A study of sharing and reciprocity in grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus)

Demonstrations of nonhuman ability to share resources and reciprocate such sharing seem contingent upon the experimental paradigm used (note Horner et al. in PNAS 108:13847–13851, 2011). Here, such behaviour in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) was tested in two experiments, both designed to avoid possible issues involving apparatus complexity, visible reward options, and physical competition and/or limited communication between subjects. In both studies, two birds, working in dyads, took turns in choosing one of four different coloured cups with differing outcomes: empty (null, nonrewarding), selfish (keeping reward for oneself), share (sharing a divisible reward), or giving (donating reward to other). In Experiment 1, each bird alternated choices with a conspecific; in Experiment 2, each bird alternated with the three humans with different specific intentions (selfish, giving, or copying bird’s behaviour). In both experiments, birds could learn to cooperatively reward a partner at little cost to themselves—by sharing—and potentially maximize overall reward by reciprocating such sharing. Experiment 1 results differed depending upon which bird began a session: Only our dominant bird, as follower, was willing to share. In Experiment 2, birds’ responses tended towards consistency with human behaviour. Our dominant bird was willing to share a reward with a human who was willing to give up her reward, was selfish with the selfish human, and tended towards sharing with the copycat human; our subordinate bird tended slightly towards increased sharing with the generous human and selfishness with the selfish human, but did not change behaviour with the copycat.     

Career adaptability, turnover and loyalty during organizational downsizing

During organizational restructuring and downsizing, employees often worry about being redundant, actually are redundant, and/or feel unsatisfied with their jobs. Employees, in turn, often react with poor loyalty to and high voluntary exit from the organization. The current study addresses this process from a careers' perspective, showing that career adaptability in the form of employees' career exploration and planning can account for at least some of these relationships. Redundancy fostered employees' career adaptive behaviors while job insecurity inhibited their career planning. Career planning, in turn, positively predicted employees' loyalty to the organization five months later while career exploration negatively predicted employees' loyalty, and positively predicted employees' exit reactions in the form of turnover intentions, job-search behaviors, and actual turnover. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Peer harassment in primary school: the role of peers and its relationship with sociometric status

During the last decade, there has been a change in peer harassment research from a focus on the characteristics of the Aggressor-Victim dyad to the recognition of peer harassment as a whole group process, with most of children playing some kind of role. This study uses a shortened adaptation of the Participant-Role Questionnaire approach to identify these roles in 2,050 Spanish children aged 8 to 13 years. These Participant Roles were related to belonging to one of the five sociometric status groups. Factor analysis revealed four different roles, indicating that the adapted scale remains a reliable way of distinguishing the Aggressor, Victim, Defender of the victim, and Outsider roles. Boys played the roles of Aggressor and Victim significantly more frequently. The children's Participant Role was found to be related to their sociometric status. Progress in the measurement of peer harassment as a group process and the success of intervention strategies may depend on finding clearer distinctions among the different peer roles, mobilizing peer pressure, and isolating aggressors from their social support.     

Eye closure reduces the cross-modal memory impairment caused by auditory distraction

Eyewitnesses instructed to close their eyes during retrieval recall more correct and fewer incorrect visual and auditory details. This study tested whether eye closure causes these effects through a reduction in environmental distraction. Sixty participants watched a staged event before verbally answering questions about it in the presence of auditory distraction or in a quiet control condition. Participants were instructed to close or not close their eyes during recall. Auditory distraction did not affect correct recall, but it increased erroneous recall of visual and auditory details. Instructed eye closure reduced this effect equally for both modalities. The findings support the view that eye closure removes the general resource load of monitoring the environment rather than reducing competition for modality-specific resources.     

Analysing user’s reactions in advice-giving dialogues with a socially intelligent ECA

In this paper, we investigate the user’s reactions to received suggestion by an Embodied Conversational Agent playing the role of artificial therapist in the healthy eating domain. Specifically, we analyse the behaviour of people who voluntarily requested to receive information from the agent, and we compare it with the results of a previous evaluation experiment in which subjects were not properly motivated to interact with the agent because they were selected for evaluating the system. This study is part of an ongoing research aimed at developing an intelligent virtual agent that applies natural argumentation techniques to persuade the users to improve their eating habits.     

Gender differences in enrollment in computer camps and classes

Informal reports suggest that computer literacy (computer awareness and programming skills) is sought more often by boys than girls. In order to gather more systematic data on this possibility, questionnaires were sent in the summer of 1982 to directors of summer camps and classes that offered training in programming for microcomputers. Twenty-three directors of summer programs, serving a total of 5,533 students, provided data on enrollment, type of sponsorship of programs (private, public schools, universities), level of difficulty of programming classes, cost, and residential versus day use. Three times as many boys as girls were enrolled in the total sample. The ratio of males to females increased with grade, cost of program, and level of difficulty of course offerings. Possible explanations for differences in enrollment are discussed.     

NYBORG'S ANALYTICAL ROD-AND-FRAME SCORING SYSTEM: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN ZIMBABWE*

Witkin's method of scoring the Rod-and-Frame Test (RFT), most generally used, has been criticized by Nyborg. On the basis of studies with Danish students he provided evidence that RFT performance is multi-determined, and devised a new scoring method to take this into account. The present study, conducted in Zimbabwe, replicated and extended Nyborg's work. The RFT scores of 80 subjects differing in ethnicity, sex and type of course were analyzed employing both Witkin's and Nyborg's methods. Our results confirm Nyborg's finding that factors other than frame dependence are involved in RFT performance, as indicated by differences in response patterns as a function of ethnic group, sex and type of course. It is suggested that Nyborg's scoring method is a valuable tool for the purpose of clarifying the nature and sources of cultural differences in RFT performance.