The diffuse thalamocortical system and Pavlovian/Eysenckian theory: A response to criticism

This article is a response to Paisey's (1983, this issue, pp. 527–534) critique of reports which describe how transmission characteristics of the diffuse thalamocortical system relate to personality, intelligence and cognitive style (Robinson, 1982a, Robinson, 1982b). Detailed consideration of Paisey's objections leads to the conclusion that they fall into three major categories. First, there are ‘straw men’ that derive from a misrepresentation of theoretical arguments. Secondly, there are objections which relate to methodological considerations but lack substance. Finally, there are criticisms that arise from Paisey's mistaken application of statistical methods.     

Characteristics of schizophrenics' and neurotics' relatives

A group of adult first-degree relatives of schizophrenics were compared with a control sample of neurotics' relatives on the EPQ, an earlier version of the Eysenck P scale, and on three specially-constructed scales of ‘psychoticism’ (STA, STB and S), derived from a consideration of the clinical symptomatology of schizophrenia and of the ‘borderline syndromes’. Overall differences, in a predictable direction, were confined to the EPQ P scale where schizophrenics' relatives had significantly higher scores, though further analysis suggested that this was due partly to the raised scores of males and partly to very low P-scores seen in male neurotics' relatives. Scores on the STA, measuring schizophrenic ‘symptoms’, were very low in schizophrenics' relatives, due, it was argued, to extremely defensive responding in that group. Results are also reported for two psychophysiological measures, forearm EMG and skin conductance. Here marked group differences were observed, schizophrenics' relatives having significantly higher mean EMG and significantly lower mean skin conductance. This unusual pattern of response was especially evident in a small subgroup of schizophrenics' relatives whose personality profiles tended to differ in the predictable direction, towards greater ‘psychoticism’. The psychophysiological data were highly consistent with other results from our laboratory demonstrating a ‘dissociation’ between different measures of ‘arousal’ in high-P normal subjects and in psychotic patients and it was concluded that measures based on such a conception of the biological basis of schizophrenia offer considerable promise as high-risk indicators of psychopathology.     

A factorial study of a new measure of authoritarianism

In the present study scores on Ray's Directiveness scale were subjected to Varimax rotation. Three factors explaining more than 50% of the variance of authoritarianism were interpreted and labelled Submissiveness, Dominance and Aggressiveness, respectively. Although these are in line with Ray's earlier conception of the nature of authoritarianism and do, to some extent, support other findings, it is suggested that the Directiveness scale be expanded to accommodate more characteristics of authoritarianism such as rigidity, hostility and superstitiousness.     

Mouse killing in rats induced by lesions of the medial hypothalamus or medial accumbens: short-term preoperative exposure to a mouse does not suppress the killing

Rats were either exposed or not exposed to a mouse in their living cage for a 48-hr period. At the end of this time a bilateral lesion was made in the medial accumbens region or in the medial hypothalamus. When tested 2 days postoperatively, the killing frequency among rats that had been exposed to mice preoperatively was not significantly lower than that of rats that were not preoperatively exposed. The ineffectiveness of preoperative experience in suppressing the mouse killing induced by medial accumbens and medial hypothalamic lesions is similar to that found previously with dorsal-median raphe lesions and olfactory bulb lesions and is in contrast to the ease with which preoperative experience prevents mouse killing induced by septal lesions and serotonergic lesions induced by 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine.     

Male responses to female competence

This study investigated the conditions under which a male would denigrate a female because of her competence. Sixty-four male subjects either cooperated or competed on anagram tasks with high/low competence male or female co-workers in the presence of a male or a female experimenter. Subsequently, these subjects evaluated their co-workers. No evidence was found to support the notion that males rejected a female partner because of her competence. In fact, some measures revealed that competent females were valued over their male counterparts in the cooperative conditions. Unexpectedly, sex of the experimenter interacted significantly with sex of the co-worker to determine the subject's responses to his partner's competence on two of the dependent measures. The discrepancies between these findings and earlier research findings are addressed. The implications for females in a mixed-sex work context are discussed.     

Guidance and Counseling in New Zealand

This article describes guidance and counseling in multicultural New Zealand as a professional service facing social change and supported by training, research, and a national association.     

Correlations,contrasts, and components: Fourier analysis in a more familiar terminology

The Fourier transform partitions the energy in a waveform into the sum of the energies of simpler components. This process is the same as the partitioning of variance into linear contrasts and is a way of measuring the correlation between the waveform and each member of a family of prototype model waveforms. Such a partitioning will often, but not always, result in a meaningful decomposition of the original waveform.     

Toward a science of history

The scientific status of History was compared to other sciences in the critical areas event selection, investigative operations, and theory construction. First, in terms of events studied, history is regarded as a quasi-scientific study of past events. However, viewed from the science of behavior's perspective of what historians actually do, history becomes a study of current records. As a study of currently existing records, not the non-existent past, history has potential to become a science. Second, like other scientists, historians may undertake manipulative investigations: they can locate the presence and absence of a condition in records and thereby determine its relation to other recorded phenomena. A limitation has been the lack of quantification that results from emphasis on the uniqueness of things rather than on their communality. Scientific training would facilitate viewing similar things as instances of a larger class that could be counted. Another limitation that cannot be easily overcome is the inability to produce raw data. This limitation has created problems in theoretical practices, the third area of comparison, because theoretical constructions have frequently been substituted for missing data. This problem too could be reduced through scientific training, particularly in other behavior sciences. An authentic science of history is possible.