A quantitative analysis of chain-schedule performance

Six pigeons were trained with a chain variable-interval variable-interval schedule on the left key and with reinforcers available on the right key on a single variable-interval schedule arranged concurrently with both links of the chain. All three schedules were separately and systematically varied over a wide range of mean intervals. During these manipulations, the obtained reinforcer rates on constant arranged schedules also frequently changed systematically. Increasing reinforcer rates in Link 2 of the chain increased response rates in both links and decreased response rates in the variable-interval schedule concurrently available with Link 2. Increasing Link-1 reinforcer rates increased Link-1 response rates and decreased Link-2 response rates. Increasing reinforcer rates on the right-key schedule decreased response rates in Link 1 of the chain but did not affect the rate in Link 2. The results extend and amplify previous analyses of chain-schedule performance and help define the effects that a quantitative model must describe. However, the complexity of the results, and the fact that constant arranged reinforcer schedules did not necessarily lead to constant obtained reinforcer rates, precluded a quantitative analysis.     

Effects of relative reinforcer frequency on complex color detection

Pigeons were trained under a discrete-trials detection procedure in which one of a set of color stimuli was presented on the center key and a single response turned off the stimulus and illuminated two side keys. Single responses to one or the other side key produced occasional reinforcers depending on the value of the color stimulus. In Experiment 1, one color-stimulus set comprised 559, 564, 569, and 574 nm, and right-key pecks were occasionally reinforced following presentations of members of this set. The other stimulus set comprised 579, 584, 589, and 594 nm, and left-key pecks were occasionally reinforced following presentations of members of this set. Across seven experimental conditions, the left/(left + right) relative reinforcer frequency was varied from .1 to .9. In Experiment 2, one stimulus set contained only one member, 574 nm, and right-key responses were occasionally reinforced following its presentation. Over 12 experimental conditions, two manipulations were carried out. First, the number of stimuli comprising the other stimulus set was increased from one (579 nm) to two (579 and 584 nm) to three (579, 584, and 589 nm) and to four (579, 584, 589, and 594 nm), and left-key responses were reinforced occasionally following center-key presentations of members of this set. Second, for each stimulus combination, the left/(left + right) relative reinforcer frequency was varied from .1 to .5 to .9 across three experimental conditions. The principal finding of Experiments 1 and 2 was that reinforcers and stimuli interacted in their effects on behavior. In Experiment 3, pairs of adjacent stimuli (5 nm apart) in the range 559 to 594 nm were presented in each experimental condition, and the left/(left + right) relative reinforcer frequency was held constant at .5. The data from all three experiments were analyzed according to a detection model describing performance in multiple-stimulus two-response procedures. This model provided independent measures of stimulus discriminability, contingency discriminability, and bias. The analysis showed that (a) consistent with the color-naming function, pigeons were better able to discriminate between higher nanometer values than lower nanometer values; (b) their ability to discriminate between the stimuli was independent of the number of wavelengths comprising each stimulus set; (c) they allocated delivered reinforcers very accurately to the previously emitted response; and (d) no consistent biases emerged.     

DISTRACTION: ITS UTILIZATION AND EFFICACY WITH CHILDREN UNDERGOING DENTAL TREATMENT

We investigated the utilization and efficacy of distraction in reducing the anxious and disruptive behavior of 4 children undergoing dental treatment. During the distraction procedure, the children were shown a poster and told a story about it during dental treatment. They earned a prize if they attended to the poster and story and could correctly answer questions about them following each intervention visit. The children's disruptive behavior was assessed via direct observation, and results were analyzed within a multiple baseline design. The children exhibited high levels of anxious and disruptive behavior across baseline visits, regardless of the length of time in treatment or number of visits. Anxious and disruptive behavior decreased upon introduction of the intervention for all children. This was accompanied by the children meeting the criterion for correct answers on the distraction quiz. However, 2 of the children demonstrated an increase in their anxious and disruptive behavior across intervention visits. Results are discussed in terms of the need to evaluate treatment strategies that promote maintenance as well as initial changes.     

