The actions of others as determinants of behavior in social trap situations

Three studies were conducted to determine the effects of observing the behaviors of others upon an individual's actions in a simulated social trap situation. In Experiment 1, it was found that merely having the opportunity to make comparative appraisals of the actions of others led to greater competition for a finite common resource than when subjects were physically isolated from one another. In Experiment 2, false feedback was given to subjects to determine if the actions of others alone were responsible for the deleterious effects of having the opportunity for comparative appraisal; it was found that subjects quickly conformed to the behavior pattern of the interacting others, regardless of whether the false feedback indicated that the other subjects were consuming more or less than no-treatment control subjects. Experiment 3 was conducted to determine the motivation of subjects reacting to the actions of others; differential predictions based upon a competition/relative outcome explanation and upon an information search explanation were made. The data were consistent with the information search explanation.     

MODPAC: A modular package of programs for fitting model parameters to data and plotting fitted curves

A modular package of computer programs is described. The package is designed for parameter fitting in psychology, and includes a program for plotting the fitted curves.     

Encoding strategy and sensory and semantic interference

Studies were designed to compare the effects of encoding strategies on two types of interference, sensory and semantic. Paired-associate lists were learned under instructional sets encouraging interactive imagery or repetitious rehearsal. Sensory interference was created by mispairing rhymes and semantic interference was produced by mispairing associatively related words. In control lists word pairs were unrelated. The results indicated that encoding strategy did not influence amounts of sensory and semantic interference. Mispairing rhymes produced the same amount of confusion as mispairing associates whether pairs were encoded through interaction imagery or through repetitious rehearsal. These effects were found with both short and long encoding intervals. The findings are inconsistent with the idea that encoding operations or strategies applied to word pairs completely determine the type of code activated for those pairs. Both sensory and semantic codes appear to be activated under each kind of encoding strategy.     

Rules of clinical understanding in classical psychoanalysis and in self psychology: a comparison

This paper compares the rules that govern clinical understanding in classical psychoanalysis and in self psychology. The rules of understanding in the two systems are fundamentally different. Self psychology interprets causes and relies on interpretive rules similar to those used in allegory. Classical psychoanalysis investigates reasons and seeks to uncover the patient's own interpretive system. Self psychology refinds its own theory in the relation between elements disguised in the manifest content of patients' productions. Classical psychoanalysis seeks to open up manifest content. Where self psychology reiterates theory in its interpretations, classical interpretations move away from theoretical generalizations toward specific fantasy-memory constellations. Theory, in self psychology, organizes directly the content of interpretations; theory in classical psychoanalysis organizes a technique of exploration and furnishes general sequences according to which data can be understood. This paper also suggests that the differences in the rules of clinical understanding have potential consequences for psychoanalysis which manifest themselves in psychoanalytic training and in the capacity for self-analysis.     

Brief-stimulus presentations on multiform tandem schedules

Three experiments examined the influence of a brief stimulus (a light) on the behavior of food-deprived rats whose lever pressing on tandem schedules comprising components of different schedule types resulted in food presentation. In Experiment 1, either a tandem variable-ratio variable-interval or a tandem variable-interval variable-ratio schedule was used. The variable-interval requirement in the tandem variable-ratio variable-interval schedule was yoked to the time taken to complete the variable-ratio component in the tandem variable-interval variable-ratio schedule, and the length of the variable-interval component in the latter schedule was yoked to the variable-ratio component in the former schedule. If a brief stimulus occurred following completion of the first component, then behavior was differentiated in the two components; subjects responded more quickly in the variable-ratio than in the variable-interval component. If the stimulus was removed, then response rate was determined by the nature of the final component. Similar results were obtained in Experiments 2 and 3 with the use of a three-component tandem variable-ratio variable-interval variable-ratio schedule or tandem variable-interval variable-ratio variable-interval schedule. Thus, a brief stimulus that was not explicitly paired with reinforcement engendered behavior typical of the component schedule preceding its presentation.     

Teacher escape,avoidance, and countercontrol behaviors: Potential resoponses to disruptive and aggressive behaviors of students with severe behavior disorders

We develop hypothese based on the research literature regarding behavioral responses to aversive stimuli. Specifically, escape, avoidance, and countercontrol responses are presented as teacher behaviors which may occur in the presence of disruptive and aggressive behaviors (aversive stimuli) which, in part, characterize many students with severe behavior disorders (SBD). The potential for teacher escape, avoidance, and countercontrol responses to the detrimental for both teachers and students is presented, as well as suggestions for addressing aversive behaviors of students in ways to reduce the potential detrimental impact.     

Effect of enriched (complex) environment on nerve conduction velocity: New data and review of implications for the speed of information processing

Extensive research with genetically heterogeneous rats and other mammals haa shown many effects of environmental enrichment (EE; comparing complex, stimulating environment with simple environment) on brain and behavior. Increased nerve conduction velocity (NCV) in brain nerve pathways is one of these effects. Research with a genetically heterogeneous mouse strain (HS) also strongly suggests that increased stimulation or usage increases peripheral NCV (PNCV) and this study on 54 HS mice confirms this. Human data also indicate that increased activity increases PNCV. Therefore, both brain NCV and PNCV appear to increase after EE. Since extensive human data indicate that the speed of information processing (SIP) is positively correlated with intelligence level, and brain NCV should be a component of SIP, these results suggest a role, at the physiological level, for EE (or deprivation) in affecting measured intelligence.