title: Investigating relatedness and nodality in stimulus equivalence

authors: Chand, Gabriel Chris

subjects: Stimulus Equivalence

abstract: Stimulus equivalence describes how a group of stimuli can be trained to be ‘equal’, part of one group (equivalence class) where all stimuli are substitutable by each other. Relatedness deals with how stimuli in an equivalence class may not be equal, but rather have differing magnitudes of relations depending on how many stimuli are between two related stimuli. The stimuli in that are between two related stimuli in an equivalence class are called nodes. The issue of nodality in relatedness has been of interest to behavioural researchers. In this study, an experiment was conducted to test the strength of the relations between stimuli in trained equivalence class, which was a replication of several previous studies, with methodological improvements. The strength of stimulus-stimulus relations was tested by first using the simultaneous training method to establish two 6-member, 4-node equivalence classes, after which within-class preference testing was used. Of the 12 participants who took part in the experiment, seven participants were not able to successfully form the two 6-member equivalence classes, with the remaining five participants successfully able to form the two 6- member equivalence classes – demonstrated through achieving criterion (90%) response accuracy during the simultaneous protocol testing phase. The participants who completed the preference testing demonstrated response control by nodality, as they regularly preferred comparison stimuli that were nodally proximal to the sample; and in the case of one participant, responding was entirely consistent with the effects of nodality. That is, they always preferred the comparison stimuli that were nodally proximal to the sample stimuli. Furthermore, on the occasions when the participants did select the nodally distal comparison stimuli, they took longer to make the selection than when they selected the nodally proximal stimuli. On preference testing probes that did not differ in nodal distance (comparison stimuli were an equal nodal distance from the sample stimuli), participants showed no preference for either of the comparison stimuli by selecting both the comparison stimuli approximately an equal number of times. These findings are consistent with earlier studies which involved using various training methods to establish equivalence classes, then testing for nodality effects on stimulus-stimulus relations within the established equivalence classes. Therefore, with the methodological improvements applied in the study, nodality was demonstrated, suggesting that stimuli in an equivalence class are related differentially.

text: Investigating relatedness and nodality in stimulus equivalence Stimulus equivalence describes how a group of stimuli can be trained to be ‘equal’, part of one group (equivalence class) where all stimuli are substitutable by each other. Relatedness deals with how stimuli in an equivalence class may not be equal, but rather have differing magnitudes of relations depending on how many stimuli are between two related stimuli. The stimuli in that are between two related stimuli in an equivalence class are called nodes. The issue of nodality in relatedness has been of interest to behavioural researchers. In this study, an experiment was conducted to test the strength of the relations between stimuli in trained equivalence class, which was a replication of several previous studies, with methodological improvements. The strength of stimulus-stimulus relations was tested by first using the simultaneous training method to establish two 6-member, 4-node equivalence classes, after which within-class preference testing was used. Of the 12 participants who took part in the experiment, seven participants were not able to successfully form the two 6-member equivalence classes, with the remaining five participants successfully able to form the two 6- member equivalence classes – demonstrated through achieving criterion (90%) response accuracy during the simultaneous protocol testing phase. The participants who completed the preference testing demonstrated response control by nodality, as they regularly preferred comparison stimuli that were nodally proximal to the sample; and in the case of one participant, responding was entirely consistent with the effects of nodality. That is, they always preferred the comparison stimuli that were nodally proximal to the sample stimuli. Furthermore, on the occasions when the participants did select the nodally distal comparison stimuli, they took longer to make the selection than when they selected the nodally proximal stimuli. On preference testing probes that did not differ in nodal distance (comparison stimuli were an equal nodal distance from the sample stimuli), participants showed no preference for either of the comparison stimuli by selecting both the comparison stimuli approximately an equal number of times. These findings are consistent with earlier studies which involved using various training methods to establish equivalence classes, then testing for nodality effects on stimulus-stimulus relations within the established equivalence classes. Therefore, with the methodological improvements applied in the study, nodality was demonstrated, suggesting that stimuli in an equivalence class are related differentially.

year: 2020

title: Growing up or growing down: Pakeha women's memories of adolescence

authors: Hamerton, Heather

abstract: This study investigated the processes by which women construct their “selves” using the memories of adolescent experiences of five Pakeha women who went to school together in the 1960’s. The study used memory-work, an approach which engages a group of co-researchers in writing and analysing memories of their earlier lives. 

Feminist relational psychologists, such as Brown and Gilligan and Jean Baker Miller, have powerfully examined the lives of adolescent women, emphasising the notions of voice and silence, but their psychologies of girls’ and women’s development have been critiqued from social constructionist and post-modem perspectives. 

Memory-work, as a social constructionist methodology, is a research technique which enables researchers to make explicit the ways in which human experiences and identities are socially constructed within particular socio-cultural settings. Participants (who all knew each other) wrote individual memories of teenage experiences on several topics and theorised the memories together. In addition to being the main researcher, I was one of the participants in the study. 

