Say-do correspondence to improve disruptive behaviors in adults with Down's syndrome

The most acknowledged strategies for the treatment of disruptive behaviours are those that are based on direct contingency management. Other procedures allow the therapist, or educational agent, not to be present in the context in which the behavioural change has to take place: the say-do correspondence training procedures, which have proven effective across behaviours and populations. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little evidence of the effectiveness of such procedures with populations presenting developmental disabilities. This study describes the implementation of say-do correspondence training to modify 5 disruptive behaviours present in 5 adult subjects diagnosed with Down's syndrome, showing very positive results. The advantages of using say-do correspondence training procedures in developmental disabilities are discussed.     

An experimental analysis of anti-litter procedures

This study evaluates the differential effectiveness of six different anti-litter procedures in two neighborhood theaters. The procedures used to encourage individuals in attendance to pick up litter and deposit it properly included: providing litterbags, providing litterbags with instructions to use them, providing extra trash cans, showing a special anti-litter film before the feature film, and providing incentives for the appropriate deposit of litter. In both theaters, the incentive procedures resulted in the removal of over 90% of all litter by the children in attendance, a figure far above that achieved by the other procedures investigated.     

The effects of dynamic assessment procedures on Raven Matrices performance,visual search behavior,test anxiety and test orientation

The effects of dynamic testing procedures on Raven Coloured Matrices performance, visual scanning procedures, test anxiety, and orientation to the test situation were assessed. The subjects were 72 third-grade children. The results supported the hypotheses of the study showing that (1) dynamic assessment procedures involving either verbalization or elaborated feedback lead to higher levels of Raven Matrices performance; that (2) dynamic assessment modifies visual search behaviors; and that (3) dynamic assessment reduces test anxiety and negative orientation to the testing situation. The results are interpreted as offering construct validation to the assessment approaches used.     

A PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT APPROACH FOR IMPROVING DIRECT-CARE STAFF PERFORMANCE IN AN INSTITUTIONAL SETTING

The present study evaluated a participative management approach for increasing the frequency of interactions between institutional staff and severely/profoundly retarded residents. The participative management approach involved teaching staff how to use self-monitoring, standard setting, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement procedures. These procedures were then used by staff with minimal involvement of supervisory personnel. Although supervisors provided feedback and praise to staff for using these self-management behaviors, feedback and praise were never dispensed contingent on staff interactions with residents. Results indicated that during the participative management program there was an increase in staff interactions that were contingent on appropriate resident behavior. The increase in this type of staff interaction was accompanied by an increase in appropriate resident behavior. Follow-up data on both staff and resident behaviors, although showing moderating trends, suggested generally good maintenance of the initial behavior changes. Acceptability data suggested that staff were quite receptive to the program. The advantages of participative management procedures for improving staff performance in residential settings are discussed.     

Standard back-translation procedures may not capture proper emotion concepts: a case study of Chinese disgust terms

We present data questioning the adequacy of standard back-translation procedures for investigating emotion states across cultures (Brislin, 1970). Our data indicate that the Chinese back-translation of the term disgust has led cross-cultural researchers to accept terms whose themes, goals, and motivations are more akin to the English term anger. Evidence is presented showing that, compared with the standard back-translation method, a more painstaking interview method found a better translational Chinese equivalent for the English term disgust. Implications for the use of back-translation in cross-cultural research are considered.     

Least squares estimates and optimal classification

A simple algebraic development is given showing that criterion estimates derived by usual multiple regression procedures are optimal for personnel classification. It is also shown that, for any assignment of men to jobs, the sum of the multiple regression criterion estimates will equal the sum of the actual criterion scores.The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not to be construed as reflecting official Department of the Army policy.     

A New Variable Weighting and Selection Procedure for K-means Cluster Analysis

A variance-to-range ratio variable weighting procedure is proposed. We show how this weighting method is theoretically grounded in the inherent variability found in data exhibiting cluster structure. In addition, a variable selection procedure is proposed to operate in conjunction with the variable weighting technique. The performances of these procedures are demonstrated in a simulation study, showing favorable results when compared with existing standardization methods. A detailed demonstration of the weighting and selection procedure is provided for the well-known Fisher Iris data and several synthetic data sets.     

What determines people’s fairness judgments? Identification and outcomes influence procedural justice evaluations under uncertainty

When the procedures people experience are uncertain, factors unrelated to principles of procedural justice may nevertheless shape procedural justice judgments. This paper investigates two of these factors: an individual’s level of social identification with the group enacting the procedures and the outcomes associated with the procedure. It was predicted and found that high (vs. low) levels of identification promote relatively positive perceptions of procedural justice. It was also predicted and found that desirable (vs. undesirable) outcomes promote relatively positive perceptions of procedural justice. These effects only emerged in the absence of direct information indicating whether procedures were (un)fair. By showing an influence of identification and outcomes on procedural justice judgments under conditions of informational uncertainty, these studies provide important experimental evidence that integrates and extends previous research on justice, identity, and uncertainty to understand subjective evaluations of process fairness.     

