An ecological approach to learning

This paper introduces a special journal issue devoted to the study of learning in ecological and developmental contexts. In the past, the dominant approach to the study of learning has depended upon the choice of arbitrary problems, stimuli, and responses to guarantee the generality of principles discovered in the laboratory. Recently, though, there has been considerable interest in integrating an ecological (functional) account of learning with the strengths of the classic laboratory approach. One form of integration is to use the technology of the laboratory to look for the operation of general learning laws in ecological problems. The approach favored here is to treat learning as a biological phenomenon by first placing it within a functional system of behavior, and then by analyzing where and how learning modifies the operation of that system. Because the results of such analyses are defined with respect to functioning systems rather than procedural paradigms, the ecological approach readily makes contact with issues in evolution, development, and physiology, an ability not completely shared by the classic general-process approach. Concerns about laboratory versus field, function versus mechanism, generality of results, and adaptive “storytelling” can be resolved or further clarified by the present approach. The papers in this issue represent a cross-section of research stemming from an ecological approach to learning, and provide specific analyses of how learning modifies and is expressed in functional systems of behavior.     

Attributions and other inferences: Processing information about the self versus others

This study focuses on the attributional inferences involved in the comprehension of behaviors and on possible differences between the process of comprehending one's own behaviors and those of another person. Both the content of attributional judgments and the time taken to make the judgments were measured, in a design involving the comprehension of behaviors that were high or low in desirability and distinctiveness and that were understood as the subject's own versus another person's. Results show that the inferential processes in the comprehension of one's own and another's behavior are generally similar. Exceptions are where organized knowledge about the self (a self-schema) is brought into use and where differences in “perspective” between self and other influence processing. Discussion centers on the implications of the results for theories of comprehension and inference, including extensions needed to handle the self/other distinction.     

The attribution of arousal and emergency helping: A bidirectional process

J. M. Piliavin, J. A. Piliavin, and J. Rodin (1969, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 289–299) and J. A. Piliavin, J. F. Dovidio, S. L. Gaertner, and R. Clark (1981, Emergency intervention, New York, Academic Press) proposed that physiological arousal is causally related to a bystander's response to an emergency. Examining this proposition, the current research investigated the hypothesis that residual arousal from an extraneous event has the capacity to facilitate as well as to inhibit bystander intervention during an emergency depending on whether the extraneous arousal is attributed to the emergency or whether the emergency-generated arousal is attributed to the extraneous event. Specifically, it was predicted that during an Unambiguous emergency, extraneous arousal from the prior performance of physical exercise would be attributed to the emergency and thus facilitate bystander responsiveness. During an Ambiguous emergency, however, emergency-generated arousal would be attributed to the prior performance of physical exercise and thus bystander responsiveness would be inhibited by higher levels of arousal. Fifty-four male subects performed no, moderate, or high levels of exercise before exposure to an Unambiguous or Ambiguous emergency. Results indicated that during the Unambiguous emergency, higher levels of prior exercise facilitated helping. However, when the emergency was Ambiguous, high levels of exercise tended to inhibit bystander responsiveness. Correlational analysis of telemetered heart rates and latency to intervene corroborated the above pattern of findings.     

Racial differences in intelligence: The importance of the executive system

The race-IQ controversy arose at a time when psychometric views of intelligence dominated. Little attention was paid to more process-oriented models in spite of the fact they provide alternative perspectives on the causes of individual differences in problem-solving. We hypothesized that much of the IQ spread commonly observed between black and white children can be attributed to differences in components of their executive systems, including the knowledge base, control processes, and metacognitive states. To test this possibility, black and white children who differed significantly on fluid and crystallized intelligence were tested on multiple tasks reflecting components of the executive systems as well as on perceptual efficiency tasks. Striking group differences were observed in metamemory, stragegy use, and general knowledge, but few reliable differences were found in perceptual efficiency. Regression analyses showed that different factors predicted fluid and crystallized intelligence, with metamemory predicting the latter but not the former. An implication of these findings has potential educational significance: training directed at executive skills, introduce at an early age, might elevate learning and problem-solving skills in black children, thereby reducing racial differences in crystallized intelligence.     

