Monitoring running-wheel movement using a serial mouse and an IBM-compatible system

A running-wheel-movement-detection system is described for use with an IBM-compatible system and a serial mouse. It is an adaptation of a system developed for use on a Commodore 64. The IBM-compatible system provides obvious advantages in speed, memory, data storage, and programming ease over the earlier Commodore 64 system.     

Embedding instructive feedback into teacher-student interactions during independent seat work

The effects of embedding a constant time delay procedure into an independent seat work activity and using instructive feedback were evaluated in this study. Seven students with mild disabilities participated in the study that occurred in their special education classroom. A multiple probe design across sets of target behaviors was used, and students' responses to instructive feedback stimuli were evaluated during each probe condition. The procedures were implemented with a high degree of fidelity, and the results indicate that (a) the students acquired the target behaviors taught with the constant time delay procedure that was embedded into independent seat work, and (b) the students acquired some but not all of the responses to the instructive feedback stimuli. These findings are discussed in terms of using instructive feedback in classrooms and future research on instructive feedback.     

Sentencing severity with mock jurors: Predictive validity of three variable categories

Previous studies have identified three categories of variables which influence decisions of mock jurors: type of crime, defendant characteristics, and personal characteristics of jurors. This study manipulated the following variables towards the ends of assessing their influence on mock jurors' sentencing severity: premeditated vs. unpremeditated murder, black vs. white defendant, low SES vs. high SES defendant. Only defendant SES predicted sentencing severity: low SES defendants were assigned significantly longer sentences than high SES defendants. None of the measures of juror characteristics correlated with sentencing severity. Failure to replicate significant relationships with most of these variables and sentencing severity suggest that results of studies which manipulate only one variable dimension may overestimate the influence of these variable dimensions in mock jurors' decisions.     

Counselling and the schizophrenias

Schizophrenia is the collective name given to allied psychiatric disorders each of which has received a number of different professional interpretations. A primary counselling task is to help staff resolve conflicts over treatment, and give them support during their care of patients. Counselling patients and families, particularly through opportunities provided by self-help groups, is also discussed. The specialised work of genetic, psychoanalytical and behavioural counselling is considered, and stress is laid on the importance of counselling the adolescent schizophrenic for whom early help is vital to prevent deterioration. The article focuses on those areas where marriage guidance counsellors, social workers and probation officers are most likely to be consulted.     

Discrimination and generalization by rats of temporal stimuli lasting for minutes

In three experiments, rats learned to respond differentially to reinforced and nonreinforced trials when the length of the intertrial interval (ITI) predicted the trial outcome (reinforcement or nonreinforcement). Rats in control groups, for whom the length of the ITI did not predict the outcome, did not show differential performance on nonreinforced and reinforced trials. Generalization gradients obtained following discrimination training were comparable to those obtained following discrimination training with other types of discriminative stimuli. That is, groups which had shown differential performance in discrimination training yielded generalization gradients with fastest speeds at the previously reinforced ITIs, slowest speeds at the previously nonreinforced ITIs, and intermediate speeds at ITIs of intermediate length. Control groups yielded flat gradients across all ITIs tested. These effects were shown for relative time discrimination (short time = reinforcement, long time = nonreinforcement, or the reverse) and also for an absolute time discrimination (long and short time = reinforcement, middle time = nonreinforcement or the reverse). This method was effective for time duration measured in minutes rather than seconds, as is more commonly the case.     

Radical Behaviorism,Stimulus Equivalence,and Human Cognition

The current paper represents an attempt to clarify the nature of the radical behaviorist’s perspective on human cognition. This attempt will involve an examination of recent behavioral research into the relationship between stimulus equivalence phenomena and symbolic behavior, and language more generally. This form of behavior analysis is offered as an alternative to, but not a replacement for, other methodological and conceptual approaches to psychology.

     

The personality of women who wish to adopt alternative delivery positions

The personalities of 51 women who wished to avoid obstetric intervention and to adopt alternative delivery positions were assessed. The EPQ was completed by the women and their consorts. The women were slightly higher on tough-mindedness (Psychoticism), more extra-verted and had lower dissimulation (Lie scores), than the average woman. Their Neuroticism scores were within the normal range for their age group. The personality scores for their consorts did not differ from the normal population.     

Patterns of self-disclosure in homosexual and heterosexual college students

Two hypotheses concerning self-disclosure were investigated and confirmed in the present study, comparing homosexual and heterosexual college students. The first hypothesis was that self-disclosure, as measured by the Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire, would be positively correlated with psychological femininity. The second hypothesis was that homosexual males and heterosexual females would exhibit similar patterns of high disclosure and femininity. No significant differences were found in total disclosure between homosexuals and heterosexuals, although homosexuals disclosed less to father, and more to friends than to parents. The conclusion was that psychological femininity and masculinity are more important than biological sex in determining self-disclosure.     

The Study of Perspective-Taking: Contributions from Mainstream Psychology and Behavior Analysis

The Psychological Record - The key purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature on perspective-taking from within mainstream psychology and behavior analysis....     

Learning directions of objects specified by vision,spatial audition,or auditory spatial language

The modality by which object azimuths (directions) are presented affects learning of multiple locations. In Experiment 1, participants learned sets of three and five object azimuths specified by a visual virtual environment, spatial audition (3D sound), or auditory spatial language. Five azimuths were learned faster when specified by spatial modalities (vision, audition) than by language. Experiment 2 equated the modalities for proprioceptive cues and eliminated spatial cues unique to vision (optic flow) and audition (differential binaural signals). There remained a learning disadvantage for spatial language. We attribute this result to the cost of indirect processing from words to spatial representations.