Be is a raising verb: Psycholinguistic evidence

Psycholinguistic evidence is reported supporting the proposal from theoretical linguistics that the D-structure representation of English copular sentences likeJohn is a fool, The man is happy, etc., is [S [NP e] [vp BE [sc NP XP]]], containing a small clause (SC), rather than [s NP [vp BE XP]], in other words, thatbe is a raising verb. Response times to lexical targets following unaccusative, passive, intransitive, and transitive sentences were compared with response times to lexical targets following corresponding copular sentences. A raising analysis of copular sentences specifies a post-verbal NP-trace of the (raised) NP subject at S-structure. This trace should facilitate the response time to a post-sentence presentation of the head noun of the subject NP, causing copular sentence response times to pattern with the response times for corresponding unaccusatives and passives, which also contain such traces. A traditional nonraising analysis specifies no trace at S-structure. Response times to copular sentences should then pattern with corresponding intransitives and transitives, which also do not contain traces. The observed response-time patterns confirmed the raising analysis.This study was conducted at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, in the course of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education.     

A method for determining the aversive threshold in the rat using repeated measures: Tests with morphine sulfate

The procedure described here provides an objective automated technique for the psychophysical assessment of the aversive threshold and allows the animal Ss to serve as their own controls. Sensitivity to drug effects, as well as comparisons between drugs, using the same animals are possible also. Using a rectangular tilt cage, the aversive threshold to grid shock was defined as that intensity avoided 75% of the time. Each shock intensity (30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 microA) was presented for 5 min on one side of the cage and then switched to the other side for 5 min, thereby forcing the animal to sample each shock intensity. Aversive thresholds were determined daily for each rat. The analgesic effects of morphine sulfate were compared to saline. Animals were tested for 3 days at each morphine dose level (2, 4, 8, and 16 mg/kg). Each 3-day morphine series alternated with 3 days of testing under saline. Significant differences were detected between saline and morphine at 4, 8, and 16 mg/kg.     

A comparative study of proprietary and nonproprietary vocational training graduates

Questionnaires were sent to 13,549 graduates of four types of proprietary and nonproprietary vocational training programs in four selected metropolitan areas of the United States. Initial responses were received from 5,215 graduates, a response rate of 38.5%. The survey featured an intensive follow-up to reach and estimate the characteristics of the nonrespondent population. Substantial differences favoring nonproprietary programs were found between proprietary and nonproprietary graduates in terms of economic gains following graduation and expressed satisfaction. Nevertheless, both types of programs were found to be generally effective in producing graduates with marketable skills; post-training salaries were high enough to indicate that the training was cost effective in all except proprietary computer training programs. The results supported several recommendations regarding the necessity for uniform standards of accountability in the regulation of vocational training programs, whether they are public or private.     

The “Black Sheep Effect”: Extremity of judgments towards ingroup members as a function of group identification

The present study proposes an extension to the phenomenon of ingroup favouritism, based on the hypothesis that judgments about ingroup members may be more positive or more negative than judgments about similar outgroup members. It contrasts predictions issued from the complexity-extremity hypothesis (Linville, 1982; Linville and Jones, 1980), from the ingroup favouritism hypothesis (Tajfel, 1982) and from Tesser's (1978; Millar and Tesser, 1986) attitude polarization model. Our main prediction, based on Social Identity Theory, is that judgments about both likeable and unlikeable ingroup members are more extreme than judgments about outgroup members. This phenomenon, coined the Black Sheep Effect, is viewed as due to the relevance that ingroup members'behaviour, as compared to that of outgroup members, has for the subjects' social identity. Three experiments supported our predictions. Experiment I additionally showed that inter-trait correlations were stronger for the ingroup than for the outgroup. Experiment 2 showed that the black sheep effect occurs only when the judgmental cues are relevant for the subjects' social identity, and Experiment 3 showed that levels of information about the target of the judgment were ineffective in generating judgmental extremity. Results are discussed in light of a cognitive-motivational alternative explanation to a purely cognitive interpretation of outgroup homogeneity.     

