The effect of light intensity when onset or termination of illumination is used as reinforcing stimulus

The Psychological Record - Two experiments were performed to examine the reinforcing effects of onset and termination of non-aversive illumination, made conterminous with lever contacting, as a...     

Driye-leyel and flexibility in paired-associate nonsense-syllable learning

“High-anxiety” and “low-anxiety” subjects, selected for extreme scores on the Taylor Anxiety Scale, learned a list of paired-associate nonsense syllables in the belief that they were undergoing an intelligence test. Both groups were then given a second list of paired associates to learn, the stimulus-items being the same as those of the first list but the responses being changed. Before the presentation of the second list, half the subjects in each group were given anxiety-increasing instructions and the remaining half were given reassuring instructions.

The results verified two predictions made from Hull's behaviour theory, using the concept of fear or anxiety as a secondary drive:—“high anxiety” subjects took more trials to master the second learning task than “low-anxiety” subjects; and there was a significant interaction between initial anxiety-level and type of instructions, such that “high-anxiety” subjects who received drive-increasing instructions had a worse performance in the second part than all other sub-groups. There was no indication that “low-anxiety” subjects were significantly affected by the type of instructions received. The “high-anxiety” group had greater difficulty than the “low-anxiety” group in learning the first list, but the difference was non-significant.     

Spiritual work

Pastoral Psychology -     

An application of the interpersonal models developed by Karen Horney and Timothy Leary to Type A-B behavior patterns

Using Horney's clinical concepts and Leary's circle matrix procedures, this study investigated the Type A and B patterns of personality. Significant findings showed the Type A-B continuum to represent two distinct poles, with the Type A direction reflecting the expansive personality pattern (power and aggressiveness) and the Type B direction reflecting the self-effacing pattern (helplessness and affiliation) for self-perceived roles. For behavioral roles, the power-versus-helplessness traits described the two contrasting directions of personality involvement. Three subgroups were identified for behavioral role in each A and B extreme group. The shift in affect between the ACL and MMPI instruments may reflect two factors: the degree of ambiguity set up by the nature of the tests and the responding "pull" of the individual, which was described as an "active" or "quiescent" form of the A and B patterns. Hence, it may be more effective to diagnose individuals in terms of a specific behavioral subtype and active or quiescent enactments. Three maladjustment indicators were investigated. Significant findings showed the A2 group as exhibiting increasing rigidity of behavioral role with lower Type A scores and the A1 group as exhibiting greater discrepancies with increasing Type A scores. The lack of discrepancy for the Type B groups may reflect a dysfunction in that these individuals may be stagnated in their work situations and complacent in the docile-dependent role. The three findings of behavioral subgroups, rigidity of role, and discrepancy were discussed as possible mediating psychosocial factors associated with coronary heart disease. Since this was the first major examination and use of Leary's model (to the author's knowledge) since the late 1950s, it is important to consider these results tentative and heuristic, until replications can be conducted. It is hoped that representative norms from diverse samples can be obtained for developing standard scores on Leary's circle matrix axes. The present study was limited by the narrow demographic characteristics of its subjects, who were mostly white-collar workers in professional, technical, or management positions.