Cued and uncued terminal links in concurrent-chains schedules

Pigeons were trained on a concurrent-chains schedule. The initial links were concurrent variable-interval schedules arranged on two side keys. Each terminal link was a fixed-interval schedule arranged on the center key. In cued conditions, different center-key colors signaled the two terminal-link schedules. In uncued conditions, the same center-key color appeared for both terminal links. Experiment 1 arranged unequal initial links and equal terminal links. Preference for the shorter initial-link schedule was greater when the terminal links were uncued. Experiment 2 arranged equal initial links and unequal terminal links. Preference for the shorter terminal-link schedule was greater when the terminal links were cued. Although the results of Experiment 2 successfully replicated previous research, the results of Experiment 1 are not easily reconciled with conditioned-reinforcement or discriminative-stimulus accounts of the role of terminal-link cues. Rather, terminal-link cues appear to decrease sensitivity to initial-link contingencies.     

Alcoholics Anonymous and the Counseling Profession: Philosophies in Conflict

This article describes the contribution of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to drug and alcohol treatment. The potential for AA's steps to encourage growth is discussed, and their consistency with counseling philosophy examined. To stimulate constructive discussion, 12 new steps based on counseling theory are proposed and contrasted with AA's steps. The need for counselors to be aware of these differences is emphasized and the move toward more solid boundaries between AA and the counseling profession is advocated.     

Commentary: Tending the Garden of Personality

ABSTRACT In this Commentary for the special issue of the Journal of Personality, we discuss the uses and limitations of taxonomies in personality, drawing on the role of taxonomic efforts in other sciences. We endorse Mc Adams's concept of several “levels” (perhaps three: traits, motives and cognitive structures, and core unity themas or identity) for ordering and arranging the major variables of personality. We argue that these levels should be considered independent and distinct: Each level has its own range of convenience, and no level can be reduced to any other level. We suggest that the concept of conflict—within and across levels—is a useful way to understand certain problematic cases. Finally, we argue that the social macrocontext (gender, class, race, culture, and history) has unfortunately been neglected in most personality theories and taxonomies of variables. We illustrate the importance of social macrocontext with a brief discussion of the case of Maya Angelou.     

INCREASING GENERALIZED SOCIAL INTERACTIONS IN PSYCHOTIC AND MENTALLY RETARDED RESIDENTS THROUGH PEER-MEDIATED THERAPY

This study investigated whether withdrawn adults living in a residential center for psychotic and mentally handicapped persons could serve as peer therapists to increase the social interaction of other withdrawn residents. Two pairs of residents served as participants. Treatments were introduced and evaluated within a multiple baseline with reversal design. After baseline, the peer therapist was instructed to increase the social interactions of a target peer through engagement in social interactions. The results demonstrated that the peer therapist increased the social interactions of target peers. However, these increases did not generalize to other residents until the introduction of a multiple peer therapist condition. The percentage of time the peer therapists interacted with other nontarget residents also increased throughout the study. These results were maintained during a 4-month follow-up condition.     

Heart rate—QT relationships during baroreceptor stimulation with diminished autonomic influence on the ventricles

The shortening of the QT interval of the electrocardiogram coincident with acceleration of heart rate and vice versa has been accepted for many years as evidence that the action potential duration and hence QT are necessarily dependant on heart rate. Exceptions to this rule have been attributed to the intervention of counteracting autonomic effects. In order to test this assumption, 26 conscious dogs divided into three groups were tested during baroreceptor stimulation by a bolus injection of phenylephrine. Seventeen dogs had been used in earlier studies in which they had undergone an experimental anterior myocardial infarction with apparent full recovery. A group of those dogs underwent beta-adrenergic blockade by intravenous atenolol 30 min prior to the baroreceptor activation. To test the intactness of the baroreceptor responses in the previously infarcted dogs, a third group of nine dogs that had had no prior myocardial infarction was included. All dogs were adapted to the laboratory environment and were not sedated during experiments. Simultaneous recordings of RR, QT interval, and phasic arterial pressure were made in all dogs before and during baroreceptor stimulation. In the normal group, and the previously infarcted group that received no atenolol, baroreceptor stimulation elicited a small (8/msec), but significant prolongation of the QT associated with a nearly 50% reduction in heart rate. The QT interval of the atenolol-treated dogs, although significantly more prolonged before stimulation, remained unchanged during the reflex. The data indicate that withdrawal of ventricular sympathetic tone may prolong the QT interval, thereby confirming the role of sympathetic innervation in the control of QT. This inference was strengthened by the complete absence of change of QT after atenolol block and the absence of any detectable influence of vagal activity on ventricular repolarization during the reflex. Therefore, in what appeared to be the absence of evidence of autonomic influence, no inverse relationship between heart rate and QT was observed.