The measurement of behaviour by direct observation may be improved when observers have been provided with equipment which enables real-time recording. There are no data available concerning the quality of this type of measurement. Indeed, there is no consensus among researchers as to appropriate methods of quality assessment. In the present series of studies, observers were provided with hand-held computers programmed to act as real-time recorders. The quality of their records was assessed by three "traditional" methods, representative of those which have been used most frequently in previous behavioural research: interobserver agreement, observer/criterion agreement, and relative error. An instrument calibration procedure, the standard method for measurement accuracy analysis in the natural sciences and engineering, was demonstrated for comparison with traditional methods. The traditional methods were found to be unsatisfactory for theoretical and empirical reasons. The calibration procedure was shown to have some considerable potential advantages for applied behaviour analysis. Disadvantages, both statistical and practical, were also discussed.

The 1980s saw an increasing interest amongst psychologists, both as researchers and as practitioners, in the ways in which people react to nuclear weapons issues, especially the perceived threat of nuclear war. Much of the research in relation to "nuclear threat", undertaken either within the United States or by United States psychiatrists in collaboration with European colleagues, and using extensive questionnaire surveys, focused on the fears of children and teenagers. Some researchers concluded that large proportions of young people were at risk of impaired psychological development because of nuclear threat which resulted in a pervasive sense of futurelessness and a distrust of .adults. This research has been widely criticised since because of apparent researcher bias in the methods used, interpretations offered, and general paradigm. I also found much of the research ethically objectionable. My research has involved 52 interviews with young New Zealanders and administration of a questionnaire to more than 2000 others, including ages nine to 18 and three ethnocultural groups, as well as interviews with some teachers. The objectives of these studies were: (1) to produce detailed information about how young New Zealanders react to nuclear weapons issues which might be used by educationalists, mental health professionals, parents, and young people themselves in dealing with those issues; (2) to make specific recommendations about young New Zealanders' apparent needs and preferences for learning about and dealing with nuclear weapons and related issues; (3) to provide a detailed methodological comparison of interview and questionnaire approaches to this research topic, and discuss issues of theory and paradigm; and (4) to comment on ethical and practical issues for both the researcher and the researched in undertaking research on emotive and potentially distressing topics, especially with young people. As a result Chapter 1 of my thesis contains a comprehensive critical review of the international research and theory relating to young people's perceptions of nuclear weapons, examining the problems of method, interpretation and paradigm associated with this area of research. Both interview and survey data are presented in relation to: (a) young people's levels of awareness and sources of information about nuclear issues; (b) their emotional, cognitive and behavioural reactions to nuclear issues, including coping strategies and activism: (c) their perceptions of the future; (d) comparisons across gender, age and ethnocultural group; (e) the role of adults; and (f) differences between New Zealanders and other national groups. The data are discussed in terms of: (i) their patterns, contexts and meanings; (ii) their implications for peace and global issues education; and (iii) their implications for research method, including ethical issues. Recommendations are made for how psychologists and others can help young people and adults in dealing with global and social threats, including how to undertake research which is empowering as well as valid and useful.

Four experiments are reported. Each experiment investigated a different variable which at sometime has been thought to influence performance in multiple schedules. Variable-interval schedules were used in all experiments and twelve pigeons served as subjects, six in the first two experiments and six in the third and fourth. The parametric data provided by each experiment were analysed using the generalized matching law and comparisons with findings in concurrent-schedule research were made. In Experiment 1 the effects of component durations and component reinforcer rates on multiple-schedule performance were investigated. Component duration did not affect sensitivity to the ratios of reinforcer rates. In Experiment 2 the effects of food deprivation and component reinforcer rates on multiple-schedule performance were investigated. Sensitivity to the ratios of reinforcer rates increased as deprivation was reduced. However, the data could only be explained by a model which assumed no direct component interaction. In Experiment 3 the discriminability of the stimuli customarily used in multiple-schedule research was investigated. The stimuli were perfectly discriminable. It was shown that the undermatching of response and reinforcer ratios typical of multiple-schedule performance was not the result of a failure to discriminate the stimuli signalling the components. In Experiment 4, a procedure for investigating time allocation in multiple schedules was introduced. The birds could switch in to the component in effect, and the components alternated at three minute intervals. Each switch in to a component gave acess to the schedule in effect for fixed brief periods. Ratios of component response rates showed typical multiple-schedule undermatching. However, a commonality in concurrent and multiple-schedule performance was revealed in respect to local or switched-in response rates. In both types of schedule, it appears that pigeons allocate time so as to equalize the local response rates. It is apparent that the differences reported between concurrent and multiple-schedules with respect to the sensitivity with which responses are distributed between the components as a function of the distribution of reinforcers are a result of the constraints imposed on the subjects' allocation of time in multiple schedules.

