SKINNER AS MISSIONARY AND PROPHET: A REVIEW OF BURRHUS F. SKINNER: SHAPER OF BEHAVIOUR

Do we need another book about B. F. Skinner? According to Frederick Toates, the answer is “yes” because “there is still much to be said” (p. vii) about Skinner. In his recent biography, Burrhus F. Skinner: Shaper of Behaviour (2009), Toates attempts to integrate Skinner into the mainstream of psychology by showing areas of commonality between Skinner''s radical behaviorism and subdisciplines within psychology such as cognitive, social, and biological psychology. Admirably, although in some instances understandably naively, Toates attempts to demonstrate the power of positive reinforcement to explain myriad complex behaviors, including a fairly lengthy interpretation of religious behavior. In addition, Toates credits Skinner for being ahead of his time on both social and environmental issues. Toates falters, however, in his insistence that behavior analysis still needs and can benefit from cognitive concepts. He nevertheless provides an otherwise objective and sympathetic view of Skinner the person and the behavioral science he helped to create in a book that should be informative for both behavior analysts and those outside the field.     

The Impact of Anger Management Treatment and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy in a Public School Setting on Social Skills,Anger Management,and Depression

Public school students participated in a group to enhance and improve anger management. The study used a pre-post design with a comparison group. Students were assigned to either Anger Management Treatment or Anger Management plus Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). Each child served as his or her own control and received an empirically validated intervention. Pretest–posttest data were evaluated using the Social Skills Rating System, the Children’s Depression Inventory and the Children’s Inventory of Anger. Results indicate that the addition of the REBT component to Anger Management reduced anger as well as depression, while improving social skills, suggesting the addition of a specialized cognitive behavioral component increased the effectiveness of the intervention.     

Response Conflict and Affective Responses in the Control and Expression of Race Bias

Models of racial attitudes traditionally have assumed that individual differences in the strength of underlying, 'implicit' associations between racial categories and stereotypical traits are the primary determinant of the expression of race bias. Thus, individual differences in performance on laboratory tasks designed to assess implicit race bias tend to be interpreted in terms of association strength. Here, we argue that such associations tell only part of the story, and probably the least interesting part. We posit that response conflict and its regulation are critical to understanding the need for control, and that affect-related processes help to determine the extent to which control resources will be implemented to overcome biased associations. We present data from a number of recent behavioral and psychophysiological studies in support of this idea, as well as conceptual accounts that point toward a model of race bias regulation that depends upon processes identified as important for regulation of thought, affect and action more generally.     

印象管理与心理健康表现之相关

本研究旨在考察中国人印象管理与心理健康表现的相关.研究采用印象管理问卷和一般健康问卷,对某石油国企员工进行调查,发现印象管理程度越高的人,其心理健康程度越差;自我推销和威胁策略与焦虑失眠呈正相关;迎合策略与躯体化症状呈正相关,但和严重抑郁呈负相关;示弱策略与社交障碍呈正相关;做秀策略与心理健康各维度均没有显著相关.结果表明不同的印象管理策略对心理健康有不同的影响.     

Infant attention to intentional action predicts preschool theory of mind

This research examines whether there are continuities between infant social attention and later theory of mind. Forty-five children were studied as infants and then again as 4-year-olds. Measures of infant social attention (decrement of attention during habituation to displays of intentional action) significantly predicted later theory of mind (false-belief understanding). Possibly, this longitudinal association could have been explained by more general developments in IQ, verbal competence, or executive function (rather than continuities in the realm of social cognition). However, the association remained significant and undiminished even when IQ, verbal competence, and executive function were controlled. The findings thus provide strong support for an important continuity in social cognition separable from continuities in more general information processing.     

