyses based on the self-report data.