Differential production of positive and negative discriminative stimuli by normal and retarded children

Using an observing procedure similar to Wyckoff's (1969), two normal and two mentally retarded children were studied. The children were initially trained to earn pennies by pressing a rectangular key according to a multiple variable-interval extinction schedule of reinforcement. After discrimination training, the children were allowed to produce the discriminative stimuli by depressing a second or observing key. The retarded children were different from the normal children in that they produced more of the positive discriminative stimulus (S+) than the negative discriminative stimulus (S?). In the case of the retarded children, S+ observing started high and remained high. In the case of the normal children, S+ observing was initially substantial and then rapidly diminished.     

Transfer from discrimination under hunger to discrimination under thirst: The role of expectancy and habit

The experimental group (Group HA-TA) received food (F) and water (W) rewarded trials in an alternating sequence under hunger in Phase 1 and under thirst in Phase 2. Group HA-TA ran faster on F than on W trials in Phase 1, and faster on W than on F trials in Phase 2. Early in Phase 2 the difference between speeds on W and F trials was larger for Group HA-TA than for a group which received no runway training in Phase 1 (Group HO-TA), but later in Phase 2 this difference was larger for Group HO-TA than for Group HA-TA. Also in Phase 2 the difference between speeds on W and F trials was larger for Group HA-TA than for a group which received a random sequence of F and W trials under hunger in Phase 1, and smaller for Group HA-TA than for a group which received alternating F and W trials under thirst in both phases. To interpret these results it was assumed that for Group HA-TA the expectancies of reward formed in Phase 1 facilitated development of alternation performance in Phase 2, but that the S-R associative connections formed in Phase 1 inhibited ultimate development of alternation performance in Phase 2.     

Response deprivation and instrumental performance in the controlled-amount paradigm

The response deprivation analysis, previously applied to a paradigm frequently used in free operant experiments, was applied successfully to another paradigm frequently used in discrete trials experiments. Each trial ended when the rat performed 1 lick at an empty tube (E), and either 10 or 100 licks at a second tube containing either saccharin (S) or water (W). Baseline trials were begun by exposing both tubes. Contigency trials required 1 instrumental E-lick for access to the second tube. Rate of instrumental responding, relative to baseline, was directly proportional to the value required if the subject were to perform the contingent licks at their baseline rates. The results also confirmed the predicted functional relations between the absolute rate of instrumental responding and the number of contingent S-licks, the number of contingent W-licks, and hours of water deprivation. Critical implications for the concept of instrumental reinforcement were discussed.     

Retaliatory equity as a factor in humor appreciation

Squelches depicting a protagonist who is provoked and who then retaliates against his provoker were manipulated to effect a variation in the degree of retaliation achieved: extreme underretaliation, underretaliation, fair retaliation, overretaliation, and extreme overretaliation. It was proposed that retaliatory equity, i.e., a situation in which the negative consequences inflicted upon the provoker by the retaliator are of a similar magnitude to the negative consequences initially inflicted upon the retaliator, constitutes an optimal condition for mirth, and that both types of retaliatory inequity, under- and overretaliation, impair humor appreciation in proportion to the magnitude of the resultant inequity. The findings fully supported these propositions.     

Effect of intensification of annoyance through unrelated residual excitation on substantially delayed hostile behavior

In a field-experimental setting, male and female subjects were provoked or not at a time when residual excitation from prior exposure to communication was of relatively low, intermediate, or high magnitude. Eight days later, subjects were provided with an opportunity to treat their annoyer or nonannoyer in a hostile or beneficial manner. It was found that excitatory residues had no appreciable effect on the behavior of unprovoked subjects. In contrast, excitatory residues prevailing at the time of provocation produced an intensification of delayed hostile behavior. Provoked subjects in the high and intermediate residue conditions retaliated more severely than those in the low residue condition. Retaliation in the high residue condition tended to be more severe than in the intermediate residue condition. No appreciable sex differences were observed. The findings were interpreted as supporting the proposal that the excitatory intensity of acute annoyance critically influences the magnitude of retaliation for considerable periods of time after the dissipation of excitation associated with the initial annoyance.     

Learning and memory of field independent-dependent individuals

It has been proposed that field-independent and field-dependent learners differ more in the processes they use than in the effectiveness of their learning or retention. The present article discusses alternative explanations which emphasize developmental differences and differences in efficiency of performance between field-independent and field-dependent learners. Review of the concept learning literature and some new data suggested that the greater effectiveness of field-independent learners was related to memory efficiency and the ability to conduct combinatorial analysis. Research concerning short-term memory and free recall was also examined. High information load, greater interference potential, and less subjective organization were suggested as factors which contribute to the less efficient memory of field-dependent learners.