Exploring the role of personal normative beliefs in the theory of reasoned action: The problem of discriminating between alternative path models

In the 1967 version of Fishbein's model of the attitude-behaviour relationship a distinction was drawn between personal and social normative beliefs. Personal normative beliefs were later removed from the model on the grounds that they act as an alternative measure of behavioural intention. It is argued that the existing literature does not support this hypothesis and data is presented which indicates that personal normative beliefs are not an alternative measure of behavioural intention. It is argued that personal normative beliefs can be reconceptualized as measuring a person's ideal behavioural intention; a variable which mediates the relationship between attitudes, subjective norms and intentions, Evidence is presented which supports this hypothesis, but it is further demonstrated that an alternative model can be fitted to the present data. It is argued that it is impossible to discriminate between these alternative models on the basis of path analytic techniques, and the implications that this finding has for attitude research are discussed.     

The surreptitious observation design: an experimental paradigm for distinguishing artifact from essence in hypnosis

Administered a hypnotic induction and 5 standard hypnotic suggestions twice via audiotape to a group of high-hypnotizable subjects and a group of low-hypnotizable simulators. During the first administration, subjects were led to believe that they were alone. However, their behavior was surreptitiously recorded on videotape and observed on a video monitor. The second administration occurred in the presence of an experimenter who had not been informed of group assignment. When unaware that they were being observed, simulators were significantly less responsive to suggestions than they were when openly observed. In contrast, the behavior of nonsimulating subjects was not affected by the presence of an experimenter. These data indicate that the responses of highly hypnotizable subjects to standard hypnotic suggestions cannot be accounted for in terms of simple compliance with experimental demand.     

Logic, reasoning, and verbal behavior

This paper analyzes the traditional concepts of logic and reasoning from the perspective of radical behaviorism and in the terms of Skinner's treatment of verbal behavior. The topics covered in this analysis include the proposition, premises and conclusions, logicality and rules, and deductive and inductive reasoning.     

Comparative effects of externally managed and self-managed response-cost systems on inappropriate classroom behavior

This study compares the relative efficacy of externally managed and self- managed free token response-cost systems in decreasing the inappropriate behavior of two learning-disabled students. The differential effects of the two treatment conditions were assessed by using an alternating treatments design. Experimental control was demonstrated by adding reversal phases comparing the treatments with baseline conditions. The results indicated that the two treatment conditions are equally effective in decreasing inappropriate behavior. The reasons for and implications of the findings are discussed.     

Parallel processing strategies in the application of microcomputers to the behavioral laboratory

The Operant Package for the Neurosciences (OPN) is a software system that runs on the TRS-80 Model I and Model III and the Apple II+ and Apple lie microcomputers. It is designed to allow a single microcomputer to control behavioral experiments in up to eight different stations, record experimental data, and provide detailed data analysis. Although segments of the program are written in BASIC, allowing users to interact with OPN in a simple English question-and-answer format, the part that provides real-time experimental control is written in Z-80 assembly language. The present report describes in detail assembly language algorithms that we found to facilitate speed of processing and flexibility of control. Particular problems dealt with how to update and change flag variables controlling the reinforcement contingencies and output conditions in each station, as well as how to decide when each station should shift contingencies. The solutions to these problems utilize byte-oriented parallel processing strategies, converting serially organized reference information for each station into a group of working flag bytes that control contingency and output variables for all stations in parallel.     

Maximization of biofeedback following cognitive stress preselection in generalized anxiety

53 subjects, who scored high on an anxiety check list, were evaluated for their responsiveness to relaxation exercises and biofeedback. Each subject was cognitively stressed prior to the training phase by imagining anxiety-provoking situations. Analysis was done on pertaining/posttraining anxiety scores and physiological parameters (galvanic skin response, differences in finger temperature, and frontalis muscle activity). Subjects given feedback corresponding to that physiological parameter which changed the most when stressed, maximized that feedback more than subjects receiving nonrelevant or no feedback. All groups reported significant reductions in anxiety symptoms. Follow-up analysis 15 mo. later showed 76% of the subjects were still symptom-free for anxiety regardless of type of feedback received.     

