Local effects of delayed food

Five pigeons were trained on a procedure in which seven concurrent variable-interval schedules arranged seven different food-rate ratios in random sequence in each session. Each of these components lasted for 10 response-produced food deliveries, and components were separated by 10-s blackouts. We varied delays to food (signaled by blackout) between the two response alternatives in an experiment with three phases: In Phase 1, the delay on one alternative was 0 s, and the other was varied between 0 and 8 s; in Phase 2, both delays were equal and were varied from 0 to 4 s; in Phase 3, the two delays summed to 8 s, and each was varied from 1 to 7 s. The results showed that increasing delay affected local choice, measured by a pulse in preference, in the same way as decreasing magnitude, but we found also that increasing the delay at the other alternative increased local preference. This result casts doubt on the traditional view that a reinforcer strengthens a response depending only on the reinforcer's value discounted by any response-reinforcer delay. The results suggest that food guides, rather than strengthens, behavior.     

Teacher report and direct assessment of preferences for identifying reinforcers for young children

Teachers were asked to identify and rank 10 preferred stimuli for 9 toddlers, and a hierarchy of preference for these items was determined via a direct preference assessment. The reinforcing efficacy of the most highly preferred items identified by each method was evaluated concurrently in a reinforcer assessment. The reinforcer assessment showed that all stimuli identified as highly preferred via the direct preference assessment and teacher rankings functioned as reinforcers. The highest ranked stimuli in the direct assessment were more reinforcing than the teachers' top-ranked stimuli for 5 of 9 participants, whereas the teachers' top-ranked stimulus was more reinforcing than the highest ranked stimulus of the direct assessment for only 1 child. A strong positive correlation between rankings generated through the two assessments was identified for only 1 of the 9 participants. Despite poor correspondence between rankings generated through the teacher interview and direct preference assessment, results of the reinforcer assessment suggest that both methods are effective in identifying reinforcers for toddlers.     

Intransitivity and Vague Preferences

This paper is concerned with intransitivity in normative rational choice. It focuses on a class of intransitivities which have received little attention, those involving vague preferences. “Vague preferences” are defined in terms of vague predicates such as “red” or “bald.” Such preferences appear common, and intransitive indifference is argued to be an unavoidable feature of them. Such preferences are argued to undermine intransitive strict preference also. Various formal theories of vagueness are applied to an example of vague preferences, but none of them provide a justification for the transitivity axiom. For helpful comments on earlier drafts and discussions of this material, I am very grateful to John Broome, Rosanna Keefe, Matthew Kramer, Stuart Rachels, Jochen Runde and Adrian Walsh. I owe a large debt to John O’Neill, who suggested an earlier version of the “Tragedy of the Disappearing Commons” example.     

Religious and National Identity after the Belfast Good Friday Agreement

National and religious identification processes can be seen as the basis of the conflict in Northern Ireland, and over the course of the conflict preferred social and political identities became increasingly oppositional and entrenched. This paper reviews this evidence using population-level studies of self-categorized national and religious identity. In an attempt to explore the bases of these identities, two interrelated qualitative studies examining the constructions of national and religious identification are reported. The findings presented suggest the continuing predominance of national and religious identities that have generally been constructed as opposing. Evidence of complete overlap of the identities is evidenced in conflation of religion and nationality in adolescents' essays. Theoretical sampling of adults living on the border between Northern Ireland, the republic of Ireland, and those in mixed marriages highlight the strategic use of national and religious identities that may act to support divisions in post-Agreement Northern Ireland.     

Attribute weighting methods and decision quality in the presence of response error: a simulation study

This paper uses a simulation approach to investigate how different attribute weighting techniques affect the quality of decisions based on multiattribute value models. The weighting methods considered include equal weighting of all attributes, two methods for using judgments about the rank ordering of weights, and a method for using judgments about the ratios of weights. The question addressed is: How well does each method perform when based on judgments of attribute weights that are unbiased but subject to random error? To address this question, we employ simulation methods. The simulation results indicate that ratio weights were either better than rank order weights (when error in the ratio weights was small or moderate) or tied with them (when error was large). Both ratio weights and rank order weights were substantially superior to the equal weights method in all cases studied. Our findings suggest that it will usually be worth the extra time and effort required to assess ratio weights. In cases where the extra time or effort required is too great, rank order weights will usually give a good approximation to the true weights. Comparisons of the two rank-order weighting methods favored the rank-order-centroid method over the rank-sum method. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Problematic mobile phone use as impulsive choice: Development and empirical verification of a reinforcer-pathology model