Research into mystical experience has to date relied primarily on retrospective self reports of mystical states. Analysis of such reports assumes a direct correspondence between their content and the content of the experiences. But experiencers themselves often express dissatisfaction with the capacity of language to convey these states, and the language they do choose to use is typically vague and ambiguous. The current dissertation argues that vagueness is not an accidental nor an unfortunate feature of mystical communications. Because of difficulties in direct expression, mystical communicators rely on the active and imaginative participation of the listener/reader to complete the expression. A theory of provocative gaps is developed to explain how this operates. A "gap" is conceived of as an open receptacle in linguistic space. It provides a site within a discourse upon which receptive listeners/readers can insert content from their own experience. Gaps can be created by blatant omissions of content, but in written descriptions are more likely to occur in indirect forms by exploiting subtleties in grammar and meaning. A simple diagrammatic system is developed for explaining the gap-provoking potential of several major rhetorical strategies. Three studies were designed to explore whether and at what frequency written testimonials of mystical experience exploit a selection of 31 of these gap-provoking strategies: the first study exposed their high frequency in extracts by well-known published mystics; the second indicated similarly high frequencies for the average person's description; and the third found significantly higher rates in mystical testimonials than in descriptions by the same participants of dream or travel experiences. A similar use of vagueness can be found in the language of hypnotic trance induction, and as an adjunct to the second study, the hypnotic susceptibility of 81 subjects was assessed and results indicated that subjects with mystical inclinations were more susceptible to hypnosis than those without. The general support of the studies for a theory of provocative gaps suggests that the notion of intentional vagueness could have useful application in the study of other types of communication, including: the media, art criticism, teaching, psychotherapy and academic discourse. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

To evaluate the efficacy of a typical range of New Zealand alcoholism treatment programmes, 113 male and female alcoholics were randomly assigned after inpatient detoxification to one of three programmes that provided decreasing amounts and intensity of treatment: a six-week inpatient programme, a six-week outpatient programme, and a single confrontational interview where patients were referred to non-hospital services. Those who refused or dropped out of treatment were followed up in a semi-control group. A broad range of patient measures were taken at intake and 6 and 18 months afterwards, when 86% of subjects were located. No treatment was more effective than another (in terms of statistically significant differences) in helping subjects to abstain or drink less, nor did any treatment appear to be more effective than another in promoting social and psychological recovery. Furthermore, those who stayed in treatment did not show significantly more long-term improvement than those who refused or dropped out of treatment. Two programmes did significantly reduce the alcohol consumption of the alcoholics assigned to them at the 6-month follow-up compared to those who dropped out, but by 18 months there was no longer a significant treatment effect. Although the two follow-ups showed individual drinking patterns were unstable, on average almost half the subjects located had improved either because they had abstained or were drinking moderately. There were only small gains on direct measures of social adjustment. Compared to the general New Zealand population, subjects were more likely to be divorced or separated, manual workers and unemployed. Nonetheless, these characteristics did not contribute to predicting the subjects' response to treatment. Multiple regression equations explained between 33% and 57% of the variance in amount drunk after treatment. The patients' own predictions of their chances of drinking again, evidence of electrocardiographic abnormalities and the patients’ net weekly incomes, were more consistent variables in explaining drinking levels and predicting abstinence in the long term than the demographic and psychological variables. Variables that were significant in explaining drinking levels were often not significant when it came to predicting abstinence and vice versa. Abstinent subjects felt more often than drinkers that they had achieved the goals that they had set themselves aria by the final follow-up there were many positive differences in lifestyle apparent. Thus, in the final outcome, although abstinence was clearly demonstrated to be a worthwhile goal, no treatment was significantly more effective than another in helping to achieve this goal. Patients who underwent treatment apparently showed greater recovery than those who dropped out of treatment but this result was also not statistically significant.

In 1989 New Zealand is considering legislation which will make discrimination against lesbians, transexuals and gay men illegal. To increase children's understanding of sexual orientations educators need to have some knowledge of what children already understand and how children use their information. The three studies address this issue in spite of the difficulties in obtaining permission to ask children about homosexuality. A homophobia questionnaire was administered to 290 first year psychology students. They were also asked to recall their childhood feelings about gay people when they first met a homosexual and first understood the concept of homosexuality. Older women were the least homophobic. A second study was carried out with 5, 7, and 11 year old children in three schools with a family discrimination task. A third of the 11 year olds could label the couples of the same sex as gay, homosexual or lesbian and gave more positive items to the two-parent families. A third study involved 31 children from two-parent families and 32 from lesbian families. Out of the 63 six to ten year olds, 27 could define 'homosexual' and 'gay' and 37 could define lesbian. Twenty could use a strategy to recognise a lesbian. Although social discrimination against non-heterosexual orientations placed some constraints on this research, it yielded preliminary evidence for the emergence of children's understanding of sexual orientations between 7 and 11 years of age.

