Some conditions affecting the choice to cooperate or compete

Three experiments investigated conditions affecting the choice to cooperate or compete. Experiment I compared the effects first of an individual activity, then of a competitive task as an alternative to cooperation. For both comparisons, subjects could earn more by cooperating. Choice of competition, but not individual activity, was found to depend on the task choice contingencies. Competition predominated when both subjects could compete if either or both chose competition. Previously competitive pairs cooperated when both subjects could cooperate if either or both chose cooperation. Experiment II investigated the effects of differences in magnitude of the reinforcers for cooperating or competing. Choice between the two alternatives was manipulated in all pairs by varying reinforcer difference. Competition was chosen over cooperation only within the limits within which competition was potentially profitable. Experiment III replicated the findings of Experiment II using triads. Subjects in triads, however, were more likely to withdraw from the experiment. Thus, the data for pairs and triads suggest an orderly relation between reinforcer difference for cooperating or competing and task choice. Motivation of subjects to maximize relative gain by competing can be overridden by moderate reinforcer differences favoring cooperation.     

Switching from competition to sharing or cooperation at large response requirements: competition requires more responding

Two pairs of high-school students matched-to-sample for money. On each trial, a subject could either respond on one lever to take the matching-to-sample problem himself (taking response) or respond on a second lever to give the problem to his coactor (giving response). The first subject to complete the response requirement determined the distribution of the problem. Competition maximizes the amount of responding over trials, i.e., both subjects make taking responses on each trial. Sharing and cooperation minimize responding: only one subject makes a taking response (sharing) or a giving response (cooperation) on each trial, and the subjects alternate responding such that there is an equitable distribution of responses and reinforcers over trials. Large increases in the fixed-ratio response requirement to distribute problems produced: (1) a switch from competition to sharing or cooperation, (2) the expected concomitant change from inequitable to equitable distributions of reinforcers, and (3) a reduction in the amount of responding for three of the four subjects. Previous animal research has shown that large response requirements may have aversive properties. Switching from competition to sharing or cooperation at large response requirements allows a reduction in responding and, at the same time, a moderate number of reinforcers for each subject.     

否定情绪词的具身动态模拟过程

实验1和实验2分别以“（不）+积极/消极情绪词”和“（不）+愤怒/悲伤情绪词”形式的情绪词语或否定短语作为实验材料,分别采取词-图匹配范式和趋近-回避范式,以否定加工的早期（250ms）和中后期（1000ms）两种探测时间,探讨否定对情绪词效价与动机维度加工是否符合否定的两步模拟假设。结果发现,否定情绪效价部分符合否定的两步模拟假设,早期以被否定的情绪状态模拟为主,即不高兴会首先激活高兴;中后期,否定消极词和积极词都被理解为积极;否定情绪动机维度并不符合否定的两步模拟假设,否定对愤怒与悲伤的趋近－回避的影响出现在否定加工中后期,否定改变愤怒的动机方向,由趋近变为回避,却没有改变悲伤的动机方向,悲伤仍表现为回避。本研究证明否定对情绪词的效价和动机维度部分符合两步模拟假设,否定情绪词有其特定的加工过程,各维度加工有所不同。     

沃尔夫假说的新证据:范畴内和范畴间颜色辨别难度相同时语言范畴也会影响注意前颜色知觉

该研究探讨了当范畴内和范畴间颜色的辨别难度相同时,语言范畴是否会影响注意前颜色知觉。实验中,采用渐变且相邻者差别阈限数相当的A、B、C、D四种颜色（前两者为绿色,后两者为蓝色）为刺激材料,并让被试接受视觉Oddball脑电测试。脑电测试分视野给被试呈现标准刺激,以及与标准刺激属同一语言范畴（即颜色词绿色或蓝色）或不同语言范畴的偏差刺激。结果发现：在左视野呈现时,范畴内偏差刺激比范畴间偏差刺激诱发了边缘显著更大的视觉失匹配负波（vMMN）,在右视野呈现时,两类偏差刺激诱发的vMMN无显著差异;范畴内偏差刺激在不同视野呈现时诱发的vMMN无显著差异,范畴间偏差刺激则在右视野呈现时诱发了显著更大的vMMN。这一结果表明,当范畴内和范畴间颜色的辨别难度相同时,语言范畴也会影响早期的、注意前颜色知觉,支持了沃尔夫假说。     

Assessing the role of alternative response rates and reinforcer rates in resistance to extinction of target responding when combining stimuli