Response

The Psychologisation of the Church: on Jack Dominian's review of J.G. Sullivan's book 'Journey to Freedom: The Path to Self-Esteem for the Priesthood and Religious Life' (May, pp. 258—9).     

Satisfaction with intimate exchange: Gender-role differences and the impact of equity,equality, and rewards

The relative effects of equity, equality, and reward level upon assessments of marital satisfaction are investigated. In doing so, the impact of gender-role orientation upon the relationship between the predictor variables and marital satisfaction is specified. The data indicate that reward level is the major variable affecting assessments of satisfaction for both moderns and traditionals. Further, the effect of reward level is more pronounced for those with modern gender-role orientations. Contrary to expectation, the effects of the exchange-related variables, equity and equality, are minimal for both moderns and traditionals. These findings suggest that intimates, regardless of gender-role orientation, tend to avoid the “bookkeeping” involved in global equity and equality comparisons and instead accentuate individual reward levels. It appears, however, that moderns are significantly more demanding than traditionals in their emphasis upon reward levels.     

The use of computer networks in data gathering and data analysis

In our research, the data are gathered in the laboratory on a DEC PDP-11/24 minicomputer. Once the data are gathered, they are analog-to-digital (A/D) converted and sent by the PDP to an IBM 370-3031. The data are submitted to a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on the IBM computer. Once the FFT is completed, the data are accessed by an IBM PC-XT that is equipped with an IRMA system. The PC is used in its emulation mode to access the data in the mainframe. In the mainframe, SPSS or SAS is used to do the initial statistical analyses. When necessary, subsets of the data are transferred to the PC, where other computer programs are used to analyze the data. In many instances, they are returned to the mainframe from the PC, where they are submitted to multivariate statistical analysis. Finally, all of the data are stored on floppy disks, which are prepared on the PC.     

Interpersonal attraction,social identification and psychological group formation

Two perspectives on the nature of the social group and psychological group formation are discussed. The traditional social cohesion approach traces group formation to processes of interpersonal attraction, while the social identity approach defines the group in cognitive terms and considers identification, or self-categorization, to be the mechanism of psychological group formation. On the basis of an experiment by Turner, Sachdev and Hogg (1983) it is hypothesized that interpersonal attraction (positive or negative) is related to group formation only in so far as it enhances intergroup distinctiveness. This hypothesis is experimentally tested in a 2 × 3 (interpersonal liking/disliking per se versus no explicit categorization/random categorization/criterial categorization on the basis of affect) factorial design employing the ‘minimal group’ paradigm. People who like each other and were not explicitly categorized formed a group. This effect was enhanced by criterial categorization but disappeared when categorization was random. Although the results do not support the hypothesis, they are not explicable in social cohesion terms. A social identity explanation is furnished—attraction influences group formation by acting, under certain specifiable conditions, as a cognitive criterion for common category membership. This explanation is located in current theorizing and is proposed as part of a reconceptualization of the relationship between interpersonal attraction and group formation.     

Prejudice,categorization and particularization: From a perceptual to a rhetorical approach

This paper seeks to offer an alternative approach to the study of prejudice than that based upon the notion of categorization which is currently influential in cognitive social psychology. It is argued that the categorization approach assumes the inevitability of prejudice and ignores the issue of tolerance. The assumptions of the categorization approach are criticized, and it is suggested that, by focusing on categorization as a cognitive process, it has overlooked an opposing process—that of particularization. The result has been a rather mechanical and bureaucratic model of cognition. A less mechanical view is possible if the relations between the two processes of categorization and particularization are considered from a rhetorical perspective, which examines the argumentative nature of thought. For theoretical and empirical reasons, this perspective does not equate prejudiced thinking with rigid categorization; instead a rhetorical approach permits a distinction between prejudice and tolerance on the basis of content, rather than form, and thereby avoids assuming the inevitability of prejudice.