Reinforcement,stereotypy, and rule discovery

The effects of reinforced pretraining on subsequent rule discovery were examined with college students as subjects. Levels of behavioral stereotypy observed during reinforced and non-contingent pretraining were compared. During pretraining subjects received reinforcement if they pressed two keys in a particular sequence. During the problem session pressing each key four times was a necessary condition for reinforcement, but each problem had additional different requirements for reinforcement. Subjects were asked to solve the problems by discovering the rule that determined whether or not they received reinforcement. Levels of stereotyped responding during pretraining were equivalent for contingently and non-contingently trained subjects. During the problem session contingently pretrained, non-contingently pretrained, and naive subjects required equal numbers of trials to solve problems and solved the same number of problems. The results suggest that behavioral stereotypy observed in this experimental preparation may be due to repeated exposure to the task. Differences between the results observed in this study and that of Schwartz (1982) and implications for the use of reinforcement procedures in applied settings are discussed.

     

TASK CONDITIONS, RESPONSE FORMULATION PROCESSES, AND RESPONSE ACCURACY FOR BEHAVIORAL FREQUENCY QUESTIONS IN SURVEYS

Results from two studies confirm recent findings that (1) surveyrespondents often use nonepisodic processes to answer frequencyquestions about autobiographical events, and (2) task conditions,such as the number of events to be reported and the time usedin response formulation, affect the processes used. Resultssuggest that cognitive mechanisms other than episode omissionand episode telescoping contribute to response errors. It appearsthat new methodological approaches, such as directly or indirectlymanipulating the response formulation process, may be usefulin attempts to improve the accuracy of behavioral frequencyreports in surveys.     

Examining the need for cultural adaptations to an evidence-based parent training program targeting the prevention of child maltreatment

Evidence-based behavioral parent training programs (BPTs) have been recommended as a primary prevention strategy for child maltreatment, and use of BPTs is increasing. As these programs are implemented in new contexts and among new populations, the cultural relevance of these programs and need for adaptations or modifications must be considered. The purpose of this study was to assess the types of cultural adaptations that are being made to a widely implemented BPT, SafeCare, by providers working with families involved in the child welfare system, and to explore the need for more systematic adaptations. Eleven SafeCare providers, from six states, participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. Overall, the providers did not recommend systematic adaptations of the model for specific ethnic groups. However, they provided general and specific information regarding SafeCare components that require adaptation on a case-by-case basis, which is likely to be applicable to many BPTs. More research is needed to develop clear guidance about when and how to assess the need for cultural adaptations and how to institute adaptations that improve rather than weaken evidence-based programs. By sharing data and experiences, purveyors can contribute to the body of knowledge about adaptation.     

Heterogeneity of Loss Aversion in Pathological Gambling

Pathological gambling (PG) is characterized by continual repeated gambling behavior despite negative consequences. PG is considered to be a disorder of altered decision-making under risk, and behavioral economics tools were utilized by studies on decision-making under risk. At the same time, PG was suggested to be a heterogeneous disorder in terms of personality traits as well as risk attitude. We aimed to examine the heterogeneity of PG in terms of loss aversion, which means that a loss is subjectively felt to be larger than the same amount of gain. Thirty-one male PG subjects and 26 male healthy control (HC) subjects underwent a behavioral economics task for estimation of loss aversion and personality traits assessment. Although loss aversion in PG subjects was not significantly different from that in HC subjects, distributions of loss aversion differed between PG and HC subjects. HC subjects were uniformly classified into three levels (low, middle, high) of loss aversion, whereas PG subjects were mostly classified into the two extremes, and few PG subjects were classified into the middle range. PG subjects with low and high loss aversion showed a significant difference in anxiety, excitement-seeking and craving intensity. Our study suggested that PG was a heterogeneous disorder in terms of loss aversion. This result might be useful for understanding cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms and the establishment of treatment strategies for PG.     

