Temporal contiguity and the judgement of causality by human subjects

Three experiments examined the role of the degree of temporal contiguity between an action and an outcome in human causality judgement. In all the experiments subjects were required to perform an action—pressing a key on a computer keyboard—and to judge the extent to which the action caused an outcome on the computer screen to occur. The action and outcome occurred on a free-operant schedule. In the first experiment a 2-sec delay between the action and outcome reduced causality judgements relative to a situation in which there was no delay. In the second experiment judgements in conditions with delays of 0, 4, 8, and 16 sec were compared with judgements in conditions in which the same pattern of outcomes occurred non-contingently with respect to the subjects' responding. In both of these experiments the events were controlled by random ratio schedules, following the procedure of Wasserman, Chatlosh, and Neunaber (1983), in which each condition was divided into 1-sec intervals. In the third experiment judgements in conditions with delays of 0, 2, 4, or 8 sec were compared in a continuous procedure rather than one divided into 1-sec intervals. In all experiments the increasing delays led to progressively lower judgements of causality. The results are related to three accounts of the mechanism underlying human causality judgement and are also compared with results from analogous animal conditioning studies.     

JOB CHARACTERISTICS AND WELL-BEING AT MIDLIFE Ethnic and Gender Comparisons

Lacking in the research on work and well-being is a focus on the characteristics of the employment role that contribute to well-being and their differential relations across ethnicity and gender. White and Black women and men at midlife (ages 40-64) were studied. The samples were drawn from two national surveys and included 186 White women, 202 White men, 254 Black women, and 169 Black men. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the relation of work commitment, job satisfaction, role stress, occupational status and personal income to perceived control, life satisfaction, and happiness. Marital status, age, and hours worked were included as control variables. Results indicate that job satisfaction is positively related to life satisfaction for all four groups, and to happiness for White women and Black men. Personal income is positively related to perceived control for Black women and White men, and to life satisfaction for White women. Occupational status is positively related to perceived control for White and Black women; role stress is negatively related to life satisfaction among White men, and to happiness among Black women. Among the control variable, being married positively related to well-being for all four race-sex groups.     

Spatial memory of four species of parus: Performance in an open-field analogue of a radial maze

The performance of four species of tit (marsh tit, Parus palustris; coal tit, P. ater; blue tit, P. caeruleus; and great tit, P. major) and one finch (greenfinch, Carduelis choris) was compared in an open field analogue of the radial maze. There were no differences between the tit species in either acquisition or asymptotic performance. The greenfinch showed less improvement with experience than the tits. When the retention interval between forced choice of four goal boxes and free choice of all eight was varied between 30 sec and 24 hr, performance declined with increasing interval. After 24 hr some individuals still performed above chance, and the food-storing tits combined (marsh and coal tit) were above chance, whilst the non-storers (blue and great tits) were not (this was primarily due to the poor performance of great tits). The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that food-storing tits have a specialized spatial memory.     

A MULTIMETHOD ATTITUDE STUDY ABOUT WOMEN'S ROLES AND ISSUES

We examined the relationships among college students'attitudes about women's roles and issues measured directly using the Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS), and indirectly using a free response measure, thought listing. The two types of measures were significantly related for both sexes, but more strongly related for men than for women. Women were more liberal than men in their responses to the AWS and to all thought listing stimuli except the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Inter-relationships among responses for different thought listing stimuli were moderate to nonexistent, suggesting that students'attitudes vary greatly depending on the issue or role examined.     

Delayed-matching-to-sample by marsh tits and great tits

The ability of two species of tits to remember the location and/or features of an object was tested in a delayed-matching-to-sample procedure. Three values of retention interval between presentation of the sample stimulus and the choice--30 sec, 5 min, and 15 min--were used. Both species performed at above-chance level at all retention intervals, and there was no significant decline in accuracy with increasing interval. A pool of 100 stimulus objects was used, but the results of control trials indicated that the birds responded primarily to location rather than stimulus features of the object itseif. Although the food-storing marsh tit tended to perform at a higher level than the non-storing great tit, the only significant difference between the species was in the first 50 trials of the first treatment, when the birds were acquiring the task. The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesized special memory capacity of food-storing birds.