Generalization gradients following two-response discrimination training

Stimulus generalization was investigated using institutionalized human retardates as subjects. A baseline was established in which two values along the stimulus dimension of auditory frequency differentially controlled responding on two bars. The insertion of the test probes disrupted the control established to the two S^Ds during training. The discrimination was recovered between each test probe and the resulting gradients were stable across 10 test sessions. These gradients, supported by other two-response generalization studies, indicate that this type of two-response discrimination training divides the stimulus dimension into two functional classes separated by a region of transition from one class to the other. Each stimulus value in a class, which extends from an S^D outward to the functional limit of the dimension, controls a similar proportion of the two responses as each other value in the class. All values on the stimulus dimension control identical response rates with an absence of the usual generalization decrement. The latency of the initial response, however, shows a bimodal gradient with the modes at the S^D values.     

Evidence for perceptual learning in pigeons' recognition memory for pictures

In two experiments, pigeons were trained on a recognition memory task, which required them to refrain from responding to a picture seen earlier that day. They learned this discrimination without detectable reliance on cues relating to the sequence of positive and negative trials. In both experiments, performance was significantly better when the same restricted set of stimuli was used each day than when an entirely novel set of stimuli was used each day, and in the former case there was less evidence of any significant decline in performance with increases in the interval between first and second presentations of a stimulus. The results suggest a powerful perceptual learning effect.     

WOMEN GROWING STRONGER WITH AGE The Effect of Status in the United States and Kenya

Previous research suggests that there is a shift in the perceived balance of interpersonal power in the second half of life in favor of older women, towards equality between men and women. To see if this age shift in power is universal, a study of women in two cultures, the United States and Kenya, examined the effect of status on the shift. As an indirect measure of interpersonal power, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) stories were collected from 60 U.S. and 60 Kenyan women and rated by trained judges for aspects of the interpersonal power of the characters in the stories. In each country there were two groups of 15 women under age 36 and 15 women over age 44, one of higher and one of lower status. In both countries, only the higher status women showed the shift in power with age. That status modulated the shift in power with age in two different cultures is discussed in terms of the necessity for a resource base for power.     

选择、自我表达与选择扩散效应

自我表达会影响西方人的态度, 产生选择扩散效应。国外相关的跨文化研究发现东方人不存在该效应。通过4个实验研究中国文化下自我表达对选择态度的影响, 发现选择方式(主动、被动)和自我表达形式(直接、间接)对选择态度产生影响。无论是自己的主动选择还是强加的被动选择, 直接的自我表达会增加对所获对象的喜爱程度, 表现为对获得性的肯定。研究者认为, 两种选择方式下不同的心理加工过程导致了这种获得性：直接表达使个人态度暴露在外, 进行主动选择时要对他人的给予做出肯定回应; 而进行被动选择时, 人们要减缓因利益受损可能导致的失调, 同时中国文化下的面子策略也使人们增加对所获对象的喜爱程度。不过, 间接的自我表达对选择态度的影响不明显。研究者认为, 多个影响因素的相互消长使选择态度得以维持。     

Distributive Justice for Others,Collective Angst,and Support for Exclusion of Immigrants

Harsh treatment of others can reflect an underlying motivation to view the world as fair and just and also a dispositional tendency to believe in justice. However, there is a critical need to refine and expand existing knowledge, not only to identify underlying psychological processes but also to better understand how justice may be implicated in support for exclusionary policies. Across two studies, we show that support for policies that restrict immigrants is exclusively associated with thoughts about fair outcomes for other people (distributive justice for others). In Study 1, Americans' dispositional tendency to believe in distributive justice for others was associated with greater support for a policy proposing to further restrict immigrant job seekers' capacity to gain employment in the United States. In Study 2, we experimentally primed thoughts about justice in a sample of U.S. police officers. Support for a policy that mandated stricter policing of illegal immigration was strongest among officers who first thought about fair outcomes for other people, relative to other unique justice primes. Across both studies, distributive justice for others was associated with greater collective angst—perceived threat towards the future existence of Americans. Moreover, collective angst mediated the link between distributive justice for others and support for restrictive policies. Overall, this research suggests that thoughts about distributive justice for others can especially diminish compassion towards immigrants and other underprivileged groups via support for exclusionary policies. In addition, merely thinking about distributive justice for others may be sufficient to amplify social callousness.     

Meta-awareness, perceptual decoupling and the wandering mind

Mind wandering (i.e. engaging in cognitions unrelated to the current demands of the external environment) reflects the cyclic activity of two core processes: the capacity to disengage attention from perception (known as perceptual decoupling) and the ability to take explicit note of the current contents of consciousness (known as meta-awareness). Research on perceptual decoupling demonstrates that mental events that arise without any external precedent (known as stimulus independent thoughts) often interfere with the online processing of sensory information. Findings regarding meta-awareness reveal that the mind is only intermittently aware of engaging in mind wandering. These basic aspects of mind wandering are considered with respect to the activity of the default network, the role of executive processes, the contributions of meta-awareness and the functionality of mind wandering.