Concurrent schedules: Maximization versus reinforcement of changeover behaviour

Pigeons responded on concurrent variable-interval 180-sec variable-interval 36-sec schedules during Conditions 1 and 3 of Experiment 1. Condition 2 arranged variable-interval 60-sec schedules for both response alternatives. The schedule assigned to the alternative that was associated with the variable-interval 36-sec schedule in Conditions 1 and 3 operated only when the subject responded on that alternative. The proportion of time spent responding on the alternative with the conventional variable-interval 60-sec schedule increased during Condition 2, but exclusive choice of that alternative did not develop. This result is inconsistent with maximization of the overall reinforcement rate and with maximization of the momentary probability of reinforcement (momentary maximizing). Increasing time proportions were also found in Experiment 2, which arranged similar conditions, except that reinforcement was provided on a variable-time basis. The time proportions were close to the momentary maximizing prediction in Experiment 2. The results of both experiments can be explained if it is assumed that time allocation is controlled by delayed reinforcement of changeovers between alternatives.     

On the anatomy of social engineering attacks—A literature‐based dissection of successful attacks

The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which persuasion principles are used in successful social engineering attacks. Seventy‐four scenarios were extracted from 4 books on social engineering (written by social engineers) and analysed. Each scenario was split into attack steps, containing single interactions between offender and target. For each attack step, persuasion principles were identified. The main findings are that (a) persuasion principles are often used in social engineering attacks, (b) authority (1 of the 6 persuasion principles) is used considerably more often than others, and (c) single‐principle attack steps occur more often than multiple‐principle ones. The social engineers identified in the scenarios more often used persuasion principles compared to other social influences. The scenario analysis illustrates how to exploit the human element in security. The findings support the view that security mechanisms should include not only technical but also social countermeasures.     

Attitudes of minority and majority members towards adaptation of immigrants

In two studies, one among 94 Moroccan and 203 Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands and one among 1844 people of the Dutch majority, we examined how these groups react to four different adaptation strategies of people with a Moroccan and a Turkish background. These strategies are: assimilation (original culture is considered unimportant whereas contact with the majority is considered important), integration (both the original culture and contact with the majority are important), separation (original culture is considered important whereas contact with the majority is not), and marginalization (both the original culture and contact with the majority are considered unimportant). The respondents were confronted with a scenario (a fictitious newspaper article) representing one of the four strategies. Moroccans and Turks had to indicate whether they identified themselves with the person in the scenario. Their affective and normative reactions towards that person were also measured. Both Moroccans and Turks appeared to react most positively to integration and to identify themselves most with an integrating person. Dutch majority members were asked to estimate the percentage of Moroccans or Turks that use a particular adaptation form, and were also asked to give their affective and normative reactions towards the person in the scenario. The Dutch have positive attitudes towards assimilation and integration. Remarkably, they believe that separation, which is the least liked strategy by them, is the one chosen most frequently by the immigrants. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When socially excluded people prefer moralizing to anti- and prosocial behavior: Support for a goal-directed account

According to the temporal need-threat model, different responses toward social exclusion stem from the fact that different needs are threatened. Because evidence for this account is mixed, we tested a goal-directed account in which the chosen behavior depends not only on the threatened need but also on the behavior that has the highest expectancy of repairing that need. In two experiments, participants were excluded using the cyberball paradigm. They were then either assigned to a condition in which they could choose to send aggressive or prosocial messages to the other players or to a condition in which they could send aggressive, prosocial, or moralizing messages. We hypothesized that the expectancy to repair threatened needs would be higher for moralizing behavior than for aggressive and prosocial behavior, which would result in moralizing behavior in the second condition. Both experiments provided partial support for our hypothesis, suggesting that the reactions to social exclusion might be goal directed.

     

The american “colonization” of northwest European social psychology after World WAR II

The term colonization as used in this article does not refer to the suppression of one culture by another, but to a voluntary intellectual submission, eventually resulting in a “neo-colonial” relationship in which, in spite of a “decolonization” movement, much of the dominant culture has been retained. Contrary to the traditional view, Europe had a rich social psychological literature before the Second World War, and much of this early work still is of interest for contemporary social psychology. The Netherlands is used as an example of the “colonization” of Northwest European social psychology after 1945. It is shown that there has been an effort on the part of the older generation to integrate the European heritage and the newer American social psychology. The younger generation, however, according to an analysis of citations, adopted American social psychology, as a guiding model soon after the Second World War. The colonization metaphor draws attention to the power aspects of knowledge transfer. The author concludes that later “de-colonization” does not imply a turning away from everything American, but a cross-fertilization of perspectives, leading to a truly international approach. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Letter to the editor,Schools on Islands,a journal as a Ferry

In an electronic brainstorming session, experts and users of methods for multi-criteria decision analysis discussed editorial policies for a journal which is confronted with the conflicts between isolated schools of thought. The present paper describes the session and highlights how experts in multi-criteria decision analysis view the applications of their own methods on their own decision problems.