When Interpretation Derails the Patient: The Negative Impact of Certain Misuses of the Concept of the Unconscious

Alternatives to classical psychoanalytic theory and technique have existed in the form of various "deviant" schools, all of which have found that contemporary conflict theory fails to achieve good results with the patients they treat. While the principles of interpersonal, self-psychological, intersubjective and relational schools are reasonably well known through the psychoanalytic literature, the opportunity to examine detailed analytic accounts by classical analysts has only recently become possible. The publication of full case reports has recently become a feature of the traditionally based psychoanalytic journals. This paper makes use of a recent volume of the Psychoanalytic Quarterly to examine the interpretations made during a lengthy analysis of a male patient struggling with his ambivalence about marrying his fiancée. The analyst repeatedly attributes his patient's reluctance to marry and negative feelings about his fiancée as determined by his unconscious conflation of his mother and his fiancée. The author attempts to demonstrate the derailment of the patient by these interpretations. They prevent him from solidifying his own judgment and, in so doing, prevent him from taking suitable action. An alternative approach to the material of the case is presented, including very different interpretations that would, in the author's opinion, liberate the patient rather than derail him from achieving his life goals.     

Me or we? The role of personality and justice as other-centered antecedents to innovative citizenship behaviors within organizations

The present research takes an "other-centered" approach to examining personal and contextual antecedents of taking charge behavior in organizations. Largely consistent with the authors' hypotheses, regression analyses involving data collected from 2 diverse samples containing both coworkers and supervisors demonstrated that the other-centered trait, duty, was positively related to taking charge, whereas the self-centered trait, achievement striving, was negatively related to taking charge. In addition, the authors found that procedural justice at the organizational level was positively related to taking charge when evaluated by a coworker, while both procedural and distributive justice were positively related to taking charge when considered by a supervisor. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

What 50 years of research tell us about pausing under ratio schedules of reinforcement

Textbooks in learning and behavior commonly describe performance on fixed-ratio schedules as “break and run,” indicating that after reinforcement subjects typically pause and then respond quickly to the next reinforcement. Performance on variable-ratio schedules, on the other hand, is described as steady and fast, with few long pauses. Beginning with Ferster and Skinner''s magnum opus, Schedules of Reinforcement (1957), the literature on pausing under ratio schedules has identified the influences on pausing of numerous important variables, in particular ratio size and reinforcement magnitude. As a result, some previously held assumptions have been called into question. For example, research has shown that the length of the pause is controlled not only by the preceding ratio, as Ferster and Skinner and others had assumed (and as implied by the phrase postreinforcement pause), but by the upcoming ratio as well. Similarly, despite the commonly held belief that ratio pausing is unique to the fixed-ratio schedule, there is evidence that pausing also occurs under variable-ratio schedules. If such widely held beliefs are incorrect, then what about other assumptions? This article selectively examines the literature on pausing under ratio schedules over the past 50 years and concludes that although there may indeed be some common patterns, there are also inconsistencies that await future resolution. Several accounts of pausing under ratio schedules are discussed along with the implications of the literature for human performances, most notably the behaviors termed procrastination.     

Aging and social satisfaction: offsetting positive and negative effects

Social satisfaction in late adulthood originates from competing sources. Older adults tend to be more positive and less negative than younger adults, but social contact and working memory often decrease with age, both of which might limit older adults' social functioning. In the current study of younger and older adults, these socially facilitative vs. socially debilitative changes were found to underlie stasis in social satisfaction. These findings show that the lack of an overall effect for age can mask competing changes in social functioning in late adulthood, as the sources of social satisfaction might change even if the outcome does not.     

Low prosocial attachment, involvement with drug-using peers, and adolescent drug use: a longitudinal examination of mediational mechanisms.

The process of disengagement from prosocial entities (e.g., family and school) and either simultaneous or subsequent engagement with antisocial entities (e.g., friends who use drugs) is a critical contributor to adolescent drug use and delinquency. This study provides a series of formal mediation tests to demonstrate the relationship between poor family attachment, poor school attachment, involvement with friends who use drugs, and a student's own use of drugs. Results indicate that poor family attachment exerts its effect on drug use through poor school attachment and involvement with friends who use drugs. In addition, poor school attachment exerts its effect on drug use through involvement with friends who use drugs. The results of this study corroborate theories that suggest disengagement from prosocial entities is associated with involvement with antisocial entities and eventual involvement in drug use. Implications for prevention strategies are discussed.