Application of delayed reinforcement procedures to the behavior of an elementary school child

Delayed reinforcement techniques were applied, in a multiple baseline experimental design, to modify the behavior of a mildly maladjusted sixth-grade child. The following behaviors were chosen for modification: face-touching, posture, and voice-loudness. Videotape recordings were made of the subject's behavior during mathematics and spelling periods each day. The recordings from the mathematics period was shown to her after school, and consequences for behavior exhibited during mathematics were dispensed during the after-school viewing. This delayed reinforcement procedure produced the desired behavior changes during the mathematics period. Tapes from the spelling period, which were taken without the child's knowledge, indicated that the behavior changes generalized to portions of the day other than the mathematics period.     

Salivary output of the alcoholic: Effect of treatment with amitriptyline

In a group of alcoholic patients salivary output was measured before stimulation, during anticipation of tasting lemon juice, and after stimulation with lemon juice. These measures were obtained twice a day (a.m.-p.m.). Either amitriptyline or a placebo had been administered to each patient. The dental-roll technique for measuring salivary output was demonstrated to be reliable over time. In patients who had received the placebo salivary output in anticipation of the taste of lemon juice demonstrated an extinction phenomenon. Amitriptyline inhibited this anticipatory response. No relationship between the subjective symptom of dry mouth and salivary output was found. The results are interpreted as indicating that amitriptyline inhibits welldeveloped conditional anticipatory responses and that the symptom of dry mouth probably occurs predominantly during the hours immediately preceding mealtimes.     

Awareness of the influence as a determinant of assimilation versus contrast

In the present study, subjects had to generate an evaluative judgment about a target person on the basis of his behaviour that had both positive and negative implications. In a previous phase of the study that was ostensibly unrelated to the judgment task, the relevant trait categories were primed. Subsequently, half of the subjects were reminded of the priming episode. Consistent with earlier research (e.g. Lombardi, Higgins and Bargh, 1987; Newman and Uleman, 1990) that used memory of the priming events as a correlational measure, a contrast effect was found under the ‘reminding’ condition and assimilation resulted when subjects were not reminded of the priming episode. This pattern of results is interpreted as the consequence of corrective influences.     

Rasch-representable reaction time distributions

This article investigates properties of a representation based on the Rasch test model for reaction times (RT) that was proposed by Micko. Necessary and sufficient conditions for a set of RT distributions to be Rasch-representable are derived. It is shown that independent serial and independent parallel processing models cannot be reconciled with the representation. However, random extreme models compatible with the Reasch-representation exist that assume RT is determined by the longest or he shortest processing time of a random number of independent paraloel channels. Nonparametric properties of Rasch-representable distributions are derived that can be used for testing the model and for estimating its parameters. Conditions are presented for Rasch-representable distributions to form a scale family. Finally, Rasch-represent-able distributions are characterized interms of their hazard functions.For helpful discussions, we are grateful to Hans Irtel, Christoph Micko, Hartmann Scheiblechner, and Hans-Henning Schultz.     

What mediates the impact of response alternatives on frequency reports of mundane behaviors?

Previous research demonstrated that respondents assume that the range of precoded response alternatives reflects the researcher's knowledge of the distribution of opinions or behaviours in the population. This assumption may influence respondents' reports in two ways: respondents may either use the range of the response alternatives as a frame of reference in estimating their own behavioural frequencies, or they may be reluctant to report frequencies that appear extreme in the context of the scale. Three experiments using reports of mundane behaviours, namely watching TV and drinking beer, were conducted to differentiate between the frame of reference and the self-presentation hypothesis. The results of all studies favour the frame of reference hypothesis, and suggest that the impact of response alternatives is the more pronounced the less episodic information about the behaviour is accessible in memory. Specifically, proxy-reports were found to be more affected by the range of response alternatives than self-reports (Experiments 1 and 2), and respondents with dispositionally low access to self-related information were found to be more affected than respondents with dispositionally high access to self-related information (Experiment 3). Implications for questionnaire construction are discussed.     

Experiments and models in sequential integration of information

Using the example of bimodal temporal order judgments, we investigate and explain the transition from static designs mapping single stimulus presentations to single responses to designs which require some kind of integration of the processed information. First, we estimate the parameters of several well-known channel-oriented models (Baron, 1969; Gibbon & Rutschmann, 1969) for temporal order judgments. Subsequently, we generalize these models to explain the results of two more complex experimental designs and derive and test their predictions. Special concern is given to the question whether or not the models parameters remain invariant across the experiments. The basic assumptions of the channel-oriented models are confirmed by our data, they represent a well-suited platform to explain more complex integrative processes. Within a sequential decision design, where subjects are allowed to observe a stimulus arbitrarily often before their terminal decision, the individual representations of the stimuli are additively integrated. Hence, even information, which did not yet lead to a terminal decision, will generally influence the later outcome. This representation of the stimuli is accompanied by a dynamic decision rule, which is clearly time-dependent. Several too simplizistic alternative models can be rejected if (and only if) one derives their predictions in some detail and tests them with sufficient statistical power.     

Response scales as frames of reference: The impact of frequency range on diagnostic judgements

In social and psychological research, respondents are often asked to report the frequency of a behaviour by checking the appropriate alternative from a list of response categories provided to them. Previous research indicated that respondents extract comparison information from the range of the response alternatives, assuming that the average respondent is represented by values in the middle range of the scale, and that the extremes of the scale represent the extremes of the distribution. Extending this line of research, the present studies demonstrate that the users of a respondent's report are also likely to use the range of the response alternatives as a frame of reference in evaluating the implications of the report. Specifically, subjects are found to draw different conclusions about the respondent's personality (Experiment l ), or the severity of his or her medical condition (Experiment 21, from the same absolute frequency report, depending upon the range of the response scale on which the frequency was checked. Moreover, experienced medical doctors were as likely to be influenced by scale range as first-year medical students, suggesting that the phenomenon is of considerable applied importance. Implications for the use of response alternatives in psychological research and diagnostic judgement are discussed.