Staring at the Sun: Tragedy,trauma, and ecological harmony

Recently it has become increasingly evident that current theories of civilization are unsustainable. Within this essay I critique three alternative theories: bioregionalism, sustainable development, and The Universe Story. I argue that although these theories address ecological devastation, they fail to grapple with the legacy of white supremacy. Evoking Richard Wright's poem Between the World and Me, I argue that for minorities the landscape is often inscribed with trauma. Consequently, any theory of ecological harmony must take this into account. I refer to the task of contending with the legacy of slavery, colonization, and genocide as Staring at the Sun.     

Long-term memory in pigeons: I. The role of discrimination problem difficulty assessed by reacquisition measures II. The role of stimulus modality assessed by generalization slope

Pigeons learned either an easy or a difficult line angle discrimination (Experiment 1) or wavelength discrimination (Experiment 2), and then they were given a reacquisition test of retention after delays of 1 min, 1 day, or 1 week. Both percentage of responses to the S+ in the initial 10-trial block and number of blocks to criterion showed a progressive memory loss which was greater for the difficult problem. These results extend recent findings by using a free operant rather than a discrete trial task and by varying problem difficulty by altering the dimensional separation between training stimuli. In Experiment 3, pigeons were given variable interval training with either a wavelength or a line angle stimulus, and then they were tested for generalization in extinction after delays of 1 min, 1 day, and 1 week. With both dimensions, the relative gradients became progressively flatter with increasing delay intervals. This replicates earlier findings and extends them to the line angle dimension. The evidence of substantial forgetting in the first 24 h in all three experiments suggests that operant free-response procedures are more sensitive to forgetting effects than are discrete trial tasks.     

The measurement of role variables: Exploratory examination of a new approach

New measures of role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload were developed for a group of attorneys located in the headquarters of a large energy company. These measures were based upon a recently developed theory of behavior in organizations, which focuses on specific job products as an essential component of organizational roles. The measures have an attractive potential for applied efforts (e.g., training) to rectify or diminish role stress problems. Forty respondents completed the product-based measures in addition to commonly used measures of the role variables and a number of outcome measures. Results indicated that (1) the product-based role measures displayed patterns of relationships with outcomes which were quite similar to the patterns for commonly used role measures, and (2) the product-based measures of role variables compared favorably to commonly used measures in terms of frequency of relationships to outcome variables and appeared to be somewhat superior in terms of method variance problems.     

REPLY TO COMMENTS ON "HUXLEY'S EVOLUTION AND ETHICS IN SOCIOBIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE"

Abstract. I agree with comments suggesting that humans must make an unremitting effort to expand a circle of sympathy for others. However, I disagree with the idea, expressed by everyone except Sarah Hrdy, that evolution is in some sense consistently good.     

POPULISM AND ELITISM IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

African-American political thought finds its premises in European philosophical traditions. But these traditions often challenge African-American humanity which African-American political thought defends. African-American political thought is therefore an extended commentary on the consistency of European philosophical traditions.     

Predictors of organizational commitment: The study of part-time army reservists

A predictive model built upon a multiple role conflict/felt responsibility conceptual framework and containing six previously untested predictors and nine previously tested organizational-related predictors of organizational commitment was investigated. The sample consisted of two battalions of U.S. Army Reserve members. Stepwise multiple regression analysis utilizing a double cross-validation design on each battalion was the data analytic technique. Increased job satisfaction and stronger intent to stay consistently entered each equation as the first and second predictors, respectively. Group cohesion also appeared in more than one equation. The variance explained across the four cross-validated samples averaged .46 and the results were very stable. The importance of the investigation of commitment for this part-time, voluntary organization was discussed, as were future research directions regarding organizational commitment.     

Memory without organization: Properties of a model with random storage and undirected retrieval

A very simple spatial model of memory storage and retrieval is described, analyzed, and discussed. The postulated memory is without organization in the sense that neither the place of storage nor the order of search during retrieval is influenced by the nature of the information being stored or retrieved. The memory consists of a three-dimensional space containing a large number of homogeneously distributed loci at which data may be stored. Data received near each other in time are stored at nearby locations. Access is by an undirected expanding-sphere search. The model exhibits a wide variety of quantitatively and qualitatively humanlike behavior with respect to both standard learning and forgetting paradigms and with respect to frequency effects and other phenomena in word processing.     

The effect of Pavlovian stimuli on the acquisition of a new response

Three experiments explored the effects of response dependent stimuli which have had different types of contingent relationships with positive reinforcement. Results showed consistent differences in the effects of response dependent appetitive Pavlovian CS + s, CS ? s, and truly random control (TRC) stimuli on the acquisition of a new response. These differences were shown in both a free operant and a discrete-trial learning situation. Appetitive Pavlovian CS?s consistently produced lower levels of responding than did TRC stimuli, even in an experimental situation free of possible contrast effects. The results of these experiments extended a contingency analysis of acquired associations to appetitive conditioning and provided a clear demonstration of a conditioned reinforcement effect against a variety of control procedures.