Studies of behavioral momentum reveal that reinforcing an alternative response in the presence of a target response reduces the rate of target responding but increases its persistence, relative to training the target response on its own. Because of the parallels between these studies and differential‐reinforcement techniques to reduce problem behavior in clinical settings, alternative techniques to reduce problem behavior without enhancing its persistence are being explored. One potential solution is to train an alternative response in a separate stimulus context from problem behavior before combining the alternative stimulus with the target stimulus. The present study assessed how differences in reinforcement contingencies and rate for alternative responding influenced resistance to extinction of target responding when combining alternative and target stimuli in pigeons. Across three experiments, alternative stimuli signaling a response–reinforcer dependency and greater reinforcer rates more effectively decreased the persistence of target responding when combining alternative and target stimuli within the same extinction tests, but not when compared across separate extinction tests. Overall, these findings reveal that differences in competition between alternative and target responding produced by contingencies of alternative reinforcement could influence the effectiveness of treating problem behavior through combining stimulus contexts.     

基于工作记忆内容的视觉注意

视觉系统是一个资源有限的信息加工系统, 在任何时刻视觉注意只能选择外界环境中的有限信息进行加工。工作记忆对于解决视觉场景中不同物体之间的注意竞争具有重要作用, 保持在工作记忆中的物体表征会以自上而下的方式引导注意优先选择视场中与之匹配的物体。本文系统回顾了有关工作记忆内容对视觉注意的引导作用的研究文献, 并探讨了基于工作记忆内容的视觉注意捕获的自动性, 指出基于工作记忆内容的视觉注意捕获是一个有条件的自动化过程。     

Children's metacognitive judgments in an eyewitness identification task

Two experiments examined children's metacognitive monitoring of recognition judgments within an eyewitness identification paradigm. A confidence-accuracy (CA) calibration approach was used to examine patterns of calibration, over-/underconfidence, and resolution. In Experiment 1, children (n=619, mean age=11 years 10 months) and adults (n=600) viewed a simulated crime and attempted two separate identifications from 8-person target-present or target-absent lineups given lineup instructions that manipulated witnesses choosing patterns by varying the degree of social pressure. For choosers, but not nonchoosers, meaningful CA relations were observed for adults but not for children. Experiment 2 tested a guided hypothesis disconfirmation manipulation designed to improve the realism of children's metacognitive judgments. Children (N=796, mean age=11 years 11 months) in experimental and control conditions viewed a crime and attempted two separate identifications. The manipulation had minimal impact on the CA relation for choosers and nonchoosers. In contrast to adults, children's identification confidence provides no useful guide for investigators about the likely guilt or innocence of a suspect. These experiments revealed limitations in children's metacognitive monitoring processes that have not been apparent in previous research on recall and recognition with younger children.     

From steroids to nation states: An integrated evolutionary approach to violent crime

Most evolutionary psychologists emphasize the individual level of analysis concerning violent crime and other dependent variables. This paper outlines a strategy for evolutionary explanation of societal variation across time as well as space and applies it to crimes of violence. The central idea is that individual adaptations for reproductive competition play out differently depending both on developmental context and societal conditions, including the marriage market. Violent crimes (murders, rapes, and assaults) are substantially higher in countries with a relative scarcity of men according to research using INTERPOL and World Health Organization data [Barber, N. (2000a). The sex ratio as a predictor of cross-national variation in violent crime. Cross-Cultural Research, 34, 264–282, Barber, N. (2009). Countries with fewer males have more violent crime: Marriage markets and mating aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 35, 49–56]. This is an apparent contradiction given that males are more criminally violent and likely reflects increased direct mating competition that evokes increased testosterone production for humans as for other species. The empirical evidence is discussed in terms of direct reproductive competition and various alternative explanations, particularly the “culture of violence” and socialization experiences are considered.     

The Influence of Abnormal Sex Differences in Life Expectancy on National Happiness

Countries with better health, as indexed by life expectancy, score higher on subjective well-being (SWB). It was predicted that deviations from the average sex difference in life expectancy (reflecting reproductive competition among males and discrimination against females) would be inversely related to happiness. Regression analysis of SWB for 178 countries found that deviations from the average sex difference in life expectancy were predictive of unhappiness controlling for life expectancy, national wealth, and income inequality. Countries with a relative scarcity of female children (used as an index of parental bias) were less happy. Societies in which there is an undue burden on the health and survival of either sex are thus unhappy ones due to gender-specific disadvantage and associated gender conflict.