Involuntary Nonconformity as a Function of Habit Lag

Abstract

A pilot experiment tested hypotheses derived from La Fave's construct of habit lag. Habit lag (a construct which is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition of negative transfer) is viewed as a connecting link between Gestalt and behavioristic psychologies, helping dispense with nonnullifiable psychoanalytic theory. A sixth grade boys' basketball team played an eighth grade girls' team by girls' rules. As predicted, the boys' team erred more frequently than did the girls' team by conforming to those rules of boys' basketball which are contradicted by girls' rules. The isomorphism between mental experience and behavior posited by Asch, Campbell, Murphy, and Sherif is viewed as insufficiently comprehensive. The authors replace that simple isomorphism with a homomorphism, then learn they have created more problems than they have solved. They next attempt to develop a more complex and comprehensive isomorphism, but fail. However, this seems the correct way in which to proceed and, hopefully, by so doing a comprehensive isomorphism eventually may evolve.