Showing papers by "University of North Carolina at Greensboro published in 1980"

Of human bonding: newborns prefer their mothers' voices

Abstract: By sucking on a nonnutritive nipple in different ways, a newborn human could produce either its mother's voice or the voice of another female. Infants learned how to produce the mother's voice and produced it more often than the other voice. The neonate's preference for the maternal voice suggests that the period shortly after birth may be important for initiating infant bonding to the mother.

The technical drift of applied behavior analysis.

Abstract: Four dimensions (applied, analytic, general, conceptual) were selected from Baer, Wolf, and Risley's (1968) seminal article on the nature of applied behavior analysis and were monitored throughout the first 10 volumes of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Each of the experimental articles in Volumes 1 through 6 and the first half of Volumes 7 through 10 was rated on each of these dimensions. The trends showed that applied behavior analysis is becoming a more purely technical effort, with less interest in conceptual questions. We are using simpler experimental designs and are conducting fewer analogue studies. Although concern for maintenance is increasing, other forms of generality are being measured or analyzed less often. These trends are discussed in terms of a technical drift in applied behavior analysis.

The definition, taxonomy, epidemiology, and ecology of self-injurious behavior

Abstract: The paper is a theoretical analysis of the evolution of the concepts related primarily to the definition and to the antecedents of self-injurious behavior (SIB). It was found that the definition of SIB as currently used contains surplus meanings unrelated to its scientific utility. At present, a restricted definition of SIB is not warranted because its basic parameters have not been studied adequately. Analysis of SIB taxonomies suggests two subclasses of SIB: social and nonsocial. Epidemiological studies of SIB suggest chronic and acute subsamples that differ in organicity, chronicity, and length of institutionalization. Ecological analysis suggests that a variety of antecedent conditions affect rates and topographies of SIB, e.g., ambient environmental conditions, background settings, situational demands, self-restraint, and type of daily routine activity. Implications were drawn for the organization of therapeutic environments, the study of covariation among collateral topographies, the dynamics of SIB responding, and sequential dependencies among SIB and related topographies.

Offender-Victim Relationships in Criminal Homicide Followed by Offender's Suicide, North Carolina, 1972–1977

Abstract: An analysis of 90 cases of criminal homicide followed by suicide in North Carolina, 1972 to 1977. Homicidal victim-offender relationships were investigated in regard to age, sex, race and whether victim and offender were member of the same family, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. These results were compared with victim-offender relationships in 994 criminal homicide cases in North Carolina in which offenders did not commit suicide. Married white males over 30 years were much more involved in homicide-suicide than they were in homicide alone. In these homicide-suicide cases, the victim was usually the spouse. Except for marital status, characteristics of homicide offenders who killed themselves resembled those of suicide-only individuals much more than those of homicide-only offenders. In the homicide-suicide cases, the killing of someone in close relationship to the offender, often a wife, appeared to be part of the evolving process of suicide. This clearly has implications for intervention into marital strife and also for immediate treatment of homicide offenders who kill spouses and other family members.

The precedence effect: Revisited

Abstract: In 1949 Wallach, Newman, and Rosenszweig [Am. J. Psychol. 62, 315–326 (1949)] showed that the first of two binaural transients arriving at the ears was dominant in determining midline lateralization. This result has often been quoted as a demonstration of the precedence effect when transients are presented through headphones. We attempted to replicate these experiments in order to determine if: (1) under the original conditions the pair of binaural transients were in fact at midline, (2) this precedence effect exists for stimuli lateralized off‐midline, and (3) this precedence effect could be obtained in a masking‐level difference (MLD) paradigm. The binaural pairs of 60‐μs transients were presented with I ms separation between the binaural pairs. In a variety of procedures the interaural temporal difference for the first binaural pair of transients was obtained which would yield midline lateralization as a function of the interaural temporal differences for the second binarual pair of transients. In general, these results, with some exceptions, support the conclusions of the original Wallach, Newman, and Rosenszweig study. A similar precedence effect was obtained when the fused images were off‐midline and with the MLD procedure. Although the results generally support the rule that the first binaural transient is most important in determining lateralization, some exceptions will be discussed. [Work supported by grants from the National Science Foundation.]

Aerial and aquatic oxygen uptake by freely-diving snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina).

