Rule-following and human operant responding: Conceptual and methodological considerations

A conceptual analysis of rule-governed behavior, emphasizing pliance and tracking as functional classes of rule-following, is provided and related to previous methodological strategies in human operant research. A novel strategy, which utilizes a microcomputer to reinforce correspondences between subject guesses and responding, is proposed for the study of rule-following. Results from a preliminary demonstration of the procedures are reported briefly, and possible applications to the further analysis of rule-following are discussed.

     

Defining terms in behavior analysis: Reinforcer and discriminative stimulus

Many definitions of reinforcer and discriminative stimulus found in behavioral texts include a requirement of temporal proximity between stimulus and response. However, this requirement is not consistently adopted. We present additional evidence from a questionnaire that was sent to members of the editorial boards of several behavioral journals showing that there is not universal agreement concerning the temporal parameters accepted in the definitions of reinforcer and discriminative stimulus. We suggest that the disagreement over the definitions of these essential terms ought to be at least addressed if not resolved. Because the discrepancy usually occurs when the behavior of verbal humans is at issue, we urge behavior analysts to be conservative when extending the terms reinforcer and discriminative stimulus from the behavior of nonhumans in the laboratory to human behavior where the effects of many stimuli may depend in part on sophisticated verbal repertoires.

     

Maximization of reinforcement by two autistic students with accurate and inaccurate instructions

The present study examines maximization of reinforcement by two autistic individuals under conditions of no instructions, accurate instructions, and inaccurate instructions. Accuracy of instructions and magnitude of reinforcement for differential responding in a choice paradigm were systematically varied across phases. Subject one maximized reinforcement across all three conditions in seven experimental phases. Subject two maximized across these same seven phases, but also experienced three additional phases. In two of the additional phases, subject two maximized reinforcement. In a ninth phase, when reinforcement was intermittent rather than continuous, he failed to maximize reinforcement. Implications of the results for the controversies surrounding the concept of rule-governed behavior are discussed.

     

Explaining the Effects of Child Sexual Abuse: A Behavior Analytic Conceptualization

ABSTRACT

In the last two decades, several authors have proposed conceptual models to explain the adverse effects of child sexual abuse (CSA). Although conceptual models have been proposed from broadly behavioral perspectives (e.g., cognitive behavioral), as yet there is no comprehensive behavior analytic conceptualization of the effect of CSA. In this article, the behavior analytic mechanisms used to explain the development and maintenance of behavior are described, with specific reference to how the mechanisms provide a comprehensive means of accounting for adverse reactions following CSA.     

Rule-Governed Behavior: Teaching a Preliminary Repertoire of Rule-Following to Children With Autism

Rule-governed behavior is generally considered an integral component of complex verbal repertoires but has rarely been the subject of empirical research. In particular, little or no previous research has attempted to establish rule-governed behavior in individuals who do not already display the repertoire. This study consists of two experiments that evaluated multiple exemplar training procedures for teaching a simple component skill, which may be necessary for developing a repertoire of rule-governed behavior. In both experiments, children with autism were taught to respond to simple rules that specified antecedents and the behaviors that should occur in their presence. In the first study, participants were taught to respond to rules containing "if/then" statements, where the antecedent was specified before the behavior. The second experiment was a replication and extension of the first. It involved a variation on the manner in which rules were presented. Both experiments eventually demonstrated generalization to novel rules for all participants; however variations to the standard procedure were required for several participants. Results suggest that rule-following can be analyzed and taught as generalized operant behavior and implications for future research are discussed.     

Using the integrative model of behavioral prediction to understand college students’ STI testing beliefs,intentions, and behaviors

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To identify salient behavioral determinants related to STI testing among college students by testing a model based on the integrative model of behavioral (IMBP) prediction. Participants: 265 undergraduate students from a large university in the Southeastern US. Methods:Formative and survey research to test an IMBP-based model that explores the relationships between determinants and STI testing intention and behavior. Results: of path analyses supported a model in which attitudinal beliefs predicted intention and intention predicted behavior. Normative beliefs and behavioral control beliefs were not significant in the model; however, select individual normative and control beliefs were significantly correlated with intention and behavior. Conclusions: Attitudinal beliefs are the strongest predictor of STI testing intention and behavior. Future efforts to increase STI testing rates should identify and target salient attitudinal beliefs.     

