Differential learning and forgetting as a function of the social frame of reference.

"The present study was aimed at demonstrating how learning and recall become selective because of the relevant frames of reference… . Brahmins and Karana… were required to learn and recall… favorable and… unfavorable familiar stereotypes concerning themselves." Effectiveness of learning was seen to be dependent upon whether the stereotypes were identified with a caste different from one's own and whether they reflected favorable or unfavorable attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maier's law.

"Maier's Law states: if facts do not conform to the theory, they must be disposed of." With Maier's law "the theory supersedes the fact. It is the fact that must conform; and it is the theory that we must strive to nurture, develop, and abstract… . The method of how psychologists as scientists dispose of facts is of special interest. One of the most common is to give the facts a new name. In this way they are given a special compartment and therefore cease to infringe on the privacy of the theory… . Giving disturbing facts a name is almost as good as explaining them because a name supplies a useful answer to inquisitive people." Other ways of disposing of facts are omitting them in reference books, and "the most efficient method… that of failing to report them… . Perhaps rats should be taught the theory they are to follow… . Any theory that cannot be quantified is inadequate, even if it works." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychology of 1975: An extrapolation.

In 1975 "our motive in studying psychology will continue to be primarily the fact that we have cognitive needs… . The creativity excitement of today will be geometrically expanded… because even the creativity abstraction is itself an exciting abstraction." The "new realm of knowledge to which Freud above all, has led… . [and] the huge legacy of Ivan Pavlov and our Soviet colleagues" will be utilized. Outrageous hypotheses are desirable tools. Advances in 4 fields will "make major impacts upon psychology: genetics, neurophysiology, perception theory, and ecology… . It is perfectly plain that among all the behavioral sciences psychology is central." Major sections are: Prediction Models, Radar into the Future, The "Specious Present," Biological Vistas, Outrageous Hypotheses, and New Psychologies? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repeated frustrations and expectations in hostility arousal.

"Two experiments were devised to test predictions developed on the basis of an earlier investigation… . (wherein) it was found that the partner's act had its greatest effect on S's final attitude toward him when it was inconsistent with the partner's earlier behavior… . The… experiment reported here… obtained essentially similar results… (suggesting) that unexpected frustrations produce a stronger aggressive reaction than anticipated frustrations because, as a result of the hypothesized contrast effect, the former probably are evaluated as being more severe." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Congress looks at science.

Congress "has been inviting the nation's top scientists… to come to the witness table… . Congress is not trying to crack down on science; rather it is trying… to equip itself for its constitutional role in an area where it has heretofore been rather laggard." The "Federal Government has been extremely generous to science." Science "has become terribly expensive in recent years… . Congress is beginning to demand, in effect, that the scientific community vouch for it productivity… . Congress is aware of its own inadequacy, which is why the scientific community should be pleased, rather than distressed, by the sudden rush of investigations and studies. They present a splendid opportunity for the nation's scientists to help the political process adopt itself to the needs of science." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accuracy of brightness discrimination as measured by concurrent verbal responses and GSRs.

"In… subliminal perception experiments some response shows discriminative accuracy at stimulus values below the threshold of awareness determined by classical psychophysical techniques. The procedure is objectionable because the threshold measure admits extraneous variance that the measure of 'subliminal accuracy' does not… . This experiment compares the discriminative accuracy of GSR and verbal response when assessed by the same forced-choice psychophysical technique." Results indicated "the verbal response showed significantly higher correlation with the stimulus than did the GSR… neither response was significantly more accurate than the other." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between real similarity and assumed similarity with favorability controlled.

"The present study tests the hypothesis that subjects who share a number of characteristics in common with a stimulus person tend to assume greater similarity to him in common with him. Special attention is given to controlling the influence of favorability on the measurements of assumed similarity… . The data almost completely fail to support the hypothesis that… [assumed similarity] varies with… [real similarity] when the favorability component is controlled… . the data suggest that, when the stimulus object is relatively socially acceptable and has characteristics with which all S's are relatively familiar… [assumed similarity] is determined primarily by the favorability response set… and is almost uninfluenced by… [real similarity]." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on the use of the terms conditioning and reinforcement.

The "… term conditioning was originally used… to denote the behavioral fact that a stimulus inadequate for some response could become adequate by virtue of being combined one or more times with a stimulus adequate for the response… . The situation at present is as follows. Conditioning is being used as an all-covering account of both Pavlovian and Skinnerian learning which by all tokens are quite distinct—and even divergent—from each other methodologically, operationally, behaviorally, and functionally. And reinforcement, in its turn, wields four different meanings." The author claims that "… not only is such a mixing of terms in itself unjustified but in twenty years has hardly caught on beyond the reign of its immediate proponents." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance vectors: A theoretical and experimental attack upon emphasis, effect, and repression.

"In each trial, 16 pairs of verbal phrases were presented, a pair at a time, in two windows in a perpendicular display panel facing the subject. The subject was asked on the first trial to guess, and then on succeeding trials to learn, which item in each pair was 'correct."' In a "'shock-right' group, the subjects obtained a shock in the original learning whenever they pressed the level and button for the correct item in the case of half of the 16 pairs and no shock for either item in the case of the other 8 pairs. In… a 'shock-wrong' group, the subjects obtained a shock in the original learning whenever pressing the lever and button for the incorrect item in the case of half of the pairs and no shock for the other 8 pairs." A "no-shock" group received no shock in original learning. Data concerning original learning and also relearning are presented. The "notion of emphasis was not here supported." Differences between the 3 groups are believed performance differences; it is assumed that "for all groups… the rate of actual learning was really about the same." The concept of vectors is used in discussing learning and performance. "The simple law of Effect is either out or needs reformulation… . We did find, I think, something like a pale pink simulacrum of 'repression."' If so, "it is obviously a performance and not a learning phenomenon." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some relationships between GSR conditioning and judgments of anxiety.