Hypnosis and clinical pain

Hypnosis has been demonstrated to reduce analogue pain, and studies on the mechanisms of laboratory pain reduction have provided useful applications to clinical populations. Studies showing central nervous system activity during hypnotic procedures offer preliminary information concerning possible physiological mechanisms of hypnotic analgesia. Randomized controlled studies with clinical populations indicate that hypnosis has a reliable and significant impact on acute procedural pain and chronic pain conditions. Methodological issues of this body of research are discussed, as are methods to better integrate hypnosis into comprehensive pain treatment.     

TOKEN REINFORCEMENT: A REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

Token reinforcement procedures and concepts are reviewed and discussed in relation to general principles of behavior. The paper is divided into four main parts. Part I reviews and discusses previous research on token systems in relation to common behavioral functions—reinforcement, temporal organization, antecedent stimulus functions, and aversive control—emphasizing both the continuities with other contingencies and the distinctive features of token systems. Part II describes the role of token procedures in the symmetrical law of effect, the view that reinforcers (gains) and punishers (losses) can be measured in conceptually analogous terms. Part III considers the utility of token reinforcement procedures in cross‐species analysis of behavior more generally, showing how token procedures can be used to bridge the methodological gulf separating research with humans from that with other animals. Part IV discusses the relevance of token systems to the field of behavioral economics. Token systems have the potential to significantly advance research and theory in behavioral economics, permitting both a more refined analysis of the costs and benefits underlying standard economic models, and a common currency more akin to human monetary systems. Some implications for applied research and for broader theoretical integration across disciplines will also be considered.     

Laboratory Simulated Gambling: Risk Varies Across Participant-Stake Procedure

ABSTRACT. This study investigated whether risk taking on a laboratory gambling task differed depending on whether participants gambled with earned or experimenter-provided game credits. Participants made repeated choices between two options, one to wager game credits on a game that produced probabilistic gains and losses, and one to gain game credits with certainty. Choice was investigated across stake and no-stake conditions and condition order was counterbalanced across conditions. Risk taking was higher under stake than no-stake conditions, but only when stake conditions were experienced first. There was no effect on risk taking of the amount of the certain gain. Results are consistent with previous research showing that participant-stake procedures promote greater risk taking than procedures that allow participants to gamble with their own earnings, and also show that experience gambling with earned credits has an enduring effect on risk taking.     

The Overconfidence Phenomenon as a Consequence of Informal Experimenter-Guided Selection of Almanac Items

The paper argues for an ecological approach to realism of confidence in general knowledge. It is stressed that choice of answer to almanac items and confidence judgments derive from knowledge structures formed by adaptation to a natural environment. People are regarded as well-calibrated to their natural environments and the overconfidence phenomenon is seen as a consequence of the procedures involved in the creation of "traditional" general knowledge items, rather than as the result of a cognitive bias. An experiment is reported showing that when items are informally selected by human "selectors," instructed to select items that differentiate between more and less knowledgeable subjects, we observe poor calibration and the usual overconfidence phenomenon. However, when the item selection is "debiased" and the objects to be compared in the almanac items are selected randomly from a natural environment the overconfidence phenomenon disappears and we observe good calibration, and good resolution. These results support an ecological approach to realism of confidence and suggest that general procedures for debiasing overconfidence may be unwarranted.     

Simulating Personal Wealth in the Laboratory

During laboratory gambling tasks participants are not typically allowed to wager their personal wealth. Instead, wealth is simulated by telling participants they have been endowed with game tokens that will be later exchanged for money. Past research indicates that participants undervalue game tokens following this procedure, which leads to elevated risk taking compared to procedures that add saliency or realism to the monetary payoff. A between-subjects experiment tested whether showing a picture of money during the endowment instructions and repeating token-money exchange information during the session influenced participants' preference for risky and riskless options. The results showed no effect of the money picture. However, repeated token-money exchange information significantly decreased risk taking. Together with past studies, this finding suggests that endowment procedures might establish greater value in game tokens, and therefore better simulate personal wealth, when the eventual exchange between game tokens and money is made more salient to participants.     

Norwegian versions of the Living with Asthma Questionnaire (LWAQ) and Asthma Bother Profile (ABP), validation and comparison of two asthma groups

The Living with Asthma Questionnaire (LWAQ) and the Asthma Bother Profile (ABP) were translated into Norwegian using conventional back translation procedures, and completed by 30 asthma outpatients and 30 asthma patients admitted to inpatient rehabilitation. Reliability (Cronbach's alpha and retest-reliability) was shown to be good for both scales. Validity was established by showing significantly poorer health in the rehabilitation sample, and correlations with state and trait anxiety. The Norwegian translations are reliable and valid versions of the original questionnaires.     

