The Psychological Record

Social discounting rates were compared between Japanese and American college students. In a series of psychophysical questionnaire tasks, participants chose between a hypothetical unshared monetary reward and a hypothetical monetary reward to be shared with other people (relatives or strangers), to determine amounts of the unshared reward subjectively equivalent to the shared reward. The participants also chose between sharing and not-sharing options in a one-shot dilemma game. Discount rates estimated by a hyperbolic function were higher among the Japanese students than among the American students. Moreover, the discount rates obtained in the relative condition were lower than in the stranger condition. In addition, participants who chose the sharing option in the dilemma situation showed lower discount rates. These results suggest that discount rates reflect a cultural difference as well as a degree of “selfishness.”

An earlier, intensive, summer project resulted in an effective therapy program for autistic children. The only assistance for continuing the program during die academic term was from four undergraduates skilled in operant conditioning (each available for two hours per week) and undergraduates enrolled in the authors’ courses. Under these conditions, a program was developed that maintained daily therapy sessions with autistic children, while giving training to inexperienced undergraduates. Data pertaining to the effectiveness of the daily therapy sessions and the training of the undergraduates are presented, and variables thought to be important to the success of the program are discussed.

60 Ss were treated either in a “friendly” or in a “neutral” manner by an E during an initial, instructional phase of the experimental session. Significant difference in the groups were found in (a) the proportion of photographs of facial expression assigned to the Love-Mirth-Happiness category and in (b )affective reaction to the experimental situation as measured by a post-session questionnaire and adjective check list.

Altruistic choice can be described quantitatively by social discount functions that indicate how rewards decrease in value with increases in social distance. Reciprocation from others has been implicated as an influential variable for altruistic choice. To investigate reciprocation and social discounting, a novel reciprocal discounting task asked participants to report what various individuals on their list would choose between money for themselves and money for the participant. Results from 150 participants show that reciprocal discounting is well-fit by Mazur’s hyperbolic equation and correlates significantly with social discounting.

The year 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of B. F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior, a book that by Skinner’s own account was his most important. the received view, however, is that a devastating review by a young linguist not only rendered Skinner’s interpretation of language moot but was also a major factor in ending the hegemony of behaviorism in psychology and paving the way for a cognitive revolution. Nevertheless, in taking stock of Verbal Behavior and behaviorism, both appear to be thriving. This article suggests that Verbal Behavior and behaviorism remain vital partly because they have generated successful practical applications.

144 Ss estimated 5, 10 or 15 sec. with no-knowledge, some-knowledge or full-knowledge of results. Estimations began when S closed a switch and ended when he opened it, which stopped a Klockounter to which the switch was connected. Performances were not differentiated by the two levels of knowledge of results. There were no differences in mean estimations between knowledge groups, but significant differences in average error between control and each knowledge group (p.<.05). Inconsistencies between mean estimations and average errors were attributed to absence of a constant error in estimating short intervals.

This paper analyzes the underlying epistemological foundations of Q methodology as a science of subjectivity. Methodological issues are interrogated in the context of the linguistic and interpretive turns in the human sciences. The sociocultural inflections of Q as process are examined and contextualized in terms of its critique of objectivism and dualism. Distinctions are also drawn between Q and other interpretive perspectives. Q methodology as a cultural science is discussed in relation to neo-psychoanalytic perspectives and its effectivity as a psychotherapeutic research framework is demonstrated through a case study.

The behavior control exercised by one person over another is becoming increasingly recognized. The present paper deals with some of the concerns typically expressed in regard to this issue. It is suggested that although there are realistic reasons for concern this can not deter mankind from controlling one another. Debate concerning the morality of behavior control should therefore be replaced with experimentation designed to better determine the behaviors necessary for approximating a more reinforcing survival for all. It is concluded that controlled human behavior is an existing fact which can not be altered and individuals concerned with personal freedom should at least consider that perhaps the only meaningful form of behavioral freedom must be based on a knowledge of the factors which, indeed, control us.