Bert S. Moore

Perspective-taking and altruism

Reviews the evidence regarding the development of altruism and suggests that various forms of perspective-taking (perceptual, social, empathic, moral) might be the mediators of this development. Previous reviews in this area have generally concluded that the evidence relating perspective-taking and

The role of ideation in voluntary delay for symbolically presented rewards

In a self-imposed delay of gratification paradigm, preschool children waited for preferred but delayed rewards. We systematically varied the contents of slide-presented images of the rewards and instructions about ideation during the delay. As predicted, exposure to the relevant slide-presented rewards greatly enhanced delay; this effect was totally reversed by instruction-induced ideation that focused on the consummatory (arousing) qualities of the rewards. Theoretical implications for understanding the role of reward-relevant ideation during delay by preschool children were discussed.

The effect of daily Hassles of humoral immunity: an interaction moderated by locus of control.

Research has shown that stress is associated with depressed cellular immune functioning. Controversy exists as to whether humoral immunity shows a similar depression under stress. Several psychological variables have been found to moderate responses to stress. In particular, an internal locus of control has been correlated with better health. The present study examined the level of salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) and health locus of control in subjects with high and low stress levels. The Hassles scale was administered to identify two subject groups differing significantly in reported stress levels. Results showed no significant differences between the two groups on salivary IgA. There was a significant negative correlation between IgA and internal locus of control. The direction of this correlation is in contrast with previous findings on internality. The evidence suggests that high internal individuals may be especially vulnerable to high levels of stress, particularly stress that they cannot control. Also, there was a significant difference in IgA levels between females depending on whether they were in the first or the second half of their menstrual cycle. Those in the premenstrual phase had lower IgA levels.

Attention, Negative Affect, and Altruism: An Ecological Validation

This field study attempted to replicate the finding that sadness decreases generosity and also to test the plausi bility of the suggestion that sadness decreases generosity because it decreases the radius of attention. Donations to a well-known charity were collected both prior to and after movies which had independently been rated as sad or neutral. The sad movies produced significantly lower donation rates than the neutral movies. An attention manipulation did not alter this relationship, suggesting that the negative mood effect is not mediated by a decreased radius of attention.

Environmental noise, perceived control, and aggression.

Summary The effects of aversive noise on aggressive responding were examined under conditions of control or no control over termination of the aversive noise. It was hypothesized that the effects of control would differ under conditions of high and low noise, with control decreasing aggression under high stress. College males (N = 48) were exposed to either loud noise or soft noise under conditions of control or no-control over termination of the noise. Contrary to previous findings control did not reduce aggression under loud noise; however it did lead to increased aggression under soft noise. These results are discussed in terms of predictions derived from Seligmans learned helplessness theory.

Cognitive representation of rewards in delay of gratification

A study was conducted comparing the effects of two modes of cognitively representing rewards on delay of gratification. Nursery school children were told to think about the rewards in a delay situation as either “real” or “pictures.” They were also given instructions designed to elicit either arousal or cueing functions of the cognitive representations. It was found that previously obtained differences of focusing on actual or symbolic rewards were found also when the children represented the rewards cognitively. It was also found that, consistent with our hypothesis, there was an interaction between cognitive representation and instructional set. These results are discussed in terms of Berlynes (1960)and Estess (1972)distinction between two functions of a reward stimulus.

Generalization of feedback about performance

The effect of success and failure on interpretation of ambiguous feedback was examined under conditions in which the ambiguous feedback was on a task that was either similar or dissimilar to the one at which subjects succeeded or failed. Subjects who received success feedback were more likely than controls or failure subjects to interpret ambiguous feedback as indicating success. Failure subjects were less likely than controls to interpret the feedback as indicating success. Subjects who performed on a task similar to the original training were more likely to generalize on the basis of their previous experience than were those who performed on a dissimilar task. There was greater generalization to the dissimilar task on the part of failure subjects than success subjects. These results are interpreted in terms of previous findings on success and failure. Analogies between the results of failure subjects and reactive depression were examined.

Behavioral Consequences of Affect

Michael Lewis introduced his volume The Development of Affect (1978) with the following quote: Douglas, a 13-month-old, sits quietly playing with blocks. Carefully, with a rapt expression, he places one block on top of another until a tower of four blocks is made. As the last block reaches the top, he laughs out loud and claps his hands. His mother calls out, “Good, Doug. It is a ta-l-l-l tower. Don’t you feel good!” Returning to the tower, Doug tries one more block, and as he places it on top, the tower falls. Doug bursts into tears and vigorously scatters the blocks before him. His crying brings his mother, who, while holding him on her lap and wiping his tears, says softly, “Don’t feel bad. I know you’re angry. It’s frustrating trying to build such a tall tower. There, there, try again.” (p. 3) This quote also provides an appropriate illustration of the concerns of this book.

The informativeness and frequency of presentation of a social stimulus as determinants of its efficacy as a reinforcer

Abstract It was demonstrated that variations in the informativeness of a social stimulus place important limitations on the generality of the proposition that deprivation heightens, while satiation lowers, responsiveness to a social stimulus. Using 60 children 5 to 6 years of age as subjects, a social stimulus (“good”) was presented at either a high or a low frequency in one of three information-value contexts (high, medium, or low). Immediately following the exposure treatment the same social stimulus was employed as a reinforcer of nonpreferred responses in a two-choice discrimination learning task. The findings indicated that the heightened efficacy of deprivation relative to satiation only held for low information value; when initial information value was high the subsequent efficacy of a social stimulus was enhanced by its initial recurrent usage. Trend analyses revealed that the effects of variations in information value were strongest within the high-frequency-of-praise treatment. Possible mechanisms underlying the significant Information Value × Frequency interaction were discussed.