Coital behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge of students who experience early coitus

The purpose of this study was to investigate coital behavior, contraceptive practices, and attitudinal and knowledge differences between "early coital initiators" (subjects having initial coitus at 16 years or younger) and "late coital initiators" (subjects having initial coitus from 17 to 20 years of age). Data were compiled from the results of a questionnaire administered to 929 students enrolled in personal health courses at 14 colleges and universities. The sample used for analysis included only the never-married coitally experienced males and females aged 20 and older (N = 396). The results suggested that late coital initiators: were more effective contraceptors during initial coitus; had more committed relationships with their initial sex partners; engaged in more discussion about and planning for contraceptive use; and used more authoritative and reliable sources for contraceptive information than their younger counterparts. Both groups scored very low on basic knowledge questions concerning fertility, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases. These results mandate greater public concern and involvement to delay early coital experiences and prevent unprotected sexual intercourse.     

Twenty five on: Yet another version of cognitive dissonance theory?

The aim of this article is to highlight, 25 years on, the innovations of Festinger's theory of dissonance as regards its conception of cognitive functioning. Analysis of the dissonance ratio, on the basis of which Festinger evaluated the total amount of dissonance D/(D + C) gives rise to three propositions: (1) The total amount of dissonance is evaluated on the basis of a particular cognition G. (2) This cognition is neither the denominator, nor the numerator of the dissonance ratio; it is the cognitive expression of an effective conduct. (3) No presupposition is made concerning possible consonance or dissonance-relations between cognitions C and D. Thus reduction in dissonance is not presented as a process that always orients cognitive activity toward greater consistency, but as a rationalization of conduct which may adapt to an increase in certain inconsistencies, and even generate them. This new insight into Festinger's theory may be thought of as a new version that is quite distinct, both from earlier revisions of the theory, and from the various theories of cognitive consistency. It is hoped, moreover, that it will provoke reflection concerning the current orientatlons of cognitivism in social psychology.     

Variations in size of the visual field in which targets are presented: An attentional range effect

In Experiment 1, subjects responded with a buttonpress to a target letter O embedded in a pair of vertical lines. A flanker control method was used to constrain the location and size of the initial attentional focus. The target could appear in one of five locations within a particular horizontal range. There were five ranges, varying from 1.7° to 8.6° in visual angle. Reaction time measures to the target exhibited V-shaped curves, with the lowest reaction time corresponding to the location of the initial focus of attention. The slopes of the curves decreased monotonically with target ranges. Reaction time measures at the extreme locations of the five ranges showed no significant increase with eccentricity, indicating that the influence of retinal sensitivity is negligible in this identification task as compared with the influence of other, presumably attentional, processes. Experiment 2 indicated that within a given range the slopes of the reaction time curves are independent of the number of locations probed. Additional evidence for the attentional range effect was given in Experiments 3 and 4, in which the tasks were detection of an asterisk both with and without flanking vertical lines and identification of the letter O with and without flanking lines. These results do not conform to predictions of a shifting focus theory of attention with the velocity of the focus assumed to be constant, or to the predictions of a gradient theory with total processing capacity assumed to be fixed.     

Conditioned suppression of drl responding: Effect of ucs intensity, schedule parameter, and schedule context

In Experiment I, groups of rats were trained to press a lever for food reinforcement on differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) schedules which differed in parameter value. A stimulus which terminated with either a 0.5-mA or 2.0-mA electric shock was then superimposed upon each DRL baseline. In general, the magnitude of conditioned suppression was an inverse function of DRL schedule parameter and a direct function of shock intensity. Experiment II demonstrated that the rate of responding maintained by the DRL component of a multiple DRL-extinction schedule decreased during a stimulus preceding a 0.5-mA shock, whereas the rate of responding maintained by the DRL component of a multiple DRL-variable interval schedule showed little change or increased slightly during a stimulus preceding a 0.5-mA shock.