In the group discussions we found that adolescent girls who grew up in New Zealand in the 1960’s experienced pressures to conform to female norms in three main areas of their lives: dress and appearance, sexuality and intellectual endeavours. As girls we were encouraged to dress and behave in feminine ways, curbing active tomboyish behaviour. We learned to hide our developing sexuality and to assume passive heterosexual roles at the same time as submitting our bodies to scrutiny from men. We were steered into careers deemed suitable for women and taught to hide our intelligence and abilities.
 
Although the discussion indicated conformity to female norms and roles, resistance and rebellion were also clearly in evidence as we saw ourselves as active agents in constructing our own lives. The group discussions demonstrated and made explicit the ways in which adult women continually re-appraised earlier memories and constructed their sense of “self”, and the part they played in that construction. The knowledge generated through the memory-work method exposed the process of meaning construction in women’s lives, and the ways in which adolescent experiences contributed to women’s adult identities.

text: Growing up or growing down: Pakeha women's memories of adolescence This study investigated the processes by which women construct their “selves” using the memories of adolescent experiences of five Pakeha women who went to school together in the 1960’s. The study used memory-work, an approach which engages a group of co-researchers in writing and analysing memories of their earlier lives. 

Feminist relational psychologists, such as Brown and Gilligan and Jean Baker Miller, have powerfully examined the lives of adolescent women, emphasising the notions of voice and silence, but their psychologies of girls’ and women’s development have been critiqued from social constructionist and post-modem perspectives. 

Memory-work, as a social constructionist methodology, is a research technique which enables researchers to make explicit the ways in which human experiences and identities are socially constructed within particular socio-cultural settings. Participants (who all knew each other) wrote individual memories of teenage experiences on several topics and theorised the memories together. In addition to being the main researcher, I was one of the participants in the study. 

In the group discussions we found that adolescent girls who grew up in New Zealand in the 1960’s experienced pressures to conform to female norms in three main areas of their lives: dress and appearance, sexuality and intellectual endeavours. As girls we were encouraged to dress and behave in feminine ways, curbing active tomboyish behaviour. We learned to hide our developing sexuality and to assume passive heterosexual roles at the same time as submitting our bodies to scrutiny from men. We were steered into careers deemed suitable for women and taught to hide our intelligence and abilities.
 
Although the discussion indicated conformity to female norms and roles, resistance and rebellion were also clearly in evidence as we saw ourselves as active agents in constructing our own lives. The group discussions demonstrated and made explicit the ways in which adult women continually re-appraised earlier memories and constructed their sense of “self”, and the part they played in that construction. The knowledge generated through the memory-work method exposed the process of meaning construction in women’s lives, and the ways in which adolescent experiences contributed to women’s adult identities.

year: 2000

title: Maori and Pakeha at Te Aroha: the context: 1: Pakeha perceptions of Maori

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Interaction between Maori and Pakeha was unavoidable in the nineteenth century. Although Maori were commonly considered to be superior to other uncivilized races, in general the stereotyping of Maori was more negative than positive, for it was assumed that they needed to be raised to the level of Pakeha. Maori were seen as being capable of high achievements, but only if they abandoned their feckless and lazy ways along with their customs and superstitions; instead, they should adopt the best of Western civilization rather than the worst, as was believed to be all too common. Being somewhat child-like, they needing Pakeha guidance to attain their potential. An underlying fear remained that they were potentially dangerous, with their old savage ways lurking under the veneer of adopting European clothes and some European customs. 
Sometimes they were viewed as having too much influence on government policy, partly through the legacy of the Treaty of Waitangi and partly through the machinations of Pakeha Maori. Increasingly, as the often-admired ‘old time’ rangatira, died, the newer generation of lower class Maori were patronized or mocked for their poor English and assumed stupidity. Yet always there were some Pakeha who had good relations with Maori, meaning that intermarriage was neither unusual nor (openly at least) condemned.

text: Maori and Pakeha at Te Aroha: the context: 1: Pakeha perceptions of Maori Interaction between Maori and Pakeha was unavoidable in the nineteenth century. Although Maori were commonly considered to be superior to other uncivilized races, in general the stereotyping of Maori was more negative than positive, for it was assumed that they needed to be raised to the level of Pakeha. Maori were seen as being capable of high achievements, but only if they abandoned their feckless and lazy ways along with their customs and superstitions; instead, they should adopt the best of Western civilization rather than the worst, as was believed to be all too common. Being somewhat child-like, they needing Pakeha guidance to attain their potential. An underlying fear remained that they were potentially dangerous, with their old savage ways lurking under the veneer of adopting European clothes and some European customs. 
Sometimes they were viewed as having too much influence on government policy, partly through the legacy of the Treaty of Waitangi and partly through the machinations of Pakeha Maori. Increasingly, as the often-admired ‘old time’ rangatira, died, the newer generation of lower class Maori were patronized or mocked for their poor English and assumed stupidity. Yet always there were some Pakeha who had good relations with Maori, meaning that intermarriage was neither unusual nor (openly at least) condemned.

year: 2016