Biological Explanation in Sociology*

Ritzer (1975) suggests that biological explanation may emerge as a new paradigm in sociology but incipient work in this area has not had much impact on the discipline. Some forms of biological explanation seem sociologically trivial, but at least three forms of explanation common in the discipline of biology have meaningful homologues in sociology: (1) species-wide human behavior may be explained as the result of biological evolution; (2) behavioral differences between humans, or between groups of humans, may be explained by genetic differences between the individuals or groups; and, (3) social interaction may be explained neurophysiologically in terms of organ systems, nerve impulses, hormones, etc. Each of these forms of biological explanation is meaningful in a sociological context, but each has severe limitations.     

Habitat selection by an avian top predator in the tropical megacity of Delhi: human activities and socio-religious practices as prey-facilitating tools

Research in urban ecology is growing rapidly in response to the exponential growth of the urban environment. However, few studies have focused on tropical megacities, and on the interplay between predators’ habitat selection and human socio-economic aspects, which may mediate their resilience and coexistence with humans. We examined mechanisms of breeding habitat selection by a synanthropic raptor, the Black Kite Milvus migrans, in Delhi (India) where kites mainly subsist on: (1) human refuse and its associated prey-fauna, and (2) ritualised feeding of kites, particularly practised by Muslims. We used mixed effects models to test the effect of urban habitat configuration and human practices on habitat selection, site occupancy and breeding success. Kite habitat decisions, territory occupancy and breeding success were tightly enmeshed with human activities: kites preferred areas with high human density, poor waste management and a road configuration that facilitated better access to resources provided by humans, in particular to Muslim colonies that provided ritual subsidies. Furthermore, kites bred at ‘clean’ sites with less human refuse only when close to Muslim colonies, suggesting that the proximity to ritual-feeding sites modulated the suitability of other habitats. Rather than a nuisance to avoid, as previously portrayed, humans were a keenly-targeted foraging resource, which tied a predator’s distribution to human activities, politics, history, socio-economics and urban planning at multiple spatio-temporal scales. Many synurbic species may exploit humans in more subtle and direct ways than was previously assumed, but uncovering them will require greater integration of human socio-cultural estimates in urban ecological research.

     

The Evolution of Male-Male Sexual Behavior in Humans

Abstract

This paper examines male-male sexual behavior from an evolutionary perspective. I begin with a discussion of the major difficulties associated with the scientific study of homosexuality and a clarification of some concepts in human sexuality and evolutionary psychology. Following is a presentation of several established evolutionary theories of homosexuality and a critique of their major assumptions. Based on common patterns of male-male sexual behavior in humans identified by anthropologists, I argue that the evolutionary origin of male-male sexual behavior is based on the same dominance-submission mechanisms that gave rise to male-female sexual behavior. Further, I argue that male-male sexual behavior evolved more fully in human males than in other primate males because male-male alliances played a greater role in human male reproductive success. Specifically, male-male sexual behavior is speculated to be an exaptation of the sociosexual behavior used by primates to establish, regulate, and maintain relationships. It is posited that same-sex sexual behavior in human males reinforced alliances that contributed directly to male survival and indirectly to male reproduction. This alliance theory of the evolution of male-male sexual behavior is compatible with broader current theory on human evolution. The same neurological mechanism theorized to be involved in male-female sexual attraction and behavior is purported to mediate male-male sexual attraction and behavior. Finally, I argue that exclusive same-sex attraction in human males is due to an interaction between genetic, cultural, developmental and psychological factors. doi:10.1300/J056v18n04_02     

Cocaine use among the College Age Group: Biological and Psychological Effects—Clinical and Laboratory Research Findings

Abstract

Though cocaine has been used by man for centuries for both medical and nonmedical reasons, a knowledge of its effect on the human mind and body remains limited and not yet clearly documented. Sources of information consist of myth, street knowledge, animal studies, and clinical and laboratory studies of man. This paper focuses on findings from the latter two sources.

