Modelling the realities of research experience: collaboration against common and merciless foes

This paper describes a fourth-year undergraduate thesis-research course, the form of which has been changed in recent years to maximise the simulation aspect of under- graduate learning. It is suggested that both the "grudging slave"and "unconstrained- scientific-genius" are ineffective models of genuine research activity, and that an "adversary" model is more appropriate. The adversary model system uses a journal- submission analogue in which external judgement (the first "foe") is provided by having the thesis marked not by the supervisor but by other faculty in a complex, not perfect, but apparently fair, grading system. The other "foe" of the student is the deadline for submission of the thesis, a deadline which is rigidly enforced by means of very severe grade penalties for lateness. Responsibility for the thesis is thereby shifted completely to the student who, while contending against these "foes", is also engaged in a number of academically significant collaborative relationships. These relationships include that with the supervisor, with fellow students (in research seminars), and with the thesis co-ordinator, who has negligible influence on the final grade assigned, and can therefore function as a non-authoritarian, disinterested critic. Experience with this adversary model system has shown that it is necessary to provide "symbols of significance" for each component (e.g., the research seminar) of the course, in the form of (small) grades. The function of these grades is to ensure that each component is perceived by students as academically significant. The system inevitably produces sources of tension between the student, supervisor, other students, and co-ordinator. However, it is suggested that this feature is potentially beneficial inasmuch as it produces better simulation of real-life research experience, as well as increasing the student's sense of intellectual responsibility for his own work. Finally, the general applicability of the Toronto experience is discussed. It appears that such factors as departmental size, or research eminence of the faculty, are not critical for successful implementation. What is necessary is a general agreement on what constitutes good and bad research, and a commitment to disinterested enquiry and academic values by a sizeable majority of the faculty of the department in question.La présente étude décrit un programme de quatrième année universitaire des méthodes de recherches en vue du mémoire. La structure de ce cours s'est modifiée au cours des dernières années, pour tirer le maximum de l'aspect de simulation de l'enseignement des premières années universitaires. En tant qu 'activité authentique de recherches, n 'est-il pas vrai que "l'esclave-travaillant-à-contre-coeur" et "le génie-scientifique-libre " s'avèrent tous deux des modèles inefficaces. Un modèle dit "d'adversaire", s'apparentant aux pratiques pour évaluer une soumission à une revue, convient davantage. Le système du modèle d'adversaire admet une évaluation venant de l'extérieur (le premier "adversaire"). Il s'agit de l'évaluation du mémoire effectuée, non pas par le patron de celui-ci, mais plutôt par d'autres membres de la faculté qui accordent à la soumission de l'étudiant un résultat en vertu d'une échelle de cotes complexes, imparfaites, mais apparemment justes. L'autre "adversaire " de l'étudiant est la date limite pour la soumission du mémoire, date rigidement appliquée au moyen des baisses importantes du résultat de ceux qui remettent leur travail après cette date. L'étudiant se trouve alors seul responsable de son mémoire. Tout en faisant face à ces adversaires, il s'engage aussi à plusieurs relations académique-ment significatives et qui visent la collaboration. Il s'agit des rapports avec le conseiller de ses études, avec les autres étudiants (dans les séances d'étude sur les recherches), ainsi qu 'avec le coordonnateur du mémoire qui a peu d'influence sur la note finale accordée à l'étudiant et qui peut donc agir en tant que critique désintéressé et infor-mel. La mise en pratique du système du modèle d'adversaire a révélé qu 'il faut accorder à chaque composant du cours (ex. les séances d'étude sur les recherches) "des symboles de signification" - ces derniers en forme de notes. Ces notes ont été conçues pour assurer que l'étudiant perçoive la signification académique de chaque composant. Inhérents au système sont les tensions qui se manifestent entre l'étudiant, le conseiller, les autres étudiants et le coordonnateur. N'est-il pas toutefois possible que cet élément s'avère utile dans la mesure où il aide pour la création d'une meilleure simulation de la vie réelle dans les recherches et qu 'il active chez l'étudiant le sens de responsabilité intellectuelle envers son propre travail. En dernier lieu, il est question d'une évaluation de l'applicabilité de l'expérience effectuée à Toronto. Il paraît que des facteurs tels que l'importance du département, la distinction des recherches effectuées par un corps enseignant, ne s'avèrent pas primordiaux pour exécuter le modèle avec succès. Ce qu 'il faut c'est que tout le monde s'entend sur la nature de bonnes et de mauvaises recherches, et qu 'une majorité confortable du corps enseig-nant du département concerné s'engage d'une façon désintéressée à poursuivre leurs recherches et à s'adhérer aux valeurs académiques

