The following schedule of reinforcement as a fundamental determinant of steady state contrast in multiple schedules

Two experiments investigated whether steady-state interactions in multiple schedules depend exclusively on the following schedule of reinforcement. Experiment 1 used a four-component multiple schedule in which two components were associated with the same constant schedule of reinforcement, and where rate of reinforcement was varied in the component that followed one of these. Contrast effects were reliable only in the component that preceded the point of reinforcement variation, although some contrast did occur otherwise. In those instances where contrast other than the following-schedule effect did occur, it was accounted for by the effect of the preceding schedule, an effect for which there were consistent individual differences among subjects, and which varied with component duration. Experiment 2 used a three-component schedule, in which reinforcement rate was varied in the middle component. The results were consistent with Experiment 1, as the following-schedule effect was the only consistent effect that occurred, although an effect of the preceding schedule did occur for some subjects under some conditions, and was especially evident early in training. The conclusion from both experiments is that there is no general effect of relative rate of reinforcement apart from the sum of the effects of the preceding and following schedules, and that the following-schedule effect is the fundamental cause of steady-state interactions.     

Development of clinical tests of vision: Initial data on two hyperacuity paradigms

Many basic psychophysical functions offer promise as clinical tests of vision. Here, we discuss problems that one encounters in the clinical setting, how one identifies a psychophysical test for potential clinical development, and an orderly approach to development of suitable test paradigms. Parameters are selected which are relatively insensitive to variables encountered in the field (clinic) in a normal population, but which are sensitive to changes in the response system being studied. Initial data on two hyperacuity tests are presented. These tests are adaptations of hyperacuity paradigms (Westheimer, 1979) to a clinical environment. This particular test set offers promise because it exhibits a unique threshold which is dependent upon neural data processing and is relatively independent of retinal image degradation.     

Personality Characteristics and Self-esteem in Pet Owners and Non-owners

Previous research suggests that pet owners are psychologically different than non-owners in terms of self-esteem and other personality characteristics. In this study, 82 pet owners and 48 non-owners were tested on self-esteem, extraversion, neuroticism, and social self-esteem. Special emphasis was placed on highly attached pet owners compared with non-owners. Level of attachment was determined by scores from the CENSHARE pet attachment survey. No significant differences were found between the groups using analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance statistical procedures. It was concluded that pet owners and non-owners may not be different in terms of personality but may have become victims of stereotyping by both the general population and scientific researchers. Discussion was given to related significant findings and recommendations for further research.     

Multiple role juggling and daily mood states in working mothers: an experience sampling study

The effects of multiple role juggling (i.e., simultaneously attending to demands of different roles) on daily mood states of employed mothers were examined. Ss completed activity and mood questionnaires 8 times a day for 8 days. Multiple role juggling had immediate negative effects on task enjoyment and mood. However, contrast effects and habituation to role juggling occurred when mood and satisfaction were examined over time. Furthermore, mood states tended to spill over from one episode to the next within a day, but contrast effects were found across days. These results reflect the complex nature of psychological adjustment to multiple role occupancy.     

Choice as a function of local versus molar reinforcement contingencies.

Rats were trained on a discrete-trial probability learning task. In Experiment 1, the molar reinforcement probabilities for the two response alternatives were equal, and the local contingencies of reinforcement differentially reinforced a win-stay, lose-shift response pattern. The win-stay portion was learned substantially more easily and appeared from the outset of training, suggesting that its occurrence did not depend upon discrimination of the local contingencies but rather only upon simple strengthening effects of individual reinforcements. Control by both types of local contingencies decreased with increases in the intertrial interval, although some control remained with intertrial intervals as long as 30 s. In Experiment 2, the local contingencies always favored win-shift and lose-shift response patterns but were asymmetrical for the two responses, causing the molar reinforcement rates for the two responses to differ. Some learning of the alternation pattern occurred with short intertrial intervals, although win-stay behavior occurred for some subjects. The local reinforcement contingencies were discriminated poorly with longer intertrial intervals. In the absence of control by the local contingencies, choice proportion was determined by the molar contingencies, as indicated by high exponent values for the generalized matching law with long intertrial intervals, and lower values with short intertrial intervals. The results show that when molar contingencies of reinforcement and local contingencies are in opposition, both may have independent roles. Control by molar contingencies cannot generally be explained by local contingencies.     

