Increasing and signaling background reinforcement: effect on the foreground response-reinforcer relation.

Herrnstein's (1970) hyperbolic matching equation describes the relationship between response rate and reinforcement rate. It has two estimated parameters, k and Re. According to one interpretation, k measures motor performance and Re measures the efficacy of the reinforcer maintaining responding relative to background sources of reinforcement. Experiment 1 tested this interpretation of the Re parameter by observing the effect of adding and removing an additional source of reinforcement to the context. Using a within-session procedure, estimates of Re were obtained from the response-reinforcer relation over a series of seven variable-interval schedules. A second, concurrently available variable-interval schedule of reinforcement was added and then removed from the context. Results showed that when the alternative was added to the context, the value of Re increased by 107 reinforcers per hour; this approximated the 91 reinforcers per hour obtained from this schedule. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of signaling background reinforcement on k and Re. The signal decreased Re, but did not have a systematic effect on k. In general, the results supported Herrnstein's interpretation that in settings with one experimenter-controlled reinforcement source, Re indexes the strength of the reinforcer maintaining responding relative to uncontrolled background sources of reinforcement.     

How to teach a pigeon to maximize overall reinforcement rate

In two experiments deviations from matching earned higher overall reinforcement rates than did matching. In Experiment 1 response proportions were calculated over a 360-response moving average, updated with each response. Response proportions that differed from the nominal reinforcement proportions, by a criterion that was gradually increased, were eligible for reinforcement. Response proportions that did not differ from matching were not eligible for reinforcement. When the deviation requirement was relatively small, the contingency proved to be effective. However, there was a limit as to how far response proportions could be pushed from matching. Consequently, when the deviation requirement was large, overall reinforcement rate decreased and pecking was eventually extinguished. In Experiment 2 a discriminative stimulus was added to the procedure. The houselight was correlated with the relationship between response proportions and the nominal (programmed) reinforcement proportions. When the difference between response and reinforcement proportions met the deviation requirement, the light was white and responses were eligible for reinforcement. When the difference between response and reinforcement proportions failed to exceed the deviation requirement, the light was blue and responses were not eligible for reinforcement. With the addition of the light, it proved to be possible to shape deviations from matching without any apparent limit. Thus, in Experiment 2 overall reinforcement rate predicted choice proportions and relative reinforcement rate did not. In contrast, in previous experiments on the relationship between matching and overall reinforcement maximization, relative reinforcement rate was usually the better predictor of responding. The results show that whether overall or relative reinforcement rate better predicts choice proportions may in part be determined by stimulus conditions.     

Achievement goals and intrinsic motivation: Their relation and their role in adaptive motivation

In this article, the relation between research emerging from the goals approach to motivation and research emerging from the intrinsic motivation approach is examined. A review of relevant research suggests that factors promoting learning goals (emphasizing the development of competencies) are associated with enhanced intrinsic motivation, and that factors promoting performance goals (emphasizing the evaluation of competence) are associated with diminished intrinsic motivation. It is also suggested that important aspects of the goals approach are often incorporated into conceptions and measures of intrinsic motivation. Finally, a framework is presented in which adaptive motivation is described in terms of the coordination of achievement goals and intrinsic motivation.     

Public health approaches to family maltreatment prevention: resetting family psychology's sights from the home to the community

The authors review recent trends within the family maltreatment research field toward a public health approach, discuss the rationale for community-level interventions for family maltreatment, and sketch the history and development of community-level prevention approaches. Next, to illustrate the both the logistic and the scientific challenges of such work, the authors discuss the development and testing of an empirically guided, research-community partnership for the prevention of family maltreatment, the United States Air Force's NORTH STAR initiative (New Orientation to Reduce Threats to Health From Secretive Problems That Affect Readiness). Finally, recommendations are made for effective and disseminable family maltreatment prevention interventions.     

The relations of child adiposity with parent-to-child and parent-to-parent hostility

Objective: Investigate (1) the association of child adiposity with parent-to-child and parent-to-parent hostility, (2) the mediation of these associations by dietary behaviours and (3) moderation by gender.

