Impact of information about sentencing decisions on public attitudes toward the criminal justice system.

Research reveals public dissatisfaction with perceived leniency of the criminal justice system. However, when asked to sentence hypothetical offenders, members of the public tend to choose dispositions similar to what current court practices prescribe. In two studies reported here, subjects completed a mock sentencing exercise and a general attitude survey. In an initial pilot study, they expressed general dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system but the relative punitiveness of their sentences (in terms of their perceptions of how severe various sentencing options are) was only slightly elevated above a set of reference sentences. Providing a typical judge's sentencing decisions did not decrease dissatisfaction but was associated with an anchoring effect. This effect was explored in the main study by manipulating the provided reference sentences to be either lenient, moderate, or punitive. Again, participants expressed general dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system but prescribed generally moderate sentences, anchoring their sentences to the information provided. However, only those exposed to moderate "typical" sentences subsequently reported reduced dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system.

A Pavlovian procedure for improving sexual performance of noncopulating male rats.

Previous research has shown that Pavlovian conditioning, based on unconsummated arousal, can increase copulatory rate in laboratory rats. This investigation tested whether a similar procedure could improve the performance of males that initially fail to copulate successfully. Male rats that did not reach ejaculation with a receptive female on a pretest were randomly assigned to one of two groups: CS-US paired or CS-US unpaired. The CS consisted of a period of placement in a running wheel which allowed measurement of incidental activity. The US was (arousing) exposure to a female separated from the male by a wire mesh screen. The CS immediately preceded the US for the paired group but the two were unpaired for the control group. Following conditioning, CS and No-CS tests were given, with both copulation and activity measures taken. Subjects in the paired group were significantly more likely to achieve ejaculation on the CS test than those in the control group, and they were also more active during the test. In contrast, differences on the No-CS test were not significant, consistent with expectations from a Pavlovian explanation. These data show the efficacy of Pavlovian procedures in improving sexual performance, with a possible application to increase arousal to selected cues for human subjects, e.g., some individuals with erectile dysfunction.

Pavlovian conditioning of sexual arousal: parametric and background manipulations.

Recent studies have shown that a Pavlovian conditioned stimulus (CS) for unconsummated sexual arousal can increase the rate of copulation in the rat. This report includes five experiments examining the effects of parametric manipulations on the conditioned arousal response. Results show that between six and nine trials are necessary for reliable conditioning, but extinction is somewhat slower than acquisition. The function for the CS-US (unconditioned stimulus) interval is quadratic, with a minimum of several minutes required for effective conditioning. In the first three experiments, it appeared that background cues were conditioned as well as the designated CSs, and this was tested explicitly in the last two studies. In one, the effect of background cues was shown by training and testing in different situations; in the second, background cues were shown to be subject to latent inhibition. These results demonstrate the influence of Pavlovian learning in sexual behavior and help to provide the basis for an animal model of the acquisition of deviant sexual arousal in humans.

Pavlovian conditioning of sexual arousal: first- and second-order effects.

Despite the likely importance of Pavlovian conditioning in sexual behavior, previous evidence of reliable or sizeable effects is very sparse. This report includes four experiments in the conditioning of sexual arousal in the males of a mammalian species, namely, the rat. In each case the unconditioned response (UR) was unconsummated arousal after exposure to a female. There was evidence of a substantial conditioned effect, as shown by decreases in the time to complete copulation during postconditioning conditioned stimulus (CS) tests. It is also possible to establish a second-order conditioned response (CR), which retains its strength even after extinction of the first-order response. These results confirm the power of Pavlovian contingencies in sexual responding and provide implications for conditioning theory and applied work.