Effects of fixed and variable ratios on human behavioral variability.

The effect that ratio schedules of reinforcement had upon variability of responding was investigated in college students. Subjects were paid $0.02 contingent upon completion of eight presses, distributed in any combination across two push buttons; 256 different sequences were possible. Sequence emission was reinforced according to fixed- and variable-ratio schedules. Ratio requirements of 1, 2, 4 and 8 were presented in alternate components of a multiple schedule. The variability engendered by variable-ratio schedules was also compared to that engendered by fixed ratios. Variability increased with ratio size, irrespective of whether the schedule requirement was fixed or variable. The data demonstrate the similarity between the determinants of human and nonhuman variability, and they illustrate the role of ratio size in determining variability in operant behavior.     

An Initial Look at Sibling Reports on Children's Behavior: Comparisons with Children's Self-Reports and Relations with Siblings' Self-Reports and Sibling Relationships

The authors examined siblings' reports of children's depression, anxiety, and aggression, and their reports of the sibling relationship, and compared them with children's self-reports. In two samples, including 169 sibling pairs (age M = 9.98 years, SD = 1.51), no significant differences emerged in the levels of depression and anxiety found in siblings' reports of children's behavior and children's self-reports, although siblings reported children to have significantly higher levels of aggression than the children self-reported. Age, the difference in ages between siblings, sex, and sibling sex were not related to siblings' reports of children's behavior. The relations between children's and siblings' reports of children's behavior were significant, yet moderate (average r = .22). Both siblings' self-reports of internalizing behavior and their perceptions of aspects of the sibling relationship (affection, rivalry, hostility, and satisfaction with the sibling relationship) explained significant, and unique, variance in siblings' reports of children's internalizing behavior. The findings for aggressive behavior were similar, although siblings' perceptions of affection in the sibling relationship were not significantly related to their reports of children's aggression. The potential uses and benefits of sibling reports of children's behavior, and sibling and family relationships, are discussed.     

The prediction of Honesty–Humility-related criteria by the HEXACO and Five-Factor Models of personality

We examined two questions involving the relative validity of the HEXACO and Five-Factor Models of personality structure. First, would the HEXACO model outpredict the Five-Factor Model (FFM) with regard to several diverse criteria that are conceptually relevant to the Honesty–Humility dimension of personality? If so, would the addition of a proxy Honesty–Humility scale—as computed from relevant facets of the FFM Agreeableness domain—allow the FFM to achieve predictive validities matching those of the HEXACO model? Results from self- and observer ratings in three samples (each N > 200) indicated that the HEXACO model showed considerable predictive validity advantages over the FFM. When a measure of Honesty–Humility derived from the FFM was added to the original five domains of that model, the predictive validity reached that of the HEXACO model for some criteria, but remained substantially below for others.     

Intentional embarrassment: a look at embarrassors' and targets' perspectives

Two thousand, one hundred and seven participants recounted situations in which they intentionally embarrassed another person (embarrassor accounts) or in which they perceived that they were intentionally embarrassed (target accounts). Specifically, this paper focused on differences in individuals' accounts of: (1) embarrassors' goals; (2) embarrassors' goal achievement; and (3) the degree of embarrassment felt by targets from embarrassors' and targets' perspectives. We asked 1136 participants to report a situation when they intentionally embarrassed another person. We asked another 971 participants to report a situation when they perceived that they were intentionally embarrassed by someone. Chi-square tests revealed strong effects for the perspective of the respondents on goals attempted and goals achieved. As expected, embarrassors were more likely than targets to report using embarrassment to negatively sanction another's behavior; targets were more likely than embarrassors to report that the embarrassors attempted the goal of self-satisfaction; embarrassors were more likely than targets to report that they were successful at achieving their goal; and embarrassors reported lower levels of target embarrassment than did targets. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided.     

A New Measure of Hallucinatory States and a Discussion of REM Sleep Dreaming as a Virtual Laboratory for the Rehearsal of Embodied Cognition

Hallucinatory states are experienced not only in connection with drugs and psychopathologies but occur naturally and spontaneously across the human circadian cycle: Our nightly dreams bring multimodal experiences in the absence of adequate external stimuli. The current study proposes a new, tighter measure of these hallucinatory states: Sleep onset, REM sleep, and non‐REM sleep are shown to differ with regard to (a) motor imagery indicating interactions with a rich imaginative world, and (b) cognitive agency that could enable sleepers to recognize their hallucinatory state. Mentation reports from the different states were analysed quantitatively with regard to two grammatical–semantic constructs, motor agency and cognitive agency. The present results support earlier physiological and psychological evidence in revealing a decline in cognitive functions and an increase in simulated interactions with a hallucinatory world, en route to normal REM sleep. This leads us to introduce the hypothesis that REM sleep, which exhibits remarkably high levels of (simulated) sensorimotor processes, may have evolved to serve as a virtual laboratory for the development and rehearsal of embodied cognition. The new measure of hallucinatory states presented here may also hold implications for the study of executive functions and (meta‐)cognitions, which might be interesting, for example, for the investigation of lucid dreaming.     

Please accept my sincere and humble apologies: The HEXACO model of personality and the proclivity to apologize

We investigated the links of the HEXACO personality factors and facets with the proclivity to apologize for transgressions, using self- and observer-reports of personality in two adult samples. The proclivity to apologize showed its strongest correlations with the honesty–humility factor, whether evaluated by the self or a knowledgeable observer. Agreeableness was a positive correlate of the proclivity to apologize in one sample only. In both samples, self-reported conscientiousness was positively associated with a proclivity to apologize. We also obtained self-reports on the guilt and shame proneness scales, given the strong conceptual link between guilt and apology. The proclivity to apologize was associated positively with facets of guilt (especially Negative Behavior Evaluation) but negatively with one facet of Shame (Withdrawal).