Learned helplessness and “fear of success” in college women

Anagram performance in comparison and noncomparison situations of 90 high, medium, or low fear-of-success (FOS) women was examined after these subjects had experienced conditions within the traditional triadic learned helplessness design. Low FOS women in the comparison condition proved significantly more susceptible to learned helplessness effects than high FOS women on one dependent measure (number of incorrect anagrams), though not on the other (response latency). Results are discussed with reference to the FOS construct and to Zuckerman and Allison's (1976) scale, used in the present study. An argument is made for increased attention to personality variables within the learned helplessness paradigm.     

Fixed-ratio escape and avoidance-escape from naloxone in morphine-dependent monkeys: effects of naloxone dose and morphine pretreatment.

Lever pressing by rhesus monkeys was maintained by morphine injections during four equally spaced sessions each day. During other periods, lever pressing was maintained by timeout from a continuous naloxone infusion (escape), or by timeout from a stimulus that preceded naloxone injections, or termination of the injections (avoidance-escape). As naloxone dose increased in the escape procedure, response rate increased to a maximum and then decreased. In the avoidance-escape procedure, response rate generally increased as naloxone dose increased, but the changes in rate were small compared to the excape procedure. Substitution of saline for naloxone in the escape procedure led to a very low response rates within three sessions. In the avoidance-escape procedure, rate decrements produced by saline substitution appeared to be related to the behavioral history of the monkey. Previous escape experience led to more rapid decreases in responding when saline was introduced, whereas responding was maintained for 15 sessions in a monkey without prior escape conditioning. Morphine pretreatment produced comparable, dose-dependent decreases in response rates in both procedures. The rate-decreasing effects of morphine were exacerbated when no naloxone was delivered in the escape procedure.     

Group shift to caution at the race track

Group and individual riskiness were compared on $2 “win” best at the race track. Using the standard pretest-posttest risk-shift design, group discussion to unanimous decision was found to produce a cautious shift in group bets.     

Partial reinforcement effects in instrumental escape conditioning

In Experiment I acquisition and extinction of instrumental escape conditioning with rats (N = 64) were studied as a function of reinforcement magnitude under conditions of partial and continuous reinforcement. In Experiment II the effects of partial and continuous reinforcement were studied in rats (N = 96) during acquisition followed by small, medium, and large reductions in reinforcement magnitude. A water-tank escape apparatus was used with temperature as the relevant variable. It was found that (1) with large reinforcement magnitude a continuously reinforced group was superior in acquisition to one that was partially reinforced; there were no differences with small reinforcement; (2) disruptive effects of a nonreinforced trial (a) appear early in learning, (b) are quite strong after each nonreinforced trial, and (c) persist through several succeeding reinforced trials; (3) major competing behaviors persist throughout acquisition for small reinforcement magnitude regardless of schedule, decline with large reinforcement (more so with continuous than with partial), and return to a high level in extinction for all conditions; (4) the partial reinforcement extinction effect occurs after large reinforcement but not after small, and it appears only with large reductions in reinforcement magnitude which approach extinction conditions. Only the first part of the last finding appears to be consistent with the appetitive conditioning literature.     

Is philosophy progressive?

Any adequate attempt to discuss progressivity in philosophy should provide some explanation of why philosophy persistently honours the old and the false and deals with original texts in a way in which science does not. An attempt is made to answer this question by appealing to: (1) the aporetic character of philosophy; (2) the semantical solipsism of philosophy; (3) the subjectivity of philosophy, and; (4) poetical continuities in philosophy.     

Ideals of rationality in dialogic

Needed for such dialogue games as dialectic are appropriate standards of fairness and rationality. The rules of procedure of dialectic must describe a game playable by actual human participants. The present paper centers on certain idealizations of the dialectician that are not allowable.     

The contemplation of suicide: Its relationship to irrational beliefs in a client sample and the implications for long range suicide prevention

This study investigated differences in irrational belief systems between clients in psychotherapy who reported they were contemplating suicide and those who reported they were not. The sample included over 95% of all persons aged 16 and over seen for psychotherapy over a six-year period (90 males and 117 females). Those contemplating suicide (N=85) were significantly more irrational on a number of basic dimensions. The general composite picture was that of an individual who sees him/herself as a helpless victim of past and present circumstances who must, nevertheless, perform well, be approved of, and never have anything go wrong; any kind of failure would be awful for it would prove one to be a worthless person. Findings are consistent with other cognitive-behavioral research on suicide. Other approaches to the explanation of suicide are reviewed and criticized, especially those that in Rational-Emotive Therapy terms have made an A-C error.Paul J. Woods, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at Hollins College, an associate fellow and a certified supervisor of training of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York City, and is engaged in part-time private practice in Roanoke, VA.Geri E. Muller is a graduate student in the Master's program in psychology at Hollins College.     

Reductions in type a behavior,anxiety, anger,and physical illness as related to changes in irrational beliefs: Results of a demonstration project in industry

A series of stress management workshops was conducted in a Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) format for an entire department in a large corporation (N=49). The population was rather general, i.e., nonstudent, nonclinical, and nonvolunteer. Measures were obtained before the program began and three to four months following completion on the dependent variables of Type A behavior, anxiety, anger, depression, assertiveness, and physical illness symptoms, and on the cognitive independent variables of irrational beliefs. Major changes were obtained on all dependent measures supporting previous work on the usefulness of an RET approach in reducing various types of distress. Further, these changes were shown to be strongly related to changes in irrational beliefs and changing such irrational beliefs was the major focus of the program. It is concluded, therefore, that a fundamental assumption of Rational-Emotive Therapy and theory is given additional empirical support.Paul J. Woods, Ph.D., co-editor of this Journal, is an associate fellow and an RET training supervisor of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy