"Superstition" in the Skinnerian.

In the case of some tasks, implicit responses produce better results than overt ones. Overt responding is not an essential feature of programmed instruction and, in fact, may even be a deleterious one in some cases. Being informed of the correctness of response before making it resulted in more efficient learning than being informed after making the response. "This story has three morals, but they are all very simple. The first is that not all the features of a gadget are dictated by theoretical principles. The second is that what works beautifully in one context may not work so beautifully in another. The third moral is that superstitious behavior is not restricted to pigeons." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Superstitious learning and induction

The behaviourist perspective on superstition is explained and an analogy is drawn between superstitious behaviour and the phenomenon of excessive branching in tree-based inductive learning algorithms operating under uncertainty. The argument is then extended to include cognitive aspects of learning and superstition. Further analogies are made with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Ways in which these phenomena might be simulated are indicated.A. P. White is at the Computer Centre, Elms Road and is also an Associate Member of the School of Mathematics and Statistics.W. Z. Liu is in the School of Mathematics and Statistics.     

A STUDY OF REJEWSKI'S EQUATIONS

Abstract

The Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA) has been around for just over ten years. It is probably the most “minimal”—and hence fastest—block cipher ever devised and yet appears resistant to most attacks. In this article, we describe the algorithm, its simplicity of design and ease of use, its cryptographic strength, and the wide range of implementations and applications of the cipher.     

摒弃迷信是贯彻科学发展观的必要前提

本文通过建国以来首次官员迷信调查和媒体对一些干部相信迷信材料的引证,分析了领导干部相信迷信的后果非常严重,会导致巨大资源浪费和损失;对于军队,则迷信、愚昧会使军队丧失战斗力。并通过迷信和宗教一样,都有其产生的根源的阐述,说明作为社会主义改革、建设的领导者,不管是从事何种职业的领导,不管是地方领导,还是军队领导,只有摒弃迷信、克服唯心主义,才能真正贯彻和落实科学发展观。     

Negativity bias in attribution of external agency.

This research investigated whether people are more likely to attribute events to external agents when events are negative rather than neutral or positive. Participants more often believed that ultimatum game partners were humans rather than computers when the partners offered unusually unfavorable divisions than unusually favorable divisions (Experiment 1A), even when their human partners had no financial stake in the game (Experiment 1B). In subsequent experiments, participants were most likely to infer that gambles were influenced by an impartial participant when the outcomes of those gambles were losses rather than wins (Experiments 2 and 3), despite their explicitly equal probability. The results suggest a negative agency bias—negative events are more often attributed to the influence of external agents than similarly positive and neutral events, independent of their subjective probability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

刍议秦皇汉武

运用史学比较方法，对秦始皇和汉武帝的功过是非进行了对比分析，全面揭示了他们从强盛之巅走向崩溃边缘的历史原因。并对他们的施政得失及历史影响进行了全新的评析，从正反两方面论述了秦皇汉武的伟大和残暴，精明和昏庸，有为和贪婪，反映了秦皇汉武是非功过的大同小异，行为志趣的惊人相似和思想本质的一脉相承。     

Plain Ol' Superstition.

Comments on the article by John Oliver Cook (see record 1964-03363-001) on superstitions in the Skinnerian. The current author discusses Skinnerian superstitions, in particular two that may turn out to be important: Schedules of reinforcement are examples of intermittent reinforcement, and cumulative records are indicators of response probability via response rate. Another frequently held superstition about reinforcement theory is that the law of reinforcement is all there is to the prediction and control of behavior. Cook has exhibited at least one superstition common in the psychological community: Scientific theories are testable in miniature real-life situations. There is plenty of evidence apart from Cook's (cf. Bandura, 1962; Berkowitz, 1964) that there are situations in which humans do not need to be trained as though they were pigeons or rats, but this does not necessarily mean that these situations cannot be analyzed in terms of principles derived from the simpler organisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Versus Cook.

Comments on John Oliver Cook's article, 'Superstition' in the Skinnerian (see record 1964-03363-001.) The author of this comment objects to the article written by Cook. The author feels that Cook's logic, research, and tone of writing are not handled in the spirit of hypothesis confirmation or refutation but in the spirit of flag raising and slurring. The author argues that researchers should attempt to confirm, refute, or modify hypotheses, rather than dichotomize the world into opposing camps, e.g., the good guys versus the bad guys, good versus evil. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

极化电介质球的电场及计算

计算均匀极化的电介质球激发的电场,建立一个简单的物理模型.利用场强叠加原理,极大地简化了电介质球内外空间激发的电场计算,并对结果进行讨论分析.