Informant accuracy in social network data IV: a comparison of clique-level structure in behavioral and cognitive network data

This paper examines whether clique-structure in cognitive data (i.e. recall of who one talks to) may be used as a proxy for clique-structure in behavioral data (i.e. who one actually talks to). The answer to this question is crucial to much of sociometric and social net-theoretic studies of social structure.We analysed the clique structures of the communication patterns of four naturally occurring groups of sizes 34 to 58, whose actual communications could easily be monitored, together with the groups' perceptions of their communications. The groups used were: radio hams, a college fraternity, a group of office workers, and an academic department. The analysis used clique-finding, block-modelling, and factor-analytic techniques, all employed in such a way as to maximize the accuracy of the cognitive data.After defining a way to compare clique structures between behavioral and cognitive data, we found that there was no useful relationship between the two, and furthermore there was no significant difference in performance between any of the structure-finding algorithms.We conclude that cognitive data may not be used for drawing any conclusions about behavioral social structure.     

Punishment,inequality, and welfare: a public good experiment

This paper reports the results of an experiment that investigates the two-sided relationship between punishment and welfare. First, it contributes to the literature on the behavioral determinants of punishment by examining the role of relative income and income comparisons as a determinant of punishment in a two-stage public good game when inequality arises endogenously from the subjects’ behavior. Second, this paper investigates the impact of punishment on both absolute and relative incomes. We compare three treatments of our game. The Unequal Cost treatment replicates Fehr and Gächter (2000)’s experiment under a stranger matching protocol. The Equal Cost treatment is identical to the previous one except that the ratio between the cost of one punishment point to the punisher and its cost to the target equals one. The third treatment is similar to the second one except that a partner matching protocol is implemented in order to isolate strategic motives for punishment. Our results indicate that subjects punish even when they cannot alter the current distribution of payoffs. We also find that in all treatments, the intensity of punishment increases in the level of inter-individual inequality. Finally, despite its cost, punishment progressively improves welfare in association with a decrease in the aggregate level of inequality over time.     

Relationship satisfaction,attachment, and nonverbal accuracy in early marriage

This study explored the relations between nonverbal accuracy, relationship satisfaction, and adult attachment in early marriage. Thirty-three couples were assessed at three points in time across the first two years of marriage. On all three occasions, they engaged in an encoding and decoding task using the standard content paradigm (Kahn, 1970) and completed the Quality Marriage Index (Norton, 1983). At Times 2 and 3 subjects also completed a measure of adult attachment which provided scores on Comfort with closeness and Anxiety over abandonment. Nonverbal accuracy increased over time for all message types and husbands were more accurate than wives at decoding positive messages. Accuracy did not predict later relationship satisfaction, but satisfaction predicted later accuracy, mainly for. husbands. Attachment dimensions also predicted later accuracy, with Anxiety over abandonment being more related to accuracy for husbands, and Comfort with closeness being more related to accuracy for wives. There was evidence of increased communication awareness over time for encoders, particularly in terms of the accuracy with which they predicted their spouses' decoding. In addition, husbands and those high in relationship satisfaction were more likely to expect their partners to decode their communications correctly. With regard to communication awareness for decoders, the main finding was that all groups except wives in unhappy marriages were more confident on correct than incorrect messages.     

Dressing for success. Promoting independence among cognitively impaired elderly

In demented persons, activities of daily living skills may deteriorate more quickly than their cognitive decline warrants because caregivers do not allow them to perform ADLs to the full extent of their abilities. Caregiver actions that promote independent behaviors were used with subjects in home and nursing home settings. Four of five home subjects showed decreased caregiver assistance and increased ability to dress more independently. Although nursing home subjects did not show a decrease in caregiver assistance, observation showed that some nursing home caregivers did incorporate behavioral strategies, suggesting potential clinical efficacy of the strategies.     

SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION,EMOTIONAL COPING,AND CRIMINAL DESISTANCE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF MEN UNDERGOING CHANGE

Retrospective narratives of change consistently emphasize the importance of religious devotion and spirituality in initiating sustained behavioral change, but little is known about the process by which religion and spirituality promote desistance from crime. The current project is designed to add to the knowledge of the relationship between religion/spirituality and behavioral change by systematically investigating the ways that men residing in a halfway house define the role of religion/spirituality as an emotion-coping mechanism in their desistance efforts. The qualitative data reveal that religion/spirituality is primarily used by these men currently undergoing behavioral change as a form of emotional comfort, a distraction from current stressors, and as factor demarcating the transition from deviance to a more conventional life. Suggestions for religious programming designed to stimulate behavioral changes are discussed.     

