The effect of prolonged practice of pursuit eye movement

Prolonged exposure to a reciprocating motion that is tracked by the eyes results in diminished extent of perceived motion. Investigation of this effect showed that it becomes manifest only in perceived motion that is caused by ocular pursuit, but that it is not an eye muscle effect. It may consist in a changed evaluation of eye movements. The results throw some light on the relations between the processes that are caused by different stimuli for motion.     

Slope of regard as a distance cue

It is proposed that some distance cues are learned when a perceptual parameter that varies with observation distance is regularly associated with objects whose distances are perceived because another distance cue operates. If that is the way distance cues can come into existence, it may be possible to identify a parameter that varies with distance but is not a known distance cue and to show that it functions as one. The slope of regard with which an object on the ground is viewed is such a potential distance cue. Its angle varies approximately with the reciprocal of distance. An experiment was done that showed that this slope angle functions as a distance cue. Subjects who looked through a device that altered slope angles gave estimates of the dimensions of an object on the ground. Perceived sizes, which vary inversely with distance, were found to be altered in accordance with the altered slope angle.     

A theory of behavior interaction in dyads: A structuralist account

A theory from the behavioral and social sciences is presented from the structuralist point of view. A more comprehensive theory-net is outlined, some basic terms and core assumptions are formulated, and an expansion of the theory towards two intended applications is given. Finally, some results of a first empirical test of the theory are reported. The aim of the paper is to show that the structuralist account of scientific theories is not confined to mathematical theories from the natural sciences, but can also be applied to relatively informal constructions of the behavioral and social sciences.     

National differences in personality; Brazil and England

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (E.P.Q.) was used to compare the structure of personality in Brazilian and English men and women, and to compare the mean scores of these population on the test. Six hundred and thirty six male and 760 female Brazilian adults were compared with 500 English males and 500 English females. It was found that identical factors appeared in the Brazilian as had been discovered in the English populations, and that intercorrelations of scales, reliabilities, etc. were similar for the two populations. Some items from the original study were found inapplicable in Brazil, and new items were substituted. A comparison of the mean scores of the two populations on a reduced scale, embodying only those items which were valid for both populations, showed that there were very few differences between the populations.     

Adaptation in stereoscopic depth constancy

Stereovision is a complex process because perceived depth intervals depend not only on retinal disparity, but also on cues for distance. Because disparity decreases in proportion to the square of the object distance, a compensation process called constancy of stereoscopic depth makes the necessary correction in the perception of depth by taking object distance into account. This compensation process was altered by adaptation. Subjects were exposed to artificial conditions where disparity decreased in proportion to distance instead of distance squared. Alterations in depth perception amounting to 20% were obtained.     

Adaptation to vertical displacement of the visual direction

Sixty Ss wore vertically displacing wedge prisms and adapted by looking at their feet for 10 min. Half of them did this while standing and the others in supine position. The latter condition produced adaptation measurable with a visual-motor test and with a test of egocentric localization, but on a purely motoric test no adaptation was apparent. Standing during the adaptation period produced no effect.     

Zur Beziehung von Inertia Effekt und sequentieller Position widersprechender Ereignisse bei der Revision subjektiver Wahrscheinlichkeiten

Zusammenfassung Der Prozeß der Revision subjektiver Wahrscheinlichkeiten ist häufig durch ein Unterschätzen des Effektes jener Ereignisse gekennzeichnet, die der von einer Person favorisierten Alternative widersprechen (Inertia Effekt). Zwei von Pitz et al. (1967) aufgestellte Hypothesen über die Ursachen des Inertia Effektes, die Commitment Hypothese und die Expectancy Hypothese, wurden anhand der aus ihnen ableitbaren entgegengesetzten Vorhersagen über den Zusammenhang zwischen der Stärke des Inertia Effektes und der sequentiellen Position eines ersten widersprechenden Ereignisses, überprüft. Die experimentellen Ergebnisse sprechen für das Zutreffen der Commitment Hypothese als Erklärung des Inertia Effektes.

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The relation between the Inertia Effect and the sequential position of disconfirming events in the revision of subjective probability

Summary The revision of subjective probability often is characterized by an underestimation of those events, that are contradictory to a subject's presently favored alternative (Inertia Effect). Two possible explanations of the Inertia Effect as postulated by Pitz et al. (1967), the Commitment hypothesis and the Expectancy hypothesis, were tested by examination of the contradictory predictions that can be derived about the strength of the Inertia Effect as a function of the sequential position of a first disconfirming event. The data lent support to the Commitment hypothesis as an explanation of the Inertia Effect.

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Diese Untersuchung wurde finanziert aus Sondermitteln des Sonderforschungsbereiches Sozial- und wirtschaftspsychologische Entscheidungsforschung der Universität Mannheim.     

The Non-Achievement Syndrome,Group Therapy,and Achievement Change

174 selected failing students at Illinois Institute of Technology were provided group counseling as a condition of their remaining in school. The assumption of the psychodynamics of the non-achievement syndrome was made regarding these students and a group counseling approach (NAS therapy) derived from an approach delineated by Roth and Meyersburg seemed appropriate and was utilized. 52 male subjects in this population were randomly selected for study as were 52 probationary, noncounseled males who were used as a comparison group. The results indicated that the counseled group increased their GPA's significantly and that these changes held over time. The GPA's of the comparison group did not increase significantly. The differences were attributable to the counseling experience.     

Extent-of-motion thresholds under subject-relative and object-relative conditions

The experiment was designed to discover the threshold extent of motion at medium speeds amounting to 41, 82, and 164 min./sec., and to compare the perception of motion arising from subject-relative displacement with the perception of motion arising from object-relative displacement. Extent thresholds were found while velocity was kept constant. Different groups of ten Ss were used for each displacement velocity, and for each S the extent threshold was twice obtained by the method of constant stimuli, once under subjectrelative and once under object-relative displacement conditions. Sensitivity to brief displacements of a continuously visible target was high; average thresholds ranged from 1.0 to 4.4 min. under the various conditions employed. The thresholds were higher for subject-relative conditions and the slower displacement velocities and lower for objectrelative conditions and faster displacements.     

The Catalytic Situation in the Violence Equation1

This paper discusses views of violence that point to situational impingements on the aggressor as precipitants of his or her aggression. The view (situational determinism) is illustrated through excerpts from a trial that was concerned with police responsibility for incidents of police-citizen violence. The excerpts high-light the exonerating and antipsychological corollaries of the situational view and its emphasis on victim-related variables. This deterministic scenario (violence situation) is contrasted with an interpersonal emphasis (violence transaction) and an offender-centered perspective (violence opportunity). In contrast to the latter's emphasis on aggressor motivation, situational determinism implies the generic motivation (“normalcy”) of aggression. As a corollary, the view rejects the possibility of introducing deescalating options into evolving violence transactions.