Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2005. / Title from title screen. Laura O. Taylor, committee chair; Paula E. Stephan, Paul M. Jakus, Erdal Tekin, committee members. Electronic text (170 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 24, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-169).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of West Florida, 2003. / Title from title page of source document. Includes bibliographical references.

When groups of individuals make choices among several alternatives, the most compelling social outcome is the Condorcet winner, namely the alternative beating all others in a pair-wise contest. Obviously the Condorcet winner cannot be overturned if one sub-group proposes another alternative it happens to favor. However, in some cases, and especially with haphazard voting, there will be no clear unique winner, with the outcome consisting of a triple of pair-wise winners that each beat different subsets of the alternatives (i.e. a “top-cycle”.) We explore the sensitivity of Condorcet winners to various perturbations in the voting process that lead to top-cycles. Surprisingly, variations in the number of votes for each alternative is much less important than consistency in a voter’s view of how alternatives are related. As more and more voter’s preference orderings on alternatives depart from a shared model of the domain, then unique Condorcet outcomes become increasingly unlikely.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Master of Education in Higher Education." "A thesis entitled"--at head of title. Bibliography: leaves 76-80.

The current set of experiments sought to address a variable involved in slot machine gambling that has been termed the near-miss effect. In the present paper, the conceptual underpinnings of this `effect' were examined from a behavioral as well as a non-behavioral psychological perspective. The experiments and rationale for conducting them were prefaced with an in-depth analysis of problem gambling in general including prevalence, demographics, etiology, assessment, and treatment. A comprehensive review of behavioral analytic investigations on gambling in the areas of programmed contingencies, structural features, verbal behavior, the near miss effect, and treatment components was also presented. In terms of the empirical analyses, Experiments 1 and 2 examined the near miss effect as measured by response allocation to concurrently available simulated slot machines in non-pathological gamblers. The results of these studies indicated that verbal rule formation, only when it was presented through multiple exemplars, was significant enough to override programmed contingencies as well as near miss outcomes. Experiments 3 and 4 incorporated participants with a history of problem gambling and sought to reduce the verbal rule involved in the near miss effect through varying treatment strategies associated with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Experiment 3 demonstrated that one process of ACT was not sufficient in suppressing this behavior however, Experiment 4 showed that a brief ACT intervention incorporating all of its core processes was successful in treating the near miss effect. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of a functional approach to the treatment of problem gambling and future extensions of this research are offered.

Three experiments arranged a concurrent chained schedule that probabilistically arranged reinforcement or extinction. In Experiments 1 and 2, the probability of obtaining food in the terminal link period, following a given left or right lever choice, was the complement of the probability that the initial link choice would produce a transition to the terminal link. Also, the probability of reinforcement in the terminal link was either signaled or unsignaled, depending upon condition. In Experiment 1, a steady-state environment kept the relative probabilities of reinforcement constant within-session and Experiment 2 varied the relative probabilities of reinforcement within-session. Experiment 3 arranged equal rates of terminal link transition to either a signaled-reinforcement or an unsignaled-reinforcement terminal link. The location of the signaled option and the relative probabilities of reinforcement changed within-session. The signaled option produced either a reinforcement-correlated terminal link stimulus (i.e., conditional reinforcement) or an extinction-correlated terminal link stimulus. The unsignaled alternative produced the same terminal link stimulus regardless of the outcome. Overall, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that rats frequently favor the option providing higher rates of terminal link transition at the expense of the probability of terminal link unconditional reinforcement. However, in Experiment 2, this tendency was reduced when the probabilities of reinforcement were signaled, suggesting weak control by conditional reinforcement. Experiment 3 did not show preference for the reinforcement-correlated signaled option in rats. Rather, it appears overall preference was controlled by an avoidance of the extinction-correlated option.

The present study examined the effects of engagement in both low-preferred and high-preferred concurrent activities during self-control training, and determined the activities' differential effects on participants' tolerance to delayed reinforcement. Three children with autism were given a choice between a small immediate reinforcer and a large delayed reinforcer. During baseline, all three participants consistently selected the smaller reinforcer, and the immediate choice. Two training conditions, including a progressive delay to reinforcement with either a preferred or non-preferred concurrent activity, were first alternately and then simultaneously presented. Two of the three participants reversed response allocation from 100% for the sooner smaller reinforcer to over 90% for the larger later reinforcer, and maintained almost exclusive allocation for the preferred activity. All three participants increased delay tolerance by at least 250% of average natural baseline duration.

