TREATMENT OF PICA THROUGH MULTIPLE ANALYSES OF ITS REINFORCING FUNCTIONS

We conducted functional analyses of the pica of 3 participants. The pica of 1 participant appeared to be maintained by automatic reinforcement; that of the other 2 participants appeared to be multiply controlled by social and automatic reinforcement. Subsequent preference and treatment analyses were used to identify stimuli that would compete with the automatic function of pica for the 3 participants. These analyses also identified the specific aspect of oral stimulation that served as automatic reinforcement for 2 of the participants. In addition, functional analysis-based treatments were used to address the socially motivated components of 2 of the participants' pica. Results are discussed in terms of (a) the importance of using the results of functional analyses to develop treatments for pica and (b) the advantages of developing indirect analyses to identify specific sources of reinforcement for automatically reinforced behavior.     

Adaptive and maladaptive narcissism among university faculty, clergy, politicians, and librarians

Some adaptive narcissistic characteristics may be prevalent in individuals in occupa-tions that involve leadership or authority, provide social attention and prestige, or require a confident social presentation. The present study investigated the expectation that narcissistic characteristics would be more prevalent in higher status occupations involving frequent opportunities for attention and admiration from others. Of four occupations sampled, politicians scored highest in total narcissism, as well as in leadership and authority; university faculty and librarians did not score particularly high or low on any narcissism indices; and clergy were lowest in exploitativeness and entitlement, which represent the more maladaptive aspects of narcissism. The results were discussed with respect to Holland's (1985) classification of vocational personali-ties.     

Dimensions of driver anger, aggressive and highway code violations and their mediation by safety orientation in UK drivers

Aggressive behaviour on the roads is reported to be on the increase. This study administered Driving Anger Scale (Deffenbacher et al. (1994). Development of a driving anger scale. Psychological Reports, 74, 83–91.), the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire, and the Driving Skill Inventory to a sample of 270 British drivers. Factor analysis of the Driving Anger Scale items yielded three factors measuring anger generated by the reckless driving, direct hostility and impeded progress by others—contrary to the six subscales found with the original US sample. Younger drivers and low mileage drivers were more likely to exhibit all three types of driving anger, but no differences between male and female drivers were found. In addition, a driver’s safety orientation predicted (negatively) anger evoked by impeded progress and direct hostility whereas self-assessed perceptual-motor skills were positively related to anger generated by impeded progress. Both Highway Code and aggressive violations were significantly related to the anger factors, and, using the procedure by Baron and Kenny (Baron & Kenny (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.), the prediction of violating behaviour (Driver Behaviour Questionnaire) by reported anger was shown to be mediated by the self-assessed safety skill scale but not the perceptual-motor skill scale (Driver Skill Inventory), and moderated by neither. Implications for driver education countermeasures are noted.     

Digital filtering in EEG/ERP analysis: Some technical and empirical comparisons

A general approach to time domain digital filtering is described, and examples of some filters used in EEG/ERP research are presented. Simulations are reported that evaluate the impact of the relative length of the filter weight series and the signal cycle to be filtered, the span and real-time density of the filter weights, and slow drift across the epoch being filtered. Results indicate that some filters commonly used in the EEG/ERP literature are inadequate. Frequency domain digital filtering is also briefly discussed. The fast Hartley transform, a fast but relatively unknown computational method for frequency domain filtering of ERP/EEG data, is introduced and compared with time domain filtering. Some practical recommendations are provided.     

Reply to My Critics

Philosophical Studies -     

Statistical analysis of the bidirectional inconsistency of spelling and sound in French

Recent studies suggest that performance attendant on visual word perception is affected not only by the “traditional” feedforward inconsistency (spelling → phonology) but also by its feedback inconsistency (phonology → spelling). The present study presents a statistical analysis of the bidirectional inconsistency for all French monosyllabic words. We show that French is relatively consistent from spelling to phonology but highly inconsistent from phonology to spelling. Appendixes B and C list prior and conditional probabilities for all inconsistent mappings and thus provide a valuable tool for controlling, selecting, and constructing stimulus materials for psycholinguistic and neuropsychological research. Such large-scale statistical analyses about a language’s structure are crucial for developing metrics of inconsistency, generating hypotheses for cross-linguistic research, and building computational models of reading.