Abstract: Aerial oxygen consumption of unrestrained, freely-diving warm-and cold-acclimated snapping turtles, Chelydra serpentina, was measured at 10, 20, and 30°C. Also, simultaneous determinations of aerial and aquatic oxygen uptake by voluntarilydiving animals were made at 4 and 20°C. The standard rates of aerial oxygen consumption are equivalent in cold-and warm-acclimated animals in water and in cold-acclimated ones in air; these rates are all lower than those of warm-acclimated animals in air. Thus either cold acclimation or voluntary submergence reduces the standard metabolic rate of snapping turtles but the effects are not additive. Aquatic oxygen uptake during voluntary submergence is more important at low than at moderate temperatures and probably contributes significantly to gas exchange in these animals as they overwinter beneath the ice of ponds and streams.

Contemporary Marriage Types: A Research Note.

Abstract: one of three types (wife as equal partner. junior partner. o r complement). A sample of younger white wives is categorized by their responses to an item assessing economic provider duties. Rased on that criterion and their paid employment status, women in the three categories are compared over five clusters of variables that are alleged to distinguish among the three types. Results suggest that the classification schema possesses a certain degree of validity. although more research in needed to refine the schema and enhance its usefulness.

Effective and Inexpensive Procedures for Decreasing Client Attrition in an Outpatient Alcohol Treatment Program

Abstract: Dropout rates in alcohol treatment programs are typically quite high. Three studies with outpatient alcohol abusers investigated several different follow-through procedures designed to increase the return rate of clients who prematurely drop out of treatment. Subjects were also asked why they had abruptly left treatment. Inexpensive letter and telephone follow-through procedures were found to be effective at reducing early client attrition and at providing valuable information about the fate of dropouts.

On the History of the use of Geometry in the General Linear Model

Abstract: The question of why a geometric or coordinate-free approach to linear models has been subordinated to an algebraic approach is considered by reviewing selected papers having a geometric slant. These begin with R.A. Fisher's 1915 paper on the distribution of the correlation coefficient and continue through William Kruskal's elegant 1975 paper on the geometry of generalized inverses. The thesis is put forward that the relative unpopularity of the geometric approach is not due to an inherent inferiority but rather to a combination of inertia, poor exposition, and a resistance to abstraction.

Situational Influences on Leisure Satisfaction and Morale in Old Age

Abstract: The relationship between leisure satisfaction and morale was examined within the context of leisure behavior, health, age, and socioeconomic status. Interviews were conducted with 104 noninstitutional adults aged 65 or older living in an urbanized area. Leisure satisfaction and morale were substantially related, and remained so when statistically tested with various third factors. Multivariate analysis indicated that the most important predictors of morale were leisure satisfaction and socioeconomic status. Self-rated health, the illness index, and age were much less significant as predictors.

Methodological problems in the use of participant observers.

Abstract: A multiple baseline design across observed students and teachers was used to investigate the relationship between observations by participant observers and changes in the behavior of those observed (“observee” reactivity) and the observers (observer-mediator reactivity). Two teachers recorded consecutively the appropriate student verbalizations of four students and two teachers recorded the inappropriate student verbalizations of four students. Independent observers simultaneously recorded student verbalizations (appropriate and inappropriate) as well as teacher behaviors (positive, negative, and instruction) throughout all phases of the study. The results substantiated the prediction of “observee” reactivity and observer-mediator reactivity in one of four classrooms. The results of the present study suggest that in some instances, observations by participant observers may result in changes in the behavior of those being observed (“observee” reactivity) and/or the observers (observer-mediator reactivity).

Ampère, the Etherians, and the Oersted Connexion

Abstract: IN 1826 Andre-Marie Ampere published the 'Mathematical theory of electrodynamic phenomena, uniquely derived from experiment', in which he showed how the mathematical law for the force between current elements could be derived from four ingenious equilibrium experiments. He made a great show of following a Newtonian inductivist methodology, and his law, like Newton's for gravitation, was presented as a purely descriptive mathematical expression for a certain class of phenomena, one for which its author did not provide any causal or ontological justification. Ampere's electrodynamics would accordingly seem to have been a solid contribution to the Laplacian-Newtonian approach to physics so actively pursued in France during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. It does not surprise us to read that his electrodynamic force law and his molecular-currents theory of magnetism were immediately and widely accepted by his French contemporaries. Ampere was, in this view, just another of the many great French mathematical physicists of the period.

Functions of Communication: An Experimental Study in Group Conflict Situations.