"The aim of the present study was to investigate… the relationship between GSR conditioning and various clinical judgments of anxiety in a sample of psychiatric patients conditioned under presumably optimal procedures… . anxiety groups ranked on the basis of admission psychological data… were found to be significantly different in conditionability." This was not so with Ss ranked via the Taylor MA scale, and "anxiety groups revealed no significant differences in extinction." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal motivations and self-conceptions associated with effectiveness and ineffectiveness in emergent groups.

"The present study tested five hypotheses concerning the relationship of underlying motivations and self-conceptions to sociometrically measured effectiveness in an emergent group situation… . After the subjects… wrote brief stories in response to eight pictures, they participated in a 20-minute leaderless group discussion… . The results may be interpreted as indicating that effectiveness in an initially unstructured group situation is systematically related to the individual's personal motivations and self-concepts." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

AN INVESTIGATION OF SOME PROPOSITIONS OF SELF-CONCEPTION: THE CASE OF MISS SUN.

"A two-year investigation of one individual's self-describing behavior is reported. The purposes of the experiment were to objectify some of the general statements in self-conception theory as operational propositions, to test five of these propositions for one case, and to demonstrate a method of work in the area of self-conception… . Q method was the experimental procedure in use… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Culture and psychopathology.

"In my opinion, the major contribution of anthropology to symptomatology is the opportunity it offers for reducing the ethnocentrism of the diagnostician… . The fact is that most distinctions between the fundamental symptomatological concepts in psychiatry have implicit or explicit social or cultural reference… . It follows that a valid diagnosis cannot be based on symptomatology alone, but must be derived from a study of the psychodynamics of the individual's patient in relation to his social and cultural milieu… . It is obvious that the content of a syndrome is influenced by the patient's culture… . Finally, the culture influences the individual's perception of a situation." The author's points are illustrated by material drawn from case studies. 45 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Value orientations: An ethical dilemma.

"The psychologist as a scientist limits himself to what is; his choice of field of inquiry in his quest for truth involves values which are purely personal. But as a practitioner, the psychologist must be concerned with what should be… . The point of view of this article is that the involvement of the psychologist's own values in the applied field creates an ethical dilemma… . As we present the controversy over values, we will assemble them into four main orientations: naturalism, culturalism, humanism, and theism." Each of these orientations is discussed. A "start in untieing the ethical knot" has been made "by suggesting that value orientations be removed from under the proverbial bushel and, once out in the open, be dealt with as objectively as possible." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of father-absence on Norwegian boys and girls.

The effects of father-absence on boys and girls was investigated in Norwegian (sailor) families where the father was absent for 1 or 2 years and "compared with otherwise similar (Norwegian) families (of the same area) in which the father was present. The following hypotheses were made and generally supported by the findings:… father-absent boys… would show immaturity… . Being insecure in their identification with the father, father-absent boys would show stronger strivings toward father-identification… [and] compensatory masculinity… would demonstrate poorer peer/adjustment… [and] father-absent girls… would become more dependent on the mother than would father-present girls." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gradational adjectives in market surveys.

Out of a survey directed to 800 credit managers, usable responses were received from 69, giving in each case a risk rating (good, fair, poor) for 42 occupations, and a definition of "good," "fair," and "poor" in terms of percent of defaults. "… the adjectives were not found to have as much variation as one might expect, and surprisingly little overlap was found to exist between the areas over which these variations extended. The model points of the definition of g, f, and p in terms of percentage of default are well-defined irrespective of the basis on which the definitions are interpreted… (and)… combination of the respondents' replies yields over-all credit ratings for the various occupations, the order of which tends to be largely invariant of the method of combination used." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive risk and environmental change.

"It is the objective of the present paper to examine wherein breadth of categorizing reflects the manner in which people deal with the risk of errors of judgment—specifically, the risk of saying that things are similar when they might be different, or that they are different when they might be similar… . Our central interest is in the specific behavior of broad and narrow categorizers in a highly simplified judging task. Two questions concern us. The first… with consistency of preference for broad and narrow categorizing in a stable stimulus situation… [and the] consistent manner in which… categorizers alter their judgments in the face of changes in the stimulus situations… . The narrow categorizer appears to prefer the risk… possibly being wrong… . The broad categorizer prefers the risk of not reacting to change and possibly being wrong." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HE31B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A terminal course for psychology majors.

A special course for senior psychology majors "… in which one step has been taken in the direction away from the conservative tradition of lecturing and examining" is described. The students' first assignment is to list "… the ten most persistent and pressing problems of personal and social living… " and the second is to "… select the ten concepts, laws, or principles which you believe to be the most significant… ." From these the "… subject matter of the rest of the term is established." There is "… frequent and favorable reaction from students… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences in gradients of stimulus generalization as a function of psychiatric disorder.

On the basis of the "Dollard and Miller… principle that 'increasing the strength of the drive raises the entire gradient of generalization… ' [and that]… such emotional states as fear, anxiety, and guilt can acquire the properties of a drive… . The present research investigates the hypotheses that there are differences in the shape of the SG gradients among psychotic, neurotic, and control Ss… . The results indicate that (a) the psychotics showed more generalization than the nonpsychotics; (b) the neurotics showed less… than the psychotics, but did not differ from the controls; and (c) the brain-damaged Ss showed more generalization than the nonpsychotics, but they did not differ from the psychotics." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)