A Web of Sorrow: Mistrust,Jealousy, Lovelessness,Shamelessness, Regret,and Hopelessness,by Salman Akhtar,Routledge, Abingdon and New York, 2018, 180pp.

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Resurgence is greater following a return to the training context than remaining in the extinction context

The present study examined whether resurgence of a previously reinforced target response upon removing alternative reinforcement would be greater when (1) returning to the original training context (ABA context changes) versus (2) remaining in the analogue treatment context in which the alternative response was differentially reinforced (ABB context changes). Experiment 1 arranged reinforcement of button pressing with points exchangeable for money in university students. Experiment 2 arranged reinforcement of lever pressing with food for rats. Experiment 3 arranged reinforcement of responses to a touchscreen with small bites of food with children diagnosed with ASD. Overall, resurgence of target responding tended to be greater when returning to the original training context (A) than when remaining in the analogue treatment context (B). These findings suggest context changes with differential reinforcement treatments could exacerbate the recurrence of problem behavior resulting from reductions in treatment integrity through failure to reinforce appropriate behavior.     

The masculinity-femininity of women who study college mathematics

The purpose of this study was to contrast women who enrolled in college mathematics courses at the level of introductory calculus and beyond, with those who did not, on the two-dimensional plane of masculinity-femininity. Data were gathered from 179 female undergraduates. Differences between the two groups were explored with respect to masculine-feminine personality traits, attitudes, and role behaviors. It was found that the math group women differed from the non-math group women on a number of variables, including background and vocational interests. There are data in this study that may be interpreted as providing evidence for the importance of social and psychological factors in women's choice of mathematics courses at the college level.This paper is based on the author's doctoral dissertation at New York University. The author wishes to thank William L. Zlot, who served as dissertation advisor, and Robert G. Malgady who served on the committee. The study was carried out at The College of Staten Island. The author wishes to acknowledge the cooperation of the administration, faculty, and staff of the college. Special thanks are due to Dean Barry Bressler for his support.     

Using statistical risk information to assess oral contraceptive safety

The effect of variations in the presentation of oral contraceptive risk information on perceived safety was investigated. Four tests of the hypothesis that consumers focus on the absolute value of the numbers presented when assessing risk probabilities were performed with the following results: (1) when base rates are given, risks are perceived as less likely than when base rates are not given; (2) risks seem smaller when the information provided focuses on the number that will not die than when the number of expected deaths is presented; (3) contrary to our expectation, respondents do not focus on foreground numbers when risk was represented in an ‘X out of Y occurrences’ format; (4) respondents judged a risk of ‘4.15 times greater’ as less likely than when the information was presented as ‘415% greater risk’. We concluded that consumers convert statistical risk information into judgements about the magnitude of the number presented (small or large number) and utilize this more meaningful information when making risk judgements.     

The effects of chlordiazepoxide on the development of adjunctive drinking in rats

Intermittent delivery of food pellets induces high levels of adjunctive drinking in rats, a pattern of behaviour which some have suggested is due to emotional arousal. In this experiment, however, chronic administration of a dose of chlordiazepoxide, a minor tranquillizer, did not prevent the development of adjunctive drinking after food pellets delivered at 1-min intervals. Indeed, the drug was found slightly to enhance the development of drinking, an effect assumed to be due to the drug's ability to facilitate the performance of several patterns of responding. When chlordiazepoxide was withdrawn a disruption in the pattern of adjunctive drinking was observed.     

Suppression of operant behavior and schedule-induced licking in rats

The first experiment studied the effects of punishment on rats' lever pressing maintained by a fixed-interval schedule of food reinforcement and on the associated schedule-induced licking. When licking was followed by shock, licking was suppressed but lever pressing was largely unaffected. When lever pressing was followed by shock, lever pressing was suppressed but licking was unaffected. In both cases, the punished behavior recovered its previous unpunished level when the shocks were discontinued. In a second experiment, the rats' lever pressing was maintained by a variable-interval schedule of food reinforcement under which polydipsic licking also developed. Both lever pressing and licking were partially suppressed during a stimulus correlated with occasional unavoidable electric shocks. With a higher shock intensity, both behaviors were suppressed further. Both lever pressing and licking recovered their previous levels when shocks were discontinued. These results show that schedule-induced licking, which has been described as adjunctive behavior, can be suppressed by procedures that suppress reinforced lever pressing, an operant behavior.     

The effects of dance team participation on female adolescent physical fitness and self-concept

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent female physical fitness and self-concept are affected by dance team participation in high school. Eight dancers were tested once prior to and once four months after dance team participation. Eight participants from physical education classes, matched for age, weight, height, grade, and race, were tested once at the same time as the second dance team test. Physiological tests were maximum oxygen uptake, sit-and-reach, one-repetition maximum bench press, skinfolds, and hydrostatic weighing. The self-concept tests were Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and Body Cathexis Scale. Dependent one-tailed t tests were run to determine differences between dance team pre- and posttests and control and dance team posttests. Dance subjects increased maximum oxygen uptake and one-repetition maximum bench press in addition to improving their body composition as evidenced by a significant decrease in total skinfolds and a near significant decrease in percent body fat. The dance team had a significantly higher maximum oxygen uptake than did controls. No other significant differences were seen between groups. Dance team participants significantly improved physical self and social self on the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. No other significant differences were seen. A factor that may have affected the self-concept results in this study was low dance team status, due to a combination of unsuccessful previous dance teams and a losing football season. Within the limitations of this study, these results indicate that physical fitness is improved as a result of dance team participation; however, self-concept seems to be affected only minimally, if at all, as compared with participation in physical education classes.     

Punishment of schedule-induced drinking in rats by signaled and unsignaled delays in food presentation

Food-deprived rats were exposed to a fixed-time 60-s schedule of food-pellet presentation and developed schedule-induced drinking. Using an ABA reversal design, three experiments investigated the effects of events then made dependent on licks. In Experiment 1, lick-dependent signaled delays (10 s) in food presentation in general led to decreased drinking, which recovered when the signaled delays were discontinued. The drinking of yoked-control rats, which received food at the same times as those exposed to the signaled-delay contingency, showed much smaller changes. Experiment 2 showed that 10-s lick-dependent signals alone did not reduce drinking. In Experiment 3, when licks produced unsignaled 10-s delays in food there were less marked and more gradual changes in drinking than in Experiment 1, although these effects again were greater than with yoked-control animals. We concluded that both signaled and unsignaled delays functioned as punishers of drinking. These findings support the view that schedule-induced drinking, like operant behavior, is subject to control by its consequences.     

Conditioned suppression or facilitation as a function of the behavioral baseline

Rats were exposed to a multiple schedule of reinforcement. During one component, a bar-press was followed by reinforcement only if it occurred between 15 and 20 sec after the previous response. This differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedule produced a typical slow rate of responding. During the other component, reinforcement followed the first response to be emitted during limited periods of time which occurred at fixed intervals. These fixed-interval schedules with a limited hold produced higher response rates, described as `interval' or `ratio-like' behavior. Responding during the DRL component increased in frequency during a tone which ended with an unavoidable shock of low intensity, but decreased during the tone when the shock intensity was raised. The `interval' and `ratio-like' responding decreased in frequency during the tone at all shock intensities. Initial acceleration of the DRL responding appeared to be due to adventitious punishment of collateral behavior which was observed between the bar-presses. The more severe conditioned suppression during the fixed-interval components might be the result of the lower probability of reinforcement after any single response.