“Paramount reality” in Schutz and Gurwitsch

Conclusion Both Schutz and Gurwitsch describe reality as having a manifold character: Schutz speaks of multiple realities and Gurwitsch of orders of existence. Both hold that one realm of reality has a privileged status compared to the others: common everyday experience. However, in spite of this apparent convergence in their views, a closer reading of their various works reveal the important difference in what they understand under common everyday experience.For Schutz, it is the world of social action, characterized by him as paramount reality because of the constitutive processes of the experiences of time, space, sociality and meaning involved in action. For Gurwitsch, the realm of common everyday experience represents the counterpart and the origin of the constructed realm of science: therein lies its status of paramount reality. But what it really refers to is not ordinary experience, as most of his statements suggest, but pre-predicative experience, wherefrom the categories of the natural sciences, namely space and time, originate. Gurwitsch speaks of this pre-predicative experience, which he also calls primordial experience, as being essentially perceptual experience. However, he limits perceptual experience to sensory perception, leaving out the symbolic, social and action-related components of perception and becomes thus inconsistent with his adherence to the dismissal of the constancy hypothesis in his field theory of consciousness. The dismissal of the constancy hypothesis implies the recognition of the appresentational structures involving symbols, action and Others as inherent components of every perception. Schutz disagrees with Gurwitsch's reduction of the life-world Erlebnisse to sensory perception and this issue becomes the core of their debate on the phenomenon of paramount reality.     

Mentally retarded individuals outperform college graduates in judging the nonconservation of space and perimeter

Most adults of average and superior intelligence incorrectly assume that in a two dimensional figure two attributes, area, and perimeter, are locked in a fixed relationship such that if one remains unchanged so does the other. Consequently, when they correctly conserve one attribute during shape transformation, they incorrectly conserve the other. Mentally retarded individuals assume no such fixed relationship but depend exclusively on perceptual information. Although this dependence adversely effects their judgment of conservation, it allows them to correctly judge the changed state of the nonconserved attribute.     

Facilitation and helplessness: The interaction of perceived difficulty and importance of a task

Experimentally induced failure sometimes produces helplessness and sometimes facilitation on subsequent tasks. A model which accounts for this in terms of variations in perceived task difficulty and importance and variations in the cost of effort is proposed. Predictions from the model were confirmed in two experiments using the finger shuttlebox. When subjects expected the test task to be easy, importance of test outcome did not affect performance. However, when they expected the test task to be difficult, low outcome importance led to debilitation, and high importance to facilitation. If, in this condition, subjects experienced initial failure on the task perceived as difficult and important, helplessness rather than facilitation was observed. The model proposed may account for some of the conflicting results obtained in laboratory studies of human helplessness.     

Tower of Hanoi performance of retarded young adults and nonretarded children as a function of solution length and goal state

Three experiments were conducted with the Tower of Hanoi task to assess problem solving ability in 6-, 7-, 8-, and 10-year-old nonretarded children and mentally retarded young adults of varying maturational ages. In Experiment 1 we gradually reduced the number of moves required for solution until subjects could solve the 3-disk tower-ending problem. Although all groups experienced difficulty with the standard 7-move problem, all but the trainable retarded group readily solved the 6-move problem. The trainable group did not reach a comparable level of success until the 4-move problem. On the 7-move problem the retarded groups performed at the level of nonretarded groups that were maturationally $\text{1}\text{1}\text{2}$ to 3 years younger. An analysis of first moves indicated that subject groups differed in the strategies they used to solve the problems. In Experiment 2, practice effects were ruled out as a source of the superior performance on the 6- than on the 7-move problem. In Experiment 3, 7- and 10-year-old nonretarded children and mentally retarded young adults did not differ on 5-move problems in which configuration of the goal states was varied. A comparison of all 5-move problems judged to have the same depth of search requirements indicated that the tower-ending problems were significantly easier to solve than the partial-tower-ending problems, which in turn were easier than the flat-ending problems. A limited depth of search capacity sets boundaries on the use of sophisticated strategies and, to a large extent, accounts for the retarded groups' maturational lag.