Violations of stochastic transitivity on concurrent chains: Implications for theories of choice

The concurrent-chains procedure has been used to measure how choice depends on various aspects of reinforcement, such as its delay and its magnitude. Navarick and Fantino (1972, 1974, 1975) have found that choice in this procedure can violate the condition of stochastic transitivity that is required if a unidimensional scale for reinforcements is to be possible. It is shown in this paper that two simple unidimensional models of choice on concurrent chains can produce violations of stochastic transitivity. It is argued that such violations may result from the complex contingencies of the concurrent-chains procedure.     

Attribution of control and teenage pregnancy

In rural Appalachia in Tennessee, data on 13 female adolescents who had experienced a pregnancy (mean age=16 years, 7 months) were compared with those on 38 female adolescents who had not experienced a pregnancy (mean age-16 years, 4 months) to test the hypothesis that teenagers who experience a pregnancy have external attributions of control over their life events. The Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children was administered to determine their beliefs about causes of events in their lives. All the girls were white and matched for socioeconomic status, housing, and cultural background. The mean attribution of control to external agents score stood at 14.5 for girls who had experienced a pregnancy compared with 12.7 for those who had not experienced a pregnancy, but the difference was not significant (p=.08).54% of the cases exhibited external attributional orientation compared with 16% of the controls (p.02). This finding concurred with that of earlier studies. The fact that not all the girls who had experienced a pregnancy had external attributional orientation suggested that it is not the only factor linked to adolescent pregnancy. Studies have not identified whether external attributional orientation is a causal factor or consequence of adolescent pregnancy. A 1980 study found that women who had shown more external locus of control scores during pregnancy and tended to castigate themselves had a high probability of postpartum depression. Another study indicated that rises in depression among adolescents were linked to prechange orientations toward external attributions of control. Practitioners should selectively pay attention to teenagers who have extreme attributional orientations since many teenagers carry their pregnancies to term and choose to rear their infants. These orientations appear to pose risks for the adolescent mother and her children.     

Analyzing the reinforcement process at the human level: Can application and behavioristic interpretation replace laboratory research?

Critics have questioned the value of human operant conditioning experiments in the study of fundamental processes of reinforcement. Contradictory results from human and animal experiments have been attributed to the complex social and verbal history of the human subject. On these grounds, it has been contended that procedures that mimic those conventionally used with animal subjects represent a "poor analytic preparation" for the explication of reinforcement principles. In defending the use of conventional operant methods for human research, we make three points: (a) Historical variables play a critical role in research on processes of reinforcement, regardless of whether the subjects are humans or animals. (b) Techniques are available for detecting, analyzing, and counteracting such historical and extra-experimental influences; these include long-term observations, steady state designs, and, when variables are not amenable to direct control (e.g., age, gender, species), selection of subjects with common characteristics. (c) Other forms of evidence that might be used to validate conditioning principles-applied behavior analysis and behavioristic interpretation-have inherent limitations and cannot substitute for experimental analysis. We conclude that human operant conditioning experiments are essential for the analysis of the reinforcement process at the human level, but caution that their value depends on the extent to which the traditional methods of the experimental analysis of behavior are properly applied.     

语言消亡的原因和环境

绪论大家知道,世界上存在或者说存在过5000多种语言,但其中数百种已不再有任何个人或者语言社团使用。这些语言中的某些语言,诸如拉丁语,古希腊语和斯拉冯语等,维持着奄奄一息的生命,犹如供人瞻仰的古迹,今天尚能发挥的作用极为微弱,仅限于专业研究;其余大多数语言只对一小群语言学家、历史学家和把目光转向过去的其他专家有用。许多语言已了无生     

认知风格与教学策略(节译)

一般地说,认知风格可以被理解为个人感知、组织以及评价信息的独特方式。然而,除此之外,本文要论及的四项系列研究运用了两种量表,它们反映了对认知风格的不同而独特的解释。一种量表是迈尔斯—布立格斯类型量表(Myers—Briggs Type lndlcator),这是一套著名的量表,它是以荣格(Jungian)的人格理     

呼图白集(续六)

朱马达·阿黑赖第一讲赞美安拉——造化所有万物的主,开天辟地的主,布施给养的主。巢中群鸟赞他清净,各路王侯颂他崇高。赞主清净,他是崇高普施的主,其拥有之财富不因博施而罄绝。我赞美安拉清净玄高,赞主会持续给     

逻辑的范围

人们在作出陈述时,可能提供论据以支持它们,也可能不这样。一个被论据支持的陈述是一个论证的结论,而逻辑则提供对论证进行分析的工具。逻辑分析所涉及的是结论和支持它的论据之间的关系。人们思考时,作出推理,这些推理可以转变为论证,而逻辑工具这时就应用于这些得出的论证之上。这样,就可以检验产生这些论证的推理。逻辑研究论证与推理。它的主要目的之一是为区别逻辑上正确的与不正确的论证与推理提供方法。     

排中律与多值逻辑

(在这篇论文里,我把多值逻辑中反对排中律的论据找来,并试图对其进行一番考查。首先,我叙述了反对排中律的论据,然后试图对它的力量作出估价,凡是这个论据显得不充分之处,我就试着提出一种理由予以支持。在我时这个理由所作的批评里,我也努力对提出这一否定的动机——引起争论的那些东西,以及这一否定的份量如何,作了某些证明。) (一)导言传统逻辑的法则基本上是从亚里士多德流传下来的。传统逻辑最基本的法则就是三大思维规律。第一条是同一律,其内容是:“A就是A”或者是“如果某命题是真的,那么它就是真的。”第二条     

次协调逻辑研究之一:辩证法的对立统一原理

次协调逻辑(para-consistent logic)是那些把有意义的不协调理论形式化的逻辑。另一方面,辩证逻辑是把建立在黑格尔、马克思及其后继者提出的观念、原则之上的理论形式化的逻辑。这样的学科与次协调逻辑是相互交叉的。