Effects on weight reduction of strong monetary contracts for calorie restriction or weight loss

Thirty-one severely obese adults participated in behavioral weight control groups. In three groups utilizing powerful monetary contracts, subjects deposited substantial sums of money which were returned contingent on either attendance, calorie restriction, or weight loss. Subjects in a fourth no-contract control condition made no monetary deposits. Weight and calorie contract groups lost an average of nearly 20 lb in 10 weeks. They did not differ from each other, but both produced significantly more weight loss than the attendance contract group. High dropout rates in the no-contract condition precluded statistical evaluation of this group. Results are discussed in terms of the potential clinical value of contracting procedures.     

The eating behavior of obese and nonobese women

Sixty-one obese, normal weight and thin women were observed for 30 minutes as they consumed a free-choice lunch in a quasi-naturalistic setting. Their behavior was unobtrusively quantified in terms of microbehavior (mouthfulls, chews, drinks and pauses) and of the macrobehavior (type and amount of food consumed and total active eating or drinking time). Information on subject and environmental variables are also reported. Observed behavior was analyzed as comparative group totals and as patterns of behavior over time. Comparison of group totals showed that: (a) there were no differences in types of food or number of calories consumed between the three groups, (b) no differences were found between the eating behavior of the normal weight and the obese and (c) the obese women spent less time actively eating, less time chewing and more time drinking than did the thinnest group. Pattern analysis revealed a decrease in all responses over time but showed no significant pattern difference between groups.     

What young children think you see when their eyes are closed

The common assumption that young children egocentrically believe you cannot see them when their own eyes are closed was investigated in two studies. It was found that 2.5-4-year-olds, but not 5-year-olds and adults, would indeed often give negative reply to the experimenter's question “Do I see you?” when their eyes were closed and covered with their hands. However, they would also correctly reply that the experimenter did see their arm and an object placed in front of them and did not see their eyes and back, indicating that they were making veridical, nonegocentric inferences about the experimenter's visual experience. In addition, their eyes being visible to the experimenter did not prove to be either a necessary or a sufficient condition for their judgment that the experimenter could see “them” (“you”). It was concluded that, in this context, adults take “you” to mean their whole body while young children take it to mean primarily their face region. Speculations were made as to how young children could have acquired this meaning, and about possible similarities and differences between the self conceptions of young children and adults.     

Classes and collections: Principles of organization in the learning of hierarchical relations

This study demonstrates that children tend to distort class inclusion relations (e.g., the relation of oaks to trees) into the part-whole structure of collections (e.g., the relations of oaks to a forest). Children aged 6 to 17 were taught novel class inclusion hierarchies, analogous to the relation between oaks, pines, and trees. In one condition, the class inclusion relations were taught by ostensive definition alone, e.g., stating “These are trees” while pointing to trees and, “These are oaks” while pointing to oaks. in the second condition, children were additionally told what would be analogous to “Oaks and pines are two kinds of trees”. With this additional information to constrain their interpretation, even the youngest children correctly interpreted the relation as class inclusion. In contrast, with limited information, children as old as 14 erroneously imposed a collection structure on the inclusion hierarchies. They would deny, for example, that any single tree was a tree (as they should of they thought “tree” meant “forest”), and would pick up several trees despite being asked for a tree. The results indicated that the part-whole structure of collections is simpler to establish and maintain than the structure of inclusion.     

The influence of symbolic and motor rehearsal in observational learning

The experiment investigated the effects of the mode and patterning of rehearsal on the acquisition and retention of modeled activities varying in organizational complexity. Subjects observed a filmed model construct two configurations, containing high or low organizational requirements. Immediately after exposure they rehearsed the modeled activities either mentally, motorically, mentally and then motorically, motorically and then mentally, or engaged in a distracting activity that prevented rehearsal of what they had see. Performance tests were conducted immediately after the rehearsal phase and again 1 week later. Subjects who rehearsed the modeled behaviors symbolically, whether singly or in conjunction with motor practice, reproduced both configurations more accurately than those who rehearsed motorically or not at all. Motor rehearsal increased speed on the organizationally simple task, but did not enhance response acquisition over and above observation alone. The overall results are interpreted as supporting the social learning view that modeled behaviors are best acquired when demonstrated activities are first organized symbolically and then refined on the basis of performance feedback.