Part I: The Basic Account. 1. Language and Cognition: Constructing an Alternative Approach Within the Behavioral Tradition S.C. Hayes, et al. 2. Derived Relational Responding as Learned Behavior S.C. Hayes, et al. 3. Multiple Stimulus Relations and the Transformation of Stimulus Functions D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 4. Relations Among Relations: Analogies, Metaphors, and Stories I. Stewart, et al. 5. Thinking, Problem-Solving, and Pragmatic Verbal Analysis S.C. Hayes, et al. 6. Understanding and Verbal Regulation D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 7. Self and Self-Directed Rules D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 8. Relational Frame Theory: A Precis S.C. Hayes, et al. Part II: Extensions and Applications. 9. Psychological Development Y. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 10. Education Y. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 11. Social Processes B. Roche, et al. 12. Psychopathology and Psychotherapy K.G. Wilson, et al. 13. Religion, Spirituality, and Transcendence D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. Epilogue. References. Index.

Relational Frame Theory: A Post-Skinnerian Account Of Human Language And Cognition

The tendency to choose a larger, more delayed reinforcer over a smaller, less delayed one has frequently been termed “selfcontrol.” Three very different research traditions – two models emphasizing the control of local contingencies of reinforcement (Mischel's social learning theory and Herrnstein's matching law) and molar maximization models (specifically optimal foraging theory) – have all investigated behavior within the self-control paradigm. A framework is proposed to integrate research from all three research areas. This framework consists of three parts: a procedural analysis, a causal analysis, and a theoretical analysis. The procedural analysis provides a common procedural terminology for all three areas. The causal analysis establishes that, in all three research traditions, self-control varies directly with the current physical values of the reinforcers; that is, choices increase with reinforcer amount and decrease with reinforcer delay. But self-control also varies according to past events to which a subject has been exposed, and according to current factors other than the reinforcers. Each of the three models has therefore incorporated these indirect effects on self-control by postulating unobservable mechanisms. In all three cases, these mechanisms represent a subject's behavior as a function of a perceived environment. The theoretical analysis demonstrates that evolutionary theory can encompass the research from all three areas by considering differences in the adaptiveness of self-control in different situations. This integration provides a better and more predictive description of self-control.

Research on self-control: An integrating framework

This text details animal orientation with the help of information from the geomagnetic field. It reviews the magnetic effects on spatial behaviour in the various groups of the animal kingdom from platyhelminths to vertebrates, with an emphasis on birds as the best studied group. The discussion covers "compass" and "non-compass" effects and different types of responses, for example, alignments, compass orientation and orientation by the spatial distribution of magnetic parameters, which should aid the reader's understanding of the various ways magnetic information may be used.

Magnetic orientation in animals

Humans were presented with a task that required moving a light through a matrix. Button presses could produce light movements according to a multiple fixed-ratio 18/differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate 6-s schedule, with components alternating every 2 min. Moving the light through the maze earned points worth chances on money prizes. In Experiment 1 four conditions were assessed through between-subject comparisons: minimal instructions, instructions to press rapidly, instructions to press slowly, and instructions that sometimes rapid responding would work while at other times a slow rate would work best. Subjects responded in three successive sessions of 32 min each. The results suggested that instructions affected the nature of the contact made with the programmed consequences and thus subsequent performance. In some cases, responding seemed to result from added contingencies introduced by stating rules. In Experiment 2 the relative contribution of these two effects was assessed by presenting and then withdrawing two lights that had been paired with two specific instructions: “Go Fast” or “Go Slow.” There were three conditions. In one condition, only the Go Fast light was on; in a second, only the Go Slow light was on; and in a third, the lights alternated each minute. In each condition, half the subjects had all instruction lights turned off after the first session. The results once again showed an effect of instructions on contact with the programmed consequences. However, responding sometimes continued in a manner consistent with added contingencies for rule-following even when the programmed consequences had been contacted and would have controlled a different type of responding in the absence of instructions. The relevance of added contingencies for rule-following in determining the effects of explicitly programmed consequences is emphasized.

