The use of expectancy theory in the explanation of turnover in ROTC

A questionnaire was administered to 142 mate students who were enrolled in ROTC and 18 male students who had dropped out of ROTC. Several months later seven of the above 142 subjects dropped out of ROTC. A ratio expectancy theory model was developed from the questionnaire as an operational definition of motivation to remain in ROTC. The results indicated that the 25 dropouts had a significantly lower (p < .001) score on this motivational measure than the 135 subjects who were still enrolled in ROTC, and also that these latter subjects were as strongly attracted to a civilian job as they were to an Army job. The implications of these findings relative to the ability of the Army to attract career officers were discussed.     

Cue selection in verbal discrimination learning of retarded subjects.

A series of experiments was conducted to examine cue function in trigram verbal discrimination learning by retarded subjects. The issue was to determine the factors that control attention in this type of learning situation. The two variables of chief interest were trigram meaningfulness and reinforcement history. The major general conclusion was that retarded subjects employ complex cue selection strategies in solving a verbal discrimination involving compound verbal stimuli. Major findings were as follows: (a) Retarded subjects exhibit a response bias in favor of words over nonsense trigrams; (b) relatively little active cue selection based on meaningfulness was observed; (c) a compound stimulus discrimination was more difficult to learn than a discrimination involving single verbal stimuli; (d) compound and single stimuli may be processed differently in original discrimination learning; (e) cue position probably controls attention in compound discrimination learning; and (f) a frequency theory of verbal discrimination learning is supported by these data.     

The effect of frustrative nonreward on the attractiveness of the omitted reward

Two experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that omission of a previously received reward is followed by greater motivation to obtain that specific reward, as compared with the case where the reward had been present. In Experiment 1, experimental rats regularly received food rewards (R_a) at one goal, followed by a choice between food and milk (R_b). Control animals received the same choice without food preceding it. Reward magnitudes were manipulated so as to produce a preference for R_b, and additional forced trials were given each day to equalise experience of the two rewards. In the test phase both groups received trials with R_a present (R) or absent (N) at the first goal. The experimental Ss shifted their choice towards R_a on N trials; the controls did not behave differently after R and N. Experiment 2 was similar, except that R_a was milk and R_b food. The same effect of N on experimental animals was obtained. It is argued that the results are relevant to the double-runway ‘frustration effect’, and cannot be explained by existing theories of frustration.     

A disfluency descriptor digest for clinical use

A clinical form to be used in identifying which of a set of fluency eliciting techniques might be used most advantageously in therapy with individual stutterers is described.     

Managerial aspirations of high school seniors: A comparison of males and females

Empirical research in the past has indicated that young people are generally not oriented toward managerial careers and that females are less so than are males. However, the greater career orientation of today's students, recent changes in societal values, persistent attempts by women to obtain equality, and federal legislation expressly forbidding discrimination may have changed this situation by the late 1970s. A survey of 2112 high school seniors in the state of Alabama was conducted to investigate these issues. Results indicate that few high school seniors aspire to management careers and that sex continues to be a major discriminator. The “male managerial model” continues to be reinforced by the values and attitudes of society as reflected in its young people.     

Motor perseverative behavior in adult stutterers and nonstutterers

The performances of 22 adult stutterers and 22 adult nonstutterers on motor tasks requiring the graphic reproduction of a sequence of alternating figures following the production of a series of nonalternating figures were studied. The finding that there were no differences in the performance of the two groups on the alternating motor tasks was interpreted as challenging the validity of previous observations that motor perseverative behavior exists in stutterers and is indicative of a central neurological deficit in that population.     

The role of exploration in win-shift and win-stay performance on a radial maze

Win-shift spatial memory tasks in a radial maze reinforce animals for avoiding previously visited rewarded arms; win-stay tasks reinforce them for returning to those arms. Win-shift tasks have generally been found much easier to perform, and this may be explained either in terms of foraging models which postulate avoidance of locations where food has been found, or in terms of the predominance of spontaneous alternation (exploration). Experiment 1 examined spontaneous alternation behavior in the radial maze as a function of whether the first visit to an arm had been rewarded or not, and showed that alternation was more probable after nonreward than after reward in both hungry and thirsty rats (a result which conflicts with the foraging account of the win-shift superiority). Experiment 2 replicated the finding that win-stay discrimination performance was inferior to win-shift. A manipulation (lengthening the delay between initial and test choices) which weakens spontaneous alternation, reduced, but did not reverse, the win-shift superiority. In Experiment 3, in order to eliminate the influence of spontaneous alternation, versions of the win-stay and win-shift tasks were devised in which, unlike the original task, all arms were familiar at the choice trial. Under those conditions win-stay was performed better than win-shift. It is concluded that spontaneous alternation plays a major role in many spatial memory tasks, and that the results can best be accounted for by combining principles of exploration and simple associative learning, without recourse to foraging models.