24 infants, 12 4-month-olds and 12 6-month-olds, were repeatedly shown slides of 3 facial expressions. The expressions were previously judged by obervers to be indicators of joy, anger, and no emotion, respectively. The duration of the first visual fixation to each presentation of the slides was monitored for each subject. The data indicated that the infants looked at the joy expression significantly more than at either the anger or neutral expressions. The results suggest that infants are capable of discriminating emotion expressions earlier in their development than previous studies have implied.

Three rats were trained to press a lever on a random-interval Lmin schedule of food reinforcement. In successive phases of the experiment, electric shocks were superimposed at I-min fixed intervals, 2-min fixed intervals, or at I-min random intervals. In the fixed-interval conditions, there was a steep gradient of reduction in response rate as the time for the next shock approached; in the random-interval condition, the response rate following a shock was relatively constant. The present method appears to be adequate to monitor the instantaneous level of fear. The results suggest that animals were timing in units proportional to the fixed interval and that aversive events which occur randomly in time are perceived as phenomenologically random by the rat.Is a schedule of aversive events which is objectively random in time perceived as phenomenologically random by a rat? An answer to this question assumes that the magnitude of fear can be monitored continuously through time. Then, if the aversive events are perceived as occurring randomly in time, the magnitude of fear should be independent of the time since the last occurrence of an aversiveevent.Various methods have been used to describe the magnitude of the fear response. The validity of direct measures of autonomic functions, e.g., heart rate, is doubtful, since such measures are markedly affected by motor effort (Black, 1971). Behavioral techniques have also been used to obtain indices of the level of fear. These include the method of acquired drive, secondary punishment, and the conditioned emotional response (Church, 1971). As they have typically been used, these behavioral methods provide measures of the average level of fear during an extended period of time (e.g., during a 3-min signal). But they do not serve to monitor the level of fear continuously.The basic assumption of the conditioned emotional response method of assessing the magnitude of fear is that a change in the mean response rate reflects a change in the magnitude of fear. In support of the assumption, changes in parameters which should increase fear (e.g., severity of the aversive event) do increase the magnitude of response suppression (Annau & Kamin, 1961). Presumably, the instantaneous response rate could serve as a continuous indicator of the level of fear.The first purpose of the present experiment was to validate the method for monitoring instantaneous levels of fear. The method consisted of presenting brief electric shocks to a rat that was pressing a lever for food reinforcement. In the first phase of the present experiment, the aversive event was repeatedly presented at fixed intervals of 1 min. This should lead to the temporal conditioning of fear, which should be reflected in a gradual decrease in response rate as the time of the next shock approached. This situation is simpler than the typical conditioned emotional response experiment in which additional external stimuli are correlated with the occurrence of the aversive event. To demonstrate that the rats were anticipating the n...

This study tested the hypothesis that Rorschach indicators of psychological instability and perceptual sensitivity are predictive of therapeutic outcome in a child psychiatric inpatient service. Thirty-four children, matched for age, were divided into two groups, Improvers and Decliners, based on changes in behavioral problems over 60 days of hospitalization. The groups were not distinguishable by scores on intellectual tests, sex, or the initial quality or severity of psychological disturbance. Analyses of Rorschach protocols indicated that children who obtained higher ep, ep-EA, Blends, Zf, and Z sum and lower Lambda had improved in treatment. The results suggest that children who are less stabilized and manifest perceptual sensitivity do achieve the greatest gains.

No abstract

This study assessed the changes in the intensity of behavior problems over the course of 12-week hospitalization in 28 children hospitalized on a child psychiatry inpatient service. The results indicated that the symptoms of uncontrolled aggression, misbehavior and excessive dependency were more vivid 60 days post-admission than they had been after 14 days of hospitalization. The results provide some empirical support for the 'honeymoon' effect.

While eight food-deprived rats pressed a lever for. food during daily l-h sessions, four CS-Shock2 trials were presented. Trials were preceded by either a Shock, of .25, .50, .75 rnA or no Shock.. It was found that the rate of appetitive responding during the CS was greater on Shock,-eSShock, trials relative to CS-Shock2 trials. The data indicate that the phenomenon of postshock bursts in responding can occur in the absence of a signal for safety after shock. The results conform to the predictions of the opponent-process theory of motivation.

Babysitting can be viewed as an experience that provides adolescents with opportunities to develop and practice adult role behavior. The responses to questionnaries administered to 974 subjects indicated that sitters benefited from the development of parenting skills, the experience of early independence from adult supervision, and the opportunity to be financially remunerated for their work.

During Phase I, 24 rats received CSt (light)-shock trials while the remaining 24 rats received CSt and shock on a random control schedule. During Phase 2, all subjects were presented trials of CS. (tone)-shock. When CS. was subsequently presented immediately after CSt while subjects licked for water, it was found that subjects that had received CSt-shock pairings during Phase 1 exhibited less suppression of licking to CS., indicating less distress, than control subjects. The results are compatible with the opponent-process theory and suggest the presence of a positive hedonic afterreaction to an aversive event which reduced distress to a following aversive event.Can the delivery of an aversive event reduce the magnitude of distress experienced by a rat in reaction to a subsequent aversive event? Solomon and Corbit's (1974) opponent-process theory of motivation implies that a hedonically positive aftereffect aroused by an aversive event should reduce the distress elicited by an aversive event that immediately follows. The theory holds that a hedonically positive b-process, as well as a negative a-process, is activated during the presentation of an aversive event. However, the b-process is sluggish in nature: it appears after the arousal of the a-process and decays after the aversive stimulus and the a-process have terminated. Therefore, if the positive hedonic effect that remains after the termination of the aversive event is temporally superimposed upon a following aversive event, the magnitude of distress elicited by that second event should be diminished.Solomon and Corbit hypothesize further that repeated presentations of the same aversive event have no effect upon the negative a-process. However, after many presentations, the positive b-process is strengthened in intensity. Consequently, during stimulus onset, the strengthened b-process serves to diminish the effects of the a-process. When the stimulus and the a-process are terminated, the strengthened b-process is apparent in terms of behavior that is motivationally more intense that before. The theory predicts, therefore, that after repeated delivery of an aversive event, its capacity to reduce distress to a subsequent aversive event should increase.Preliminary data from our laboratory suggest that a positive afterreaction to an aversive event can