ROLE PERCEPTIONS IN PERU1

Perception des râles au Pérou. — Le Différentiateur de Rôle (RD) a été utilisé pour étudier comment les Péruviens (N = 161) perçoivent les rôles. Les analyses factorielles font apparaître cinq facteurs de comportement identiques pour chacune des deux formes de l'instrument qui ont été utilisées. Une analyse factorielle (two-mode factor analysis) à 6 types de sujets pour chacune des deux formes, mais il n'y a pas de différences majeures dans les structures de réponses par rapport aux facteurs de comportement. Les échantillons sont supposés provenir de la même population. Les résultats sont cohérents avec l'hypothèse selon laquelle des normes de conduite clairement définies sont liées aux différences dans le statut social des paires de rôles qui reflètent le caractère hiérarchique de la société. l'hypothèse d'une invariance interculturelle de la structure factorielle des normes de conduite est confirmée. Les AA. résument brièvement les différences essentielles qui apparaissent dans la perception des rôles chez les Américains, les Grecs et les Péruviens.     

An analysis of motor coordination components for various localization tasks

Localization abilities of subjects in three perceptual-motor tasks were considered before and after an exposure to a visual distortion. During this distortion the subject observed his hand ballistically point to an invisible but audible target while either receiving or not receiving knowledge of results (KR) concerning pointing accuracy. Also, subjects either received a 1- or a 4-sec rest period between each of 30 exposure ballistic pointing actions. The pre- and postexposure tasks involved the ability of a subject to accurately point to an occluded and stationary auditory target, to point to the straight-ahead position in space, and to indicate when a moving, auditory target was perceived as being in the straight-ahead position. For these tasks, the pre- vs. postexposure localization difference scores are referred to as the negative aftereffect, the proprioceptive shift, and the auditory shift, respectively. Wilkinson's (1971) two-component additive model (negative aftereffect = proprioceptive shift plus auditory shift) held when KR was given regardless of amount of rest between exposure pointing responses. With a 4-sec rest and no KR, the relationship between coordination components was nonadditive (negative aftereffect greater than proprioceptive shift plus auditory shift).     

Avoidance extinction in goldfish

Independent groups of goldfish trained to avoid shock in a shuttlebox situation were presented with several extinction procedures in which the relationships between the conditioned stimulus and shock were altered and/or response contingencies removed. Random shock presentations, equivalent to the number of shocks received during avoidance acquisition, resulted in response decrements similar to those obtained when the conditioned stimulus was presented alone. Pairing the conditioned stimulus with shock on every trial, however, served to maintain response levels. When response-contingent punishment was superimposed upon these Pavlovian pairings, performance was facilitated slightly although punishment alone resulted in somewhat faster response reduction than that produced by exposure only to the conditioned stimulus. Extinction of avoidance responding produced by exposure to the conditioned stimulus alone was dependent on the total duration of exposure and independent of both number of stimulus onsets and response prevention. These experiments demonstrated that, in general, the procedures used to reduce avoidance responding in rats were equally effective for goldfish, with one exception: the introduction of a Pavlovian contingency following avoidance acquisition, making the previously avoidable shock unavoidable, maintained response probabilities near previously established levels.     

An introduction to microcomputer networking concepts

This paper presents a brief history of the use of internal computer networks, an introduction to networking concepts and topology, and suggestions regarding a possible system for use in a psychology laboratory. Considerations about the design and use of a microcomputer network are discussed.     

The contribution of sex distribution,job content,and occupational classification to job sextyping: Two studies

The distribution of males and females on a job, occupational classification, and job content as defined by the DOT analysis of job activity demands were examined as predictors of job sex stereotypes in two studies. Results indicate that the actual base rate of males and females in the job is the most important predictor of job sextypes, accounting for 48 and 70% of the adjusted variance in sextypes in the two studies. The results lend little support to the proposition that job content makes a significant contribution to the perception of job sextypes.     

Coping with the exposure to torture

This paper describes approaches taken at the International Rehabilitation and Research Centre in Copenhagen to helping torture victims and their families cope with the exposure to and aftermath of torture.     

Investigations of the reinstatement of extinguished fear

In two experiments, fear was conditioned to the situational cues in one compartment of a hurdle-jumping apparatus and was then extinguished. Subsequently, either one shock (Experiment 1) or three or nine shocks (Experiment 2) were given in a situation distinctively different from that in which conditioning and extinction had taken place. Although some associative strength between the situational cues and fear was shown to have remained after extinction, in neither experiment did the postextinction-shock treatment increase the fear elicited by these cues: Escape-from-fear performance was no better in the shocked groups than in control groups given no additional shock. Thus, the nonassociative hypothesis which postulates that inflating the value of the representation of the UCS with shock-alone presentations can reinstate the extinguished fear of a stimulus was not supported. Rather, the results showed that, after extinction, an increase in fear of a simulus depended on further conditioning to that stimulus. The data also indicated that the nonvisual components of the situational cues predominated over the visual component.