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of and preference for choice during a response-acquisition tasks with children who have a developmental disability. The conditions compared involved (a) delivery of a high-preferred item identified at the start of the study (high preferred), (b) delivery of a high-preferred item identified immediately prior to each session (pre-session), (c) delivery of a high-preferred item identified immediately following each session (post-session), and (d) no delivery of a high-preferred item (control). The results regarding effectiveness were inconclusive due to high levels of responding during the control condition. The results regarding choice showed both participants preferred the pre-session choice condition, and one participant also preferred the high-preferred condition.

The transition from education to the labour market is a constant theme for sociological investigation, but the study of occupational choice itself has occupied a peripheral place in the theory and research literature for the past two decades. Of particular concern here, neither extant theories of occupational choice nor the contemporary youth studies literature offer satisfactory accounts of the patterns of girls' aspirations and the social processes in which these are embedded. It is argued here that occupational choice processes are a critical switch in the social reproduction of gender relations. Specifically situated subjects construct a transitions biography from a range of legitimated and concretely available alternatives. The possibilities are specified through the terms of gender discourse which, in describing the confluence of circumstances and understandings, represents the social space in which girls are positioned and position themselves across time. A model of the modalities of gender relations is developed and explored through a study of primarily working class girls aged 11-14 and 14-16 between 1983-1986 who were attending three inner London comprehensives. The data were collected by cross-sectional survey (N = 169) and interview (N=61) and by longitudinal interview (N=37). These girls see occupational structure in highly gendered and partial terms, corresponding to the specific social worlds they inhabit. Over time, perspectives and aspirations focus increasingly on female-typed jobs. Within this, their expectations reflect what is judged realistically available. Such processes of gendered closure are modified by educational achievement and by schooling milieu in relation with family and cultural context. Subject specialisation fixes the course of these processes, since options are generally chosen with current aspiration/ expectation in mind. In sum, gendered transitions across the secondary schooling years are shaped not only institutionally but also socially and culturally by girls' personal attempts to resolve the contradictory puzzle of production/reproduction relations under modern patri3 archy and in the light of the resources at their disposal. Most trajectories inevitably prefigure accommodative arrangements and do not threaten social reproduction processes, but this does not imply non-critical and automatic consent. The potential for critical consciousness is fostered by various cross-pressures in the specific configurations of girls' lives, but the partial insights they open up are held in check both ideologically and through social-educational selection/ allocation.

Doctor of Philosophy / Psychological Sciences / Kimberly Kirkpatrick / Risky decisions are inherently characterized by the potential to receive gains and losses from these choices, and gains and losses have distinct effects on global risky choice behavior and the likelihoods of making risky choices depending on the outcome of the previous choice. One translationally-relevant phenomenon of risky choice is loss-chasing, in which individuals make risky choices following losses. However, the mechanisms of loss-chasing are poorly understood. The goal of two experiments was to illuminate the mechanisms governing individual differences in loss-chasing and risky choice behaviors. In two experiments, rats chose between a certain outcome that always delivered reward and a risky outcome that probabilistically delivered reward. In Experiment 1, loss processing and loss-chasing behavior were assessed in the context of losses-disguised-as-wins (LDWs), or loss outcomes presented along with gain-related stimuli. The rats presented with LDWs were riskier and less sensitive to differential losses. In Experiment 2, these behaviors were assessed relative to the number of risky losses that could be experienced. Here, the addition of reward omission or a small non-zero loss to the possible risky outcomes elicited substantial individual differences in risky choice, with some rats increasing, decreasing, or maintaining their previous risky choice preferences. Several reinforcement learning (RL) models were fit to individual rats’ data to elucidate the possible psychological mechanisms that best accounted for individual differences in risky choice and loss-chasing behaviors. The RL analyses indicated that the critical predictors of risky choice and loss-chasing behavior were the different rates that individuals updated value estimates with newly experienced gains and losses. Thus, learning deficits may predict individual differences in maladaptive risky decision making. Accordingly, targeted interventions to alleviate learning deficits may ultimately increase the likelihood of making more optimal and informed choices.