Pavlov’s Methodological Behaviorism as a Pre-Socratic Contribution of the Melding of the Differential and Experimental Psychology

La distinción diferencial/experimental que especificó Cronbach es importante porque una explicación adecuada del fenómeno psicológico requiere que reconozcamos la validez de los dos enfoques, a la par que una combinación de los mismos. Este trabajo trata de mostrar que la obra de Pavlov en psicología, basada en las primeras tradiciones investigadoras que se remontan hasta los presocráticos, proporciona una posible forma de conseguir esta combinación, aunque se deban añadir métodos de observación sistemática frente a la meramente anecdótica. Se contrasta el enfoque conductual metodológico de Pavlov con el conductismo metafísico, ejemplificado explícitamente en Watson y Skinner e implícitamente en las explicaciones del procesamiento de la información o de la metáfora computacional, empleadas por la psicología “cognitiva” actual. Una característica del enfoque metafísico es que variables diferenciales individuales como el sexo son básicamente ignoradas o relegadas a categorías ideológicas, como ocurre cuando se considera el sexo como mera “construcción social”. Se presentan ejemplos de investigaciones, antes y después de la “revolución cognitiva”, en los que los métodos experimental y diferencial se combinan, apareciendo las diferencias individuales como fenómenos dignos de investigación más que como factores molestos que meramente acrecientan el error experimental.The differential/experimental distinction that Cronbach specified is important because any adequate account of psychological phenomena requires the recognition of the validity of both approaches, and a meaningful melding of the two. This paper suggests that Pavlov’s work in psychology, based on earlier traditions of inquiry that can be traced back to the pre-Socratics, provides a potential way of achieving this melding, although such features as systematic rather than anecdotal methods of observation need to be added. Pavlov’s methodological behaviorist approach is contrasted with metaphysical behaviorism (as exemplified explicitly in Watson and Skinner, and implicitly in the computer-metaphorical, informationprocessing explanations employed by current “cognitive” psychology). A common feature of the metaphysical approach is that individual-differences variables like sex are essentially ignored, or relegated to ideological categories such as the treatment of sex as merely a “social construction.” Examples of research both before and after the “cognitive revolution” are presented where experimental and differential methods are melded, and individual differences are treated as phenomena worthy of investigation rather than as nuisance factors that merely add to experimental error

A review of the polygraph: history, methodology and current status

The history of research into psychophysiological measurements as an aid to detecting lying, widely known as the ‘lie detector’ or polygraph is the focus of this review. The physiological measurements used are detailed and the debates that exist in regards to its role in the investigative process are introduced. Attention is given to the main polygraph testing methods, namely the Comparative Question Test and the Concealed Information Test. Discussion of these two central methods, their uses and problems forms the basis of the review. Recommendations for future research are made specifically in regards to improving current polygraph technology and exploring the role of the polygraph in combination with other deception detection techniques

The Power of an Infant\u27s Smile: Maternal Physiological Responses to Infant Emotional Expressions

Infant emotional expressions, such as distress cries, evoke maternal physiological reactions. Most of which involve accelerated sympathetic nervous activity. Comparatively little is known about effects of positive infant expressions, such as happy smiles, on maternal physiological responses. This study investigated how physiological and psychological maternal states change in response to infants\u27 emotional expressions. Thirty first-time mothers viewed films of their own 6- to 7-month-old infants\u27 affective behavior. Each observed a video of a distress cry followed by a video showing one of two expressions (randomly assigned): a happy smiling face (smile condition) or a calm neutral face (neutral condition). Both before and after the session, participants completed a self-report inventory assessing their emotional states. The results of the self-report inventory revealed no effects of exposure to the infant videos. However, the mothers in the smile condition, but not in the neutral condition, showed deceleration of skin conductance. These findings demonstrate that the mothers who observed their infants smiling showed decreased sympathetic activity. We propose that an infant\u27s positive emotional expression may affect the branch of the maternal stress-response system that modulates the homeostatic balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems