On the logic of psychoanalytic theory

Psychoanalytic theory shows some specific features and problems. It exists in a number of variations, according to different schools as well as cultural and subcultural conditions, with different understandings even of core concepts. Instead of producing definite knowledge, results remain uncertain. They vary in use and imply a permanent reworking of ideas and conceptions. This is the effect of the kind of theory psychoanalysis has to use. Since psychodynamics are a special kind of heterogeneous, changing, always different, emergent-in a word, autopoietic-reality, psychoanalysis cannot use the methods of a denotative theory (algorithmic reduction leading to strictly defined and formulated calculations) but has to use connotative theories. Connotative theories use open concepts which provide an active and flexible access to autopoietic reality. They are able to cope with the difference between singularities as well as with the distance between general logic and empirical reality. Problems tied to this possibility are structural fuzziness, a dependence on forms of use, multiple paradigms and difficulties in legitimation and balance of theories. This causes problems of institutionalisation. These problems are not a sign of immaturity but the normal way in which connotative theories appear and develop. They can therefore not be eliminated but only be treated in a better way.     

The Relation of ERP Components to Complex Memory Processing

The relation between various ERP components generated during encoding of a word and its subsequent recall were investigated using a “rote” serial-order and an “elaborative” category memory task. Words (flashed separately) were time-locked to EEG recordings from 21 cortical sites. ERP components from the five subjects having the highest recall scores were compared to the five lowest scoring subjects. Results based on the P200 peak amplitude data as well as the N400 and late positive component peak amplitude and latency data suggest that anterior and posterior distributional differences are elicited during encoding of words for rote and elaborative memory tasks. Furthermore, strong individual differences in these patterns were found as a function of task. A tentative argument was made that the obtained anterior and posterior differences may index different word feature selection and encoding processes, which are differentially utilized by high and low recallers.     

The effect of career education on career maturity

According to Hoyt (1974), career education efforts are underway in almost one-third of all school districts in the United States. Indications are that this trend will continue. However, the question of the effects of career education programs remains essentially unanswered. This study was designed to assess the effects of a career education program on students' career maturity as measured by the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI). A pretest/ posttest design was used. The sample consisted of 480 sixth and eighth grade students, one-half of whom participated in a career education program (experimental), with the remaining one-half in a regular school program (control). The career education students consistently displayed higher posttest career maturity levels, four scores being significantly higher. Significant differences were found in occupational knowledge of sixth graders, occupational planning for both the sixth and eighth graders and in the attitude scale score for the eighth graders. It was concluded that the career education program had a positive effect in increasing students' levels of career maturity.     

Training cooperation in the Prisoner's Dilemma

Female Ss' choices in two types of mixed-motive game situations were used to select Ss who had predominantly Own Gain and Ss who had predominantly Relative Gain goals. On the basis of simple reward notions, it was predicted that the former but not the latter would change from competitive to cooperative responding in decomposed Prisoner's Dilemma game situations when interacting with a conditionally cooperative other. Corresponding yoked controls were not expected to become cooperative. The availability of social comparison with an outcome which was smaller than the mutually cooperative outcome but larger than the mutually competitive out-come was expected to lead Own Gain Ss to more rapid learning of cooperation but not to affect the responses of corresponding yoked controls or of Relative Gain Ss. A 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 factorial design was used in which the factors were goal orientation (Own Gain vs Relative Gain), strategy of the other (conditionally cooperative vs yoked control), the availability vs unavailability of the social comparison, and trials. The results strongly supported each of the expectations. The results were discussed in terms of how the operation of the reward mechanism would be affected by the operation of some other social psychological processes.     

The effect of continuous, intermittent, and "placebo" reinforcement on the effectiveness of the conditioning treatment for enuresis nocturna

It has been suggested that intermittent reinforcement may be of value in reducing the rate of relapse in bedwetting conditioning therapy. An experiment was conducted with 30 enuretic boys to examine acquisition and extinction parameters of continuous (100%), intermittent (70% variable ratio), and “placebo” (0%) reinforcement schedules. Reinforced trials were administered as in the typical Mowrer conditioning procedure. Non-reinforced trials were achieved by means of a time delay with the subsequent alarm being activated in the parent's room rather than in the child's room. These procedures required the development of a new conditioning device which could be programmed to automatically administer the desired schedule of reinforcement. The results of the field investigation revealed that continuous reinforcement (CR) and intermittent reinforcement (IR) groups attained acquisition in approximately the same number of trials and with essentially the same success rate. Relapse rate was significantly greater in the CR group than in the IR group. The placebo group showed no improvement over the 6 weeks of treatment. The results of this study may be interpreted as supporting the tenet that relapse can be viewed and treated as an extinction of the acquired response.     

The use of modeling to increase independent behavior

Three experiments were conducted aimed at increasing independence via use of modeling procedures in, respectively, two samples of neurotic outpatients and a sample of psychiatric inpatients. Significant gains in independence emerged in all three investigations. Subsidiary findings are reported regarding the operation in clinical contexts of ‘modeling-enhancers’ of demonstrated effectiveness in laboratory settings.     

Electrical aversion therapy with alcoholics: An analogue study

Chronic alcoholic patients matched on age, education and length of problem drinking were assigned to one of three treatment conditions, with 10 subjects in each group: (1) Electrical Aversion Conditioning (high shock paired with alcohol sips); (2) Control Conditioning (very low shock paired with alcohol sips); and (3) Group Therapy (confrontation psychotherapy). Groups 2 and 3 were included to control for possible ‘attention-placebo’ and expectancy factors involved in the conditioning procedures. Subjects in each group were given instructions designed to produce high expectancy for therapeutic success. Pre-post measures of alcohol consumption and attitudes toward alcohol were obtained using an analogue ‘taste test’ assessment procedure. No statistically significant differences in reduced alcohol consumption or attitudes toward alcohol were found among the groups. Trends in the data support the contention that effects of electrical aversion may be more related to such factors as therapeutic instructions, expectancy, specificity of the procedure or experimental demand characteristics than to conditioning factors.     

Reinforcement and attraction specifying the effects of affective states

A multiplicative effect of magnitude and proportion of positive reinforcements on attraction and self-rated feelings was examined. Subjects (N = 270) rated their attraction toward persons associated with one of three reinforcement magnitudes (personality similarity, attitude similarity, and personal evaluations) and one of six proportions of positive reinforcements (.00, .20, .40, .60, .80, and 1.00). Results indicated that the slope of the linear attraction function increased and the Y-intercept decreased with increasing magnitude of reinforcement (p < .05). A similar interaction effect was found on the feelings of the subjects (N = 90) in another experiment. The results were interpreted as added support for Byrne's reinforcement-affect model of interpersonal attraction.     

The temporal course of the frustration effect

General activity subsequent to reward (R) and nonreward (N) was monitored at 5-sec intervals with a stabilimeter in the runway goal box. Activity of never-rewarded control Ss was also measured. In Expt 1 it was found that the frustration effect (difference between N- and R-trial activities) disappeared after about 40 sec of goal box confinement. This disappearance of the frustration effect was due to activity increase on R trials rather than activity decrease on N trials as a function of time. Comparison of N-trial activity with control group activity indicated that frustration does not dissipate within 60 sec. Expt 2 investigated activity following reward and nonreward as a function of reward magnitude. Evidence from these experiments suggests that the late R-trial activity increase results from frustration, possibly conditioned to apparatus cues on N trials.