Researchers and theorists have stressed the importance of self-produced locomotion for the development of more distal forms of communication such as social referencing but this notion has not been specifically tested. Social referencing research has also been conducted exclusively in the university laboratory. Three studies examined the influence of self-produced locomotion on the development of social referencing and compared social referencing behaviour in familiar and unfamiliar settings. Social referencing was defined as occurring when, following a novel event, infants looked to a familiar adult and used the information provided by the adult to adjust their behaviour towards the event appropriately. In the first study, forty infants, half locomoting and half non-locomoting, were seen in their own homes at either 7-months (10 crawling, l0 not crawling) or 9-months (10 crawling, l0 not crawling). Testing was repeated on all infants 2 months later. Infants were videotaped in each of three maternal availability conditions (mother available; not available; or not interactive) before a remote control toy car moved toward them. Mothers were instructed to give either a positive or negative facial signal when their infant looked at them during this final phase. The infants were responsive to the availability of the mother on a number of dependent measures. Locomoting infants approached their mothers more, played with the toys less, and differed in some aspects of looking behaviour during the availability phases. During the final social referencing phase neither group consistently used the information provided by the mother to change their behaviour. A second study examined a further ten, 9-month-old infants using an identical procedure. The infants were delayed in the onset of self-produced locomotion due to surgical and immobilization procedures prescribed for club foot. This group did not differ from the normal non-crawling 9-month-olds in the availability phases of the study but did look to their mothers more quickly and vocalized less during the social referencing phase. The third study used a similar procedure and identical novel stimulus to examine 20, 11-month-old infants' social referencing behaviour in a laboratory situation. There was a significant difference between the infants who received a positive versus negative message for the contact with the car measures. When they received a negative message, infants tested in the laboratory were less likely to touch the stimulus car and touched it for a shorter time than infants of the same age and tested at home. Mothers of all infants participating in this study completed the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire. None of the infant characteristics predicted which infants would use the social referencing strategy. It is concluded that social referencing is not a strategy used extensively by 7-and 9-month old infants although social looking is common at these ages in response to new events. Locomotion experience has little effect on social referencing. Infants use information from a variety of sources to assess a new situation and 11-month-old infants are more likely to use social referencing as a strategy in an unfamiliar setting. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed in relation to the cognitive requirements of preverbal and emotional communication and the relative importance of social influences for interpreting novel events.

Pigeons were trained under concurrent chain schedules in which the initial links were equal aperiodic schedules. One of the two terminal links was always a fixed-interval schedule of 10 sec duration. The other terminal link was either a two-valued mixed-interval schedule or a fixed-interval schedule. The shorter of the two intervals comprising the mixed-interval schedules was always 5 sec, the longer was either 10 sec, 20 sec, 40 sec, or 60 sec. The number of times each of the two intervals occurred in these mixed-interval schedules was varied. The data were compared with predictions from various models of concurrent chain performance and the adequacy of these models was discussed. No one model was a good predictor of all the data. Davison and Temple's (submitted for publication) model fitted the FI vs FI data well and fitted the FI vs MI data better than any other model. It was suggested that a "carry over" from one condition to the next had affected the present data. It was also suggested that the way in which Davison and Temple's predictions differed from the obtained preference ratios was the result of a weighting of the intervals in the MI schedules that changed according to the particular choice arranged.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / The two experiments conducted were designed to investigate behavioural models of signal-detection performance. The detection environment was made difficult, or confusing, for the pigeon subjects by either varying the number of stimuli presented or by varying the disparity of the stimuli. These experiments provided thorough data sets from which the adequacies of current behavioural-detection models were able to be evaluated. The models evaluated were developed from two different areas of research: One was based on the generalised matching law and the others were based on the confusion between stimuli. One of the most fundamental assumptions of these models is that their parameters are assumed to be independent of each other, i.e., parameter invariant. When a variable known to affect measures of stimulus discriminability is manipulated, estimates of stimulus discriminability only are predicted to vary. Similarly, when a variable known to affect sensitivity to reinforcer frequency (or response-reinforcer discriminability) is manipulated only this parameter is predicted to change. The experiments conducted aimed to determine whether this assumption was true not just theoretically, but also empirically. The models were assessed in terms of whether their assumptions were met, whether the parameters estimated had sensible relations to the experimentally arranged stimulus disparities, and whether they