Deviant Heroes: Nonconformists as Agents of Justice and Social Change

Sociologists usually define deviance as a fluid construct, relative to given social circumstances, and something that is neither negative nor positive in and of itself. Despite the rejection of absolutist approaches, the vast majority of texts and studies concerning deviant behavior implicitly or explicitly present deviance as either a morally bad or morally neutral behavior. Such literatures wrongly conflate deviant behavior with villainous actions. We argue that some of the most important deviants have been at the leading forefront of positive social change and the creation of a more just, fair, and humane society. Deviant heroes are those individuals who violate unjust norms and laws, facing the repercussions of social control, while simultaneously effecting positive social change. This article considers the theoretical role of the deviant hero within classical and contemporary sociological traditions and identifies new directions for social research.     

Idealness and similarity in goal-derived categories: A computational examination

The finding that the typicality gradient in goal-derived categories is mainly driven by ideals rather than by exemplar similarity has stood uncontested for nearly three decades. Due to the rather rigid earlier implementations of similarity, a key question has remained—that is, whether a more flexible approach to similarity would alter the conclusions. In the present study, we evaluated whether a similarity-based approach that allows for dimensional weighting could account for findings in goal-derived categories. To this end, we compared a computational model of exemplar similarity (the generalized context model; Nosofsky, Journal of Experimental Psychology. General 115:39–57, 1986) and a computational model of ideal representation (the ideal-dimension model; Voorspoels, Vanpaemel, & Storms, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 18:1006-114, 2011) in their accounts of exemplar typicality in ten goal-derived categories. In terms of both goodness-of-fit and generalizability, we found strong evidence for an ideal approach in nearly all categories. We conclude that focusing on a limited set of features is necessary but not sufficient to account for the observed typicality gradient. A second aspect of ideal representations—that is, that extreme rather than common, central-tendency values drive typicality—seems to be crucial.     

Talking Circles: A Native American Approach to Experiential Learning

Talking circles, as a unique instructional approach, can be used to stimulate multicultural awareness while fostering respect for individual differences and facilitating group cohesion. A brief history of the talking circle is followed by detailed instructions, talking circle process questions, ideas for classroom discussion after the activity, and teaching strategies. Círculos de conversación, como un método singular de pedagogía, se puede utilizar para estimular consciencia multicultural, mientras a la vez promueve el respeto para las diferencias individuales, y facilita cohesión grupal. Le sigue a una breve historia del círculo de conversación unas instrucciones detalladas, preguntas para procesar el círculo, ideas para discusión en clase despues de la actividad, y estrategias pedagógicas.     

Achievement Place: modification of the behaviors of pre-delinquent boys within a token economy

The "pre-delinquent" behaviors of six boys at Achievement Place, a community based family style behavior modification center for delinquents, were modified using token (points) reinforcement procedures. In Exp. I, point losses contingent on each minute late were effective in producing promptness at the evening meal. During the reversal phase, threats (which were not backed up with point losses) to reinstate the point consequences initially improved promptness but the last two of five threats were ineffective. In Exp. II, point consequences effectively maintained the boys' room-cleaning behavior and, during a fading condition where the percentage of days when the contingency occurred was decreased, the point consequences remained effective for over six months, even when they were delivered on only 8% of the days. Experiment III showed that the boys saved considerable amounts of money when point consequences were available for deposits but saved little money when no points were available. Also, when points were given only for deposits that occurred on specific days the boys deposited their money almost exclusively on those days. In Exp. IV, point consequences contingent on the number of correct answers on a news quiz produced the greatest increase in the percentage of boys who watched the news and, to a lesser extent, increased the percentage of correct answers for the boys who watched the news. The results indicate that "pre-delinquent" behaviors are amenable to modification procedures and that a token reinforcement system provides a practical means of modifying these behaviors.     

The conditioning of textual responses using “extrinsic” reinforcers

Six 4-year-old Ss were presented with a textual program consisting of 26 words arranged so the word stimuli were gradually combined into sentences and then short “stories.” Three Ss were given the No-Reinforcement condition first, and only social reinforcers were presented. They were switched to the Reinforcement condition as soon as they requested discontinuance of the activity. The other three Ss were given Reinforcement—No Reinforcement—Reinforcement treatments. The No-Reinforcement treatment in this case lasted until S requested discontinuance of the activity. The reinforcers were mixed edibles and trinkets, as well as tokens backed up by small plastic toys on a 1:24 ratio. The unit of response was the number of new texts acquired as a result of each of the 45-min experimental sessions. It was demonstrated that the program, procedure, and reinforcement conditions produced curves which are analogous to those produced in common operant-conditioning procedures. The results indicate that other operant principles may be studied in this significant area of human behavior, with important practical consequences.     

Modeling Individual Differences in Autobiographical Memory Distributions Using Mixed Logitnormal Regression

We introduce a model for examining individual differences in the lifespan distribution of autobiographical memories (after the exclusion of recent memories). The model is based on the logitnormal distribution, contains two submodels, one for location (average age at which autobiographical memories were encoded) and one for scale (range of ages at which autobiographical memories were encoded), allows for the inclusion of predictor variables, and includes random effects. The model was used to analyze autobiographical memories reported by 90 older participants. Results show that there were reliable individual differences in location and scale. Moreover, age, proportion of positive memories, proportion of first‐time experiences, comprehensibility, and meaningfulness accounted for 26% of individual differences in location and 23% of individual differences in scale of autobiographical memory distributions. These findings indicate that individual differences are present in autobiographical memory distributions and can, in part, be accounted for by characteristics of the memories and of the person who generated them.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How can individual differences in autobiographical memory distributions of older adults be explained?

The reminiscence bump phenomenon has frequently been reported for the recall of autobiographical memories. The present study complements previous research by examining individual differences in the distribution of word-cued autobiographical memories. More importantly, we introduce predictor variables that might account for individual differences in the mean (location) and the standard deviation (scale) of individual memory distributions. All variables were derived from different theoretical accounts for the reminiscence bump phenomenon. We used a mixed location-scale logitnormal model, to analyse the 4602 autobiographical memories reported by 118 older participants. Results show reliable individual differences in the location and the scale. After controlling for age and gender, individual proportions of first-time experiences and individual proportions of positive memories, as well as the ratings on Openness to new Experiences and Self-Concept Clarity accounted for 29% of individual differences in location and 42% of individual differences in scale of autobiographical memory distributions. Results dovetail with a life-story account for the reminiscence bump which integrates central components of previous accounts.