Lick-shock contingencies in the rat

Hungry rats were allowed to lick an 8% sucrose solution and then one of four lick-shock contingency conditions was superimposed on the licking baseline. These conditions were: free-operant avoidance, free shock, punishment, and no shock. From highest to lowest response rates, the groups fell in the order-avoidance, no shock, free shock, and punishment. Lick rates adjusted rapidly to introduction and removal of the contingencies. Post-shock responding was lowest in the punishment condition and highest in the free shock condition. No method was found simultaneously to equate shock frequency and separate response rates for the three shock contingency conditions. Only small, or no, reductions in shock rate occurred over sessions under the free-operant avoidance schedule when the shock-shock interval was 10 sec but large reductions occurred when the shock-shock interval was reduced to either 1 or 2 sec.     

Dynamic visuometric techniques

A general technique is described to automate the measurement of visual thresholds. The method is based on the dynamic analog of the method of adjustment, incorporating continuous feedback. Threshold is treated as a system interaction between some level of response and sensed input. The S tracks a stimulus that continually oscillates in magnitude around threshold. The accuracy and variability of the S’s response provides a dynamic and functional assessment of the threshold under the condition of the experiment. Techniques for instrumenting several visuometric procedures are described.     

Cortical steady-potential shifts in conditioning

Cortical steady-potential shifts obtained from nonpolarizing electrodes chronically implanted in freely moving cats and rats reveal cortical activation related to urgency of response to unconditional and conditional stimuli. Such shifts appear relatively independent of activation in the rhythmic electrocorticogram and are related to higher levels of activation. Shifting is found to be modulated by drive and level of learning, suggesting a correlation with the proposed reaction potential of Hull. Both approach and avoidance “urgency” are reflected in the onset slope and amplitude of SP shifts in a manner suggesting modulation of cortical activation by the effects of behavioral regulation of stimulus conditions.     

Cooperative Guidance and Instructional Programs for Leadership Preparation

This article outlines a sequential series of leadership programs, from elementary school to college level, that will serve to integrate the guidance and instructional processes. Leadership is viewed as one of the four main categories of talent: “academic, creative, kinesthetic (e.g., crafts, athletics), and psychosocial (e.g., leadership).” It is suggested that potential participants for leadership training might be identified by screening and nomination, case study, program planning and placement, and follow-up and evaluation. A four-front program of counseling-instructional activities including individual counseling, group counseling, seminars, and advanced classes is described. It is hypothesized that the interaction of teachers and counselors in actual curriculum building will lead to genuinely individualized educational programming.     

Dynamic spatial performance and general intelligence

A computerized video-game-like dynamic spatial ability measure and a paper-and-pencil group test of intelligence were administered to 94 university students. The purpose of the study was threefold: (a) to evaluate the reliability of the dynamic spatial measure; (b) to investigate the extent to which the dynamic spatial measure is saturated with variance associated with traditional measures of fluid and crystallized intellectual ability; and (c) to explore the possibility that dynamic computer based performance measures define factors that are distinct from those associated with traditional paper-and-pencil measures. The number of times the participant hit a moving target served as the dependent variable for the dynamic spatial measure. Number of hits proved to be correlated with Performance IQ, but was not significantly correlated with Verbal IQ. Maximum likelihood factor analysis revealed that the dynamic spatial measure did not load substantially on a factor of general intellectual ability but provided additional evidence that it is related to a performance component.     

Predicting treatment outcome and recidivism among patients in a maximum security token economy

The relationship between program performance and outcome for patients in maximum security token economy programs has not been previously studied. We examined variables related to success in a token economy program and to postrelease failure for 92 men in a maximum security psychiatric hospital. Point earnings later in the program were best predicted by earlier point earnings. Variables that best predicted postrelease failure, defined in various ways, were similar to those found in other studies; youthfulness, having spent more time in institutions, a diagnosis of personality disorder or retardation rather than psychosis, not having been found not guilty by reason of insanity or unfit to stand trial, and having been referred from another psychiatric hospital. That program variables were generally unrelated to later outcome suggests that treatment programs for patients in maximum security settings must emphasize skills that are relevant to postrelease success.     

Division of labor in conversations: Are Fishman's results replicable and generalizable?

Fishman's (1978a) conclusion that women do the bulk of the support work in their conversations with male partners has had widespread appeal. In this article, we present the results of two studies designed to assess the generalizability and replicability of her findings. In Study 1. the get-acquainted conversations of 20 mixed-sex, 10 male same-sex, and 10 female same-sex dyads were analyzed for the support strategies identified by Fishman. No support for a sexual division of labor was found. In Study 2, we analyzed the casual, at-home conversations of 17 intimate male-female couples. Again, we found no evidence that the women used more of the support strategies than their male partners. Rather, our findings suggest that the women may have helped to sustain the conversations with their male partners simply by talking more. The appeal of Fishman's conclusions in the absence of empirical evidence suggests that she has touched on a mythic truth.This article is based on a Master's thesis by the second author (Study 1) and an Honour's thesis by the third author (Study 2) under the supervision of the first author.     

A possible genetic basis of accuracy in personality perception

An analysis was conducted to assess whether individuals are more accurate in perceiving those personality characteristics of other' that have a larger genetic component. Adult monozygotic (MZ) twins (63 pairs) and same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twins (35 pairs) completed the Personality Research Form-E (PRF) and the Sibling Evaluation of Personality Characteristics (SEPC) which consists of 20 sets of adjectives corresponding to the 20 trait scales of the PRF. Subjects also evaluated their co-twin with the SEPC. Self-other agreement correlations were then correlated with the heritability estimates of the PRF traits calculated on the same twin sample. The results suggest that accuracy in perceiving the co-twin's personality does increase with the heritability component of the personality dimension.