Problematic mobile phone use is characterized by its “impulsive” nature; users engage in it despite their negative attitude toward it. From a behavioral-economic perspective, this attitude–behavior discrepancy is generated by competing contingencies that involve smaller-sooner social reinforcers associated with mobile phone use and larger-later prosocial reinforcers potentially compromised by phone use. Based on this conceptualization, the reinforcer-pathology model of problematic mobile phone use is proposed, which posits that such phone use stems from excessive delay discounting of the social and prosocial reinforcers and/or excessive demand for the social reinforcers. A secondary data analysis of previously published studies was conducted, with the novel addition of principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis of these data. The results generated evidence that supports the reinforcer-pathology model proposed in this article. Based on the theoretical analyses and accumulated empirical evidence, theory-driven prevention and intervention strategies for problematic mobile phone use are proposed. Overall, the reinforcer-pathology model of problematic mobile phone use provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and addressing this growing issue.     

TEACHING CHOICE MAKING DURING SOCIAL INTERACTIONS TO STUDENTS WITH PROFOUND MULTIPLE DISABILITIES

We taught 4 students with profound multiple disabilities to use a microswitch communication system to request a change in recreational stimuli during social interactions with nondisabled peers. In Study 1, we conducted a preference assessment across a range of stimuli for each student. The most and least preferred stimuli were incorporated into microswitch communication system training in Study 2. During the second study, 3 of the 4 students (a) learned to use the microswitch communication system to control stimulus presentation, (b) more clearly differentiated their time among stimuli, and (c) increased their level of general alertness. Study 3 extended the use of the microswitch communication system to social interactions with nondisabled peers. Two students were more engaged in interactions when they chose when to change stimuli; 1 student was more alert when a peer chose when to change activities; a 4th student showed an undifferentiated pattern. The outcomes of the investigation are discussed in terms of the effects of controlling stimulus presentation on the behavior of students with profound multiple disabilities and the stability of preference hierarchies over time.     

Color preference in pigeons: stimulus intensity and reinforcement contingency effects in the avoidance of blue stimuli.

In a procedure intended to determine color preference in pigeons (which partially replicated Catania, Owens, & von Lossberg, 1983), two keys were illuminated by different colors drawn from a set of amber, red, green, or blue stimuli; this was followed by the presentation of grain when either of the two colors was pecked. The grain was illuminated alternately across trials with the colors presented on the keys. In Experiment 1 the intensity of the color stimuli used was not equalized, whereas in Experiment 2 the intensity of the colors was equalized. The low preference for blue found in Experiment 1, as measured by differential key pecking, was not found in Experiment 2. The discriminability of the intensity-equalized colors was confirmed in Experiment 2a, in which equal-intensity color discrimination problems were presented. In Experiment 3, as in Catania et al. (1983), a response-independent reinforcement schedule was used, but with intensity-equalized colors. In contrast to Experiment 2, very low preference for blue was found here and in Experiment 4, which used a within-subject procedure. These findings suggest that pigeon color preference may be a function of intensity, but all controlling variables have not as yet been identified.     

高中生羞怯与学业适应的关系:学业求助的中介作用

本研究采用中学生羞怯量表、学业求助量表及学业适应量表对青岛两所普通中学625名高中生进行调查,分析高中生羞怯、学业求助与学业适应之间的关系,并探讨学业求助是否在高中生羞怯与学业适应之间起中介作用。结果发现:(1)羞怯可以显著预测高中生的学业适应;(2)学业求助态度在羞怯与学业适应间起部分中介作用;(3)羞怯部分通过学业求助态度经学业求助行为的多重中介作用影响学业适应。     

时间压力和相似性对类比推理直觉加工的影响

通过两个实验探讨了时间压力对类比推理的直觉加工的影响。实验1采用三因素混合实验设计,以48名大学生为被试,在不同时间压力条件下对不同相似性言语类比推理题进行喜好度判断和类比推理逻辑判断。实验2是在实验1的基础上用图形类比推理题代替语义类比推理题,以56名大学生为被试。结果发现:(1)时间压力下,对跨领域言语类比推理的直觉加工效应显著高于逻辑加工效应;(2)时间压力下,低难度图形类比推理题的直觉加工效应显著高于逻辑加工效应。无时间压力条件下,图形类比推理的逻辑加工效应优势明显;(3)时间压力对类比推理的直觉加工和逻辑加工均有影响