Employee reaction to continuous and variable ratio reinforcement schedules involving a monetary incentive.

Examined the performance of 12 mountain beaver trappers (aged 21–40 yrs) when a monetary incentive was administered on continuous and VR-4 schedules of reinforcement. On alternate weeks (over a 12-wk period), Ss received $1 for every beaver caught. On the VR-4 schedule, each S received $4 contingent on presenting the beaver to the supervisor and correctly predicting an even or odd number on a dice roll. Consistent with operant theory, the performance of Ss was higher on the VR-4 reinforcement schedule. Ss were interviewed to determine what they viewed as differentiating the 2 schedules of reinforcement. Based on the interviews, a questionnaire was developed and administered. Results indicate that the VR-4 schedule was perceived as including job enrichment variables such as recognition, task variety, task accomplishment, and feedback, whereas this was less likely to be the case when the incentive was paid on a continuous schedule. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Estimating a Game Theoretic Model

Applied game theory generally shows possible game situations, discussingtheir implications. This paper derives an estimation procedure fornon-cooperative games, using cross-section data. During thetransformation of the data an attempt is made to pick extreme points, tofind the outer borders for the actual game. The estimation procedure isan algorithm that switches between several software packages. In anapplication a motivated choice can be made for the transformationfunctions such that the estimated game comes closest to the actual gameof the empirical problem under study. To demonstrate the estimationprocedure, a situation is studied in which a villager voluntarilychooses a level of participation in forest management.     

An investigation of thresholds in air pollution–mortality effects

In this paper we introduce and implement new techniques to investigate threshold effects in air pollution–mortality relationships. Our key interest is in measuring the dose–response relationship above and below a given threshold level where we allow for a large number of potential explanatory variables to trigger the threshold effect. This is in contrast to existing approaches that usually focus on a single threshold trigger. We allow for a myriad of threshold effects within a Bayesian statistical framework that accounts for model uncertainty (i.e. uncertainty about which threshold trigger and explanatory variables are appropriate). We apply these techniques in an empirical exercise using daily data from Toronto for 1992–1997. We investigate the existence and nature of threshold effects in the relationship between mortality and ozone (O₃), total particulate matter (PM) and an index of other conventionally occurring air pollutants. In general, we find the effects of the pollutants we consider on mortality to be statistically indistinguishable from zero with no evidence of thresholds. The one exception is ozone, for which results present an ambiguous picture. Ozone has no significant effect on mortality when we exclude threshold effects from the analysis. Allowing for thresholds we find a positive and significant effect for this pollutant when the threshold trigger is the average change in ozone two days ago. However, this significant effect is not observed after controlling for PM.     

Contributions of acute bouts of vigorous physical activity to explaining diurnal variations in feeling states in active, middle-aged women.

This study describes diurnal variations in feeling states in 84 women as a function of involvement in physical activity. Women completed feeling state checklists before and after bouts of vigorous physical activity that lasted a minimum of 20 min and on a stratified random-sampling protocol in response to a stimulus from an electronic pager. Participants self-reported the date, the time of day, the stimulus for responding, their current feeling states, and their ongoing activity. A total of 7,295 complete mood and activity reports were recorded in response to pager calls that were further coded into experience samplings that occurred on a nonexercise day, prior to exercise on an exercise day, and following exercise on an exercise day. Multilevel modeling analyses showed that in samplings recorded following exercise on exercise days, positive engagement, revitalization, and tranquility were elevated in comparison with predicted diurnal patterns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypersensitivity to social interactions in bulimic syndromes: Relationship to binge eating.

This study used a 6- to 22-day experience-sampling procedure to test for hypersensitivity to social interactions in bulimic individuals. Ratings on daily social interactions, self-concepts, moods, and eating behaviors from 55 actively bulimic, 18 formerly bulimic, and 31 noneating-disordered women were obtained. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed negative social interactions to be associated with significant increases in self-criticism (SC) and deteriorations in mood in all participants. However, bulimic participants (active or in remission) showed larger increases in SC following negative social interactions than did normal eaters (and thus seemed to be hypersensitive to interpersonal experiences). Additional analyses indicated that binge episodes tended to be preceded by poorer than average social experiences, self-concepts, and moods and followed by deteriorations in self-concept, mood, and social perception. The authors discuss possible perpetuating influences of interpersonal sensitivity in bulimic syndromes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Real-time all-optical quality of service monitoring by use of correlation and a network protocol to exploit it

We propose to use optical correlation to measure the quality of an optical link in real time, staying completely within the optical domain. We transmit a test signal of 010 and correlate the received (degraded) signal with 010. The strength and shape of the output measure dispersion and attenuation in just 3 bit periods (75 ps at 40 Gb/s) compared with minutes by traditional methods. Correlation becomes feasible owing to the recent development of tapped delay lines with very large numbers of taps. We present simulations showing that this technique can detect attenuation, dispersion, noise, and jitter. With this instantaneous quality-of-service information available to all nodes in a network, new protocols will enable the network to select paths based on quality, allowing service providers to take into account the system's physical impairments when selecting new light paths or when restoring existing ones and to guarantee varying levels of service. We present one such protocol.     

Gergen versus the mainstream: Are hypotheses in social psychology subject to empirical test?

K. J. Gergen's (1982) argument that hypotheses in social psychology are not empirical propositions is critically examined and shown to be erroneous. Nevertheless, this article demonstrates that, without necessarily appearing obvious, some hypotheses can be derived from propositions that are like tautologies and that their confirmation as such is of little interest. An analysis of hypotheses in recent articles in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that hypotheses derivable from propositions very much like tautologies may not be infrequent. Implications are considered for what kinds of social psychology experiments are of value to perform. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

étude psychométrique de l'Inventaire de dépression pour enfants de Kovacs auprès d'un échantillon francophone.

Conducted a validation study of a French translation of the children's Depression Inventory (M. Kovacs, 1978). Human subjects: 470 normal male and female French Canadian schoolage children and adolescents (aged 8.5–14 yrs) (5th–6th graders). The test was administered to 475 Ss, 5 of whom were excluded due to incomplete responses. It was administered again to 55 Ss 8 wks later. The test's internal consistency reliability, stability, and structure were assessed. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) and factor analysis were performed. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)