Evaluation of an integrative approach to training paraprofessionals in counselling using the Problem Solving Inventory

The present study evaluated an eclectic approach to training paraprofessionals in counselling. The programme was designed to reflect recent developments in microcounselling problem-solving approaches and training procedures. Fifteen paraprofessionals participated in a 25 week × 4 hours programme of training, 13 of whom completed the Problem Solving Inventory both pre- and post-training. Trainees' scores decreased significantly, showing that they appraised their problem-solving in a more positive manner following training. It is concluded that the results of this exploratory study may contribute to the wider issue of evaluating the acquisition of higher-order counselling abilities in trainees. Implications for training and meeting client needs are discussed.     

Beyond non-utilization of evaluations: An institutional perspective

Evaluations are spreading over a number of policy areas and are being integrated into administrative routines on many levels in organizations. Yet, a central finding in evaluation research is that the utilization of evaluations is limited. As an alternative to conventional rational and political approaches the paper explores how an institutionalist perspective explains this paradox. This article argues that the institutionalist perspective is useful in showing how evaluation procedures are symbolically appropriate in our age of “reflexive modernization”; explaining a number of empirical findings about the actual (non-)utilization of evaluations; and suggesting an alternative horizon of effects of evaluations. His recent interests include the application of cultural and institutional perspectives on evaluation.     

L’effet d’une procédure engageante par étapes sur la sensibilisation des salariés au projet d’amélioration continue

The purpose of this research was to study the impact of committing procedures aiming at encouraging the involvement in an organisational continuous improvement project. With a research with two steps, some experimental groups of employees were integrated in a committing system. The number of committing procedures used was different between the groups. Attitudinal and behavioural measures showing the commitment in the project were used as dependent variables. The findings show that the involvement of employees in the project is influenced by the level of commitment used. It was noted that the level of commitment impacts the behaviours but no effect on attitudes was noticed. What is at stake in the applications of this psychosocial theory in organisational projects is questioned.     

On the distinction between open and closed economies.

Open and closed economies have been assumed to produce opposite relations between responding and the programmed density of reward (the amount of reward divided by its cost). Experimental procedures that are treated as open economies typically dissociate responding and total reward by providing supplemental income outside the experimental session; procedures construed as closed economies do not. In an open economy responding is assumed to be directly related to reward density, whereas in a closed economy responding is assumed to be inversely related to reward density. In contrast to this predicted correlation between response-reward relations and type of economy, behavior regulation theory predicts both direct and inverse relations in both open and closed economies. Specifically, responding should be a bitonic function of reward density regardless of the type of economy and is dependent only on the ratio of the schedule terms rather than on their absolute size. These predictions were tested by four experiments in which pigeons' key pecking produced food on fixed-ratio and variable-interval schedules over a range of reward magnitudes and under several open- and closed-economy procedures. The results better supported the behavior regulation view by showing a general bitonic function between key pecking and food density in all conditions. In most cases, the absolute size of the schedule requirement and the magnitude of reward had no effect; equal ratios of these terms produced approximately equal responding.     

In the privacy of their own homes: using the internet to assess racial bias

Recent studies suggest that research participants show reduced distortion of their taboo attitudes and behaviors when they take part in Internet-based procedures from outside the laboratory. We explored whether such procedures would reduce distortion in the assessment of racial bias. In Study 1, White participants who completed the study in the laboratory evaluated Black targets more favorably than White targets. This unexpected "outgroup-favoring" pattern occurred in both pencil-and-paper and Internet versions of the study, showing that modality did not produce it; but when participants worked outside the laboratory via the Internet, this pattern disappeared. Study 2 replicated the above findings and further indicated that the reduced distortion in Internet-based studies was due to the removal of the experimenter rather than removing the participants from the laboratory environment. The implications of these findings for the study of controlled processes of prejudice and the nature of Internet-based social communication are discussed.     

An analysis of the effectiveness of university counselling services

It is important to demonstrate replicable evidence of the effectiveness of counselling procedures. The study aimed to contribute to the currently limited evidence base examining the effectiveness of university student counselling in the UK. Information on therapeutic outcome [based on Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) scores] for 305 individuals attending a large UK university counselling service was analysed. Following counselling intervention: there was a statistically significant improvement in CORE-OM scores with 63% of individuals showing a reliable improvement and only 2% showing a reliable deterioration. Of those who began with a score in the clinical range, 49% showed a clinically significant change. These results provide additional evidence for the effectiveness of university counselling interventions. Future research should aim to build on this preliminary research using randomised controlled trial designs.