The relative aversiveness of signalled vs unsignalled avoidance

Subjects avoided shock by pressing on one lever under an unsignalled condition, but by pressing a separate lever they changed the condition to signalled avoidance for 1-min periods. Signalled avoidance periods were identified by a correlated stimulus. All eight subjects responded to change the unsignalled schedule to a signalled one. Once contact with signalled avoidance was made, subjects continued responding to remain in that condition. Other tests showed that changeover responding was greater when the correlated stimulus was presented without the signal than when the signal was presented without the correlated stimulus. An analysis based upon shock and shock-free periods is presented.     

Use of Control Groups in Studies of Guidance

Problems in the interpretation of results of studies in which control groups are used are illustrated in a follow-up study. Subjects who had been counseled over a four-year period at the Research and Guidance Laboratory for Superior Students at the University of Wisconsin were followed up four years after high school graduation and their performances were compared with those of the members of a control or comparison group. The results are presented and the adequacy of the control group technique is discussed. The validity is questioned of the commonly accepted procedure of selecting control group subjects on the basis of their current comparability with experimental subjects without adequate history of their development toward that status.     

Speed constancy as a function of size constancy

If perceived velocity were to be a function of phenomenal extent traversed per unit time, speed constancy would be derivable from size constancy. Experiments were performed to test this possibility in which visible frames of reference were eliminated. With cues to distance, judgments ofspeed approached constancy; without such cues, judgments of speed were in terms of rate ofimage displacement.     

Symbolization of experience in the process of group development

This paper applies some of the concepts of the theory of experiencing (as developed within the client-centered school of thought) to psychotherapy process in the small group. The ideas of Rogers and Gendlin regarding how change occurs in psychotherapy are applied to the process of development in the group-as-a-whole. The role of perception and symbolization of experience in the process of group development is examined. A case example from group psychotherapy is used to illustrate the process of formation, the change of shared perceptions among the group members, and the importance of these perceptions to the functioning of the group.