Tobin H, Logue A W
Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook 11794-2500.
J Comp Psychol. 1994 Jun;108(2):126-33. doi: 10.1037/0735-7036.108.2.126.
Data from six previous studies of self-control behavior were compared against predictions made by the matching law and by molar maximization. The studies involved pigeons (Columba livia), rats (Rattus norvegicus), and 3-year-old, 5-year-old, and adult humans (Homo sapiens) who had received food as the reinforcer, and adult humans who had received points exchangeable for money as the reinforcer. Neither theory proved to be an accurate or better predictor for all groups. In contrast to the predictions of these theories, self-control was shown to vary according to species, human age group, and reinforcer quality. When the reinforcer was food, the self-control of different species was found to be negatively correlated with metabolic rate; that is, larger species showed greater self-control. These results suggest that allometric scaling may prove useful in describing and predicting species differences in self-control.
将之前六项关于自我控制行为的研究数据与匹配法则和总量最大化所做的预测进行了比较。这些研究涉及鸽子（家鸽）、大鼠（褐家鼠），以及以食物作为强化物的3岁、5岁和成年人类（智人），还有以可兑换金钱的点数作为强化物的成年人类。结果表明，这两种理论都不能准确地预测所有群体的情况，或者说，没有哪一种理论比另一种更具预测力。与这些理论的预测相反，自我控制表现出因物种、人类年龄组和强化物质量而异。当强化物为食物时，发现不同物种的自我控制能力与代谢率呈负相关；也就是说，体型较大的物种表现出更强的自我控制能力。这些结果表明，异速生长比例缩放可能有助于描述和预测物种在自我控制方面的差异。
