Book reviews

Scientific Discovery A. Kantorovich 1993 New York, State University of New York Press $17.95

A Model of the Universe Storrs McCall, 1994 Clarendon Press, Oxford 288pp. plus 15pp. appendices, plus 14pp. references plus index 0198240538 £30.00

Explanation David Hillel Ruben (ed. 1993) Oxford University Press pp vi + 365 ISBN 019875129X. Pb £9.95, Hb £27.50     

ENTRUSTING THE LIFE THAT HAS EVOLVED: A RESPONSE TO MICHAEL RUSE'S RUSE

Abstract. This piece challenges Michael Ruse on three points: (1) The charge that Christian myth and doctrine are incredible fails to take into account the scholarship that has clarified the genre to which myth belongs and its function. (2) Naturalistic explanations, like Ruse's, have fully as much difficulty dealing with questions of purpose and evil as religion does. (3) The concept of "deception" has a number of inherent problems that Ruse fails to consider, of which the chief is that it requires a certainty about truth and falsity that Ruse cannot and does not claim to possess.     

Comparison of simultaneous prompting with and without error correction in teaching science vocabulary words to high school students with mild disabilities

This study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of simultaneous prompting with and without error correction during daily probe sessions in teaching science vocabulary words. The teacher presented the vocabulary word definitions as instructive feedback during training sessions. Five 16–17 year old students with disabilities participated in an adapted alternating treatments design that evaluated the simultaneous prompting strategy, error correction and instructive feedback. Instruction occurred in a group format using choral responding. The results indicate that (a) all students learned to read the vocabulary words, (b) simultaneous prompting with error correction was slightly more efficient for three of the five subjects in learning the targeted words, and four of the five students made fewer errors in this condition, (c) all students preferred simultaneous prompting with error correction over simultaneous prompting without error correction, (d) words mastered in both conditions generalized equally, (e) there were minimal differences between the two conditions in the collected maintenance data, and (e) students experienced only minimal improvement in their ability to define vocabulary words (instructive feedback). Discussion focuses on issues for further research and implications for instructional practice with simultaneous prompting, error correction and instructive feedback.     

REM motivation induced by brief REM deprivation: the influence of cognition, gender, and personality.

Prominence of the brain's right-hemisphere information processing and intensity of dream experience are two theoretically related constructs that have been proposed as important psychological aspects of REM sleep. Either view is consistent with the prediction that the effect of REM deprivation will depend in part on the nature of cognitive activity that is initiated at the onset of each REM period and that "substitutes" for the interrupted REM process. In the present study, the effect of REM deprivation was more striking for female subjects given a digits task than for female subjects given a fantasy-reporting task during awakening used to induce REM deprivation for the first 6 hours of the night. High neuroticism appeared to exaggerate the effect. No corresponding pattern was observed for the male subjects. These preliminary finding may be exaggerated by cognitive activity that is functionally incongruent with those processes. The results also raise interesting questions about individual differences.     

The neurotic paradox and self-punitive behavior in humans

Human subjects learned a key-pressing response in order to avoid or escape shock. The reinforcement contingencies were then changed to punishment or to regular nonpunished extinction. The locus of shock onset and offset was systematically varied during the punishment phase. More subjects reported awarencess of the change in the nonpunished extinction group. By inference, the punished groups responded more, and thus the results appear analogous to animal studies on vicious circle, self-punitive responding. Discriminability of change from acquisition to extinction appeared to affect detection of the change.     

Comparative evaluation of the Job Club program with welfare recipients

About 1000 WIN welfare clients were selected in five cities: Harlem, New Brunswick, Milwaukee, Wichita, and Tacoma, and half were randomly assigned to the Job Club program. Of the continuing clients, 87% of the Job Club sample obtained jobs vs 59% of the Control sample at the 12-month follow-up and 80 vs 48% at 6 months. The Job Club was more effective in each of the five cities, for men and women, for high school graduates or dropouts, for blacks, whites, and Spanish, for handicapped or nonhandicapped, veterans or nonveterans, the young and the older, and for those required to participate as well as those who volunteered. The jobs obtained by the Job Club clients were comparable to the Control clients' jobs in terms of mean salary, full-time status, and type of job, and were more likely to be enduring, nonsubsidized, and obtained by the job-seeker's own efforts. Job Club members obtained employment in a median of six sessions (mean of 11); 90% obtained jobs within 23 sessions. Follow-up questionnaire data indicated comparable job retention in the two samples but slightly greater advancement and job satisfaction for the Job Club clients. The method appears to assure employment to virtually all participating welfare clients.     

Eysenck's theory of incubation: A critical analysis

Eysenck's theory of incubation is summarized. Arguments and evidence concerning its validity and potential value are presented.     

The effects of sex and fear level of subjects on the snake approach behaviour of dyads

Dyads, differing in composition in terms of sex and fear level of subjects, were video-recorded whilst interacting with a harmless snake. Approach measures were taken for all subjects in the form of latency of first touch, percentage time in contact with snake and intensity of interaction from no touching at all through to picking up. As hypothesized, ‘fearless’ subjects showed more approach than ‘fearful’, with latency giving the most significant difference. Male and female scores were not significantly different on any measure, although there was a significant interaction on latency between sex and fear level, due to the performance of fearful females. Contrary to hypothesis there was no evidence that males regardless of fear level showed any more approach when paired with a female partner. There was evidence in line with hypothesis that fearless females showed more approach when paired with other females. Fearless males showed more approach when paired with fearful partners and fearful females when paired with fearless partners. These results are discussed in terms of the literature on the laboratory study of human fear and therapeutic modeling.