The biological effects of cocaine include the local effects of producing anesthesia and constriction of blood vessels in areas where it is applied topically. Solutions of the drug applied directly to the eye cause the pupils to dilate. Systemic effects include an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. In some individuals, an increase in alertness occurs, and in others a state of drowsiness. The drug also decreases total sleep, REM sleep, and appetite.

The psychological effects of the drug vary with dosage, chronicity, and a host of other variables. Increasing doses over long periods of time appear to cause increasingly severe impairment of affective and cognitive functioning. These effects include a strong psychological craving, making cocaine one of the most powerfully reinforcing of all known substances. In addition, cocaine may induce symptoms ranging from mild euphoria to hyperalertness, hyperactivity, anorexia, insomnia, hypersexuality, and proneness to violence. In others, cocaine may produce sadness, melancholia, apathy, and various symptoms of dysphoria. Depression has been reported to occur in people who stop taking the drug, especially those who have taken the drug intravenously. At high doses taken over a long period of time, cocaine may produce symptoms that mimic acute paranoid psychosis with hallucinations, stereotyped behavior, paranoid delusions, insomnia, and proneness to violence. Finally, cocaine may cause delirium, convulsions, and death from cardiorespiratory failure. With over 30 million individuals in the college age group reported to have taken cocaine, college health personnel must be prepared to diagnose and treat symptoms resulting from cocaine toxicity.     

The Evolution of Sexual Pleasure

Abstract

Sexual pleasure is an innate component of human sexuality. Although disdained throughout history by religious groups and variably explained by theories, philosophers, and societies, sexual pleasure permeates human experience. Traditional evolutionists explain this preoccupation via the development of sexual mating strategies and the human desire to propagate one's genes; however, here I will argue that the saturation of sexual pleasure suggests that sexual activity is no longer pursued solely to ensure reproductive success. Rather, humans engage in sexual behavior to achieve sexual pleasure—a proposition supported by widespread non-procreative sex in mammals, divergent cultural norms, and humans' evolved capacity to experience heightened sexual pleasure. I will address the nature and evolution of sexual pleasure with a cross-cultural findings culled from ethology, anthropology, primatology, and evolutionary theories.     

Aspects of conversational style—linguistic versus behavioral analysis

Skinner’s functional analysis of verbal behavior has been contrasted with formal linguistic analysis which studies the grammatical structure and “meaning” of verbal response-products, regardless of the circumstances under which they are produced. Nevertheless, it appears that certain areas of linguistic analysis are not entirely structural. In her recent books That’s Not What I Meant (1986) and You Just Don’t Understand (1990), the linguist Deborah Tannen purports to explain how people exhibit different “conversation styles”—that is, how they speak and achieve effects on listeners in different ways. There are indications, however, that the linguistic model may not be the most functional and precise one that could be used in analyzing conversational style. This paper takes concepts presented in Deborah Tannen’s book That’s Not What I Meant (1986), analyzes them from a linguistic and a behavioral perspective, and compares the relative utility of the two approaches.

     

Revisiting the biological perspective in the use of biopsychosocial assessments in social work

ABSTRACT

The call for increased attention to the biopsychosocial perspective in social work practice is now decades old in the USA. And yet the challenge of teaching and learning from this perspective for those with limited background in biology calls for more inter-disciplinary examples to assist students with the process of engaging in theory-informed practice. In addition to identifying the key elements of human biology, this review of the literature focuses on four examples of client behaviors that receive little or no attention in most current textbooks on the inter-disciplinary nature of human behavior in the social environment; namely, the psychobiology of sleep, the sociobiology of eating, the neurobiology of post-partum depression, and the behavioral endocrinology of menopause. This review concludes with implications for practice.     

