No description available.

No description available.

Thesis advisor: Christopher Maxwell / This paper investigates the existence of omission bias in Major League Baseball’s home plate umpires. Omission bias describes the human tendency to prefer harm caused by inaction, or acts of omission, over equal harm caused by action, or acts of commission. For umpires, I define an act of commission as a call made by the umpire that ends the at-bat and an act of omission as a call that does not end the bat. By analyzing over 1.5 million pitches thrown between the years 2018 and 2022, I find that MLB umpires display omission bias by systematically increasing the size of the enforced strike zone on three-ball counts and shrinking the size of the enforced strike zone on two-strike counts. Further, I find that omission bias exists separately from and is not impacted by other biases present in MLB umpiring, such as the biases favoring home batters and star batters. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Economics.

The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of three task analysis prompting procedures—text only, picture only, or text plus picture—in increasing, maintaining, and generalizing laundry skills of nine adult participants diagnosed with mental illness. A small group design using counterbalancing was used and participants were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups or to a control group. Results demonstrated that all task analyses were effective in improving the target behavior, although the text plus picture task analysis required fewer trials and resulted in faster skill acquisition. Treatment results and implications of this study are discussed and recommendations for future research are proposed.

I conducted a parametric evaluation of presession exposure to edible and nonedible reinforcers in order to determine the effects of “small,” “medium,” and “large” periods of presession access on response rates during sessions immediately following these periods. For 2 participants, presession access to edible and nonedible reinforcers for “small,” “medium,” and “large” durations decreased the reinforcing efficacy of those stimuli. For the remaining 2 participants, presession access to edible and nonedible reinforcers either maintained or increased the reinforcing efficacy of those stimuli. The results suggest that presession access to edible or nonedible reinforcers has idiosyncratic effects across individuals. Additionally, the results suggest that minimal differences exist between rates of responding after “small,” “medium,” and “large” periods of presession access, using the values assessed in the current study.

This dissertation facilitates an understanding of the entire domain of product/consumption-based behaviors. It takes a holistic approach to the conceptualization, description, and measurement of consumer behaviors. Although the discipline has adopted the label "consumer behavior," previous research has considered behaviors narrowly, usually focusing on the purchase and rarely considering more than a very limited subset of consumption-based behaviors (e.g., complaining behaviors, word-of-mouth, information search). This research conceptualized behaviors inclusively, including all behaviors that consumers undertake in relation to the product. Comprehensive inventories of consumption-based behaviors were generated through a review of the literature and through interviews with consumers. Those inventories of consumption-based behaviors were then examined for structure via the use of a card sort methodology intended to gauge consumer perceptions of similarity/dissimilarity. This methodology did not yield the dimensional structure which had been hypothesized, but it did identify categorical structure across the behaviors--consumers appeared to recognize differences in types of behaviors. Two levels of behavior typologies were identified. The first was a parsimonious set of three distinct types of consumption-based behaviors: information/ transactional/social behaviors; maintenance/repairs/working on the product behaviors; and usage behaviors. These three types of behaviors generalized across the three product categories considered (cars, stereos, and clothes). A second, more specific, level of typology was developed for each product category. These more detailed frameworks included groups of behaviors particular to each product category. Finally, in a large consumer survey, indices of the behavior typologies for the car product category were developed and the measured behaviors were related to consumption-based affect and consumer product involvement. Thus, this research has: contributed to a comprehensive conceptualization of consumption-based behaviors; explicated a description and understanding of that behavior's domain; and, developed and validated measures of those behaviors.

Promising technologies are being developed to increase the levels of reciprocal interactions between typical children and those with autism and other developmental delays. Research in this area, however, has frequently relied on the use of specially trained personnel as behavior change agents. Therefore, the applied significance of this research is in question until effective mediator training strategies are designed and successfully implemented in clinical settings. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a teacher training package on increasing the rates of implementation of a peer-mediated intervention. Participants were three teachers working in an integrated preschool. Each was assigned a child pair, consisting of a child with autism and a typically developing peer, to work with throughout the study. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the training package, which included the use of inservice training, verbal and written feedback, goal setting, and self-recording. Teachers were taught to use a cooperative play procedure that had been demonstrated to be an effective tool for increasing reciprocal interactions between children grouped in integrated dyads. This procedure emphasized the use of toys preferred by the child with autism in a turn taking sequence. Typical peers were instructed and reinforced for participating in the turn taking sequence as well as for following the preferences of the child with autism. Results revealed that for one of three teachers, didactic training alone was sufficient to increase implementation rates to desired levels. However, feedback, goal setting, and self-recording was necessary for the implementation rates of the two other teachers to reach acceptable levels. Furthermore, introduction of the training package was associated with increased rates of reciprocal interactions between child pairs during generalization probes collected during free play situations. Follow-up measures indicated that both teacher implementation rates and child interaction rates were maintained.

