Amplitude-induction gradient of a small-scale (covert) operant

An invisibly small thumb-contraction was conditioned under secondary positive reinforcement (money) in four adult human subjects without their observation of the response. Electromyo-graphic detection enabled the experimenter to reinforce the response by advancing on the subject''s illuminated scoreboard the count of nickels earned. A light-beam galvanometer recorded on photosensitive paper not only those instances of the response which were of the size pre-selected for reinforcement but also those too small or too large to qualify. From the developed record cumulative response curves were constructed for each of the variously sized subclasses of the operant. Histograms, too, were plotted showing response-frequency by subclass for each 10-min interval of the experimental session. Before conditioning, response frequency was radically skewed toward the large-amplitude end of the distribution. The effect of conditioning was to normalize the distribution, with the middle-sized subclass (the one reinforced) becoming modal. This entailed reduced frequency of responses in subclasses smaller than the one reinforced. In extinction the original skew was strikingly restored in three of the four cases.     

Interpretations

Compiled and edited by Ralph Slater from lectures on psychoanalytic technique given by the late Karen Horney at the American Institute for Psychoanalysis during the years 1946, 1950, 1951 and 1952. Further lectures in this series will appear in subsequent issues of the Journal.     

A critique of the usefulness of inferential statistics in applied behavior analysis

Researchers continue to recommend that applied behavior analysts use inferential statistics in making decisions about effects of independent variables on dependent variables. In many other approaches to behavioral science, inferential statistics are the primary means for deciding the importance of effects. Several possible uses of inferential statistics are considered. Rather than being an objective means for making decisions about effects, as is often claimed, inferential statistics are shown to be subjective. It is argued that the use of inferential statistics adds nothing to the complex and admittedly subjective nonstatistical methods that are often employed in applied behavior analysis. Attacks on inferential statistics that are being made, perhaps with increasing frequency, by those who are not behavior analysts, are discussed. These attackers are calling for banning the use of inferential statistics in research publications and commonly recommend that behavioral scientists should switch to using statistics aimed at interval estimation or the method of confidence intervals. Interval estimation is shown to be contrary to the fundamental assumption of behavior analysis that only individuals behave. It is recommended that authors who wish to publish the results of inferential statistics be asked to justify them as a means for helping us to identify any ways in which they may be useful.     

The ethics of creative accounting

Creative accounting, which generally involves the preparation of financial statements with the intention of misleading readers of those statements, is prima facie a form oflying, as defined by Bok.¹ This paper starts by defining and illustrating creative accounting. It examines and rejects the arguments for considering creative accounting, in spite of its deceptive intent, as not being a form of lying. It then examines the ethical issues raised by creative accounting, in the light of the literature on the ethics of lying. This literature includes the evaluation of various excuses and justifications for lying, and these are examined here in relation to creative accounting. It is concluded that even in circumstances in which creative accounting would arguably serve a worthy purpose, that purpose would be at least as well served by honest communication.     

Mystical orientation and personality among anglican clergy

A sample of 222 male clergy completed the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, together with an index of mystical orientation. The data demonstrate a positive correlation between mystical orientation and extroversion, but no relationship between mystical orientation and either neuroticism or psychoticism.     

Instability of individual differences in the association between confidence judgments and memory performance

There are large individual differences in the degree of association between the accuracy of memories and subjective confidence in those memories. Are these differences stable within the same test, and between alternate forms of a test? In Experiment 1, college students were tested on 3 recognition memory tasks, then retested 2 weeks later on alternate forms of the same tasks. The relationship between confidence judgments and recognition performance displayed low split-half stability and low alternate-forms stability. A second experiment with elderly adults replicated these findings. In a third experiment, college students recalled answers to general knowledge questions and rated confidence in the correctness of each answer. Individual differences in the association between confidence and recall performance were not stable across the odd- and even-numbered items on the test. These data indicate the need for the development of procedures that will produce stable estimates of individuals’ metacognitive accuracy.     

Ecological assessments of community disorder: Their relationship to fear of crime and theoretical implications

Researchers suggest that fear of crime arises from community disorder, cues in the social and physical environment that are distinct from crime itself. Three ecological methods of measuring community disorder are presented: resident perceptions reported in surveys and on-site observations by trained raters, both aggregated to the street block level, and content analysis of crime- and disorder-related newspaper articles aggregated to the neighborhood level. Each method demonstrated adequate reliability and roughly equal ability to predict subsequent fear of crime among 412 residents of 50 blocks in 50 neighborhoods in Baltimore, MD. Pearson and partial correlations (controlling for sex, race, age, and victimization) were calculated at multiple levels of analysis: individual, individual deviation from block, and community (block/neighborhood). Hierarchical linear models provided comparable results under more stringent conditions. Results linking different measure of disorder with fear, and individual and aggregated demographics with fear inform theories about fear of crime and extend research on the impact of community social and physical disorder. Implications for ecological assessment of community social and physical environments are discussed.