The current article outlines a behavior-analytic approach to the study of so-called implicit attitudes and cognition. The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), the conceptual basis of which was derived from relational frame theory, is offered as a methodology that may be used in the experimental analysis of implicit attitudes and…

Three separate laboratory studies were conducted to determine the conditions under which a person reciprocates a past favor and retaliates a past harm. The first study utilized the framework of equity theory (Adams, 1965) and predicted that when faced with inequity due to the generosity or stinginess of another, one means of reducing the inequity…

Female subjects were asked to evaluate either an attractive or unattractive male stimulus person under one of the three experimental conditions; while listening to avant-garde, rock music, or no music at all. Responding on the Interpersonal Judgement Scale (IJS: Byrne, 1971) and a seven-point physical attractiveness scale, subjects indicated more…

The social deprivation-satiation effect" is characterized by an inverse relation between the frequency of social reinforcement received in a standard treatment period and the effectiveness of that reinforcer in a subsequent test. (Author)

Discusses results of two studies conducted to investigate communications between friends, since it is often stated that psychotherapy is a type of friendship. Findings showed that empathic responses were infrequent between friends trying to be helpful, though such responses constituted a majority of statements of model Rogerian therapists.…

College students were instigated by a confederate and then interacted with that same person on a reaction time completion task. The confederate informed half of the treatment subjects of the response strategy he intended to adopt. The other half received an irrelevant message. Subjects in both message conditions then competed against the…

Examines the effect on a recipient of another's effort to provide help. Two variables, locus of responsibility for initiating a help attempt and type of outcome resulting from the help attempt, were manipulated in a three x two factorial design. Results indicated that the Requested help condition yielded the strongest obligation to help others.…

Feedback in a trust-destroying portion of a problem-solving discussion" was found to be significantly more disruptive than feedback in a trust-building portion of that same discussion." (Author/RD)