Abstract: The study of conflict in small groups is by no means a new phenomenon. Much of this research, however, assigns varying attributes to the term &dquo;conflict.&dquo; As a result, the literature in this field tends to be categorized into two perspectives which view the functions of intragroup conflict quite differently. Walker (1976) observed that those who adhere to a philosophy of resolving conflict view conflict as a disruption of the system ; those who advocate conflict management view conflict as a normal systems state. Much of the problem lies in inadequate conceptualization in the conflict literature in general. Contradictory research findings are the rule rather than the exception, due largely to the fact that different researchers study diverse phenomena with little regard for the integration of findings based upon common determinants (Mack and Snyder, 1957; Yates, 1971; Thomas, 1976). The purpose of this study is to provide one alternative for the reconciliation of contradictory research findings. Specifically, communication is viewed as one of the major determinants of the functions of small group conflict. The communication paradigm advocates the use of conflict

Are Conceptual Frameworks Necessary for Theory Building? The Case of Family Sociology*

Abstract: Many “theoretical” writings in sociology and in the social sciences use conceptual frameworks (perspectives, paradigms). Developments in family sociology are used as a case study to explore the rol...

The Role of Models in Theory Construction

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze a line of reasoning which has been highly successful in dealing with scientific problems of a certain kind. Part I presents an analysis of these problems and introduces terminology that facilitates an abstract treatment of the circumstances in which they arise. Part II describes a program of research suggested by these circumstances and incorporates its central features into an analysis of a special type of scientific model. The use of analogical reasoning in the construction of such models is examined, and they are contrasted in this and further respects with models of other types and with theories. Part III describes, through a series of examples, the development of these models into new theories in terms of which the original problems are solved.

Minimum Sample Size Single Sampling Plans: A Computerized Approach

Abstract: A computer program is presented which provides minimum sample size single sampling plans that meet prescribed protection levels for both producer and consumer. The program provides sampling plans b...

What an omnipotent agent can do

Abstract: Judging from the recent literature, the problem of defining or analyzing the concept of omnipotence is a formidable one. One author has claimed to have proved the impossibility of defining omnipotence,1 and of those who have recently made the attempt, none has succeeded in providing a definition which is not subject to refutation by counter-example .2 The leading and novel idea of our paper is that if one is sensitive to the essential temporal propertes of states of affairs, then one can construct an adequate definition of omnipotence. Working from this insight, we formulate an informative and consistent analysis of omnipotence which incorporates the following two principles: first, that what an agent brings about can be "cashed out" in terms of his bringing it about that an unrestrictedly repeatable state of affairs obtains; second, that by making use of the notion of unrestricted repeatability, one can single out a class of states of affairs, S, such that necessarily, an agent, A, is omnipotent just in case for any member, e, of S, A has the ability to bring it about that e obtains.

A Model of the London Coal Trade in the Eighteenth Century

Abstract: Newcastle coal was the primary source of fuel for London by the eighteenth century. Two major characteristics of the trade were periodic attempts at cartelization by producers and the existence of a substantial per unit tax on the commodity. In order to measure the relative quantitative impact of market structure and tax policy, a linear supply and demand model is estimated using two-stage least squares. The major arguments of the paper are the cartels were ineffective in restricting supply, that the tax on coal raised its price significantly, and that final consumers bore the greatest share of the tax burden. To the extent that the high price of energy discouraged industrial location and residential migration into the london area, it may have hampered the growth of the city at a critical time. 16 references, 3 tables.

Liquid Crystals: VII. Smectic-Nematic Transition Temperature as a Function of Alkyl End Group Length in p-Phenylene Di-p-n-alkoxybenzoates

Abstract: The Sm-N transition temperatures of the C1-C12 homologs of some p-phenylene di-p-n-alkoxybenzoates were studied. For three homologous series of these esters (unsubstituted, methyl-substituted, and ...

Orientation-specific and luminance effects: interocular suppression of visual evoked potentials in man.

Abstract: The interocular transfer of orientation-specific effects was investigated using visual evoked potentials (VEPs). Monocular VEPs were obtained to either diffuse light or grids of 0° or 45° orientations flashed to one eye. The other eye continuously viewed either darkness, diffuse light or grids of 0°, 15°, 30°, or 45° orientations. Changing the continuous stimulus from darkness to diffuse light interocularly reduced the amplitude of a late VEP component (P200). Changing the orientation of the continuous stimulus primarily affected an earlier VEP component (N110). This interocular effect was orientation specific: the more similar the orientation of the flashed and continuously presented grids, the smaller the amplitude of the VEP components. The 1/2 bandwidths at 1/2 amplitude of the orientation tuning functions were 45° and 32° for the vertical and oblique test flashes respectively. This orientation-specific interocular suppression was discussed in terms of electrophysiological and psychophysical data indicating binocular orientation channels and the interactions among these channels.

Psychophysics of key-peck duration in the pigeon.