The judgment of rapport: A cross-cultural comparison between Americans and Greeks

Interpersonal perception was examined cross-culturally by having samples of Greek and American subjects view and judge the level of rapport throughout the same series of 50 dyadic interactions recorded in America. The overall pattern of results showed that: (a) the judgment policies and accuracy of the Greek and American samples were remarkably similar; (b) both groups fell far short of the agreement level possible for this task; and (c) the low levels of achievement were a consequence of both groups giving insufficient weight to valid behavioral predictors of rapport while relying on the apparently compelling but invalid cues, smiling and expressivity. Both the Greeks and Americans, it appears, have widely shared implicit theories or policies regarding which observable (i.e., nonverbal) aspects of an interaction indicate its positivity; these implicit policies are remarkably similar and they are imperfect.This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Young Investigator grant to the first author.     

The effects of propensity score weighting on attrition biases in attitudinal,behavioral, and socio-demographic variables in a short-term web-based panel survey

Propensity score weighting often is used to correct for attrition biases in panel surveys. While methodological literature exists on the logic of propensity score weighting and its practical applications, an in-depth discussion is lacking on the effects of using this weighting to correct for attrition biases in attitudinal, behavioral, and socio-demographic variables. By applying a split panel design, we assessed the effects of weighting on attrition biases in 48 attitudinal, 38 behavioral, and 27 socio-demographic variables. Our findings suggest – while acknowledging the estimate-specific nature of bias – first, that biases vary across these types of variables and second, that the effects of propensity score weighting are not homogeneous across the types. Accordingly, a sole reliance on socio-demographics to evaluate attrition in the present panel survey would have resulted in an underestimation of the biases of attitudinal variables and an overestimation of the ability of weighting to cure the negative effects of attrition in behavioral variables.     

Crime,antisocial personality and pathological gambling

To investigate the hypothesized causal relationship between pathological gambling and gambling-related illegal behaviors, 77 patients seeking behavioral treatment for excessive gambling and 32 members of Gamblers Anonymous were administered a structured interview schedule. Data on the incidence, nature and extent of both gambling and non-gambling related illegal behaviors was obtained and DSM-III (A.P.A., 1980) criteria for Antisocial personality were used as the measure of sociopathy.Of the sample, 54.1% admitted to a gambling related offense and 21.1% were charged. Results showed that 14.6% met DSM-III criteria for Antisocial Personality, Four subgroups were subsequently identified; gamblers who committed no offense (36.7%), gambling only offenses (40.4%), non-gambling only offenses (9.2%) or both gambling and non-gambling offenses (13.7%). Significantly more subjects from the gambling plus non-gambling related offenses subgroup were classified as antisocial personalities.Of pathological gamblers who committed offenses, two thirds reportedly did so as a direct consequence of gambling induced problems. Subjects reporting gambling-only related offenses showed a significant increase in antisocial features after adolescence suggesting that antisocial features emerge as a secondary phenomenon to pathological gambling behavior patterns.Acknowledgments: This study was made possible by a grant from the Criminology Research Council, Australian Institute of Criminology.     

Logical abilities and behavior in strategic-form games

This paper investigates the impact of cognitive abilities and preferences on behavior in games. We first measure subjects’ logical abilities and social preferences and then evaluate their influence on behavior in strategic-form games. For this purpose, we estimate how logical abilities and preferences relate to the probability of a subject being of a specific behavioral type. We find that better logical abilities increase the likelihood of sophisticated behavior. This shift is stronger for subjects who are classified as “selfish”. However, not even the most logically able, selfish subjects are identified as Nash types.     

Friedman, Harsanyi, Rawls, Boulding – or somebody else? An experimental investigation of distributive justice

