Problems with a false recognition paradigm for developmental memory research

Developmental changes in memory organization based on synonym and antonym relationships were examined in three experiments. Although Cramer (1973) claimed that second-grade children organized their memory for words based on synonym relationships while sixth-graders used antonyms, no support for this interaction was found. The present studies employed additional procedures in an attempt to replicate and extend Cramer's finding. Some inadequacies of a false recognition paradigm for developmental research are identified and some alternative analyses are proposed.     

The effects of prior task experience in the modeling situation

An investigation was made into the effects of observers' previous experience with the experimental task on acquisition and subsequent performance of modeled task behavior. The task was socially neutral and the subjects were second grade boys and girls. Recall of modeled actions increased with prior experience, indicating greater acquisition. This finding supports Bandura's (1973) assertion that task familiarity may enhance attentiveness to the model. Contrary to previous research, performance of imitation did not decrease with experience. The present performance results are possibly due to the ambiguity of the preexperience and novelty of the experimental task.     

Threatened retaliation from the victim as an inhibitor of physical aggression

Sixty male undergraduates participated in an experiment designed to investigate the effects of apparent probability of retaliation from the victim and level of prior anger arousal upon adult aggressive behavior. It was hypothesized that threatened retaliation would be highly effective in inhibiting subsequent aggression under conditions where subjects had not previously been angered by the victim, but would generally fail to inhibit such behavior under conditions where they had previously suffered strong provocation at the hands of this person. Support was obtained for both of these predictions. Findings were discussed in terms of their implications for the prevention and control of human violence in naturalistic social situations.     

Comparative validity of traditional versus S-R format inventories of interpersonal behavior

The comparative validity of two “S-R format” inventories of interpersonal behavior, Kinnane et al.'s (1969) Schedule of Interpersonal Response and a newly developed Rational S-R Inventory, and two “traditional” inventories, the Personality Research Form and the Interpersonal Check List, was examined with respect to 14 self-report and peer rating criteria selected to broadly tap the interpersonal domain. Sixty-four male and female high school seniors served as Ss.In spite of the situational specificity inherent in the S-R inventories, the traditional inventories substantially outperformed the S-R inventories and, in contrast to previous findings, also outperformed simple self-ratings. The results are discussed not only in terms of the relative advantages of various inventory construction strategies but also in reference to the problem of criterion measurement and theoretical and methodological issues in the assessment of situational parameters.     

Acute pain in a clinical setting: Effects of cognitive-behavioural skills training

The present study evaluated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural skills training, patterned after stress-inoculation training, as a preventive intervention for the attenuation of acute clinical pain during a noxious X-ray procedure—the knee arthrogram. Thirty-six adult male outpatients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Skills Training. Attention-Placebo, and No-Treatment Control. An experimental pain test was administered before and after the interventions, as a generalization measure. Arthrogram pain was assessed by three dependent measures: patient's ratings, radiologist's ratings and videotape ratings completed by two‘blind’ raters. The results failed to support the efficacy of skills training for the attenuation of acute clinical pain, or its generalization to the experimental pain test. Although Skills Training subjects reported using significantly more coping strategies during the arthrogram. many subjects in the two control groups also reported using their own spontaneous strategies. Equivocal data were obtained on the role of ‘self-efficacy’ expectancies in mediating pain behaviour and experience. Experimental pain threshold but not pain tolerance was significantly related to acute clinical pain experienced during the arthrogram.     

Transfer in discrimination learning: Do children mediate more than adults?

A series of four-dimensional, discrimination-learning problems were presented to second-, sixth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students (ages 7, 11, 13, and 17 years, respectively). One pretraining problem, using different dimensions, preceded the four experimental problems; these employed identical dimensions and stimulus values. Solutions were selected without dimensional replacement.Blank-trial probes enabled detection of initial predictions. Results clearly indicated that (1) older subjects made dramatically fewer intradimensional predictions (utilizing the solution dimension from the preceding problem) than did younger subjects, (2) all age groups demonstrated systematic changes over problems; these reflected the specific solution sequence experienced, and (3) there were consistent developmental differences in the speed with which subjects noted and utilized regularities across problems.The pattern of data is not congruent with the expectations of mediation theory. However, it is in accord with the transfer hypothesis, which is a recent extension of hypothesis theory. The transfer hypothesis provides a theoretical framework which suggests when we should observe “mediational” behavior (i.e., intradimensional transfer) and when to expect the inverse.     

Resistance to satiation of consummatory and instrumental performance

In three experiments rats received training in a straight alley under high hunger and then were tested satiated. Both eating and running continued to occur under satiation, but the two responses were not completely correlated, and continued running did not depend upon continued eating. Further, groups differed in their eating behavior, although all experienced the same satiation procedure, suggesting that eating under satiation is not just a reflection of incomplete satiation. Resistance to satiation of the running response was greater following partial reward than following consistant reward and tended to be greater following small reward training than large reward training, regardless of schedule of reward. Eating during satiation was greater following partial than following consistent reward and was greater if the same reward magnitude was given in satiation as in acquisition than if a different reward magnitude was given. It was suggested that resistance to satiation is an associative phenomenon. Eating and running occur during satiation because the stimuli present during satiation continue to elicit them. The differences between results using rewarded satiation and results using high drive extinction as measures of persistence were attributed to satiation being nonfrustrating.