Social Misperception and Its Implications for Counseling

This article explores social misperception, a unique way of viewing the behavior problems of children. While the emotional-disturbance label is usually given to behaviorally disordered youngsters, it inaccurately reflects the social learning problems of children. Explored are the characteristics of social misperception (both verbal and nonverbal), its historical foundations (taken from the psychological and educational literature), and its relation to learning disabilities and to emotional disturbance; a differential diagnostic system is offered. Counselors are given techniques by which they can assist teachers with remediation, a task that helps the counselor to assist classroom teachers to become socially sensitive to the emotional needs of children.     

Vision with spatial inversion: A follow-up study

The Psychological Record -     

Species-specific defense reactions and avoidance learning

Bolles (1970) proposed a theory of avoidance learning, the species-specific defense reaction (SSDR) hypothesis, which emphasized innate constraints on the response repertoire of rats in aversive situations and minimized the role of reinforcement in avoidance learning. The present paper describes Bolles’ (1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1978) development of SSDR theory and reviews the empirical tests of its assumptions and predictions. It is concluded that the SSDRs described by Bolles, along with some others, are highly probable in aversive situations but that the response repertoire is not limited to them. Further, there is strong evidence for reinforcement effects in the establishment and maintenance of at least some avoidance responses.     

Violent groups

This article reviews relevant empirical studies and theoretical formulations in an effort to gain insight into the many violenceprone groups that have come to public attention in recent years. Research findings show group members tend to score high on variables like anger at family members and overcontrolled hostility, often are in developmental transition at the time they join the groups, and gain relief from significant emotional distress through group membership. Leader characteristics, group norm forming and group control processes particular to these kinds of groups are also described in an effort to develop further understanding.Parts of this paper were presented in New York City at a September 1979 symposium on forensic psychology and psychiatry sponsored by the New York Academy of Science.     

Effects of previous delay of reward,generalized effort,and deprivation on impulsiveness

Two experiments investigated the effects of learning and motivational variables upon rats' degree of impulsiveness (choice of a small, immediate reward versus a large, delayed reward). In Experiment 1, food was presented in one of four ways for 24 sessions: fixed-ratio lever pressing requirement, continuous-reinforcement lever-pressing requirement, long intervals between free food presentations, or short intervals between free food presentations. Exposure to the long intervals produced less subsequent impulsiveness in 48 choice trials than did the short intervals, there being no effect of the instrumental requirement. In Experiment 2, there were 48 choice trials in which two hunger levels were combined factorially with two delays of reward for the self-control alternative. Hunger level did not affect implusiveness when there was a short delay, but high hunger increased the impulsiveness when there was a long delay. These results indicate that impulsiveness is affected by prior learning and current motivation. Implications for Baum, Rachlin, and Green's matching formula and for frustration theory are discussed.     

Relative alpha desynchronization and synchronization during perception of music

Relative desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization (ERS) of the 8–10 Hz and 10–12 Hz alpha freqency bands elicited by music were studied in ten musically untrained right-handed subjects. The subjects listened to two five-minute musical excerpts representing two different musical genres, popular and classical, presented both foward and backward. ERD/ERS of the two alpha frequency bands was examined during the first four minutes of stimulus presentation using one-minute time windows. The results demonstrated that both the 8–10 Hz and the 10–12Hz frequency band exhibited reactivity to musical stimuli. The responses of the 8–10Hz and 10–12 Hz alpha frequency bands were dissimilar, dymanic and dependent on both time and stimulation type. The dynamics of these changes over time may explain some discrepancies in earlier EEG studies during listening to music.     

The effect of Method Variance on Relationships Between the Work Ethic and Individual Difference Variables

A great deal of research relating the work ethic to other individual difference variables has been conducted using questionnaires to measure all the variables. Many researchers believe that using a single method of measurement for multiple constructs results in artificially inflated correlations. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the work ethic, locus of control, and conscientiousness reveals that approximately 16% of the variance in measures of these constructs is a function of the method of measurement. This suggests that correlations in work ethic research based on only one method of measurement may be overstated.