Reinforcement today.

The discovery of facts and practices concerning reinforcement in the past 25 years "have increased our power to predict and control behavior and in so doing have left no doubt of their reality and importance." In the acquisition of a bowling response in pigeons 3 points are relevant: (a) The temporal relationships between behavior and reinforcement are very important. (b) Behavior was set up through successive approximations. (c) Behavior gradual "shapes up" by "reinforcing crude approximations of the final topography instead of waiting for the complete response." The maintenance of behavior through various schedules of reinforcement is discussed. "The world in which man lives may be regarded as an extraordinarily complex set of positive and negative reinforcing contingencies… . In any social situation we must discover who is reinforcing whom with what and to what effect." The modern study of reinforcement is: (a) difficult and relatively expensive; (b) usually single-organism research, in which a statistical program is "unnecessary" and "wrong"; (c) not theoretical. "The new principles and methods of analysis which are emerging from the study of reinforcement may prove to be among the most productive social instruments of the twentieth century." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phyletic differences in learning.

It was hypothesized for many years that "the laws of learning were the same everywhere in the animal series… . It is difficult for the nonspecialist to appreciate quite how restricted has been the range of animals studied in experiments on animal learning because the restriction is so marked." Selected animal research is reviewed and a table is presented indicating behavior of a variety of animals in 4 classes of problem, (spatial reversal, spatial probability, visual reversal and visual probability) which differentiate rat and fish. Animals specified in the table are monkey, rat, pigeon, turtle, decorticated rat, fish, cockroach, and earthworm. Behavior of each kind of animal is evaluated in terms of its similarity to the behavior of 1 or the other of these 2 reference animals (rat and fish). This serves "as a summary of results already obtained" and "as a guide to further research." Systematic parametric variation is still of significance in comparative research; but "the table will save us some parametric effort in certain regions." An expanded table of this sort "will provide some useful clues to the evolution of intelligence and its relation to the evolution of the brain." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interspecies versus Species-Specific.

Comments on "Experimental investigations of species-specific behavior" by Beach (see record 1961-01865-001). With respect to Beach's plea for the investigation of species-specific behavior, perhaps the assumption should be made by all comparative psychologists that "Any behavior is presumed interspecies until proven species-specific." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Current and future advances in physiological and comparative psychology.

"An important current advance in both comparative psychology and physiology during the last ten years has been the development of a very considerable number of laboratories devoted, at least in part, to the use of primates as experimental subjects." During the next twenty-five years a truly comparative psychology will be developed. A number of predictions are made based in part on recent researches which appear to suggest trends for the future; the presentation is semi-whimsical. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Science and ethical behavior.

Major sections are Impact of Science (Evolution and Ethics, Psychoanalysis and Ethics) and Ethical Implications of Psychology (Freedom of Choice, The Process of Choice, Control of Behavior). "The paper might be thought of as a highly tentative effort to identify some of the parameters of an important human problem by examining the point of intersection of the trajectories of professional and scientific psychology." 3 conceptions related to science and troublesome to ethical theories are specified. "… psychological knowledge should result in more ethical behavior: (a) by clarifying the process of decision making; (b) by divesting repressed responses already in the individual's repertory of their anxiety-producing potential, thus making them useful in problem solving; and (c) by adding to the response repertory of the individual a number of alternative ways of behaving." 21 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who's afraid of John B. Watson? Comments on: Behavior: An introduction to comparative psychology.

Reviews the book, Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology by John B. Watson (Introduction by R. J. Herrnstein) (see record 1967-08039-000). This book, a reprint of the 1914 volume which was Watson's first book, disinters again from its mouldy wrappings the often harrassed spectre of John B. Watson's place in the history of North American psychology. Was he, as Gustav Bergmann (1956) has suggested, second only to Freud as "the most important figure in the history of psychological thought during the first half of the century?" Or was A. A. Roback (1937, 1964) closer to the truth in dismissing Watsonian Behaviorism as a "rah-rah technique" which "made a big noise" which was "not substantiated by deeds?" Or was Watson, as other writers have suggested, simply a footnote to Functionalism? Herrnstein, in his introduction, discusses Watson as the heir of Darwin, Sechenov, and Pavlov, and as the progenitor of Tolman, Hull, and Skinner. The fact of the matter is that Watson's contributions to psychology, however they may be assessed, were not in the field of animal behavior but in the field of methodology. Thorndike's Law of Effect continued to overshadow Watson's frequency principle in learning, Pavlov did more with the reflex in terms of both research and theory, and Lashley began a tradition of revolutionary explorations of the animal nervous system. It is not without good reason that Boring (1950) discusses Watson in a section on Behaviorism '(with the ism)" rather than in sections on Animal Psychology where Romanes, Loeb, Morgan, and Yerkes are included. Indeed, it is to the "history and systems" books one must turn to find consistent reference to Behavior. It would appear that if Behavior is, in fact, a classic, it is a classic in the field of psychological theory and methodology, not in the field of animal behavior or comparative psychology. Perhaps it was this point which Herrnstein was making when he began the first sentence of his introduction with the words, "To find out what behaviorism was, consult this book," rather than with the words, "To find out what comparative psychology was, consult this book." Nevertheless, whether your interest is behaviorism, comparative psychology, or the history and growth of psychological thinking in North America, this book is worth consulting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why study aging?

