Situational consistency in behavioral patterns of aggressive boys: Methodological considerations on observational measures

The issue of situational consistency is of great interest for early intervention with aggressive boys, but efforts to show behavior stability across settings have been unsuccessful to date, due principally to methodological problems. It is argued here that a more appropriate matching of response form, interaction partner, and situations should increase the situation consistency of observed behavior. The results support this proposition in that, more crosssetting behavior consistency was found in the pairing of situations where aggressive boys (age 6–7 years) were interacting with an adult female (mother/child versus baby-sitter/child) than in the pairing of situations where the boys were interacting with an adult male (mother/child versus father/child) or with the teacher in a nondyadic situation (classroom). The implications of using an extreme group are also discussed.This research program was funded by Le Conseil Québécois de la Recherche Sociale, the Quebec Government's FCAR research program, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Ministry of Employment and Immigration, and the University of Montreal FDR program.     

Effects of a visual frame and of low radial accelerations on the visually perceived eye level

The purpose of this study was to determine how the combined effects of a reference frame and of very low gravito-inertial forces produced by centrifugation affect the visually perceived eye level (VPEL). Twenty subjects were instructed to set a luminous target to the VPEL under various experimental conditions involving two main factors: (1) visual context (frameless, frame centered, frame moved down 50 mm, and frame moved up 50 mm) and (2) gravito-inertial context (motionless, Gi₁=9.81001 m/sec² and Gi₂ = 9.95 m/sec²). The visual context significantly reduced the lowering of VPEL in darkness as caused by radial acceleration; this confirms the prevailing role of vision versus propriosomesthesis. However, under condition Gi₂, there was a significant effect on the VPEL in spite of the presence of the luminous frame; this demonstrates that VPEL processing involves both visual and propriosomesthesic information. Furthermore, the VPEL varied linearly with the vertical shift of the luminous frame for any of the gravito-inertial conditions used in this study, but, under condition Gi₂, the VPEL was shifted downward.     

Examen d'une erreur fondamentale dans la perception du hasard

Un des principaux facteurs expliquant le jeu excessif serait les perceptions erronées qu'entretiennent les individus concernant le hasard. Cet article vise à préciser les perceptions du joueur en analysant ses verbalisations lors de la production ou de la reconnaissance de suites aléatoires. Deux études empiriques ont été réalisées. E est prédit que la majorité des gens ont une perception erronée à l'égard du hasard et qu'il existe une relation entre le nombre d'issues possibles (par exemple deux lors du tir d'une pièce de monnaie ou six lors du tir d'un dé) et le nombre de verbalisations erronées faisant référence aux événements passés de la suite. Comme on le prévoyait, près de 70% des verbalisations sont l'expression d'une perception erronée, la plupart se référant à des liens de dépendance entre les événements de la suite. Cependant, l'augmentation du nombre d'issues possibles n'a pas d'effet significatif sur la proportion de perceptions erronées. La discussion met en relief les implications pratiques et théoriques des perceptions inadéquates des joueurs sur l'illusion du contrôle du jeu et des comportements excessifs en résultant.     

Simulation study of a decision-making model of squash competition, phase one: The analysis of the protocol

This study aims at specifying some of the cognitive processes underlying decision-making in squash competition. More specifically, the study focuses on the strategy of the defending player (D) when chosing among three categories of preparation (total preparation for one particular event, partial preparation in favor of one event and absence of biased preparation). D is viewed as an information processing system (IPS) placed in a problem-solving situation, the problem being what decision to reach. The results obtained in a preceding investigation about the nature of the information processed by a player to anticipate and prepare for the opponent's shot in a real game setting, are used to determine a typical protocol of the behavior of D. The analysis of this protocol allows one to formally define (in Backus-Normal-Form) the problem space of D which is also D's internal representation of the task environment. From the problem space are derived (1) the problem behavior graph depicting the search of D through his problem space for a solution, and (2) the production system (a set of conditional statements, each expressing what to do under specific conditions) defining the logic of the search. The results of this first phase of the simulation study of a decision-making model of squash competition show that the cognitive strategy of D is based upon the use of a specific preformed algorithm. This algorithm could be stored in some long-term memory and activated by the current state of information in short-term memory. Finally, the proposed model also leads to the suggestion that the cognitive strategy of the performer may be influenced by a variety of factors such as the experience of the player, the time pressure, the expectancies, the performer's confidence in his predictions and the mistakes caused by incorrect predictions.     

