The biological function of Pavlovian conditioning: Learned inhibition of aggressive behavior in territorial fish

Following Pavlovian discrimination training, stimuli predicting the appearance of a territory intruder (an excitatory conditional stimulus, CS+) or the absence of that event (an inhibitory conditional stimulus, CS−) were presented to pairs of territorial male fish immediately before their first aggressive interaction. Pairmates that both received excitatory stimuli prior to the confrontation were significantly more aggressive than a control group which received the same training but which received neither a CS+ nor a CS− in the test. Pairmates in which both received a CS− were significantly less aggressive than the control group. In these three groups, no differences in aggression were observed between the individual members of a single pair. Two additional groups were composed of pairs whose members received different stimuli prior to the test. Although no differences were found between pairmates in the group in which one member received a pretest CS− while the other member received no stimulus presentation, large differences in aggressive behavior were obtained when one fish received a CS+ and its pairmate received a CS−. We discuss the behavioral ecology of terriorial behavior in fish and attempt to show the potential importance of these results in this naturalistic context. In addition, we discuss the implications of an ecological approach for causal analyses of inhibitory learning.     

The relationship of role-play assessment of children's social skills to multiple measures of social competence

The present investigation evaluated the relationship of role-play performance of children's social skills with multiple measures of social competence. Thirty-eight psychiatric inpatient children (ages 7–13 yrs) completed measures to assess role-play performance, knowledge of social skills, self-efficacy and self-reported social behavior in diverse situations. Overt social interaction was directly but unobtrusively assessed in the hospital as well. Multiple measures of social skills were also completed by hospital staff, parents and teachers. The results indicated that role-play performance correlated significantly with child knowledge and self-efficacy but not with overt social behavior or self-reported social behavior in diverse situations. Role-play performance generally did not correlate with measures completed by staff, parents and teachers. Yet measures completed by these informants did converge and also were useful in delineating diagnostic groups of children whose social behavior would be expected to be problematic. The implications of the results for the use of role-play tests to evaluate social skills and to discriminate clinical populations are discussed.     

Unilateral versus bilateral presentation methods in the reaction time paradigm

The use of bilateral presentation in lateralized tachistoscopic reaction time (RT) tasks has been precluded by problems of how to instruct the subject to respond to the left visual field (LVF) or right visual field (RVF) stimulus and by the necessity of fixation control with bilateral presentation. Schmuller and Goodman, 1979 and Schmuller and Goodman, 1980, Brain and Language, 11, 12–18) offered a method, applied to date only in recognition accuracy studies, which can overcome these problems. They used an “arrowhead pointer” at fixation. This instructs the subject as to which stimulus to report first and also controls fixation. We adapted the method to the RT paradigm by having subjects report only the stimulus indicated and applied it in a bilateral presentation version of the Object Naming Latency Task (W. F. McKeever & T. L. Jackson, 1979, Brain and Language, 7, 175–190). Fifty subjects received the unilateral task and 50 received the bilateral task. The bilateral task yielded right visual field superiority in 98% of the subjects and the magnitude of the superiority was over three times as large as in the unilateral task. Different sex × familial sinistrality × VHF interactions obtained on the tasks. Combining the advantages of reaction time and bilateral presentation methods may substantially increase the resolving power of lateralized tachistoscopic tasks.     

Properties of the recombination of one-dimensional motion signals into a pattern motion signal

We have examined the human ability to determine the direction of movement of a variety of plaid patterns. The plaids were composed of two orthogonal sine-wave gratings. When the plaid components are of unequal spatial frequency or sometimes of unequal contrast, observers judge the direction of movement incorrectly. In terms of the two-stage model of Adelson and Movshon (1982), these errors may result from either a misjudgment in the perceived speeds of each of the components or a failure in the combination of one-dimensional-component movements into a coherent direction of motion of the two-dimensional plaid pattern, or both. A comparison of the perceived direction of motion of plaids with the relative perceived-speeds of the plaid component gratings suggests that both failures occur, but in different circumstances The relative perceived speed of the plaid components was measured with a spatial and a temporal forced-choice technique, the former leading to larger differences. Our results support the notion that the visual system decomposes a moving plaid into oriented components and subsequently recombines the component motions.     

MINORITY WOMEN IN ACADEMIA Access and Barriers to Professional Participation

The experiences that women, especially minority-status women (African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American), have in educational advancement in psychology is limited. This limited power was examined in two ways: (a) by reviewing the inclusion of minority women within academic psychology at undergraduate, graduate, job entry, and senior level positions within the profession and (b) by reviewing economic and social-psychological processes that unjustly serve as barriers to women.     

Public opinion and the tax evasion trial of Reverend Moon

This paper presents the results of a survey of a random sample of 1,000 people taken from the Southern Judicial District of New York to measure the amount of knowledge about and bias toward the Reverend Moon prior to his trial on tax evasion charges. The survey was completed as part of the pretrial preparation by Reverend Moon, and was used to support his motion for a bench trial, instead of having the case tried before a jury. The survey revealed very high levels of knowledge about the Church and Reverend Moon, as well as a strong negative bias toward both. Implications of these results and the outcome of the actual trial for the jury system and for religion and religionists is discussed.     

Attributions for the Success and Failure of Female Managers: A Replication and Extension

This study attempted to extend earlier work on the relationship between attitudes toward women in management and attributions for the success and failure of female managers. One hundred and ten employees of a large state human services agency responded to a survey measuring their attitudes toward women in management and their attributions for either the success or failure of a hypothetical female manager. Results for males were highly supportive of earlier findings, with attitudes toward women in management significantly related to attributions for success but not for failure. Females showed an opposite pattern of results, with attitudes toward women in management significantly related to attributions for failure but not for success. It is suggested that these differences in attitude-attribution relationships may be the result of males expecting failure from female managers while females expect success.     

THE EFFECTS OF A CHILD'S SELF-EVALUATION PROGRAM ON COMPLIANCE WITH PARENTAL INSTRUCTIONS IN THE HOME

A self-evaluation program was implemented with a kindergarten-aged boy in the home to increase compliance with parent instructions and decrease inappropriate verbal behavior. The self-evaluation package included the child's assessing the appropriateness of his behavior in 5-min intervals, receiving chips for positive self-evaluations, and exchanging chips for a reward following experimental sessions. In a reversal design, analyses were conducted of the effectiveness of the self-evaluation program, the requisite conditions for effective child behavior change with a self-evaluation approach, and the parent's efficiency in using the self-evaluation package. The self-evaluation procedures typically resulted in increased compliant behavior and decreased inappropriate behavior, although the effects generally weakened with time. Behavioral gains were greater and better maintained when the self-evaluation procedures were preceded by a phase of external evaluation via the mother than by baseline, suggesting that self-evaluation procedures may serve more to maintain the effects of external evaluation rather than to induce their own changes. The parent generally was efficient in implementing the procedures. Research and clinical implications for using self-evaluation procedures in a home setting are discussed.     

Evaluation of a course in sex roles for secondary school students

As powerful socializing agents, schools can be important facilitators in changing social norms of gender-role expectations. This research study was designed to determine the impact of an interdisciplinary course in the effects of sex-role stereotyping on awareness and attitudes of the participants. The high school students in the experimental program increased their awareness of the stereotyping process and the effects of narrowly defined sex roles. These students perceived the roles of males and females in a more socially androgynous context than did students who did not take the course.