Police evaluation research: an experimental and cost-benefit analysis of a helicopter patrol in a high crime area

The significance of a helicopter patrol procedure directed toward prevention of home burglaries was evaluated from experimental and cost-benefit perspectives. The helicopter patrolled one city zone from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for two 12-day periods. Each 12-day period was separated by a baseline period in which only normal patrol-car levels were maintained. Significantly reduced burglary levels during the intervention periods, compared to baseline periods, documented the experimental significance of the helicopter procedure. The cash costs of implementing the patrol procedure were compared to two estimates of the resulting cash benefits. This latter cost-benefit analysis was supplemented by a discussion of the intangible costs and benefits of the helicopter procedure. Taken together, these analyses documented that the marginal costs of the helicopter intervention were exceeded by all estimates of benefits.     

AN INDEX FOR ASSESSING WEIGHT CHANGE IN CHILDREN: WEIGHT/HEIGHT RATIOS1

Weight and height data from two studies were recomputed, and original data were computed using a Weight Index formula that accounts for the interaction of actual weight/height changes in growing children and compares this ratio with that of normed weight/height ratios for equal-aged children. Recomputing the data of one study showed that the Weight Index is a more sensitive procedure for assessing long-term behavioral treatment of obesity for girls than weight alone. Recomputing the data of a second study showed that the Weight Index formula is consistent for boys and girls and is a more sensitive procedure for assessing long-term effects of a variety of medical treatments for obesity than the Ponderal Index or weight alone. Computation of the data for 17 “normal” children in a preschool class showed a zero Weight Index score before and after a six-month interval elapsed without treatment. The procedure may be useful in assessing ponderosity or anorexia over intervals of six months or more with growing children or difference between actual and normed weight over shorter intervals.     

Behavioral Marriage Therapy: II. Empirical Perspective

Two recent published reviews of research on behavioral marriage therapy stimulated us to supplement these accounts with additional relevant data. First, we place research on behavioral couples therapy in the broader context of outcome research on nonbehavioral marital therapy. We then summarize the results of 23 studies of behavioral couples therapy not included in these previous reviews and conclude that these additional data on controlled and comparative studies do little to enhance the current empirical status of the efficacy of behavioral marriage therapy and in no case do they establish the superiority of social learning approaches. It is concluded that an open mind to all sources of data on the efficacy of marital therapy is needed if the field is to make meaningful advances.     

Behavioral effects of neurotoxic lesions of the ascending monoamine pathways in the rat brain

Intracranial microinjections of 6-hydroxydopamine or 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine into six ascending monoamine pathways produced the expected patterns of depletion of telencephalic serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. Serotonin level was specifically lowered after dorsal or median raphe lesions but not after mesolimbic or nigrostriatal system lesions which lowered both norepinephrine and dopamine. Lesions in the locus coeruleus or ventral nor-adrenergic bundle lowered only norepinephrine, and locus coeruleus lesions elevated serotonin level. Behavior was examined in an open field, one-way active avoidance, and two passive avoidance tasks, and measures were taken of water consumption and body weight. Dorsal raphe lesions had no effect on any of the measures; the other five lesion groups exhibited deficient acquisition of the one-way active avoidance task. In the appetitive passive avoidance task, only the substantia nigra lesion group exhibited a deficiency. In the step-through passive avoidance task, both the substantia nigra and the median raphe groups exhibited a deficit, with the median raphe group exhibiting hyperactivity in the start box during testing. Water consumption was decreased by lesions in the ventral noradrenergic bundle during the first postoperative week and was increased in the median raphe group by the fourth postoperative week. Lastly, lesions in the locus coeruleus dramatically decreased activity in the open field. The results are discussed in regard to the search for specificity of behavioral functions of the distinct ascending monoamine pathways.     

Stimulus generalization following extradimensional and intradimensional training in educable retarded children

Five related experiments investigating stimulus generalization following go/no-go discrimination training of educable retarded children are reported. Experiment 1 employed an Extradimensional paradigm in which generalization testing was on the hue dimension following training on an independent (orientation) dimension. Following True discrimination training only 25% of children showed a decremental stimulus generalization gradient on the hue dimension, though all children exhibited flat gradients in Pseudodiscrimination and S+ only control groups. An increase in difficulty of the orientation discrimination in Experiment 2 did not increase the number of decremental gradients. In Experiment 3, children who exhibited decremental gradients in Experiments 1 and 2 underwent further generalization testing with modified stimuli to establish a symmetrical gradient peaked at a hue S+ to be employed in Experiments 4 and 5. In these experiments an Intradimensional paradigm was employed with S+ and S? stimuli drawn from the hue dimension. Excitatory control by S+ and inhibitory control by S? were demonstrated, as were inhibitory consequences of S? such as peak and area shift.     

Role of activation and sensory stimuli in recovery from lateral hypothalamic damage in the cat

The early stages of recovery from lateral hypothalamic lesions were analyzed in 30 adult cats. In addition to aphagia and adipsia, neurological examination revealed deficits suggestive of deficient endogenous arousal, including somnolence, catalepsy, akinesia, and sensory neglect. Manipulations (tail pinch and injection of amphetamine) that counteracted these deficits also restored feeding. During recovery from aphagia, feeding gradually became activated by sensory stimuli (sight, feel, and smell) associated with food. These data suggest that activation is an important component in the control of normal feeding.     

The effect of serving as a model of self-control on subsequent resistance to deviation in children

The effect of having a child serve as a rule-following model for other children on the model's own subsequent rule-following was investigated in a resistance to deviation situation. First- and second-grade boys (age range 73 to 94 months) who were told they would serve as self-controlling models for others and who actually served in this capacity touched prohibited toys less than did boys who were not told they would serve as models. Boys told they were to serve as models but who were prevented from performing deviated at a level between the models and boys given no responsibility. Having children serve as rule-following models for others is suggested as an effective, non-punitive technique to increase their self-control.     

Attitudinal qualities relating to the strength of the attitude-behavior relationship

A study was conducted to examine the relation between each of several attitudinal qualities and attitude-behavior consistency. Subjects' attitudes toward volunterring to participate in psychological research were assessed. The number of experiments in which each subject volunteered to participate was employed as the measure of behavior. Attitude-behavior consistency was significantly related to (1) the amount of direct experience upon which the subject's attitude was based (specifically, the number of experiments in which the subject had previously participated), (2) the degree of certainty with which the attitude was held, and (3) how well-defined the subject's attitude was, as measured by the width of his latitude of rejection. These three attitudinal qualities were significantly intercorrelated, suggesting that direct experience with an attitude object may produce an attitude that is both better defined and more confidently held than an attitude formed through more indirect means.