ETHICS CONCERNING LEISURE

In the United States, non-work, or non-productive activity can produce ego anxiety within a person who considers work as the primary index of self-worth. This anxiety can become extreme when a person retires or is forced into unemployment. One cause of this anxiety is society's standards concerning acceptable activity; particularly the work-oriented attiude formulated in the “Protestant Ethic.” However, the “Protestant Ethic” is neither Protestant nor religious. Rather, it is a set of national mores, which justify our work-oriented economy in religious terms. Situational ethics, which reflect both sound counseling practice and contemporary theology, can be formulated concerning the problem of leisure. And, we propose a guideline for such an ethic.     

Operator behavior in a dynamic visual signal detection task

The effects of changes in signal-to-noise ratio (SIN) and feedback state on the operator’s detection behavior, particularly derived operator thresholds, were investigated using a discrete visual signal. It was found that: (1) the operator behaves as if he has established different thresholds as a function of S/N; (2) his decision thresholds are relatively independent of the presence or absence of feedback; and (3) the operator will change his threshold accordingly for a change from one S/N to another. A model of the operator’s behavior, which introduced the concept of “operator” noise. yielded predictions of detection and false alarm probabilities which were extremely close to the observed values.     

Serial learning: A multilevel access analysis

In Experiment I the lists were 36 and 48 unrelated words. Each was divided into successive groups of four words and learned to a perfect criterion. In Experiment II the lists were made up of six categorical groups of five exemplars each. Degree of learning was varied. In both experiments serial anticipation learning was followed by ordinary free recall and free recall under speed stress. Analyses of acquisition and of both recall tests indicate that group access is a marked function of serial position but that within-group retrieval given group access is constant over serial position. It is argued that serial learning proceeds simultaneously at different levels of representation.     

Changes in factor structure of a complex psychomotor test as a function of practice

Scores obtained at eight different stages of practice on the Complex Coordination Test together with scores on 18 reference tests were subjected to a Thurstone Centroid Factor Analysis. Nine meaningful factors were identified in the experimental battery. The results indicated considerable, but systematic, changes in the factor structure of the Complex Coordination Test as practice on the task was continued. The test became less complex (factorially) as practice was continued. Moreover, there was a change in thenature of the factors contributing variance at early and later stages of practice. Implications of the findings are related to certain problems of learning theory, psychomotor test development, and criterion analysis. Skill Components Research Laboratory. The opinions or conclusions contained in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or indorsement of the Department of the Air Force. The writers are indebted to Dr. Jack A. Adams for the basic data on which this analysis is based.     

Words and meaning

Pastoral Psychology -     

The sweetness of surrender: Glucose enhances self-control by signaling environmental richness

According to the ego-depletion account of loss of self-control, self-control is, or depends on, a depletable resource. Advocates of this account have argued that what is depleted is actually glucose. However, there is experimental evidence that indicates that glucose replenishment is not necessary for regaining self-control, as well as theoretical reasons for thinking that it is not depleted by exercises of self-control. I suggest that glucose restores self-control not because it is a resource on which it relies, but because it serves as a signal of environment quality. I suggest that the evidence is better explained by a rival opportunity costs model of self-control than by the ego-depletion account.     

Shlomit Levy: a Pioneer in the Structural Theory of Well-Being

Applied Research in Quality of Life -