Self-awareness and cigarette-smoking behavior

According to the theory of objective self-awareness (Duval & Wicklund, 1972), the concept of generalized drive is unnecessary, its explanatory function having been replaced by the concepts of self-evaluation and desire to be “correct”. An experiment was designed to compare alternative predictions from the drive and self-awarencess theories. Subjects listened to music in the presence of a mirror and, at another time, not in the presence of a mirror. The effect of self-consciousness on several habitual behaviors related to smoking was assessed. It was known that the subjects believed the number of cigarettes one should smoke “ideally” was significantly less than the number they actually smoked. Hence, the theory of objective self-awarencess predicts decreased smoking in the presence of the mirror, while a drive theory interpretation of self-consciousness predicts the opposite. Results generally supported the drive theory.     

Simple reaction time with markovian evolution of gaussian discriminal processes

If the discriminal distributions of signal-detectability theory evolve in time according to a normal Markov process, they can be characterized by Brownian motion generalized with a constant bias determined by signal strength. If the process is stopped at the first occurrence of a preset criterion displacement, the resulting latency distribution provides a model for the central component of simple reaction time. Discussed are properties of the distribution which should be useful in obtaining experimental predictions from neural-counting assumptions, and in relating reaction times to basic variables of the theory of signal-detectability.This paper was written while the author was on a post-doctoral fellowship at the Mental Health Research Institute, University of Michigan, supported by U.S.P.H.S. Training grant T01-MH-7417-07.     

Analysis of variance with Fourier analysis of coherent data

Like orthogonal polynomials, the sine and cosine components used in Fourier analysis are orthogonal under summation over equally spaced points. Therefore, they can be used in the same way as orthogonal polynomials are used with analysis of variance. They are usually used on records consisting of sequences of observations taken equally spaced in time. Analysis of variance can be performed on replicated records. The most straightforward cases occur under the following conditions: (1) The phenomenon is periodic, (2) the phenomenon is coherent (synchronized) over the various replicates, (3) the record length is an integral multiple of the fundamental period, and (4) the phenomenon is not buried too deeply in noise. Two numerical examples are examined that satisfy these conditions. Planning is illustrated for a case that violates Conditions 3 and 4.     

LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF OPPOSITIONAL CHILD TREATMENT WITH MOTHERS AS THERAPISTS AND THERAPIST TRAINERS

The follow-up data reported represent a long-term (3 to 9 years out of treatment) evaluation of 40 children who were clients of the Regional Intervention Program (RIP) from 1969 to 1978. As 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds, these youngsters exhibited severe and prolonged tantrums, continual opposition to adults' requests and commands, and physical aggression toward parents. Each child and mother participated in a standardized intervention package modeled after Wahler's Opposition Child Treatment. Results from school and home-based follow-up showed that: (a) commands, demands, or requests made by parents were likely to be followed by former clients' compliance; (b) former clients' social interactions in the home were overwhelmingly positive and their nonsocial behavior was by and large appropriate; (c) parent behavior in the home was consistent with the child management skills taught many years ago; (d) there were no differences between the compliant, on-task, social interaction and appropriate/inappropriate nonsocial behaviors of former clients and randomly selected class peers; (e) there were no differences in teachers' commands, negative feedback, positive social reinforcement, and repeated commands that were directed toward either former clients or randomly selected class peers; (f) both teachers' and parents' rating of former clients on the modified Walker Problem Behavior Checklist were highly correlated; (g) there were no differences in teachers' rating of former clients and class peers; and (h) of all the studied demographic variables, only age that treatment began and family intactness were related to current levels of behavior.     

An investigation of the use of nocturnal dream reports as diagnostic indices in the assessment of family problem solving

This study investigated the use of series of nocturnal dream reports to diagnose patterns of family functioning. Five families (twenty one subjects) collected a total of 126 dreams. A Treatment Group consisted of two families undergoing family therapy whilst a Non-Treatment Group, comprising three families, was drawn from a population ranging from severely disturbed to superior family functioning. The manifest content of the dreams was analysed, qualitatively and quantitatively. The presenting problem, case history, therapeutic processes and outcome were unknown to the dream researcher. The family therapist was blind to the dream content and dream analysis. Each family was independently rated by the therapist and the dream researcher. The agreement between the two assessments was highly significant. In addition, the problem areas, family transactions and treatment outcome were correctly identified by the dream researcher. It was concluded that analyses of dream series reflect the problem areas encountered by a family system. Implications for therapeutic strategies are discussed.     

