The death of an alleged heretic,Richard Hunne (d.1514), explained

Abstract

On 4 December 1514, a suspect heretic named Richard Hunne died while being held in Lollards Tower, the bishop of London’s prison in Old St Paul’s. The discovery of Hunne’s body, hanged, provoked sharp dissension between Church and State while also triggering an anticlerical backlash among London’s citizenry in the years preceding the Reformation. This study will consider if Hunne’s death was murder, as John Foxe, the martyrologist, subsequently insisted, or suicide, as claimed by the church authorities and by Thomas More in his later published treatment of the affair. A definitive answer to this question has eluded historians for 500 years, but here a new explanation, judicial but bungled torture, is suggested as the key to this death in custody.     

Species-typical taxic behavior and event-reinforcer interactions in conditioning

The role of species-typical taxic behavior in conditioning was studied using thigmotaxis (wall hugging) in rats. Running toward or staying near walls in an open-field apparatus was assumed to be compatible with the rat's defensive behavior, and running to or staying in open spaces was assumed to be incompatible. With large food rewards no differences between the center and side responses were found in acquisition under continuous or intermittent reward, but the center response showed greater suppression after contingent punishment was applied on nonreward trials. Two additional experiments showed that differences between center and side responses occur during extinction when avoidance of shock but not when food is the reinforcer. The results suggest that instances of response-reinforcer interactions may be predicted by knowledge of species-typical defensive behavior and that reactions elicited by shock are not always identical to those elicited by frustration in their consequences for the performance of conditioned behavior.     

On ad hoc personality scales: A reply to Burisch

Two recent articles by M. Burisch (1984, American Psychologist, 37, 214–227; 1984, Journal of Research in Personality, 18, 81–98) have presented data bearing on the traditional methods by which personality is assessed. Based on a review of selected empirical studies and analyses of new data, Burisch has concluded that (a) single-item global self-ratings generally yield greater coefficients of criterion validity than questionnaire measures of the same traits, and (b) most existing personality questionnaires can be shortened considerably without any consequent loss in validity. These conclusions stand in direct contrast to previous appeals by Epstein and others for the use of extensive aggregate measures of personality derived according to the axioms of psychometric theory. In response to Burisch, we describe measurement artifacts and strategies of test item selection that account for some of his conclusions and we reiterate the need for the application of conventional construct-based questionnaires in the assessment of personality.     

Completeness of instruction and strategy transfer

Three experiments assessed the effects on strategy transfer of supplements to keyword method instruction. One supplement consisted of more comprehensive instructions regarding how, when, why, and where to apply the strategy. A second supplement involved additional practice with the strategy during instruction. The combined effects of more elaborate directions and practice were also examined. With grade-school children, the supplements generally increased transfer of the keyword strategy, but transfer was most successful when training included comprehensive information about the strategy. In contrast, with adults high transfer was obtained regardless of keyword instructional variation. The results are related to other developmental data and are particularly germane to claims that with more complete instruction younger children are capable of intellectual feats carried out by older individuals given minimal prompting.     

Perceived qualifications,resource abundance,and resentment about deprivation

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that perceptions of being well qualified for a desired object will decrease individuals' resentment about deprivation when opportunities for obtaining the object are good (i.e., when the resource is abundant), but increase resentment when the resource is scarce. In the first experiment, unemployed nurses participated in a survey of the job situation for nurses. The initial questions in the survey were designed to manipulate respondents' perceptions of (a) their qualifications for employment, by affecting their perceived similarity to employed nurses (similar vs different), and (b) the job potential for unemployed nurses (improve vs worsen). In the second experiment, subjects competed over a number of trials with other participants for money that they had previously been promised. Some of the subjects had practiced the task ahead of time (qualified subjects), whereas others had not (unqualified subjects). In addition, the number of payments that were allegedly available was varied (many vs few). In both experiments, the manipulation of good qualifications reduced resentment when the resource was abundant, but did not significantly affect resentment when the resource was scarce. The implications of these results for understanding the determinants of resentment about deprivation are discussed.     

Psychology and social control

The history of social control applications of psychology and the likelihood of a future increase in their importance are assessed. The effects of military funding of psychological research and the social consequences of very widespread unemployment are specifically considered. It is argued that psychology and related areas of cognitive science and neuroscience may well become increasingly relevant in the development of the technical components of such techniques rather than in providing ideological justifications for their use.     

Self-esteem and job complexity as moderators of performance and satisfaction

Self-esteem and job complexity were investigated as moderators of self, supervisor, and peer ratings of performance and satisfaction with work, supervisors, and peers testing balance and activation theories. One hundred and fifty-three registered nurses served as subjects. Measured self-esteem was not significantly related to the performance or satisfaction measures. Rather, the important variable was perceived job complexity as predicted by Scott's activation theory. Self-ratings of performance and satisfaction with work and peers were greatest at optimal complexity with lower values at high and low complexity. Some support was found for self-esteem as a moderator of the relationship between performance and satisfaction measures in line with Korman's formulations.     

Authoritarianism and recall of evidence about criminal behavior

Research by Marshall (1966) suggested that high authoritarian persons might be more accurate at recalling evidence about criminal behavior than low authoritarian persons. Drawing on other research findings, Marshall's hypothesis was expanded to predict that high authoritarians would recall more about evidence relating to defendant character and low authoritarians would recall more about situational evidence. In two jury-simulation experiments the new hypothesis was confirmed.     

The effect of pictures on the retention of novel words and prose passages

The effect of pictures on the retention of novel words and prose passages was examined for both good and poor readers. The findings suggest that for both groups of subjects the presence of pictures enhances recall of the prose passages but has no effect on the recognition and pronunciation of novel words. Systematic differences in the strategies used by good and poor readers were also observed.     

The behavioural treatment of obsessional-compulsive disorders, with and without clomipramine

The effects of behavioural treatment alone, and in combination with clomipramine, were assessed on 40 patients with chronic obsessional-compulsive disorders, using a 2 × 2 factorial design. These effects were assessed by behavioural measures and mood measures.The behavioural treatment was followed by significant improvements on most behavioural measures. Clomipramine administration was followed by significant improvements on mood scales and some behavioural measures. There were no significant interactions between these two experimental conditions.