"Research on aging is still in an undeveloped stage." 3 major problem areas for older persons are indicated: health, economics, and loneliness. Older persons in our society don't have much to do. "The loneliness and idleness of aging is a special problem stemming from the fact that work substitutes or acceptable time filling activities are often hard to develop or arrange for oneself." Main topics discussed are: Science and Aging, Aging and Predictability of Behavior, Occupation and Aging, The Search for a Mature Point of View toward Human Aging, Aging and the Organization of Behavior, Training and Research Institutions. Psychology should maintain close ties with other sciences working on aging. Several reasons for studying aging are indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preparedness for progress.

The extensive problems of mental illness are reviewed. "Either we must develop new kinds of mental health personnel or we must develop new skills in the personnel we already have. This is no longer a pious statement; it is an absolute necessity in the imminence of approaching events." Problems involved in training specialists are considered. Efforts must be made "to identify those areas in which our skills… can be useful." Efforts should be made "to find answers to social needs where our contribution can be effective" and we must "accept responsibility for handling the wide range of truly psychiatric problems, whether or not they fit our individual preferences." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Mind and performance: a comparative study of learning in mammals, birds, and reptiles.

Reviews "Mind and performance: a comparative study of learning in mammals, birds, and reptiles," by Harold K. Fink (see record 1955-00447-000). One of the objectives of comparative psychology, as its name implies, is to compare the sensory and motor abilities of animals to those of man. Yet surprisingly few investigators have devoted themselves seriously to this problem. The present monograph describes a five-year research which examines the learning ability of seven species of mammals including man, chickens, and turtles and tortoises. In terms of the number of different species studied it is the most comprehensive of any of the truly comparative investigations of animal behavior. Learning efficiency is measured with a device called the "Arrow Maze," which is a kind of cross between the more orthodox type of maze and a four-way multiple-choice box. The book is well and simply written in language which can be understood by the intelligent layman and is at the same time acceptable to the technically trained psychologist. It is a comprehensive and significant contribution and will make an important addition to the literature of the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Erratum.

Reports an error in the table of contents of the January 1975 issue, the authorship of the article "Monoaminergic Mediation of Female Sexual Behavior" beginning on page 53 should have read "Ward, Ingeborg, L., Crowley, William R., Zemlan, Frank P., and Margules, D. L." (The following abstract originally appeared in record 1975-09022-001) Facilitated lordotic behavior in 18 estrogen-primed ovariectomized female Sprague-Dawley rats by direct application of progesterone or serotonergic or b-adrenergic receptor blockers to specific telencephalic, anterior hypothalamic-medial preoptic, or posterior hypothalamic sites. Blockade of the a-adrenergic system was ineffective in facilitating lordosis, as was the application of the active drugs to control sites in the thalamus or basal ganglia. Female soliciting behavior was not evoked by any of the treatments. It is concluded that the lordotic behavior component of the female rat's estrous behavior pattern is inhibited by a specific central monoaminergic system that also responds to progesterone. Soliciting behavior appears to be mediated by systems that are anatomically, and possibly neurochemically, separable from those regulating lordosis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mark G. Baxter: Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology.

Presents the citation for Mark G. Baxter, who received the Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology (animal learning and behavior, comparative) "for insightful and incisive contributions in studies of learning, memory, attentional processing, executive function, and goal-directed behavior in work that has translated across species." A brief profile and a selected bibliography accompany the citation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discontinuity and correlation: A reply to Eysenck.

"Our original point was to underscore Eysenck's own carefully stated reservations concerning the application of criterion analysis. We erred in not making this sufficiently clear. Here, we have tried to rectify this error and to amplify a suggestion made implicitly in the earlier paper (see 33: 1700), for an experimental approach to the validation of factor analytic procedures in relation to discrete genotypic determinants of human behavior." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior control and social responsibility.

"It is in the field of psychotherapy that the issues of the moral and ethical implications of behavior control first arose as a relevant problem." We "cannot avoid facing the issue of values." Psychology should "develop techniques of approaching experimentally the basic problem of social and ethical issues involved in behavior control." In connection with this, the psychologist-researcher "should undertake the task of contact with the public rather than leaving it to sensationalists and popularizers." Behavior control "represents a relatively new, important, and very useful development in psychological research." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Comparative Animal Behavior.