Standard errors for rotated factor loadings

Beginning with the results of Girshick on the asymptotic distribution of principal component loadings and those of Lawley on the distribution of unrotated maximum likelihood factor loadings, the asymptotic distribution of the corresponding analytically rotated loadings is obtained. The principal difficulty is the fact that the transformation matrix which produces the rotation is usually itself a function of the data. The approach is to use implicit differentiation to find the partial derivatives of an arbitrary orthogonal rotation algorithm. Specific details are given for the orthomax algorithms and an example involving maximum likelihood estimation and varimax rotation is presented.This research was supported in part by NIH Grant RR-3. The authors are grateful to Dorothy T. Thayer who implemented the algorithms discussed here as well as those of Lawley and Maxwell. We are particularly indebted to Michael Browne for convincing us of the significance of this work and for helping to guide its development and to Harry H. Harman who many years ago pointed out the need for standard errors of estimate.     

The Marital Communication Rating Schedule: An instrument for clinical assessment

The Marital Communication Rating Schedule (MCRaS) is presented as an observationally based clinical rating system for assessing verbal behavior in marital communication. Data from 35 response display discussions lasting from 20 to 30 min each, which took place between 11 married couples, were used to examine aspects of the reliability and validity of the instrument. Three raters made independent ratings of 37 MCRaS categories for each husband and wife for each discussion period. Reliability among the raters was shown to be high when calculated within one scale point. Concurrent validity was assessed by comparing MCRaS ratings for four categories with observationally based validation criteria independently coded and measured. Results indicated that for three categories — negative statements, overgeneralizations, and amount of talk — ratings produced results that were similar to those yielded by laborious coding of audiotapes. For one category, opinions requested, a relationship between the ratings and coded data was not found. The validation results were discussed in terms of possible differences in the basis of ratings for the categories subjected to validation. Although further research is needed, it was concluded that MCRaS has many of the desirable qualities needed in a clinically useful, observationally based rating system.This investigation was conducted in connection with the Sociobehavioral Research Project at The University of Michigan when Joyce Borkin and Claude L. Walter were affiliated with the project.     

A COMPARISON OF COGNITIVE CONFLICT BETWEEN PERSONS IN WESTERN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES1

Etude comparative du conflit cognitif interpersonnel en Europe occidentale et aux Etats-Unis. — La recherche a été menée conjointement dans divers pays européens (Grande-Bretagne, France, Italie, RFA) et aux Etats-Unis, selon la même procédure. On induit des différences cognitives détetminées entre les 2 membres d'un groupe, en les entraînant différemment (ce dont ils ne sont pas conscients) dans une tâche d'apprentissage portant sur des problèmes politiques; il s'ensuit un conflit quand on réunit les deux sujets et qu'on leur demande d'aboutir à des solutions communes. Les résultats montrent que — a) les différences cognitives ne sont pas réduites en Europe alors qu'elles le sont, lentement, aux Etats-Unis; — b) les sujets européens aboutissent moins souvent que les sujets américains à des solutions de compromis; — c) les européens réagissent différemment à l'idée de « Contrôle de l'Etat ». Ce type de recherche peut être utilisé pour étudier le conflit cognitif sur une base interculturelle; les résultats font apparaître des problèmes importants qui n'ont pas encore été étudiés.     

Social categorization and intergroup behaviour

The aim of the studies was to assess the effefcs of social categorization on intergroup behaviour when, in the intergroup situation, neither calculations of individual interest nor previously existing attitudes of hostility could have been said to have determined discriminative behaviour against an outgroup. These conditions were satisfied in the experimental design. In the first series of experiments, it was found that the subjects favoured their own group in the distribution of real rewards and penalities in a situation in which nothing but the variable of fairly irrelevant classification distinguished between the ingroup and the outgroup. In the second series of experiments it was found that: 1) maximum joint profit independent of group membership did not affect significantly the manner in which the subjects divided real pecuniary rewards; 2) maximum profit for own group did affect the distribution of rewards; 3) the clearest effect on the distribution of rewards was due to the subjects' attempt to achieve a maximum difference between the ingroup and the outgroup even at the price of sacrificing other ‘objective’ advantages. The design and the results of the study are theoretically discussed within the framework of social norms and expectations and particularly in relation to a ‘generic’ norm of outgroup behaviour prevalent in some societies.