Operant control of preening in pigeons

Preening in four pigeons was observed and recorded during operant level determinations, continuous and variable interval reinforcement, and extinction. The rate at which preening responses occur seems to be controlled by reinforcement in the same way as other operant behavior. Preening during VI reinforcement and extinction appeared to be similar to preening in many natural situations. With respect to the part of the body preened, considerable stereotypy of responding was shown by all birds, particularly during VI training; there was, however, a conspicuous absence of consistency in the development of stereotypy both within and between individual birds, perhaps due to the nature of the response.     

A value-added analysis of the Heysel Stadium soccer riot

On May 29, 1985, a riot occurred at the European Cup Final soccer championship between Liverpool and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. The riot, which caused the death of thirty-nine soccer fans, had a profound effect on English society as well as on professional soccer. This essay uses Smelser’s (1962) general model of collective behavior to analyze data derived from a number of sources describing the Heysel Stadium riot. In particular, this analysis focuses on a period of four hours, from the beginning of the riot at about 7:30 p.m. until the conclusion of the match around 11:30 p.m.     

Evaluating microcomputer interactive survey software

Software packages for microcomputer interactive questionnaires are becoming readily available to a wide group of business researchers. Potential users have a series of interrelated decisions regarding the most appropriate software and hardware for their specific needs. This article outlines important features that researchers must consider in their decisions under five dimensions: Survey research, question presentation, documentation, hardware, and monetary.This project was supported by a faculty grant from the Educational Improvement Fund of the University of Hawaii awarded to the first author. Portions of this paper were presented to the American Marketing Association 3rd Annual Microcomputers in Marketing Education Workshop at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California, October 26–28, 1986.     

Speed of information processing in academically gifted youths

A group of bright-average 7th grade junior-high-school students was contrasted with a group of manifestly academically gifted students of comparable age who were taking college-level courses in mathematics and science. The groups differed significantly and markedly (showing an overall mean difference of 1.34 SD) on every one of the nine different reaction-time (RT) tasks measuring the speed with which persons perform various elementary cognitive processes. The results indicate that: (1) various RT measurements discriminate about as much between intellectually average and superior groups as past studies have found RT measurements to discriminate between average and subnormal groups: and (2) the academically gifted differ from their nongifted age-peers in more than just scholastic knowledge and advanced problem-solving skills—they differ fundamentally in speed of information processing on extremely simple cognitive tasks with average response latencies of between 0.3 and 1.5 sec.     

Anger and Anger’s Expression Generally and in Romantic Relationships

This research explored whether anger and anger expression differed when experienced generally versus in the context of a romantic relationship. Undergraduates completed trait anger and anger expression measures as they applied to their experiences generally and again as they applied to their romantic, partnered relationships. Students reported more anger and anger suppression generally than in relationships, but women reported more anger in relationships than men. Women reported more anger-out forms of anger expression in relationships than in general, whereas men did not differ in their anger expression style as a function of context. Men reported more overall anger-control in both contexts than women. Effect sizes for context and gender × context interactions were small to moderate. Parallel measures generally and in relationships were highly correlated. Findings are consistent with research demonstrating that context, and specifically the context of an intimate partnered relationship, influences anger and anger expression, but also suggest a large person factor as well. Implications for future research and work with couples in therapy are given.     

Twenty Years of the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings: We Hope You Will Enjoy the Show

The 20th anniversary of the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings is celebrated by highlighting the scientist-practitioner philosophy on which it was founded. The goal of the Journal—to provide an outlet for evidence-based approaches to healthcare that underscore the important scientific and clinical contributions of psychology in medical settings—is discussed. The contemporary relevance of this approach is related to the current implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care and its focus on accountability and the development of an interprofessional healthcare workforce; both of which have been foci of the Journal throughout its history and will continue to be so into the future. Several recommendations of future topic areas for the Journal to highlight regarding scientific, practice, policy, and education and training in professional health service psychology are offered. Successfully addressing these topics will support the growth of the field of psychology in the ever evolving healthcare system of the future and continue ensure that the Journal is a key source of professional information in health service psychology.     

Developmental Features of Rapid Aiming Arm Movements Across the Lifespan

Using a lifespan approach, the authors investigated developmental features of the control of ballistic aiming arm movements by manipulating movement complexity, response uncertainty, and the use of precues. Four different age groups of participants (6- and 9-year-old boys and girls and 24- and 73-year- old men and women, 20 participants in each age group) performed 7 types of rapid aiming arm movements on the surface of a digitizer. Their movement characteristics such as movement velocity, normalized jerk, relative timing, movement linearity, and intersegment intervals were profiled. Analyses of variance with repeated measures were conducted on age and task effects in varying movement complexity (Study 1), response uncertainty (Study 2), and precue use (Study 3) conditions. Young children and senior adults had slower, more variant, less smooth, and less linear arm movements than older children and young adults. Increasing the number of movement segments resulted in slower and more variant responses. Movement accuracy demands or response uncertainty interacted with age so that the 6- and 74-year-old participants had poorer performances but responded similarly to the varying treatments. Even though older children and young adults had better performances than young children and senior adults, their arm movement performance declined when response uncertainty increased. The analyses suggested that young children's and senior adults' performances are poorer because less of their movement is under central control, and they therefore use on-line adjustments. In addition, older children and young adults use a valid precue more effectively to prepare for subsequent movements than do young children and senior adults, suggesting that older children and young adults are more capable of organizing motor responses than arc young children and senior adults.