This thesis research was designed to study the role of glucocorticoids in the central regulation of aggressive, submissive, and communicative behavior in male golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). It represents the first time that site-, context-, dose-, and steroid-specific actions of glucocorticoids in behavioral regulation have been systematically examined within the central nervous system. Chronic implants of cortisol exerted site-specific and context-dependent effects on agonistic responding within the hypothalamus. In paired encounters with aggressive opponents, submissive responding was induced by cortisol implants in the medial preoptic area, anterior hypothalamus, and ventromedial hypothalamus; aggressive responding by implants in the paraventricular nucleus and third ventricle. Cortisol implants in the anterior hypothalamus induced submissive responding in paired encounters with aggressive opponents, aggressive responding in paired encounters with submissive opponents, and aggressive responding in territorial aggression tests with juvenile intruders. Acute microinjections of cortisol in the anterior hypothalamus exerted dose-dependent and steroid-specific effects on agonistic responding. High (10$\sp{-2}$M) doses of cortisol induced submissive responding; low (10$\sp{-6}$M) doses induced aggressive responding. The direction of these biphasic effects were unique to cortisol. High doses of deoxycorticosterone induced aggressive responding, while both high and low doses of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, progesterone and estradiol had no effect. Low doses of deoxycorticosterone also had no effect. Acute peripheral administration of cortisol induced aggressive responding, as did chronic administration of the glucocorticoid synthesis inhibitor cyanoketone. In contrast, central and peripheral administration of the antiglucocorticoid RU486, had significant site- and dose-dependent effects hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function, but no effect on agonistic responding. In all cases, the effects of cortisol on flank marking behavior appeared to relate more to the social status of the cortisol-treated animal than a direct effect on the neural substrates of flank marking. Dominant animals flank marked at higher, and subordinate animals at lower levels than their opponents. In conclusion, glucocorticoids are prepotent modulators of agonistic responding within the medial hypothalamus. Both acute and chronic neuroendocrine regulation of agonistic responding by adrenal steroids appear to serve the function of promoting adaptive behavioral responses that minimize the risk of serious injury during competitive interactions.

To examine the functional significance of song in a tropical resident wood-warbler (Emberizidae:Parulinae), the vocal behavior of the Adelaide's Warbler was studied in relation to its social behavior and ecology. Breeding was seasonal although individuals maintained monogamous pair bonds and exclusive pair territories year-round. When residents disappeared, territories and pair bonds were replaced by floaters or neighbors. Paired birds gave duets consisting of male songs plus female calls (females song was uncommon). Both sexes used the same non-song display in close-range territorial encounters, but only males maintained territories when unpaired. The large song repertoire of each male (about 23 song types) was organized into two categories, A and B, distinguished by structural characteristics, manner of singing, and temporal use. Relative to A songs, B songs were more complex and emphasized lower frequencies, and were sung at more rapid rates and with greater sequential variety. Males sang A songs regularly throughout the day and year. In contrast, males sang B songs mainly during the breeding season, in bouts, regularly and intensively at dawn and sporadically and less intensively during the day. Social patterns of song use suggested A songs were more important in communication with females, whereas B songs were more important in communication between males. Males sang A songs in male-female interactions and increased their output of A songs when unpaired. Paired males sang B songs during male-male interactions only when females were not nearby, especially at dawn and during the incubation stage. Song sharing patterns indicated repertoires were learned from neighbors after dispersal. Micro-geographic song variation was extreme, with little sharing at distances $\geq$500 m. Repertoire similarity between males was negatively correlated with the distance and frequency of social interaction between them. In addition, B songs were more often shared than A songs, suggesting different timing or modes of learning. In field song playback experiments, males responded significantly different towards: (1) conspecific and congeneric songs, (2) familiar and unfamiliar conspecific songs, and (3) conspecific A and B songs. Both males and females responded differently to playback during the breeding versus non-breeding seasons.

No description available.