provided a good description of the data. The first experiment investigated the effects on matching-to-sample performance of increasing the sample stimulus size pool from two to four. Of interest was whether stimulus discriminability between any pair of stimuli would remain constant when a third or fourth sample was added. Six pigeons were trained on a symbolic matching-to-sample task involving the discrimination of various intensities of yellow light. The difference in the arranged physical "intensity" between each successive sample stimulus in the set was 1 Volt. The numbers of sample stimuli presented were varied between two (Part l), three (Parts 2 and 4), and four (Part 3). Across conditions, the ratios of reinforcers obtainable for correct matching responses were varied over at least five levels, allowing behavioural models of signal-detection to be fitted to the data. In Part 5, the numbers of sample stimuli were varied between two, three, and four and the reinforcer ratio between consecutive remaining samples was 2:1. All response alternatives remained available in the choice phase and as a result once a sample had been presented, subjects continued to emit error responses to stimuli that were no longer presented. Current behavioural models of detection were used to investigate the effects of varying the number of sample stimuli on matching performance. The analyses from the generalised-matching-law based model indicated that this model was unable to deal with the data effectively. In order for the analyses to be conducted, pairwise combinations of the sample stimuli had to be made. Analyses using only the two errors relevant to the pairwise combination of the stimuli indicated that adding or removing a sample stimulus did not affect the ability of the subjects to discriminate between the remaining samples, following the principle of indifference from irrelevant alternatives. Estimates of stimulus discriminability followed the order of the arranged physical disparity between the stimuli. An interaction between stimulus discriminability and sensitivity to changes in the frequency of reinforcement was found when there should theoretically have been independence between these two measures. The rate of reinforcement on another alternative caused fluctuations in the behaviour ratios between a discriminable pair of stimuli, violating the principle of indifference. Stimulus discriminability, however, remained unchanged. However, by using only the two errors relevant to a pair of stimuli, a large amount of behaviour for other error types was omitted. The alternative, using all errors, provided even poorer data fits to the model and the number of errors overwhelmed the ratio of correct to incorrect behaviour resulting in insensible parameter values being estimated. The results from more recent, confusion-based, detection models indicated that these models were able to effectively deal with and describe these data. No attempt was made to degrade the disparity of the choice-reinforcer contingency and estimates of response-reinforcer discriminability were high and constant throughout the experiment. Estimates of stimulus-response discriminability from these later models also decreased as the arranged physical disparity between the sample stimuli decreased. In accordance with the theory, stimulus-response discriminability, was independent of response-reinforcer discriminabiliry, preserving parameter invariance. The extended confusion-based model provided an easy and effective numerical analysis of detection tasks in which n-stimuli and m-choices are arranged. The discussion raised the issue of why subjects should continue to emit error responses to stimuli that were no longer or had never been presented as samples. It also commented on how parameter estimates for the 4 × 4 matrix tended to be smaller due to the finite bound of confusion probabilities. Overall, a version of the principle of indifference from irrelevant alternatives was not supported by this study. In the second experiment, six pigeons were trained on a standard 2-stimulus,2- response symbolic matching-to-sample task involving the discrimination of sample and choice stimuli varying in density (numerosity). The disparities of the sample and choice stimuli were varied systematically across experimental parts, allowing sample and choice confusion to be investigated independently. Degradation of the stimuli was carried out by manipulations of the probabilities of pixels illuminated on the stimulus areas of a computer monitor. Across conditions, the ratios of reinforcers obtainable for matching responses were varied over five levels. Parameter invariance was the main topic of investigation. Current behavioural models of signal-detection were investigated. Again the model based on the generalised matching law provided poor descriptions of the data both empirically and theoretically. Interactions between stimulus discriminability and sensitivity to reinforcement were found, making these parameters unreliable estimates of sample discriminability and response bias. Furthermore, the effects on detection performance of reducing the disparity of the sample or choice stimuli were difficult to evaluate independently as either sort of manipulation had the same effect on stimulus discriminability due to the structure of the model. The more recent behavioural models of detection based on the confusion between the stimulus and response relations provided sound descriptions of the data. Reductions in the disparity of the sample stimuli led to decreases in stimulus-response discriminability and left the response-reinforcer discriminability unchanged. Similarly, reductions in choice-stimulus disparity caused a decrease in estimates of response-reinforcer discriminability and not in stimulus-response discriminability. Therefore, parameter invariance was again obtained and the variables known to affect these parameters (sample and choice stimulus disparity) were correctly identified. The confusion model, therefore, provided a befter description of performance for this experiment. Discussion centred on how previous criticisms