Complexity Theory: Predictions Based on the Confluence of Science-Wide and Behavioral Theories

Views of behavioral and science wide complexity theories are briefly summarized. Theory-based predictions for human cognition and behavior based on both theories are advanced.
Streufert (in this special issue) has discussed the confluence of science-wide and behavioral complexity theory. Even though the former attempts to find common processes in all the sciences and the latter theory has, to date, limited itself to human behavior, there are many similarities in approach and in explanations of observed phenomena. Differences between the two theories are minor in comparison to their commonalities. Considering the many similarities, it may be useful to confirm (and possibly extend) behavioral complexity theory. A number of theorems, many familiar, some slightly modified, some new, will be provided at the end of this paper.     

Graphic Representations of Processing Structure: The Time-Event Matrix

Science-wide complexity theory presents strange attractors as lawful outcomes of nonlinear functions. The time-event matrices used by Streufert and associates to depict human information processing in complex task environments have similar characteristics. The use and construction of these matrices is described. The technique may be useful across sciences to depict the consequences of complex phenomena.     

The Donor's Dilemma: Recipient's Reactions to Aid from Friend or Foe1

Subjects participating as decision-makers in the Tactical and Negotiations Game experimental simulation encountered a programed emergency and then received an offer of aid from either an ally or an enemy donor. Findings indicate that recipients of aid from an ally donor perceived the donor to be more positively motivated and perceived the aid to reflect greater effort and to be of greater value than recipients of an equal amount of aid from an enemy donor. In addition, aid from an ally precipitated a positive shift in recipient perceptions of the donor and a negative shift in recipient perceptions of the enemy nondonor, while aid from an enemy had essentially no effects. The applied implications of these findings are discussed.     

Information search and the effects of failure: A test of complexity theory

The effects of increasing failure and the structural complexity of decision-making teams on four aspects of information search and utilization were examined. Twenty-four structurally homogeneous dyads and 12 unselected control dyads served as Ss in a complex experimental simulation running for six 30-min periods. Information load was held constant at 7 inputs per period. The proportion of failure inputs was sequentially increased from 1:7 in period 1 through 6:7 in period 6. Dyads in the control condition were not exposed to failure. It was found that structurally simple Ss engaged in more delegated information search than complex Ss. Self-initiated information search initially increased, then remained fairly constant at higher proportions of failure. Contrary to expectations, no differences were found between simple and complex Ss in self-initiated search. Complex dyads exceeded simple dyads on two measures of information utilization. The number of search moves used in integrative decisions produced an inverted U-shaped curve with optimal levels at moderate proportions of failure. Efficiency of information utilization showed a general decrease as failure increased. The data produced limited support for complexity theory and did support, where applicable, the information search theories of Lanzetta and Feather.     

Analgesia induced by exposure to a novel environment in rats: effect of concurrent and post-training stressful stimulation

Exposure of rats for 2 min to a new environment (a 50 X 25 X 25-cm box) induced a mild analgesia measured by the tail-flick method. Additional stressful stimuli (0.5 mA, 1.5-s footshocks, light flashes, or tones) presented during the 2-min exposure did not alter the analgesia. However, the postexposure presentation of light flashes or tones, for either 10 s or 2 min, while the animals were alone in a waiting cage, prevented the analgesic response. Similarly, placing the subjects with their conspecifics in the home cage for 2 min after the exposure prevented the analgesic response. The data suggest that the analgesia may represent a physiological correlate of novelty and that the response can be impaired by post-training treatments.     

Hungry for money: the desire for caloric resources increases the desire for financial resources and vice versa

This report attempts to provide an evolutionary explanation for humans' motivation to strive for money in present-day societies. We propose that people's desire for money is a modern derivate of their desire for food. In three studies, we show the reciprocal association between the incentive value of food and of money. In Study 1, hungry participants were less likely than satiated participants to donate to charity. In Study 2, participants in a room with an olfactory food cue, known to increase the desire to eat, offered less money in a give-some game compared with participants in a room free of scent. In Study 3, participants' desire for money affected the amount of M&M's they ate in a subsequent taste test, but only among participants who were not restricting their food intake in order to manage their weight.     

Postaggression footshock inhibits aggressive behavior in dominant but not in isolated mice

Aggressive behavior of dominant and isolated mice was assessed in intermale encounters with nonaggressive intruder mice. After an attack period of 90 s, the aggressor was exposed to a footshock punishment and retested the next day. The shock treatment, independent of the intensity and duration, failed to inhibit spontaneous aggression in isolated DBA/2 mice, while it significantly suppressed spontaneous aggression in dominant C57BL/6 mice. The different effects of post-trial shock punishment were not due to a different shock sensitivity and did not depend on the type of opponent used. Strain differences have been ruled out by the use of dominant and isolated ICR mice. Again, shock punishment was ineffective in isolates, while it reduced aggression in dominant animals. The findings were discussed with reference to the impaired learning performance reported for isolated animals, and suggest a difference between the aggression of isolated and that of dominant mice.     

Do subjective measures of attention and memory predict actual performance? Metacognition in older couples

Older individuals who recognize their cognitive difficulties are more likely to adjust their everyday life to their actual cognitive functioning, particularly when they are able to estimate their abilities accurately. We assessed self- and spouse-ratings of memory and attention difficulties in everyday life of healthy, older individuals and compared them with the respective test performance. Eighty-four older individuals (women's age, M = 67.4 years, SD = 5.2; men's age, M = 68.5 years, SD = 4.9) completed both the self and the spouse versions of the Attention Deficit Questionnaire and the Everyday Memory Questionnaire and completed two neuropsychological tests. Using the residual score approach, subjective metacognitive measures of memory and attention were created and compared with actual test performance. Significant associations between subjective and objective scores were found only for men and only for episodic memory measures. Men who underreported memory difficulties performed more poorly; men who overreported memory difficulties performed better. Men's recognition performance was best predicted by subjective measures (R2 = .25), followed by delayed recall (R2 = .14) and forgetting rate (R2 = .13). The results indicate gender-specific differences in metacognitive accuracy and predictive validity of subjective ratings.