Relationships of Sexual,Physical, and Emotional Abuse to Emotional and Behavioral Problems Among Incarcerated Adolescents

ABSTRACT

This study examined the relationships of sexual, physical and emotional abuse to emotional (internalizing) and behavioral (externalizing) problems among incarcerated girls and boys. Participants were youth who were remanded to the correctional facilities within a statewide juvenile correctional system in a southern state in the United States of America. Each participant completed a structured interview regarding abuse history, emotional and behavioral difficulties, and demographic characteristics. Multiple regression analyses indicated that girls were more likely than boys to internalize their problems. The only abuse variable that was positively and significantly associated with emotional problems was emotional abuse. Greater behavioral problems were significantly related to youths being younger in age, white ethnicity, history of sexual abuse, and history of physical abuse. There were overall gender differences for internalizing problems, but not for externalizing problems among incarcerated adolescents. Furthermore, physical and sexual abuses were related to externalizing problems but not to internalizing problems. Thus, different types of abuse appear to have different effects on adolescent behavior. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Kinsey and the church—after twenty years∗

Abstract

This research was intended to discern any correlations between marijuana and human sexual activity. I was specifically interested in exploring the concept that the drug might produce different effects on males and females in regard to their sexual activity. Finally, I was concerned with the dosage of the drug which would produce the most pronounced effect on the majority of the users in regard to their sexual activity.     

HOW HEALTH INSURANCE AFFECTS HEALTH CARE DEMAND—A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIORAL MORAL HAZARD AND ADVERSE SELECTION

Individuals with health insurance use more health care. One reason is that health care is cheaper for the insured. Additionally, having insurance can encourage unhealthy behavior via moral hazard. Previous work studying the effect of health insurance on medical utilization has mostly ignored behavioral changes due to having health insurance, and how that in turn affects medical utilization. This paper investigates the structural causal relationships among health insurance status, health behavior, and medical utilization theoretically and empirically, and separates price effects from behavioral moral hazard effects. Also distinguished are the extensive versus intensive margins of insurance effects on behavior. (JEL C51, I12, D12)     

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Seropositive Homeless Men: Behavioral and Social Characteristics

Homeless persons living in US. innercities are at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HW) infection, but few studies have examined the continued risk behaviors of HIV infected homeless men. We investigated the sexual behavior of 32 homeless men who had tested HIV seropositive. Twenty-five percent of HW positive men reported a history of injection drug use, 34% had sex with men, over 40% had participated in commercial sex, and 59% had been treated for a non-HIV sexually transmitted disease. HIV seropositive men also reported recent sexual behavior, with 62% having sex in the previous month and 50% currently sexually active. Condom use was inconsistent among seropositive men; 44% of vaginal and 50% of anal intercourse occasions in the preceding three months did not involve condoms, and 28% of HW seropositive men did not use a condom during their most recent sexual encounter. Substance use was frequently associated with unprotected sexual behavior among HW seropositive men. Finally, measures of life satisfaction showed that HIV seropositive men were most satisfied with their relationships, mental health, and spiritual well being. These data suggest a need for intensive behavioral.interventions tailored for homeless HW infected men and we recommend that existing substance use treatment and holistic care be incorporated into behavioral interventions for HW infected men.     

The Mind's Eyes

Abstract

The across-species genetic conservation of intercellular and extracellular chemical communication enables unicellular and multicellular organisms to functionally distinguish between self and non-self. Non-self olfactory/pheromonal input from the social environment elicits a vertebrate neuroendocrine response. The organization and activation of this neuroendocrine response modulates the concurrent maturation of the mammalian neuroendocrine system, the reproductive system, and the central nervous system during the development of sexual preferences that may be expressed in sexual behavior. Psycho-physiological mechanisms for the development of these sexual preferences include focus on unconscious affects that are detailed in reciprocal cause and effect relationships. Olfactory/pheromonal conditioning elicits neuroendocrine effects accompanied by unconscious affects on the development of sexual preferences. Integrating these unconscious affects extends to humans a developmental model of behavior that includes the development of male sexual preferences for other males. doi:10.1300/J056v18n04_03