of the model in regard to a failure to demonstrate parameter invariance were unsupported by both the original data and the present study. In summary, confusion-based behavioural-detection models were quite adequate in describing the data from more complicated symbolic matching-to-sample tasks than have traditionally been employed. Their theoretical assumptions were supported empirically and high percentages of the data variance were accounted for by the model. As a word of caution, the general discussion concentrated on the mathematics of fitting non-linear models. Importantly, in order to attain systematic replication of results, details of the exact fitting process need to be specified. Differences in fitting procedures caused differences in parameter estimates. Extension of the confusion-based models into other areas of research (e.g., free-operant studies and delayed matching-to-sample tasks) will increase the usefulness of these models. Future directions for detection research were suggested. Keywords: Detection, behavioural models, parameter invariance, matching-to-sample task, disparity, principle of indifference, stimulus discriminability, response-reinforcer discriminability, numerosity, confusion, pigeons.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / This thesis seeks to integrate the diverse fields of the social psychology of intergroup relations and mental retardation. In order to do this a a new cross-disciplinary field described as "The Social Psychology of Mental Retardation" (abbreviated to SPMR) is defined and explored theoretically and empirically. This involved a literature review of the current status of the social psychology of intergroup relations, especially as the field of social psychology emerges from the 'crisis of confidence' period, and incorporating the insights and changes that have occurred as a result of this. The history of the development of social psychology generally and applied social psychology were both considered as part of this. A review of current literature in mental retardation was carried out along with an attempt to explore the contemporary social context or social ecology of mental retardation in New Zealand, as well as the media (and other representations) of mentally retarded people. Themes were present throughout this thesis included: an explicit value orientation; a rejection of a positivistic-empiricist approach to scientific research; considering mental retardation as a social construct, and an emphasis on the social context or social ecology of mental retardation Two main pieces of empirical research were carried out. All the results were analysed using appropriate SAS statistical procedures. Study 1 involved a coin allocation task for 33 mentally retarded subjects using the matrix procedure originally developed by Henri Tajfel of Bristol University. The results here provided information about social categorization processes based on intellectual handicap as a social identity. These mentally retarded subjects were also given a 106 item adjective checklist, also used later on, and the results from this considered as part of the second part of Study 2. The second study consisted of two parts, both using undergraduate social science students as participants. The first involved the administration of a 24 item questionnaire in two forms to investigate a series of common myths and misconceptions about mental retardation and intellectual handicap. There was approximately 300 responses to each questionnaire. The results were analyzed to give information on the knowledge of both intellectual handicap and mental retardation of these participants, as well as for differences between these two group/labels. The second part of Study 2 involved the 106 item adjective checklist to investigate social stereotypes of various disabled or handicapped groups/group labels. Participants here were firstly asked to rate the adjectives on a 5 point favourability scale, and then to indicate which adjectives they considered applied to one of nine different groups/labels. This procedure constituted a New Zealand standardization of the adjective checklist. Multiple comparisons within this sample were made to clearly establish the contents of current stereotypes of the rated group/labels by this subject population. An index of the relative favourability of mental retardation and intellectual handicap was generated from these results. An indication of the relative complexity of the same stereotypes was also generated. It was concluded that mentally retarded adults do show the same ingroup preferences shown by nonhandicapped people in Tajfellian intergroup relations experiments, and that this indicated that intellectual handicap was a meaningful social category for mentally retarded adults. It was further concluded that there was generally a low prevalence of common myths and misconceptions about mental retardation and intellectual handicap from the first part of Study 2. There were several important exceptions to this finding. For the second part of Study 2, mentally retarded people, who identified themselves as intellectually handicapped, showed a strong preference to evaluate their own group highly, and ascribed more favourable adjectives than the students did to the intellectually handicapped or towards university students as a group. Study 2 showed that there was little difference made by the students between the terms intellectual handicap and mental retardation. Of the nine groups/labels rated by the students, intellectual handicap was ranked 6th and mental retardation 7th. The complexity analysis indicated quite similar rankings of mental retardation and intellectual handicap when compared to the favourability analysis. Overall it was concluded that the Tajfellian social identity theory derived from the European influenced social psychology of intergroup relations could form a useful basis for the development of an applied SPMR. The social acceptance and social integration of the mentally retarded in the classroom and in wider society was identified as a major area of current concern, where the proposed SPMR could be of value.