Sex factors in children's observational learning of value judgments of toys

Sex Roles - Preschool children observed the play of a male or female model with a nonpreferred toy. The model's play incorporated a masculine or feminine storylike sequence of actions or was...     

Concept attainment, transfer, and retention through observation and rule-provision

The effects of observing a model and of providing a response rule on the learning, transfer, and retention of a dial-reading, numerical concept were studied in 144 third graders. Different Es conducted the immediate learning procedures versus the measurements of retention. No extrinsic reinforcers were promised or dispensed. The children profited both from modeling and from rule-provision, with the strongest learning, transfer, and retention displayed by the group that watched the model and also received the rule summary. Sequence of presenting the sets of retention stimuli (including a series of novel generalization items not previously encountered) did not influence the strength of concept retention 6 weeks after training.     

The effect of gender-schematic processing on decisions about sex-inappropriate sport behavior

This research investigates the effect of gender-schematic processing on decisions to reject sex-inappropriate sports. Sex-typed subjects expressly state concerns about the gender appropriateness of the sport more often than androgynous and undifferentiated subjects. Moreover, they rate gender-based factors as more important to their decisions than the latter two groups. Second, we assess whether gender-schematic processing of the self extends to gender-schematic processing of others. When told only that a fictitious person enjoys doing either a masculine or feminine sport, sex-typed subjects are more likely to draw sex-consistent conclusions about that person than are androgynous and undifferentiated subjects. A discussion of cross-sex-typed subjects' responses is included and it is suggested that considering males' responses separately from females' may be more informative for certain experimental tasks.This article is based upon a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 1984. The author wishes to thank Sandra L. Bem, Daryl Bem, and Thomas Gilovich for guidance throughout this work. Gordon H. Bower, Leonard M. Horowitz, Margaret Intons-Peterson, and an anonymous reviewer deserve thanks for their extended comments and discussions of this work. Thanks are also due to Ann Wycoff and Paula Christianson who served as experimenters, to James P. Cunningham for statistical assistance, and James P. Fallon for computer programming assistance. This research was supported by the Department of Psychology, Cornell University.     

Water and NaCl intake after furosemide treatment in sheep (Ovis aires)

Intravenous infusion of the natriuretic drug furosemide in sheep led to the excretion of large quantitites of hypotonic urine. The sheep consumed more water than was needed simply to restore osmotic equilibrium. The stimulus for the additional intake was presumably hypovolemia resulting from the loss of sodium in urine. Despite the natriuresis, in only 2 of 15 experiments did sheep drink significant amounts of .5 M NaCl solution during the first 10 hr after the onset of furosemide treatment, and hemoconcentration and arterial hypotension were evident during this time. By 24 hr, however, the saline consumption in all but three experiments had increased and compensated adequately (together with the water intakes) for the furosemide-induced loss of sodium-rich fluid in urine. These results provide evidence that following acute hypovolemia in sheep, as in rats, the onset of sodium appetite is delayed relative to the appearance of thirst.     

Propositional quantification and the prosentential theory of truth

Philosophical Studies -     

Measuring the Intrapersonal Component of Psychological Empowerment: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Sociopolitical Control Scale

The Sociopolitical Control Scale (SPCS) is a widely used measure of the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted with data from two samples to test the hypothesized structure of the SPCS, the potential effects of method bias on the measure’s psychometric properties, and whether a revised version of the scale (SPCS-R) yielded improved model fit. Sample 1 included 316 randomly selected community residents of the Midwestern United States. Sample 2 included 750 community residents of the Northeastern U.S. Results indicated that method bias from the use of negatively worded items had a significant effect on the factor structure of the SPCS. CFA of the SPCS-R, in which negatively worded items were rephrased so that all statements were positively worded, supported the measure’s hypothesized two-factor structure (i.e., leadership competence and policy control). Subscales of the SPCS-R were found reliable and related in expected ways with measures of community involvement. Implications of the study for empowerment-based research and practice are described, and strategies to further develop the SPCS are discussed.     

Differential effects of token reinforcement on instruction-following behavior in retarded students instructed as a group

This study was addressed to the problem of applying behavior modification techniques on a group basis to a class of retarded students with "attentional deficits". Seven boys, age 8 to 15 yr, characterized as showing severe "attentional" problems or disruptive behavior in their respective classrooms, participated daily for 30-min sessions in a special class over a 1.5-month period. In each session, verbal instructions were given to the class as a whole. In control sessions, each appropriate instruction-following response by a child produced praise for that child. In experimental sessions, appropriate responses also produced tokens exchangeable for tangible reinforcers after the session. Token reinforcement differentially maintained instruction-following behavior in four children while one responded appropriately to most instructions and a second improved continuously during the study. While the data suggest that the present approach can be successfully applied to the alteration of instruction-following behavior in retarded children, its major contribution may be that of providing objective quantitative information about such behavior.     

Spaced responding in multiple DRL schedules

Rats were able to adjust to two different temporal requirements within several multiple DRL schedules of reinforcement, and a slight induction between pairs of components was found. Initial administration of dl-amphetamine differentially disrupted spaced responding in the components of a multiple DRL 36 DRL 18 schedule, but did not eliminate discrimination between the components. After maximum drug effects, the continued administration of dl-amphetamine was accompanied by a progressive recovery of the behavior towards the characteristics of saline control.