Design: One hundred thirty-five couples with 6- to 14-year-old children completed measures of emotional and physical aggression, overreactive discipline and child diet. Parent-to-parent hostility was also coded from laboratory observations.

Main Outcome Measure: Child adiposity was a combination of body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio.

Results: Mother-to-child hostility was associated with child adiposity. This association was concentrated in boys and was not significantly explained by child dietary factors. Mother-to-father hostility was not significantly associated with boys’ or girls’ adiposity. Girls’ adiposity was not significantly associated with family hostility. Fathers’ hostility was not linked to child adiposity.

Conclusion: This is the first study to take a family-level approach to understanding the relation of hostility to child adiposity by examining relations among adiposity and both mothers’ and fathers’ hostility directed toward one another and toward their children. Our findings highlight the potential role played by mothers’ emotional hostility in boys’ adiposity and suggest that, if this role is further substantiated, mother-son emotional hostility may be a promising target for the prevention of child obesity.     

Preschoolers Use Trait-Relevant Information to Evaluate the Appropriateness of an Aggressive Response

The tendency for 3- to 5-year-old children to use trait-relevant information about other people when evaluating aggressive responses to ambiguous behavior was examined across two studies (N = 81). Children were more likely to endorse the use of aggression against a "mean" versus a "nice" story character. Additionally, they were more likely to endorse the use of aggression against a story character who feels happy rather than sad when bad things happen to other kids. These findings suggest that, as early as preschool, trait-relevant information about other people can serve as a tool with which children evaluate the appropriateness of aggression in response to ambiguous behavior. Moreover, these findings provide evidence that even before the onset of formal schooling, trait and mental state information can influence social judgments.     

Observation of couple conflicts: clinical assessment applications, stubborn truths, and shaky foundations

The purpose of this review is to provide a balanced examination of the published research involving the observation of couples, with special attention toward the use of observation for clinical assessment. All published articles that (a) used an observational coding system and (b) relate to the validity of the coding system are summarized in a table. The psychometric properties of observational systems and the use of observation in clinical practice are discussed. Although advances have been made in understanding couple conflict through the use of observation, the review concludes with an appeal to the field to develop constructs in a psychometrically and theoretically sound manner.     

Chinese Children's Moral Evaluation of Lies and Truths-Roles of Context and Parental Individualism-Collectivism Tendencies

The present study examined Chinese children's moral evaluations of truths and lies about one's own pro-social acts. Children ages 7, 9, and 11 were read vignettes in which a protagonist performs a good deed and is asked about it by a teacher, either in front of the class or in private. In response, the protagonist either tells a modest lie, which is highly valued by the Chinese culture, or tells an immodest truth, which violates the Chinese cultural norms about modesty. Children were asked to identify whether the protagonist's statement was the truth or a lie, and to evaluate how 'good' or 'bad' the statement was. Chinese children rated modest lies more positively than immodest truths, with this effect becoming more pronounced with age. Rural Chinese children and those with at least one nonprofessional parent rated immodest truths less positively when they were told in public rather than in private. Furthermore, Chinese children of parents with high collectivism scores valued modest lies more than did children of parents with low collectivism scores. These findings suggest that both macro- and micro-cultural factors contribute significantly to children's moral understanding of truth and lie telling.     

Couples' shared participation in novel and arousing activities and experienced relationship quality

Using a newspaper questionnaire, a door-to-door survey, and 3 laboratory experiments, the authors examined a proposed effect of shared participation in novel and arousing activities on experienced relationship quality. The questionnaire and survey studies found predicted correlations of reported shared "exciting" activities and relationship satisfaction plus their predicted mediation by relationship boredom. In all 3 experiments, the authors found predicted greater increases in experienced relationship quality from before to after participating together in a 7-min novel and arousing (vs. a more mundane) task. Comparison with a no-activity control showed the effect was due to the novel-arousing task. The same effect was found on ratings of videotaped discussions before and after the experimental task. Finally, all results remained after controlling for relationship social desirability. Results bear on general issues of boredom and excitement in relationships and the role of such processes in understanding the typical early decline of relationship quality after the honeymoon period.