Partial Reinforcement in a Bar-Pressing Situation with Preschool Children

Forty fifth- and sixth-grade children were given a list of names which they had prerated for Reinforcement Value in a free recall format. The prediction was made that high self-esteem children will learn their liked names more rapidly than their disliked names, but that low self-esteem children would show the reverse tendency. Although an RV-positive effect is noted in the sample, the expected reversal did not occur. A confounding factor proved to be intelligence, since it was impossible to divorce self-esteem from IQ in the sample investigated. The presentation closes with a discussion of the “logical learning theory” on which RV study is based, and the implications that this theory has for the role of self-induced behavior.     

Expecting More in Relationships – Implications of Relational Entitlement

Abstract

Sense of relational entitlement refers to what individuals’ believe they “should” expect from their romantic partner. When expectations are both unrealistic and not met by one’s partner, there is a potential for adverse consequences. Researchers surveyed 195 female participants between the ages 18-60. The study examined the influence of one’s sense of relational entitlement with varying conflict strategies. The findings revealed that extreme forms of one’s sense of relational entitlement was associated with conflict strategies like verbal aggression, and control & domination. Thus, one’s sense of relational entitlement appears to play a significant role in how individuals handle conflict.     

Evolution of communication in perfect and imperfect worlds

We extend previous work on cooperation to some related questions regarding the evolution of simple forms of communication. The evolution of cooperation within the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma has been shown to follow different patterns, with significantly different outcomes, depending on whether the features of the model are classically perfect or stochastically imperfect (Axelrod, 1980a,b, 1984, 1985; Axelrod and Hamilton, 1981; Nowak and Sigmund, 1990, 1992; Sigmund, 1993). Our results here show that the same holds for communication. Within a simple model, the evolution of communication seems to require a stochastically imperfect world.     

RACISM: BEING IDEAL

‘Race’ is both an empty category and one of the most destructive and powerful forms of social categorization. How is this paradox to be explained and how are its negative consequences for human lives to be resisted? (Rustin 1991 Rustin, M. 1991. “Psychoanalysis, racism and anti‐racism.”. In The Good Society and the Inner World, London: Verso.  [Google Scholar] : 57).

Psychoanalysis is limited in what it can say about social categories. It can say something in general about the process of categorizing. Categorizing is a ubiquitous process, which is both a powerful tool for civilization and also one of the most destructive forces of oppression. The way social categories are used is a social phenomenon. However, in considering race as one example of these destructive forms of stereotyping, I shall argue that the organization of the individual mind is a basis on which the organization of social categories necessarily depends. I shall detail the model of racism which Freud hinted at, and then use racism as one example of the destructive and narcissistic form of stereotyping.     

Instantiation is not partial identity

In order to avoid the problems faced by standard realist analyses of the “relation” of instantiation, Baxter and, following him, Armstrong each analyze the instantiation of a universal by a particular in terms of their partial identity. I introduce two related conceptions of partial identity, one mereological and one non-mereological, both of which require at least one of the relata of the partial identity “relation” to be complex. I then introduce a second non-mereological conception of partial identity, which allows for both relata to be simple. I take these three conceptions to exhaust the plausible ways of construing two entities as being partially identical. I then argue that there is no analysis (including those offered by Baxter and Armstrong) of a universal and a particular as being partially identical consistent with any of these three conceptions that (i) is coherent, (ii) is consistently realist, (iii) does not lead to absurd consequences, and (iv) offers a “solution” to the problem of instantiation that avoids the problems with the other standard realist responses. In so arguing, I offer a criticism of the analysis of instantiation as partial identity that is independent of the standard criticism that it entails the necessity of predication.     

Introspection and inference

In this paper I develop the idea that, by answering the question whether p, you can answer the question whether you believe that p. In particular, I argue that judging that p is a fallible yet basic guide to whether one believes that p. I go on to defend my view from an important skeptical challenge, according to which my view would make it too easy to reject skeptical hypotheses about our access to our minds. I close by responding to the opposing view on which our beliefs themselves constitute our only source of first-person access to our beliefs.     

Matching Methods for Selection of Participants for Follow-Up

This work examines ways to make the best use of limited resources when selecting individuals to follow up in a longitudinal study estimating causal effects. In the setting under consideration, covariate information is available for all individuals but outcomes have not yet been collected and may be expensive to gather, and thus only a subset of the comparison participants are followed. Expressions in Rubin and Thomas (1996) Rubin, D. B. and Thomas, N. 1996. Matching using estimated propensity scores, relating theory to practice.. Biometrics, 52: 249–264. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] show the benefits that can be obtained, in terms of reduced bias and variance of the estimated treatment effect, of selecting comparison individuals well matched to those in the treated group compared with a random sample of comparison individuals. We primarily consider nonexperimental settings but also consider implications for randomized trials. The methods are illustrated using data from the Johns Hopkins University Baltimore Prevention Program, which included data collection from age 6 to young adulthood of participants in an evaluation of 2 early elementary-school-based universal prevention programs.     

Negative Affect Shares Genetic and Environmental Influences with Symptoms of Childhood Internalizing and Externalizing Disorders

The co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing disorders suggests that they may have common underlying vulnerability factors. Research has shown that negative affect is moderately positively correlated with both internalizing and externalizing disorders in children. The present study is the first to provide an examination of negative affect in relation to a wide spectrum of childhood internalizing and externalizing problems using a biometric model. This study extends prior findings of more narrowly focused associations by using a factor approach including multiple disorders. The sample for this study included families of 691 same-sex 7- to 13-year old twin pairs. A multifactorial independent pathway model was used to examine the genetic and environmental influences underlying the covariation of parent-reported negative affect, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing symptoms. Results of the current study suggest that negative affect shares genetic and environmental influences with both internalizing and externalizing disorders in childhood. These common influences may partially explain their comorbidity. Understanding that negative affect is at least one contributor to the covariation among these disorders may highlight avenues for early risk assessment, intervention, and perhaps prevention.