This paper investigates distributive justice using a fourfold experimental design: The ignorance and the risk scenarios are combined with the self-concern and the umpire modes. We study behavioral switches between self-concern and umpire mode and investigate the goodness of ten standards of behavior. In the ignorance scenario, subjects became, on average, less inequality-averse as umpires. A within-subjects analysis shows that about one half became less inequality-averse, one quarter became more inequality-averse and one quarter remained unchanged as umpires. In the risk scenario, subjects became on average more inequality-averse in their umpire roles. A within-subjects analysis shows that about half became more inequality-averse, one quarter became less inequality-averse, and one quarter remained unchanged as umpires. As to the standards of behavior, several prominent ones (leximin, leximax, Gini, Cobb-Douglas) were not supported, while expected utility, Boulding’s hypothesis, the entropy social welfare function, and randomization preference enjoyed impressive acceptance. For the risk scenario, the tax standard of behavior joins the favorite standards of behavior.Financial Support of the European Commission under TMR Contract No. ERBFMRXCT98-0248 is gratefully acknowledged. We are indebted to Serge-Christophe Kolm, Alf Erling Risa, Peter Zweifel, two anonymous referees and an editor of Social Choice and Welfare for helpful comments. We thank Marc Paolella for improving our English writing style. The usual disclaimer applies. The experimental data can be obtained from the authors (e-mail: traub@bwl.uni-kiel.de).     

Sexual modes questionnaire: Measure to assess the interaction among cognitions,emotions, and sexual response

The goal of the present article is to present a new measure developed to assess cognitive and emotional factors of sexual function. This instrument was developed especially to test some hypotheses derived from Beck's new theoretical conceptualization (the modes theory; A. T. Beck, 1996). This model, characterized by its systemic and integrated approach, constitutes a remarkable development from a linear to a network perspective of the cognitive‐emotional‐behavioral processes. The new concept of mode, as a composite of schemas (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral) interacting together, is theoretically sound and supported by recent research findings from clinical and experimental sets (see A. T. Beck, 1996, for a revision). Our aim is to develop a new measure specifically created to assess these integrated and interdependent processes in the field of sexuality. The Sexual Modes Questionnaire (SMQ; male and female versions) is a combined measure constituted by three interdependent subscales: automatic thoughts, emotions, and sexual response presented during sexual activity. Psychometric studies showed good reliability and validity results in both versions, and high correlations between several dimensions of the three subscales support the concept of mode and its interactional character. Moreover, the capacity showed by the SMQ to discriminate between sexually functional and dysfunctional subjects and its high correlations with measures of sexual functioning emphasize the role of cognitive‐emotional processes on sexual problems, supporting the clinical value of the measure.     

Trust games: A meta-analysis

We collect data from 162 replications of the Berg, Dickhaut, and McCabe Investment game (the “trust” game) involving more than 23,000 participants. We conduct a meta-analysis of these games in order to identify the effect of experimental protocols and geographic variation on this popular behavioral measure of trust and trustworthiness. Our findings indicate that the amount sent in the game is significantly affected by whether payment is random, and whether play is with a simulated counterpart. Trustworthiness is significantly affected by the amount by which the experimenter multiplies the amount sent, whether subjects play both roles in the experiment, and whether the subjects are students. We find robust evidence that subjects send less in trust games conducted in Africa than those in North America.     

Effects of a peer-led AIDS intervention with university students

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has become a major health threat to university students. This study evaluated a peer-led AIDS intervention program with university students (1) increase knowledge of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission and infection; (2) change attitudes to reflect scientific information on AIDS-related facts; and (3) change behavioral intentions to correspond with safer sexual practices. Subjects were students (N = 142) from four undergraduate classes and were predominantly female (65%), white (82%), and sexually active (86%). A non-equivalent control group design was used, with two classes receiving the intervention and two classes receiving no information. For the intervention, peer educators presented AIDS-related information, modeled ways to use condoms safely and ways to discuss condom use with sexual partners, and led discussions on HIV infection and use with sexual partners, and led discussions on HIV infection and AIDS, relationships, sexuality, and condom use. A questionnaire was administered to assess differential changes in AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions between the intervention and control groups. The results showed significant improvements among intervention subjects on the knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions scales compared with the control group.     

ON THE EXTERNAL VALIDITY OF LABORATORY TAX COMPLIANCE EXPERIMENTS

An essential issue for laboratory experiments to inform policy debates is the “external validity” of the experimental results; that is, does behavior in the laboratory apply to behavior that occurs in the naturally occurring world? We examine this issue of external validity in the specific context of laboratory experiments on tax compliance, using two different types of evidence. We find that the behavioral patterns of subjects in the laboratory conform to those of individuals making a similar decision in naturally occurring settings. We also find that the behavioral responses of students are largely the same as those of nonstudents in identical experiments (JEL C9, H0, H3)