Reviews the book, Comparative Animal Behavior by Richard A. Maier and Barbara M. Maier (see record 1970-08060-000). This book was written as a text for basic comparative psychology on animal behavior courses. The text is carefully referenced to an extensive bibliography which makes the book valuable as a reference source to the basic literature of the area. The three part organization of the text covers: Basic Sensory Motor System Biology, Stimulus Control of Naturalistic Behaviors, and Interactive Processes of Organisms and Environment. Within and across sections the text is organized to allow the student progression from simple mechanisms of behavior to the more complex processes. The exemplary studies cited deal with a variety of species appropriate to elucidation of the phenomena under discussion, and profusely supplemented with drawings and photographic plates. An excellent introduction to comparative studies of animal behavior for psychology students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental analysis of behavior.

"It is my position that the experimental analysis of behavior is essentially the same whether we are dealing with the behavior of the paramecium or the man, whether we are analyzing behavior that appears to be simple or that which appears to be complex." The experimental analysis of behavior is independent of behavioral complexity. "No behavior is too complicated to analyze experimentally, if only the proper techniques can be discovered and developed." Trends in the experimental analysis of behavior include (1) The attempt "to analyze ever increasingly complex behavioral processes." (2) The "increasing importance being given to developmental investigations." (3) The "development of interlaboratory research." (4) A "developing belief that the experimental method as a method for the analysis of behavior is the common property of all behavioral scientists." (5) The adaptation of "method to problems rather than to adapt problems to method… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An opinion on the construction of behavior theory.

"On both intellectual and pragmatic grounds, present day theory in the behavioral sciences is far from satisfactory." 5 aspects of theory construction are selected as requiring increased emphasis in the behavioral sciences: "1. General theory on a par with miniature systems development. 2. Interim projection of theory from empirical results that are in prima facie opposition. 3. A more sophisticated and more explicit determination of the sense in which theoretical assertions are applicable or valid in the real world. 4. A working language for theoretical expression based on simple ideographic terms and lending itself to symbolic manipulation. 5. A truly reciprocal interaction between substantive behavior theory on the one hand, and mathematics and logic on the other. These features are all present in the comparatively successful natural sciences. They have appeared only in isolated or fragmentary form in the behavioral sciences and have never really caught hold." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subliminal stimulation: An overview.

"Seldom has anything in psychology caused such an immediate and widespread stir as the recent claim that the presentation of certain stimuli below the level of conscious awareness can influence people's behavior in a significant way." Recent history relating to the technique is discussed under the topics of Recent Advertising Demonstrations, Research on Behavior without Awareness, and Effects of Inner States upon Thresholds. Unanswered Methodological Questions and The Ethics of Subliminal Influence are the other major topic areas. "The indiscriminate and uncontrolled application of psychological principles is increasing at a fearsome rate in the form of motivation research, propaganda, public relations, and a host of other useful practices based on the work of psychologists." Psychologists have a responsibility for assisting society to use its findings wisely. 132 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evolutionary trends and evolutionary origins: Relevance to theory in comparative psychology.

W. Hodos and C. B. Campbell (see PA, Vol 43:12612) contended that there was no theory in comparative psychology because psychologists did not base their work on true evolutionary (phyletic) lineages or origins. The present author argues that theory in comparative psychology is based appropriately on the phyletically transcendant concept of "anagenesis:" the progressive evolution of adaptive behavior, learning ability, or intelligence. Although anagenetic trends (grades, levels) do transcend known cladistic (phyletic) lineages, it is widely held in evolutionary biology, as well as in comparative psychology, that the documentation of such trends is a valuable and necessary part of evolutionary study, especially with respect to behavior. In this context a theoretical rationale is offered for discerning the anagenetic status of various contemporary species for comparative psychological purposes. It is proposed that by determining the extent of ontogenetic plasticity and behavioral versatility in the face of experimentally altered ecological circumstances, the anagenetic grades of various species can be estimated and thus compared. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Rawlins et al.

Reports an error in "The Hippocampus, Collateral Behavior, and Timing" by J. N. P. Rawlins, Gordon Winocur, and Jeffrey A. Gray (Behavioral Neuroscience, 1983, Vol. 97, No. 6, pp. 857-872; see record 1984-19857-001). On page 816 there are several errors. All degrees of freedom presently given as 896 or 840 should be 816. In addition, in the second paragraph "the fifth block of days" should read "the first block of days." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change.

Reviews the book, Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change by Sol L. Garfield and Allen E. Bergin (1986). The third edition of the Handbook is an 886-page volume, complete with author and subject indices. It contains 19 chapters divided into six parts; each chapter is written by established authorities. The six divisions into which the chapters have been separated include Historical, Methodological, and Conceptual Foundations; Evaluation of Process and Outcome in Psychotherapy and Behavior Change; Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies; Child and Family Therapies; Special Topics; and Evaluating the Training of Therapists. This volume represents "a critical appraisal of existing empirical research findings with an evenhanded or eclectic attitude toward divergent orientations in the area of psychotherapy and behavior change along with their implication for research and practice." Notably, the editors' critical but even-handed appraisal of the field now includes satisfaction with "an increased sophistication in the design of research on psychotherapy" as well as "the introduction of specific training manuals that allow for a greater specification and monitoring of the operations of specific therapies." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)