Conditioning Constructs: A Psychological Theory of International Negotiated Cooperation

Political psychology and social constructivism exist in an “ideational alliance” against realism; however, both have overlooked behavioral conditioning, the basis of animal learning. Through six stages situated in international negotiation behaviors, the theory of Conditioning Constructs shows how behavioral conditioning can take parties from specific to diffuse reciprocity, rationalist to constructivist cooperation, and crisis to durable peace. In stages 1, 2 and 3, parties use negotiated agreements to exit prisoner’s dilemmas, continuously reinforce cooperation during agreement implementation, and satiate to rewards as initial implementation finalizes. In stages 4, 5 and 6, parties receive fresh rewards with new negotiations, undergo intermittent reinforcement with periodic agreements thereafter, and finally attribute cooperative behavior to actor constructs. Conditioning Constructs demonstrates that agency is possible in socially constructed structures through willful participation in conditioning through negotiation; and that, while Anatol Rapoport’s tit-for-tat strategy is suited to initial cooperation, intermittent reinforcement better preserves late-stage cooperation.

Specialized coding patterns among dorsomedial prefrontal neuronal ensembles during conditioned reward seeking.

Non-overlapping cell populations within dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), defined by gene expression or projection target, control dissociable aspects of reward seeking through unique activity patterns. However, even within these defined cell populations considerable cell-to-cell variability is found, suggesting that greater resolution is needed to understand information processing in dmPFC. Here we use two-photon calcium imaging in awake, behaving mice to monitor the activity of dmPFC excitatory neurons throughout Pavlovian sucrose conditioning. We characterize five unique neuronal ensembles that each encode specialized information related to a reward, reward-predictive cues, and behavioral responses to reward-predictive cues. The ensembles differentially emerge across learning, and stabilize after learning, in a manner that improves the predictive validity of dmPFC activity dynamics for deciphering variables related to behavioral conditioning. Our results characterize the complex dmPFC neuronal ensemble dynamics that relay learning-dependent signals for prediction of reward availability and initiation of conditioned reward seeking.

Shaping Utopians

This chapter examines an aspect of utopia that has provided especially ample fodder for counterindignation. Analysts of utopian writing have long noted that some utopias promise to realize their goals by means of rules and institutions that work with people as they inevitably are, while other utopias propose to arrange conditions that will reshape human character. The chapter distinguishes between managerial utopias, which operate mainly through wittily engineered incentives and disincentives, and transformative utopias, which arrange conditions in ways that help determine what utopian people will be like. Both kinds of utopias have inspired vehement counterindignation because they can be seen as assaulting, if in somewhat different ways, human freedom. But the transformative utopia has proven especially inflammatory because it seems to imply a forcing of the soul by the powers that be — and because it seems at its furthest to threaten the replacement of humanity as we know it with something else. After tracing the history of these two utopian modes, the chapter turns to the acme of the transformative mode as it emerges, in the middle of the twentieth century, in antiutopian alarms about behavioral conditioning as well as a radical defense of conditioning mounted by B. F. Skinner.

Habitual, but not momentary, avoidance strategy use moderates the association between disgust sensitivity and affective response to a disgust-inducing film clip

Habitually avoiding disgust-eliciting stimuli may lead to a stronger connection between negative appraisals (i.e., disgust sensitivity) and experiences of disgust. We tested if the use of experiential avoidance or expressive suppression moderated the association between disgust sensitivity and disgust ratings. Sixty-seven female undergraduate students reported disgust sensitivity and their habitual use of experiential avoidance and expressive suppression. Participants viewed a disgust-eliciting video and reported disgust levels before and after. The interactions between disgust sensitivity and habitual experiential avoidance, B = .14, SE = .06, p = .03, 95% CI [.02, .26], and disgust sensitivity and habitual expressive suppression, B = 1.09, SE = .53, p = .046, 95% CI [.02, 2.15], were significant. At low levels of these strategies, there was no association between disgust sensitivity and disgust ratings, whereas at high levels of these strategies, there was a positive association. There were no significant interactions when predicting anxiety ratings. We discuss these results in terms of behavioral conditioning theories.

Aristotle and Huxley: On happiness

According to Aristotle, one of the necessary, although not sufficient, conditions for a good and happy life is the possession of virtue. A person who possesses virtues never wants something that is bad, but only what is good, and in that way she is free from internal struggle. Such person is formed through good habits. In Huxley?s dystopia, individuals are shaped by genetic selection and behavioral conditioning to want only what is good for the state, its peace and prosperity, and thus to want what is good for themselves. The goal of this paper is to examine the differences between Aristotle and Huxley. In the first part of the paper I will discuss different techniques of character formation in Aristotle and those described in Huxley?s dystopia. In the second part of the paper, I will address the question why Huxley?s world does not appeal to us, even though everyone in it wants exactly what they should want. In the Brave new world Huxley portrays the world that is built around the assumption that for a person to be happy it is enough that they want what they can achieve and get. For Aristotle this is not enough. In addition to it we need to study the ultimate nature of the world. That Aristotle?s position is more likely to be the case is indicated by contemporary research in psychology.

The conditioning function of rating mechanisms for consumers in the sharing economy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how rating mechanisms encourage emotional labor norms among sharing economy consumers. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a mixed-methods research design. Survey data from 207 consumers were used to quantify the impact of three distinct rating dimensions on a consumer behavioral outcome (emotional labor). In the second step, 18 focus groups with 94 participants were used to investigate the conditioning functions of ratings in more depth. Findings Rating mechanisms condition consumers toward performing socially desirable behaviors during sharing transactions. While consumers accept the necessity of bilateral rating mechanisms, they also recognize their coercive nature. Furthermore, the presence of bilateral rating mechanisms leads to negative outcomes such as annoyance and frustration. Originality/value This study contributes to sharing economy literature by examining bilateral rating mechanisms as a means of behavioral conditioning for consumers. This study points to improvements in platform design and informs theory on tripartite markets as well as trust.