Abstract: The duration of the pigeon's key peck was differentially reinforced in either a trials or a free-operant procedure. Mean emitted peck duration was a power function of the duration required for food delivery to occur. The exponents of the power function differed considerably from those observed in earlier research involving longer duration responses in pigeons and other species. The coefficients of variation also did not correspond with those of the earlier research on other responses, nor did consideration of the durations actually reinforced resolve the differences. Duration was neither a function of response rate nor of intermittency of reinforcement. Key-peck duration was changed in an orderly way by differential reinforcement. However, it appeared to be more strongly determined by its duration in the absence of differential reinforcement than were longer duration responses.

Stability of Teachers' Expectations for Elementary School Aged Children:

Abstract: To determine the stability of teacher expectations six elementary physical education specialists were asked to rate their students according to how they expected each to perform in terms of 4 expec...

Obesity, child-feeding attitudes, and reactive eating : an intergenerational study

Abstract: The present study was conducted in order to assess the relationships among levels of obesity/leanness, reactive eating, and child-feeding attitudes of a group of college women and the child-feeding attitudes of the students' mothers. The four types of child-feeding attitudes which were of interest in this study were those related to the use of food as: (a) a reward, (b) a punishment, (c) a soothing agent, and (d) an expression of affection. A 30-item Likert Scale called the Child-Feeding Opinion Questionnaire (CFOQ) was developed to assess these attitudes among the students and mothers. A six-item reactive eating scale was developed to assess the frequency and magnitude of anxiety-related overeating among college students. Triceps skinfold thickness measurements were used as an index of obesity/leanness among daughters. Subjects for the study included 221 college women and their mothers (Total N = 442). The investigation was conducted in Blacksburg, Virginia where the daughters were students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

From Plowing to Penitence: Piers Plowman and Fourteenth-Century Theology

Abstract: Perhaps no episode in medieval literature has proven as puzzling to modern readers as the pardon scene in the B text of Piers Plowman. Critics continue to debate whether the document which Piers receives in Passus VII is a pardon. The document is, after all, sent by Truth, the divine authority whose tower overshadows the fair field. Its message - "Et qui bona egerunt ibunt in vitam eternam; / Qui vero mala in ignem eternum" - is an article of the Athanasian Creed and thus an orthodox tenet of the faith. Moreover, critics who argue that Truth's document is a pardon maintain that its text is consistent with the theme of the Visio. Frank, for example, contends that "the message of the pardon, do well, is a logical culmination of the doctrine of labor and good works preached throughout the Visio. If the pardon is no pardon, if do well is not the way to salvation, the reader has been led down the garden path by a most irresponsible poet."' Many readers of Piers Plowman remain uncomfortable with this interpretation, however, because, contrary to what we expect, Piers himself tears up the parchment from Truth and vows to change his life. Piers's response is hardly that of a man who accepts "do wel and haue wel" as a pardon, and his action forces us to examine what doing well meant to a medieval audience. If we place the poem in a historical context, we discover the importance of a crucial theological controversy of the fourteenth century to the understanding of the issues involved in the pardon scene. The relationship between the "doctrine of labor and good works" expressed in Truth's pardon and in the theological debate between the Augustinians and the Nominalists demonstrates conclusively that Langland does not intend Truth's pardon as a true pardon.

Binocular interaction of orientation and spatial frequency channels: Evoked potentials and observer sensitivity

Abstract: The interaction between size and orientation feature processing in the human visual system was investigated. Both observer sensitivity (d’ss) and the visual evoked potential (VEP) to test gratings flashed to one eye were investigated as a function of the nature of a continuously presented suppressing grating viewed either by that same eye or the opposite eye. The test and suppressing gratings were varied both in bar width (9′ss vs. 36′ss) and orientation (vertical vs. horizontal). The continuous grating intra- and interocularly suppressed the monocular VEPs to the flashed grating, the specificity of the suppression depending on the latency at which VEP amplitude was measured. VEP amplitude measured at early latencies (100–125 msec) was suppressed primarily when the flashed and continuous gratings were the same orientation, regardless of size. Starting at about 200 msec, and thereafter, VEP amplitudes were suppressed when the continuous bars were either the same orientationor size as the flashed bars. Late latencies, starting at 220 msec, and thereafter, were suppressed primarily when the bars in the two gratings were the same orientation and size. The reduction in observer sensitivity (d′ss) paralleled the changes found in the late VEP measures. These effects were evident under both the intraocular and interocular suppressing conditions. This pattern of VEP suppression, measured across eight points in the VEP waveform, was interpreted as indicating the existence of a sequence of channels that are specific first to a particular grating orientation, then to either a particular grating spatial frequency or orientation, and finally to the conjunction of a particular orientation and spatial frequency. Both sequential and parallel feature processing appears to take place in the human visual cortex, with grating orientation being encoded earlier than grating size.