Book reviews

Zinkin, Hindle, Gordon, Rosemary & Haynes, Jane (eds.). Dialogue in the Analytic Setting: Selected Papers of Louis Zinkin on Jungian and Group Analysis
Lyard, Denyse. Les Analyses d'Enfants: Une Clinique Jungienne.
Bion, W. R. Taming Wild Thoughts.
Eigen, Michael. The Psychoanalytic Mystic.
Langs, Robert. Death Anxiety and Clinical Practice.
Etkind, Alexander. The Eros of the Impossible: The History of Psychoanalysis in Russia.     

Examination of ambiguous stimulus preferences with duration-based measures

Items that produced ambiguous results in an approach-based preference assessment were reassessed using a duration-based assessment. The reinforcing effects of three items on free-operant responding were subsequently tested. The results suggested that the duration-based assessment produced slightly more differentiated results and that predictions about reinforcer value, based on this assessment, were accurate.     

Analysis of activity preferences as a function of differential consequences

Individuals who do not possess the verbal skills to express meaningful choice in the absence of its consequences may have difficulty indicating their preference for protracted activities that are unavailable until some time in the future (e.g., taking a walk, riding a bike). When we examined the preferences of 4 individuals with developmental disabilities by showing them pictorial representations of various activities, their initial choices showed no clear preferences. In a subsequent condition, selecting a photograph resulted in brief access to the depicted activity. When selections produced differential consequences (i.e., access to the activity), clear preferences emerged. In addition, 3 individuals' preferences were later shifted to an initially less preferred but more socially desirable option by superimposing additional reinforcement contingencies for engaging in the less preferred activity. Results are discussed in terms of the conditions under which choice functions as an indicator of preference and how those conditions may be altered to improve the quality of choice making without limiting access to preferred options.     

A systematic evaluation of preferences identified through person-centered planning for people with profound multiple disabilities

Person-centered planning is becoming a popular means of designing supports for people with disabilities. However, very little research evaluating person-centered planning exists. We evaluated the degree to which items and activities reported to be preferred in person-centered plans represented accurate preferences based on how individuals responded when presented with the items and activities. Person-centered planning meetings were conducted with 4 individuals with profound multiple disabilities to develop preference maps and to identify leisure-related preferences. A sample of the reported preferences in the plans was then systematically assessed by observing each participant's approach and avoidance responses to the items and activities. Of the sampled items and activities reported to be preferred in the plans, 42% represented moderate preferences based on the latter assessment process and 33% represented strong preferences. With 2 participants, several preferences identified in the plans were nonpreferred items and activities based on the preference assessments, and some were frequently avoided. These results suggested that although person-centered plans may identify some accurate preferences for people with profound multiple disabilities, this approach should be used cautiously. Results also suggested that such plans should be supplemented with systematic preference assessments to ensure the accuracy of identified preferences. Future research areas focus on evaluating other aspects of person-centered planning.     

Morningness–eveningness and intelligence: early to bed, early to rise will likely make you anything but wise!

Research examining various psychological correlates of circadian type (also known as diurnal preference) has been, over the years, quite expansive. A notable omission within this research program would appear a systematic exploration of the relation between intelligence and morningness-eveningness. The present study redressed this imbalance. 420 participants performed two self-report inventories assessing circadian type, as well as measures of intelligence from two psychometric batteries: CAM-IV and the ASVAB. The results indicate that, contrary to conventional folk wisdom, evening-types are more likely to have higher intelligence scores. This result is discussed in relation to current theories concerning the nature of human cognitive abilities.     

Internal and external factors modulate food-calling in domestic hens

Two series of experiments investigated factors affecting utterance of food calls in the domestic hen, Gallus domesticus. The first series of experiments tested the effect of food preference and the hen’s internal state on the utterance of food calls. Different food types were presented first singly and then in a choice test to 20 hens, first when hens were laying, and then when they were maternal. The second series of experiments tested the effect of hunger level on the utterance of food calls in laying hens, and maternal hens with or without chicks. These two series of experiments showed that laying hens and maternal hens showed a similar marked preference for certain types of food, but laying hens very rarely emitted food calls, in contrast to maternal hens. This shows the effect of the bird’s psychophysiological state on her tendency to emit food calls. The more a maternal hen preferred a food type, the more food calls she emitted. This was observed from the beginning of a test in single-food tests as well as in choice tests. Hunger level positively affected food-call production under certain feeding conditions in maternal hens, but not in laying hens. When maternal hens were tested in the absence of their chicks, utterance of food calls was more sustained than in the presence of chicks. Received: 14 May 1998 / Accepted after revision: 11 October 1998     

笔画类型对直立和倾斜汉字识别的影响

首次用笔画类型概念描述一种汉字整体视觉结构特征。实验采用命名范式。结果发现,汉字无论处于垂直正位下,还是处于以４５°间隔递增的七种倾斜角度下,都存在笔画类型效应。该研究还分析了线条倾斜效应和笔画类型因素在笔画类型效应中的作用     

Conditioned reinforcement and choice

In a series of three experiments, rats were exposed to successive schedule components arranged on two levers, in which lever pressing produced a light, and nose-key pressing produced water in 50% of the light periods. When one auditory signal was presented only during those light periods correlated with water on one lever, and a different signal was presented only during those light periods correlated with nonreinforcement on the other lever, the former lever was preferred in choice trials, and higher rates of responding were maintained on the former lever in nonchoice (forced) trials. Thus, the rats preferred a schedule component that included a conditioned reinforcer over one that did not, with the schedules of primary reinforcement and the information value of the signals equated. Preferences were maintained when one or the other of the auditory signals was deleted, but were not established in naive subjects when training began with either the positive or negative signal only. Discriminative control of nose-key pressing by the auditory signals was highly variable across subjects and was not correlated with choice.     

心理会计与推理选择研究的新进展

心理会计与推理选择是行为决策理论的两个重要领域,本文主要综述它们在消费者偏好建构中的作用。研究表明,心理会计的原则常常调节对奢侈品的购买与消费;在这一调节过程中,推理可能发挥重要作用。本文还评述,在建构消费偏好的过程中,消费者有时选择最充分的理由,而不是选择最佳的选项;在其它一些情况下,消费者聚焦理由可能导致购买决策与消费体验之间的矛盾,以及偏好的非传递性。