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Rule-governed behavior and sensitivity to changing consequences of responding.

Instructions can override the influence of programmed schedules of reinforcement. Although this finding has been interpreted as a limitation of reinforcement schedule control in humans, an alternative approach considers instructional control, itself, as a phenomenon determined by subjects' reinforcement histories. This approach was supported in a series of experiments that studied instructional and schedule control when instructions either did or did not accord with the schedule of reinforcement. Experiment I demonstrated that accurate instructions control discriminative performances on multiple avoidance schedules, and that such control persists in a novel discrimination. Experiments II and III showed that elimination of instruction-following occurs when inaccurate instructions cause subjects to contact a monetary loss contingency. Experiment IV demonstrated the reinforcing properties of accurate instructions. Skinner's view of rule-governed behavior is consistent with these findings, and can be extended to account for many aspects of instructional control of human operant behavior.

Contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior: instructional control of human loss avoidance.

Sixteen female Ss earned a total of 50 reinforcements on a FI 20 sec reinforcement schedule. The reinforcers used were points on a counter. The Ss were instructed that the reinforcement contingency involved either the number of responses, or an interval of time, or Ss were given no information about the schedule. The Ss’ performance was related not only to instructions, but also to Ss’ verbalizations of the reinforcement contingency.

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Fixed interval performance as related to instructions and to subjects’ verbalizations of the contingency

80 female Ss earned points on a counter for button pressing on a FI 20, 40, 60 and 80 sec. schedule of reinforcement. The Ss were uninformed of the reinforcement schedule. The Ss’ final performance and verbalization of the reinforcement contingency were related to initial rate of responding and presence of a shift in rate during training, but unrelated to interval duration.

Fixed Interval Performance as Related to Subjects’ Verbalizations of the Reinforcement Contingency

Talkington has suggested that birds use changes in the magnetic field to navigate He hypothesized that when the bird flies through the magnetic field, signals arise from the pectens of the bird’s eyes and the bird navigates on the basis of these stimuli This study investigated bird’s ability to make such discriminations and concluded that the pigeon does not have the sensitivity for such discriminations

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Sensitivity of the pigeon to changes in the magnetic field

Experimental chicks were trained to peck a green stimulus for food in preference to a blue stimulus at the ages of 1, 3, or 5 days old within a socialized or isolated condition. The birds were tested on four subsequent days without food in order to ascertain the generality of “food imprinting. ” On the initial reinforced day, the chicks discriminated between the two stimuli, older birds pecked more than younger ones, and those within the socialized condition more than the isolated ones. A rapid decline in the frequency of responses over the nonreinforced days was interpreted as extinction of a discriminative response rather than as “food imprinting.”

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Food imprinting in the domestic chick: A reconsideration

Three-day-old cockerel chicks were trained to peck a green stimulus for food in preference to a blue stimulus within a social, visual, or isolated condition (Experiment 1), or within a 1, 2, 3, or 4–5 group (Experiment 2). The chicks were tested on four subsequent nonreinforced days to ascertain the generality of “food imprinting.” On the initial reinforced day, the chicks discriminated between the two stimuli. The social group pecked more than the visual group and the visual more than the isolated, and the larger the group number, the higher the mean rate. Over the nonreinforced days, all groups showed a rapid decline in the frequency of responses. The data were interpreted as extinction rather than as “food imprinting.”

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Merle E. Meyer

Papers

Fixed interval performance as related to instructions and to subjects’ verbalizations of the contingency

Fixed Interval Performance as Related to Subjects’ Verbalizations of the Reinforcement Contingency

Sensitivity of the pigeon to changes in the magnetic field

Food imprinting in the domestic chick: A reconsideration

Food imprinting in domestic chicks as a function of social contact and number of companions