Token reinforcement, choice, and self-control in pigeons.

Pigeons were exposed to self-control procedures that involved illumination of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as a form of token reinforcement. In a discrete-trials arrangement, subjects chose between one and three LEDs; each LED was exchangeable for 2-s access to food during distinct posttrial exchange periods. In Experiment 1, subjects generally preferred the immediate presentation of a single LED over the delayed presentation of three LEDs, but differences in the delay to the exchange period between the two options prevented a clear assessment of the relative influence of LED delay and exchange-period delay as determinants of choice. In Experiment 2, in which delays to the exchange period from either alternative were equal in most conditions, all subjects preferred the delayed three LEDs more often than in Experiment-1. In Experiment 3, subjects preferred the option that resulted in a greater amount of food more often if the choices also produced LEDs than if they did not. In Experiment 4, preference for the delayed three LEDs was obtained when delays to the exchange period were equal, but reversed in favor of an immediate single LED when the latter choice also resulted in quicker access to exchange periods. The overall pattern of results suggests that (a) delay to the exchange period is a more critical determinant of choice than is delay to token presentation; (b) tokens may function as conditioned reinforcers, although their discriminative properties may be responsible for the self-control that occurs under token reinforcer arrangements; and (c) previously reported differences in the self-control choices of humans and pigeons may have resulted at least in part from the procedural conventions of using token reinforcers with human subjects and food reinforcers with pigeon subjects.     

Body type preferences and body characteristics associated with attractive and unattractive bodies by african Americans and Anglo Americans

Body type preferences, body characteristics associated with body attractiveness, and personal characteristics associated with unattractive body types (e.g., obese bodies) were examined in African American and Anglo American female and male respondents. African American males preferred larger body types for females, and associated more favorable and fewer unfavorable characteristics with obese females than did Anglo American males. Females of both races preferred a slightly thin body type for males, although African American females associated fewer unfavorable characteristics with obese males than did Anglo American females. Difference between the races in body characteristics associated with attractiveness suggest race-specific prototypes of body attractiveness that correspond to physical differences between the races. Race-specific standards of attractiveness within cultures are discussed.     

Book reviews

The Awakening of the West: the encounter of Buddhism and Western culture Stephen Batchelor (Foreword by The Dalai Lama), 1994 London, Aquarian xvi + 416 pp., £12.99, US $20.00

A Comparative Study of Early Buddhism and Kantian Philosophy S. G. M. Weerasinghe, 1993 Colombo, S. Godage and Brothers xxii+ 104 pp., pb Rs. 150.00; US$7.50

New Light on Early Buddhism Balkrishna Govind Gokhale, 1994 London, Sangam x + 208 pp., hb £22.95

Vedic Hermeneutics K. Satchidananda Murty, 1993 New Delhi, Shri Lai Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, in association with Motilal Banarsidass xxvi + 106 pp., hb Rs.150     

Social cues, cognitive style, error magnitude, and male performance on the Felt Figure Replacement Technique.

A series of studies was undertaken to determine possible factors contributing to low predictive utility for Felt Figure Replacement Technique (FFRT) scores from normal, adult males. It was first postulated that normal adult males, compared to normal adult females, are less sensitive to social cues present in the FFRT task. Twenty-six undergraduate males and the same number of undergraduate females were asked to replace both a) department store manikins, thought to be less abstract, and then b) felt figures. While task differences were obtained, these were not dependent on gender, nor did any overall gender differences occur for three types of replacement error. The second study involved 31 college males and 33 college females replacing both felt figures and a male and female confederate. It was assumed that differential attention to social cues would be more visible in this comparison. The general results were identical to the first study.     

Sex differences in reinforcement and punishment on prime-time television

Prime-time television programs were analyzed for frequencies of positive reinforcement and punishment exchanged among performers varying in age and sex. Results indicated that most responses were given by and directed to adult males. Moreover, while adult males exhibited and received similar frequencies of reinforcement and punishment, adult females were likely to give and to be the recipients of more reinforcement than punishment. Proportional analyses which controlled for sex differences in frequencies of responses revealed that females more often exhibited and received reinforcement, whereas males more often exhibited and received punishment. Results are interpreted from a social learning theory perspective and the implications for children's learning of positive and negative behaviors are explored.     

Exercise, changes in aerobic capacity, and changes in self-perceptions: An experimental investigation

Subjects in an exercise training condition participated in a 10-week aerobic exercise class, whereas subjects in waiting-list control and independent control conditions did not. The results indicated that subjects in the training condition evidenced reliably greater improvements in physical fitness (aerobic capacity) and reported reliably greater improvements in their abilities and confidence in both the physical area (e.g., ability to run distances) and nonphysical area (e.g., frustration tolerance) than did subjects in the control conditions. On the other hand, improvements in physical fitness were not related to reported improvements in abilities and confidence. These findings are of interest because they indicate that some of the important personal changes that are associated with physical fitness training are not due to changes in fitness, but appear to be due to other factors (e.g., group participation and expectancies).     

Gender, Physical Attractiveness, and Sex Role in Occupational Treatment Discrimination: The Influence of Trait and Role Assumptions

A field experiment was designed to examine the role of gender trait assumptions in occupational treatment discrimination. Professional personnel consultants evaluated male or female employees who were physically attractive or unattractive and masculine, feminine, or androgynous. Consultants made decisions about promotion, opportunity for special training, delegation of work assignments, and a child care leave of absence request in masculine, feminine, and sex-neutral occupations. Decisions about career development were strongly influenced by gender trait information, rather than by gender or attractiveness. In contrast, females were more likely than males to be granted a child care leave without pay, regardless of sex role. The results supported the assumption that the congruence between gender traits and the occupational requirements mediates occupational sex discrimination. Only for decisions involving competing role demands stemming from faily circumstances was there evidence that beliefs about appropriate roles for the sexes mediate discrimination. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of new approaches for reducing sex discrimination in the treatment of employees.     

The development of young children's awareness of logical inconsistencies

Research by Markman (1979) suggests that children up to 12 years of age do not spontaneously detect logical inconsistencies. The present study was directed to factors which may limit children's ability to recognize their failures to understand. A task was devised which involved materials that were clearly based on children's experiences, and which involved premises and conclusions which were presented contiguously, rather than being interspersed among other sentences. Ninety-six 5-, 6-, and 7-year-old children were asked to judge the acceptability of eight three-sentence “stories” told by a puppet, and were asked to justify their responses. The stories differed in whether they were consistent or inconsistent, and in whether the principle upon which a story's consistency depended was implicitly or explicitly stated. The results showed developmental differences. By Age 7 years, most children were quite capable of evaluating sentences for their logical consistency. Five-year-olds, however, did not perform as well on the task, especially when the information upon which the logical cohesiveness of the stories rested was implicitly, rather than explicitly, stated. An examination of the justifications provided by these children revealed that they tended to question the empirical validity of individual sentences, rather than integrate the story as a whole and examine its overall logical structure.