Perceptions of submissiveness: implications for victimization.

Some researchers have suggested that a precondition of affective submissiveness may increase the likelihood of female victimization in sexual assault, whereas others have suggested that criminal offenders use perceptions of vulnerability when selecting a victim. In this study, based on American college students, men (decoders) rated videotaped women (encoders) dominant versus submissive using a semantic differential instrument. Cue evaluators analyzed the body language and appearance of the videotaped women using a Likert instrument. The results suggest that (a) men form differentiated perceptions of dominant versus submissive women, (b) such perceptions substantially rely on nonverbal cues, (c) dominant and submissive women display visually different behaviors and appearances, and (d) men tend to select submissive females for exploitation.     

On the distinction between sensory storage and short-term visual memory

A pattern made by randomly filling cells in a square matrix was presented for 1 see and followed, after various intervals, by an identical or similar pattern. Ss responded “same” or “different.” Performance was fast and accurate if the interval was short and there was no movement or masking of the pattern during the interval. Performance was slower, less accurate, and highly dependent on pattern complexity if the interval exceeded 100 msec or if there was movement or masking. The results are interpreted as evidence for two distinct classes of visual memory: high-capacity sensory storage which is tied to spatial position and is maskable and brief; and schematic short-term visual memory which is not tied to spatial position, which is protected against masking, and which becomes less effective over the first few seconds but not over the first 600 msec.     

Achievement Place: development of the elected manager system

A series of experiments was carried out to compare several administrative systems at Achievement Place, a family style behavior modification program for pre-delinquent boys. One aspect of the motivation system at Achievement Place was the token economy in which the youths could earn or lose points that could be exchanged for privileges. Several arrangements for assigning routine tasks and for providing token consequences for task performance were compared for their effectiveness in accomplishing the tasks and for their preference by the boys. The independent variables studied included: (1) individually assigned tasks versus group assigned tasks; (2) consequences for individual performance versus consequences for group performance; (3) a peer managership that could be earned by the highest bidder versus a peer managership that could be determined democratically by the peers. The results suggested that among those systems studied the system that best met the criteria of effectiveness and preference involved a democratically elected peer manager who had the authority both to give and to take away points for his peers' performances.     

Reinforcement and rate of litter depositing

A study was conducted concerning the frequency of litter deposits in a single experimental trash receptacle located in a high-use, urban park setting. There were four two-week periods of alternating no-contingency, contingency conditions during which reinforcement and incentive were evaluated. It was found that reinforcement resulted in the highest rates of behavior and improvements in the aesthetic appearance of the area.     

Achievement Place: experiments in self-government with pre-delinquents

One of the goals of many treatment programs for pre-delinquent youths is the development of the skills involved in the democratic decision-making process. At Achievement Place, one aspect of the treatment program is a semi-self-government system whereby the seven pre-delinquent youths can democratically establish many of their own rules of behavior, monitor their peers' behavior to detect violations of their rules, and conduct a "trial" to determine a rule violator's guilt or innocence, and to determine the consequences for a youth who violates a rule. Two experiments were carried out to determine the role of some of the procedures in the boys' participation in the self-government system. Experiment I showed that more boys participated in the discussion of consequences for a rule violation when they had complete responsibility for setting the consequence during the trials than when the teaching-parents set the consequence for each rule violation before the trial. An analysis of the rule violations in this experiment indicated that the boys in Achievement Place reported more of the rule violations that resulted in trials than reported by the teaching-parents or school personnel. The boys reported rule violations that occurred in the community and school as well as at Achievement Place, including most of the serious rule violations that came to the attention of the teaching-parents. In Experiment II, the results indicated that more trials were called when the teaching-parents were responsible for calling trials on rule violations reported by the peers than when the boys were responsible for calling trials. When the youths earned points for calling trials the average number of trials per day increased, but more trivial rule violations were reported. These results suggest that aspects of the democratic decision-making process in a small group of pre-delinquents can be studied and variables that affect participation can be identified and evaluated.     

Why are faces hard to recognize in photographic negative?

Faces may be difficult to recognize in photographic negative simply because they contain a large range of grays, while printed words and geometric shapes, which contain no grays, are easy to recognize in negative. This explanation was partly tested in an experiment where Ss had to recognize positive and negative pictures of well-known people, both using normal monochrome photographs and using lith photographs in which all areas of gray were removed. Lith photographs were harder to recognize than normal photographs, but the difference between positive and negative was the same for lith pictures as for normal ones. This does not rule out an explanation in terms of grays, but it does put a major constraint on it.     

Achievement Place: the reliability of self-reporting and peer-reporting and their effects on behavior

The reliability of the boys reporting their own behavior of their peers was measured in two experiments at Achievement Place, a community based, family style, behavior modification program for delinquents based on a token (point) economy. The results of these experiments indicated that; (a) the boys were not "naturally" reliable observers, (b) the reliability of peer-reporting could be improved by providing training on the behavioral definitions and by making points contingent on agreement between each boy's peer-report and an independent adult observers' report, (c) the reliability of self-reporting could be improved by making points contingent on agreement between the self-report and the trained peer's report, and (d) giving self-reports and peer-reports did not produce a systematic effect on the boys' room-cleaning behavior as measured by an independent observer.     

Modification of articulation errors of pre-delinquents by their peers

Pre-delinquent peers in Achievement Place (a community based family style rehabilitation program based on a token economy) were given points (token reinforcement) to modify the articulation errors of two boys. In Experiment I, using a multiple baseline experimental design, error words involving the /l/, /r/, /th/, and /ting/ sounds were successfully treated by both a group of peers and by individual peers. Also, generalization occurred to words that were not trained. The speech correction procedure used by the peers involved a number of variables including modelling, peer approval, contingent points, and feedback. The individual role of each of these variables was not experimentally analyzed, but it was demonstrated that peers could function as speech therapists without instructions, feedback, or the presence of an adult. It was also found that payment of points to peers for detecting correct articulations produced closer agreement with the experimenter than when they were paid points for finding incorrect articulations. The results were replicated in a second experiment with another subject who had similar articulation errors. In addition, the second experiment showed that peer speech correction procedures resulted in some generalization to the correct use of target words in sentences and significant improvements on standard tests of articulation.     

Does familiarity affect transfer from an iconic to a short-term memory?

Six Ss discriminated seven-letter nonsense words from comparison words. Target and comparison words differed on randomly selected trials by one randomly chosen letter. Target words were displayed for 50, 55, 60, 70, 90, or 200 msec, and were preceded and followed by a masking field. In one condition the Ss were familiarized with the comparison words, and in another they were not. Discrimination was better for familiar words at all display durations. There was an interaction between familiarity and the letter position effect. For unfamiliar words the typical bow-shaped position effect occurred. For familiar words no marked position effect occurred. An identification condition using unfamiliar words found no interaction between letter position and display duration. The results are interpreted as evidence that familiarity removes a letter position effect that depends upon serial transfer from a nonmaskable mediating visual representation that is constructed from a maskable representation by nonserial processes.     

AIDS and ARC: Pastoral issues in the hospital setting

Eight areas of fear for persons with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and its related conditions are explored: change and stress, uncertainty and the unknown, waiting, the fear of symptoms, fear of contagion, abandonment, dependency and spiritual distress. Some particular issues of sub-populations with HIV infection are detailed. Suggestions for helpful pastoral responses to the common concerns and anxieties of patients and their loved ones are offered.