EFFECTS OF SYSTEMATIC,RESPONSE-DEPENDENT FADING AND THINNING PROCEDURES ON THE MAINTENANCE OF CHILD-CHILD INTERACTION

Previous investigations of the social behavior of handicapped preschool children (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1974, 7 , 583–590; Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1976, 9 , 31–40; Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1977, 10 , 289–298) demonstrated that introduction of adult or peer confederate intervention agents produced substantial increases in levels of positive social behavior emitted by the subjects. In addition, it was observed that changes in rates of positive social behavior emitted by recipients of intervention tactics were accompanied by parallel changes in rates of positive social behavior emitted by interacting peers. However, with one limited exception, sudden removals of arranged intervention procedures were followed by immediate reductions in the levels of positive social behavior emitted by subjects and peers in each study. The current investigation was designed to examine the effects of response-dependent removal of intervention procedures on the positive behavior of three socially withdrawn preschool boys. Interactive effects on the social behavior of classroom peers who did not receive adult prompts and contingent attention events were also examined. A combination of withdrawal of treatment and multiple baseline procedures was employed. The three target subjects received fixed numbers of prompts and contingent attention events during Intervention I and Intervention II, Phase 1 conditions. During Intervention II, Phase 2 conditions, prompts and contingent attention events were reduced on a response-dependent basis for two subjects and on a response-independent basis for the third subject. The results suggest that: (a) the intervention procedures produced marked increases in positive social behavior emitted by each subject; (b) response-dependent fading and thinning, contrasted with response-independent tactics, maintained levels of positive social behavior equivalent to those observed during Intervention I and Intervention II, Phase 1 conditions; (c) changes in positive and negative behaviors emitted by peers paralleled changes in positive and negative behaviors emitted by each subject; and (d) no “spillover” of treatment effects was noted for subjects during periods in which they were not direct recipients of intervention procedures.     

Acute Ethanol Administration Impairs Spatial Performance While Facilitating Nonspatial Performance in Rats

Acute ethanol administration produces learning and memory impairments similar to those found following lesions to the hippocampal system in rats. For example, both ethanol and hippocampal lesions impair performance on spatial learning and memory tasks while sparing performance on many nonspatial learning and memory tasks. Lesions to the hippocampal system can also alter the nature of the information that the animal uses to guide its behavior, from using spatial information to using individual cues. In the present experiment, rats were trained, while sober, to navigate on an eight-arm radial arm maze to a specific arm for food reward. During training, the rewarded arm was always in the same specific location and contained well-defined cues. After the rat learned the task, a memory test was conducted under different doses of ethanol (0.0 g/kg [saline control], 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0 g/kg, intraperitoneal). On the test day the maze was rotated so that the cued arm was 90 degrees to the right of its original position. During testing, intact rats showed a significant bias to approach the place where they had been previously rewarded, even though the cue was no longer located there. Acute ethanol administration dose dependently reduced approaches to the rewarded place. However, ethanol administration did not result in increases in random choices; rather, it resulted in a dose-dependent increase in approaches to the cued arm, now in a new location. These results extend previous research showing that acute ethanol administration and lesions to the hippocampal system produce similar effects on learning and memory in rats.     

A study of the classification capabilities of neural networks using unsupervised learning: A comparison withK-means clustering

Several neural networks have been proposed in the general literature for pattern recognition and clustering, but little empirical comparison with traditional methods has been done. The results reported here compare neural networks using Kohonen learning with a traditional clustering method (K-means) in an experimental design using simulated data with known cluster solutions. Two types of neural networks were examined, both of which used unsupervised learning to perform the clustering. One used Kohonen learning with a conscience and the other used Kohonen learning without a conscience mechanism. The performance of these nets was examined with respect to changes in the number of attributes, the number of clusters, and the amount of error in the data. Generally, theK-means procedure had fewer points misclassified while the classification accuracy of neural networks worsened as the number of clusters in the data increased from two to five.Acknowledgements: Sara Dickson, Vidya Nair, and Beth Means assisted with the neural network analyses.     

Borderline personality disorder and laboratory-induced cold pressor pain: Evidence of stress-induced analgesia

Behavioral neuroscience findings regarding stress-induced analgesia may be an appropriate model for the paradoxical effects of self-mutilative pain of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). We hypothesized that BPD patients would show an exaggerated antinociceptive effect from an uncontrollable cold pressor stress, compared to persons with other personality disorders or to a nonpsychiatric control group. This hypothesis was supported. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.     

Individual Reactions to New Technologies in the Workplace: The Role of Gender as a Psychological Construct

Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB), individual reactions to a new technology and technology usage behavior were studied over a 12-month period among 552 employees being introduced to a new computer-based system in the workplace. When considering gender as a psychological construct by employing Bern's Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), important distinctions were revealed. Specifically, masculine gender-typed individuals exhibited the same pattern as did men in previous research; feminine gender-typed individuals were different from women in that they were influenced only by subjective norm and PBC. The balanced decision-making process was observed only in the case of individuals categorized as androgynous. The high percentage of women who tested to be androgynous explains the divergence in results from the previous work, and provides evidence of changing gender roles for women in today's organizations and society.