Neuroendocrine and behavioral correlates of constitutional differences

Consistent and stable individual differences were observed in the renal responses of water-loaded dogs during the development of Pavlovian conditional motor defense reflexes by electrocutaneous reinforcement. Some dogs developed persistent and intense conditional antidiuretic responses (with a high urine osmolality) to the entire Pavlovian conditioning room complex, whereas other dogs failed to exhibit conditional antidiuresis. In contradistinction to the conditional motor defense reflexes, the conditional antidiuretic responses showed poor differentiation, thus demonstrating the phenomenon of schizokinesis discovered by Gantt. In addition to conditional water retention, the antidiuretic dogs also exhibited persistent hyperpnea, copious salivation and tachycardia. The physiologic responses of the antidiuretic dogs to the Pavlovian conditioning room resemble those described by Walter B. Cannon for a “fight or flight” response,i.e., physiologic reactions of animals engaged in intense muscular effort. The antidiuresis serves the function of conserving body water so that it may be available for evaporative cooling in order to maintain thermal homeostasis. Since our experimental dogs cannot engage in a consummatory “fight or flight” response, their physiologic reaction to a stressful psychologic environment can be considered maladaptive. Pharmacologic analysis suggested that the antidiuretic responses may involve cholinergic transmitters.     

Comment on “Eye movements and decrement in the Müller-Lyer illusion”

Festinger et al conflrm the findings of previous investigators that the magnitude of the Müller-Lyer illusion diminishes with prolonged observation of the test figure, but only if gross eye movements are allowed. To explain this phenomenon, they advance the hypothesis that “the perception of length is determined by efferent readiness activated by the visual input.” We offer evidence that the hypothesis is incorrect.     

Littering as a Function of Prior Litter and The Presence or Absence of Prohibitive Signs1

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect on littering behavior of (1) two types of antilitter signs and (2) the condition of the environment (littered vs. unlittered). It was hypothesized that a sign with a threatening message (i.e., “Littering is Unlawful and Subject to a $10 Fine”.) would induce psychological reactance and therefore would be less effective than one emphasizing cooperation (i.e., “Pitch In!”). It was also predicted that littering would occur more frequently in littered than in nonlittered areas. The study was conducted on six levels of a city parking garage, each floor of which was exposed to a randomly selected combination of the sign and litter treatments. Relative to a no sign control condition, signs had the overall effect of reliably reducing the litter rate, but the “Pitch In” message was not found to be more effective than the “Unlawful” one. The littering rate was, as predicted, lowest in a clean environment. Finally, the impact of the signs was reliably influenced by the day of the observation. This finding was interpreted in terms of reactance theory and led to the conclusion that prior exposure is an important variable determining the effectiveness of signs.     

A COMPARISON OF INDIRECT MEASURES FOR LONG-DURATION BEHAVIORS1

A computer program was developed to simulate long-duration behavior. The program generated data by using two time-series models linked together by a covariance parameter. By varying the parameters of the program, the characteristics of the simulated behavior were altered, including the mean and variance of the durations of behavior, the mean and variance of the interresponse time, and the degree of relationship within and between durations of behavior and interresponse times. Four data-collection methods were applied to the simulated data: whole interval, partial interval, momentary time-sampling, and continuous measures. The accuracies of the first three recording measures were judged by comparing them to the continuous measure. The results indicated that only the momentary time-sampling approach yielded unbiased results. The degree of bias for the whole and partial interval measures was a function of the ratio of the interval recording length to the sum of the mean duration of behavior and the mean interresponse time. Unfortunately, it was concluded that researchers cannot estimate the magnitudes of these latter two parameters for most behaviors of interest and, consequently, are unable to choose an appropriate interval length. Therefore, it was recommended that the use of interval recording approaches be greatly restricted and that momentary time-sampling be substituted where possible.     

Career choice and orality

The field of vocational psychology is replete with schemata for the determinants of career choice in adulthood (e.g., A. Roe, The psychology of occupations. New York: Wiley, 1956; D. E. Super, The psychology of careers. New York: Harper &Row, 1957; J. O. Crites, Vocational psychology: The study of vocational behavior and development. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969). A view not given much weight in empirical research in this area is that of psychoanalytic theory relating career choice to unresolved childhood conflicts and their derivatives. To examine the validity of this psychoanalytic prediction, students' Rorschach protocols were analyzed to yield an index of frustrated oral needs. The students were given decks of careers to rank from most to least preferable. Results showed that the ranking of the oral careers was a function of the Rorschach index of frustrated oral needs for women only but not for men.     

Career stage as a moderator of performance relationships with facets of job satisfaction and role perceptions

The relationship between performance indices and facets of job satisfaction, role ambiguity, and role conflict was studied among 102 full-time faculty members across three career stages. Results indicate that an individual's career stage within a profession has an important moderating effect on facets of job satisfaction and role perception relationships with role-related performance.     

An empirical evaluation of multidimensional successive intervals

The multidimensional method of successive intervals and the method of complete triads are applied to similarity judgments of Munsell colors varying in brightness, saturation, and hue. Both methods yield configurations that correlate highly with the Munsell color structure. This validation of these scaling methods in an area of known dimensionality indicates their applicability for exploration in areas of unknown dimensionality. This study was supported in part by the Office of Naval Research contract N6onr-270-20 with Princeton University and also in part by funds from the National Science Foundation. The research was carried out when the author was an Educational Testing Service Psychometric Fellow at Princeton University.