Effects of female odors on the sexual behavior of male hamsters

A series of experiments was undertaken to investigate the effects of removal of several scent glands and scent-producing organs of female hamsters on the copulatory performance of male hamsters. In the first experiment it was shown that males engage in less copulatory activity toward females lacking vaginal secretions than toward females with these odors. Eliminating visual cues by observing pairs under infrared illumination did not change the performance of males toward these two kinds of females. The results of Experiment 2 indicated the importance of flank, ear, and Harderian glands as well as vaginal secretions--males showed the highest levels of copulatory behavior toward females with a full complement of odors and the lowest levels toward those lacking three of four sources of scent. Similar results were obtained in the third experiment in which anesthetized females were used as stimulus animals to increase the importance of chemical cues and to reduce variability due to the behavior of females. The sexual behavior of males was greatest toward females with all sources of scent present, lower toward those lacking vaginal secretions, and still lower toward those lacking vaginal secretions and other sources of odors. In the fourth experiment we asked whether any one of the nonvaginal scent glands was particularly important in stimulating male sexual behavior, but we found no differences in male performance toward females that lacked vaginal secretions or that in addition lacked one of the other scent glands. In the fifth experiment males displayed higher levels of sexual behavior toward vaginectomized females than toward vaginectomized females that had been deodorized by a cleaning procedure, again indicating the importance of nonvaginal odors in stimulating copulatory performance. Thus these experiments demonstrate the importance of vaginal secretions in the sexual arousal of male hamsters, a role for nonvaginal odors in sexual arousal of males, and the lack of necessity of these odors for male copulatory behavior. These results have implications for theories of olfactory communication in mammals and for interpretations of experiments in which lesions of the olfactory system lead to deficits in male copulatory performance.     

Affective exchanges between young autistic children and their mothers

This study examined autistic children's social behavior, affect, and use of gaze during naturalistic interactions with their mothers. Sixteen autistic children, 30 to 70 months of age, and 16 normal children, matched on receptive language, participated. Children and their mothers were videotaped during three situations: a free-play period, a more structured period during which communicative demand was made on the child, and a face-to-face interaction. In all three situations, autistic and normal children did not differ in the frequency or duration of gaze at mother's face. In the one condition (face-to-face interaction) during which affective expressions were coded, autistic and normal children also were not found to differ significantly in the frequency or duration of smiles displayed, and neither group displayed frowns. However, autistic children were much less likely than normal children to combine their smiles with eye contact in a single act that conveyed communicative intent. Autistic and normal children were not found to differ in the percentages of smiles they displayed to social versus nonsocial events. However, when autistic children's responses to mother's smiles specifically were examined, it was found that they were much less likely to smile in response to mother's smiles than were normal children. Finally, it was found that mothers o f autistic children displayed fewer smiles and were less likely to smile in response to their children's smiles, when compared with mothers o f normal children. These findings suggest that the autistic child's unusual affective behavior may negatively affect the behavior of others.We wish to thank the children and their mothers who participated in this study, and the staff at Division TEACCH at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for their help in recruiting children for the study. Harriet Reingold generously allowed us to videotape the children in her infant observation laboratory at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Cathy Lord provided videotapes of some of the autistic children and their mothers. Mary Evers assisted in data collection. Kerry Hogan assisted in the coding of data; her help is gratefully acknowledged. The study was supported by a grant from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.     

On the locus of visual selection: evidence from focused attention tasks

Early and late selection models of attention disagree about whether visual objects are identified before or after selection, with recent evidence of interference from to-be-ignored stimuli favoring late selection over early selection accounts. However, these tests may not have permitted optimal attentional focusing. In 4 experiments subjects identified an attentionally cued target letter embedded among distractors. Only minimal effects of information appearing in to-be-ignored locations were observed. This striking efficiency of selection provides support for early selection theories and calls into question some late selection theories holding that stimuli throughout the display are immediately and fully identified prior to attentional selection. In order to explain the larger pattern of results across a variety of focused- and divided-attention paradigms, a hybrid model is advanced with a flexible locus for visual selection.     

Attention capture by novel stimuli

In several experiments, observers were given glimpses of 4-word arrays. Accuracy of word localization was tested after each array. Some words, called familiar, appeared many times across the series of arrays; others, called novel, appeared only once. The ratio of novel to familiar words in an array ranged from 0:4 to 4:0. When familiar and novel words were not intermixed (in 0:4 and 4:0 arrays), localization accuracy was higher for familiar words. However, when they were intermixed, especially in 1:3 arrays, accuracy tended to be higher for the novel words. This novel popout effect was the outcome of the suppressed localizability of the familiar words (relative to the 0:4 baseline) and the enhanced localizability of the novel words (relative to the 4:0 baseline). Novel popout may reflect an automatic orientation of attention away from more fluently unfolding regions of the perceptual field (familiar objects) and toward less fluently unfolding regions (novel objects).