TheP system: A scheme for organizing Pavlovian procedures

The present paper introduces theP system as a scheme for organizing Pavlovian procedures in an orderly and comprehensive manner. The system is defined by three temporal variables and three restrictions on their possible values. It can be used to define all standard temporal variables—namely, stimulus duration, interstimulus interval, trace interval, and intertrial interval—as well as variables C and T of scalar expectancy theory. The system also permits the definition of new independent variables through combinations of the basic temporal parameters. We exemplify this possibility by defining two ratios of temporal intervals. These ratios lead to a space where traditional Pavlovian arrangements (viz., simultaneous, forward-trace, forward-delay, backward) become points on a continuum, and optimal conditions across different experimental preparations become equivalent. Finally, the system can be used to define contingency variables such asp(US/CS),p(US/～CS), and the phi coefficient (φ). In this manner, an organization of different kinds of Pavlovian procedures is achieved on the basis of a single parametric scheme. Such an organization facilitates establishing procedural and theoretical relationships between temporal and contingency variables. The paper concludes with a discussion of certain limitations of the system and other related issues     

Deterrence, Opportunity, and Choice

Traditional studies of deterrence have focused on punishment with less regard for the rewards of both crime and noncrime. Influenced by work in economics and behavioral psychology, more recent studies have departed from tradition by incorporating rewards for crime. To this extent, they should be regarded as advances over the more traditional approaches. Notwithstanding these advances, variations in both the probability and magnitude of reward for noncrime have not been systematically included in these more recent theories of choice. In an attempt to determine whether opportunities for noncrime are either central or trivial to the criminal decision-making process, the present study fitted two alternative models to experimental data involving risk-taking: (a) the economic utility model employed by Piliavin, Gartner, Thornton, and Matsueda (1986) in their study of criminal choice; and (b) the satisfaction balance model developed by Gray and Tallman (1984). Results showed that while both models explained significant amounts of variation in the dependent variable, the Gray-Tallman model provided a substantially better fit of the data. Despite limitations inherent in experimental studies as, for example, limitations surrounding the issue of external validity, the findings strongly suggest that opportunities for noncrime are as important as rewards and costs for crime in the process by which criminal decisions are made.     

Practice and Persuasive Frame: Effects on Beliefs,Intention, and Performance of a Cancer Self-Examination1

Many behaviors are performed less frequently than intended because they require knowledge and skill to overcome behavioral barriers. This experiment tested effects of two factors, direct experience and message frame, that were hypothesized to affect men's intention to perform the testicle self-exam for cancer (TSE) and their actual exam performance, in part by affecting their knowledge and beliefs about overcoming TSE performance barriers. Men's experience performing the TSE on a life-like model and the frame (negative, positive, or neutral) of the recommendation promoting the exam were manipulated factorially. Consistent with prediction, men who practiced (vs. did not practice) the self-exam: (a) endorsed stronger beliefs about behavior-specific knowledge (e.g., ability to imagine a lump), (b) held more positive intention, and (c) translated that intention more consistently into self-reported action, in part because their behavior-specific knowledge increased their tendency to act on their intention. Consistent with action phase theory (Gollwitzer, 1990), intention related more strongly to behavior-specific beliefs than to general, long-term beliefs, and more strongly than attitude related to behavior-specific beliefs. These findings have practical and theoretical implications for promoting healthful and other intended behaviors.     

The functional role of attention for spatial coding in the Simon effect

Summary Two experiments investigated relative spatial coding in the Simon effect. It was hypothesized that relative spatial coding is carried out with reference to the position of the focus of visual attention. The spatial code for an imperative stimulus presented exactly at the position of focal attention should be neutral on the horizontal plane, and therefore no Simon effect should be observed. However, when the imperative stimulus is presented to the left or to the right of the current position of focal attention, the spatial code should not be neutral, thus producing a Simon effect. In both experiments, focal attention was manipulated either by a peripherally presented onset precue (Experiment 1) or by a centrally presented symbolic precue (Experiment 2). Results showed that the Simon effect was substantially reduced in both experiments when a valid precue preceded the imperative stimulus just in time to conclude refocusing of attention to the position of the imperative stimulus before it was presented. However, conditions with neutral precues yielded a normally sized Simon effect. In both experiments, the Simon effect decreased as the SOA grew when the precue was valid. At least for the Simon effect, the results can be interpreted as evidence that relative spatial coding is functionally related to the position of the focus of attention.     

Decompositions and biplots in three-way correspondence analysis

In this paper correspondence analysis for three-way contingency tables is presented using three-way generalisations of the singular value decomposition. It is shown that in combination with Lancaster's (1951) additive decomposition of interactions in three-way tables, a detailed analysis is possible of the deviations from independence. Finally, biplots are shown to produce powerful graphical representations of the results from three-way correspondence analyses. An example from child development is used to illustrate the theoretical developments.     

Political periodicals in policy formation

This is an ethnographic report on a conference entitled “The Politics of Publishing” which featured editors and writers from leading magazines and journals of political opinion. The aim of the conference was to articulate the intellectual ground on which each publication is predicated. A further goal of these observations was to seek out a common ground, a consensual series of assumptions, that permits such journals and their leading participants to flourish amidst conflict and opposing viewpoints. The article is less a study of the relationship of knowledge and policy, as such, as much as it is a study of the weaker forms of these terms, namely, information and ideology. These remarks are thus intended as a contribution to the elite impact on mass public opinion at one level, and the cornucopia of political ideas at a somewhat more abstract level. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Transaction Publishers, located at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA 08903.     

Boundary regulation in family and personal systems: Perceptions of late adolescents

Examination of boundary regulation can provide family therapists with a framework to describe both the functioning of family systems and personal systems (i.e., the intrapsychic functioning of individual family members). In the present study, late adolescents' perceptions of boundary regulation within their family systems (i.e., ratings of family health, communication, leadership, expressiveness, cohesion, and family conflict) were related to regulation of their personal boundaries (i.e., self-reported personal competence, distress, and patterns of defense mechanism use). In addition, personal system variables reliably discriminated between adolescents who described their families as psychologically healthy versus psychologically unhealthy.     

影响学习迁移的几个因素的实验研究

针对前人较多地从学习材料本身的特点或学习者的心理特点出发去孤立地考察对学习迁移的影响这一现象 ,本研究试采用代数运算材料 ,系统地探讨了学习材料的相同要素和学习者概括化认知过程两者之间的内在关系 ,并将相同要素进一步区分为表述形式相似和内在原理相似。旨在对较为复杂的认知学习中迁移的影响因素做更深入的考察。结果表明 :①概括化和相同要素对学习迁移的影响依然存在 ,但需作具体分析。其中 ,前者应成为影响学习迁移的更重要因素。②在学习材料的相同要素中 ,实质上对迁移起作用的是内在原理相似性 ;而表述形式相似性不起主要作用。③概括化因素和内在原理相似性因素之间的交互作用对学习迁移影响极大。     

An injection olfactometer for humans and a new method for the measurement of the shape of the olfactory pulse

An injection olfactometer for human psychophysical experiments is described. The olfactometer is capable of presenting, either mono- or birhinally, single odorants and binary mixtures. The pulse form of the olfactory stimulus at the exit of the olfactometer approaches a rectangular form, which makes the olfactometer well suited for olfactory reaction time measurements. Since stimulation periods are independent of the subject’s inhalation, time-intensity measurements over prolonged periods of time are possible as well. In the second part of this paper, a new technique is described for the measurement of the stimulus pulse form at the exit of the olfactometer.