A note on a simple procedure for redistributing a teacher's student contacts

A class of twelve third-grade students in a rural school of two grades per teacher was observed to determine the frequency of student-teacher contacts for each student. Requiring each child to go to a play area when he completed his work resulted in changing the distribution of these contacts so that the better students used fewer teacher contacts. In addition, the number of completed assignments of all students increased and data are presented which imply that the poorer students of the class received more of the teacher's available time than previously. The application of this procedure to special pupil populations would probably be very useful. A number of advantages and limitations of the procedure are described.     

What does the ultrasonic activity recording device measure?

Rats were observed while their behavior was being monitored by an ultrasonic activity recording device. It was found that the device yielded more counts when Ss were being more active. But very active behavior is relatively rare, so that most of the counts over a period of time are likely to result from the more frequent but less active kinds of behavior, such as grooming.     

Why Do Eyewitnesses Make So Many Mistakes?

Previous research on eyewitness identification has demonstrated high rates of error. Subjects have frequently identified innocent targets as the "criminal" they had seen earlier (false identifications) or had falsely claimed that the criminal was not in the line-up (misses). The present study examines whether identification error rates are inflated by pressures in the typical experimental situation to "make a guess" regardless of one's confidence in the accuracy of the response. It was found that providing an explicit option for subjects to respond "don't know" significantly decreased false identifications and misses with no cost to the proportion of correct identifications. The addition of written and verbal instructions emphasizing the acceptability of the "don't know" option produced a marginally significant further decline in identification errors, again without cost to correct identifications. The discussion considered implications of the present results for experimental and actual police line-up procedures.     

An integration of shifts toward risk and caution in gambling situations

Findings have been reported and replicated indicating group-induced caution at the racetrack and group-induced risk in blackjack gambling. The present research examined the effects of two consistent differences between the blackjack and racetrack situations: (a) the amount of money available to groups versus individuals; and (b) the number of bets made in the postbaseline session. It was found that group-induced caution can occur in the blackjack setting if groups have larger stakes than individuals, as was the case in the racetrack studies, and that this effect disappears over trials, due to group versus individual differences established in the previous blackjack studies. Since current explanations of choice shifts cannot account for the observed trial effects, it was suggested that traditional choice-dilemma material, on which these explanations are largely based, be examined for such effects. Implications of the possible outcomes of such an examination for current group polarization theory were discussed.     

Proactive interference in immediate serial recall

Two experiments yielded significant inter-list proactive interference (PI) in immediate serial recall of nine-consonants lists. This argues against the assumption that intra-trial rehearsal is sufficiently powerful to prevent PI from occurring. In the first experiment PI proved to be more pronounced in the case of visually than of auditorily presented lists to the extent that the modality effect on the prerecent items could be completely attributed to PI. PI also enlarged the effect of output interference through reversed order recall. These findings were confirmed in the second experiment which also showed that the effect of PI persisted at a slower presentation rate, suggesting that the role of rehearsal in counteracting PI should not be overestimated. Implications of these results for current notions on short-term retention are discussed.     

Effects of amphetamine and barbiturate in a serial reaction task under paced and self-paced conditions.

Effects of drug conditions (barbiturate, amphetamine, placebo) were investigated in a serial choice RT-task under three pacing conditions: self-paced, paced-fast (approx. 3 signals/sec) and paced-slow (approx. 1 signal/sec). Drug treatment and pacing condition were varied in a factorial design with 9 male Ss. Drugs affected the reaction time but not the error scores. Barbiturate slowed down RT and this effect was most prominent in paced-fast. Amphetamine, on the other hand, speeded up the RT but it had no effect in paced-fast. To account for these differential effects of the two drugs, it was postulated that barbiturate counteracts the arousing effect of time pressure whereas amphetamine speeds up reaction when the task is not arousing. This is consistent with Trumbo and Gaillard (1975) but it contradicts predictions derived from a theory by Broadbent (1971).     

The Interactive Effect of Social Comparison and Objective Information on the Decision to See a Doctor

Doctors' schedules are often overcrowded by unnecessary consultations with people complaining of minor or harmless symptoms. Such people typically decide to seek medical attention after hearing the opinions of family and friends. The present study explored some factors that might affect one's readiness to be influenced by nonprofessional opinions. Subjects in a role-playing setting were asked to imagine they were experiencing various symptoms, and then were given social comparison information suggesting they either should or should not see a doctor. As an orthogonal factor, subjects were also given an objective basis, via a simple physical test, for believing the symptoms either did or did not require medical attention. Consistent with Festinger's (1954) propositions, objective information suggesting the need to see a doctor eliminated the influence of social comparison. However, objective information suggesting the symptoms were harmless failed to reduce the impact of social comparison. These results indicate that providing an objective basis for deciding to sec a doctor will not be effective in controlling unnecessary visits, since "don't go" objective information is completely overridden by "go" social comparison information.