The development of reflection-impulsivity: further data

The MFF20 was administered to 617 children aged 7–12yr. The resulting development trends for latency and errors suggest errors decrease to about age 10 yr then level off while a corresponding, though less dramatic, increase in latency was observed. These results were obtained without evidence of ceiling or floor effects or any evidence of a decrease in the relationship between latency and errors after age 10 yr, in contrast to those obtained by Salkind and Nelson (1980).     

Personal problem-solving system for scoring TAT responses: preliminary validity and reliability data

Personal problem solving has emerged as an important construct in the cognitive-behavioral literature, yet there is a lack of clinically useful, performance-based measures practitioners can use to assess the personal problem-solving skills of their clients. Two studies evaluated the validity and reliability of a scoring system for measuring personal problem-solving processes via the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Morgan & Murray, 1935). In Experiment 1, undergraduate students (N = 87) completed two measures of personal problem solving, as well as three TAT cards, which were scored using the Personal Problem-Solving System (PPSS; Renan, 1990). In Experiment 2, an additional group of undergraduates (N = 56) responded to three TAT cards on two separate occasions and also completed a different measure of personal problem solving. Results from both studies supported the use of the PPSS for scoring TAT responses to assess personal problem-solving processes. Suggestions for future research are highlighted.     

A further examination of validity for the sexual experiences survey

The Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) is designed to identify victims of sexual assault, including ones whose experiences meet the Ohio legal definitions (Ohio Revised Code, 1980) for rape or attempted rape (Koss, Gidycz, and Wisniewski, 1987). Ratings from 156 Ohio prosecuting attorneys indicate that three of the five items used to identify victims of rape or attempted rape as a result of actual or threatened force are commensurate with the sex offense statutes for these acts, while the two questions describing attempted and completed rape experiences involving the use of drugs and alcohol are not. The ratings could not be accounted for by demographic, work experience, or rape myth acceptance variables. Two additional items not intended to measure specific code violations were found to describe felony sex offenses. The implications of the current findings for identifying sexual assault victims are discussed.     

A further investigation of the life-world

Conclusions My personal way to phenomenology revealed to me qualities that seem to be essential to one's sense of everyday social reality. Having been victimized I became aware of some of the basic elements that lie beneath the intersubjectivity of the taken-for granted life-world.Death is the ultimate problematic event and the individual is shielded from it by his or her life-world. We hope that actions are repeatable and that others are trustworthy so that we will not confront our own isolation and our own mortality. Although one is alone in death, we act as if we are, and always will be, fundamentally with others within a shared and orderly social world. In short, we avoid our finite individuality through the hopeful construction of a sense of permanent and fundamental sociability. By sheltering ourselves within the life-world, we are, in essence, hoping that we will not die. In this sense, the life-world is a fundamentally deceptive construction. Yet, in this same sense, the life-world is also the source of social and cultural progress. Paradoxically, our sense of everyday reality is both deceptive and productive.The author wishes to express his gratitude to Susan Meisenhelder, George Psathas, and Richard Zaner for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper.     

A problem-solving model for teaching remedial arithmetic to handicapped young children

An operant problem-solving model was used to assist two handicapped young boys to learn the concept of number. During the initial baseline condition, with intermittent teacher-attention contingencies in a classroom setting, both boys were performing number concept tasks at about the 50% level of accuracy. The situation was changed to a one-to-one, tutor-pupil arrangement, with continuous reinforcement for correct responses. This alteration failed to increase the subjects' accuracy rates. Training was initiated in which the covert part of the response chain was made overt (e.g., attending and counting out loud) so that mediating responses could be monitored and reinforced. Once the subjects were performing at a high degree of accuracy, the reinforcers for the mediating responses were systematically eliminated and only final solution responses were reinforced. Accuracy of problem solutions remained high after training.This research was supported by the U.S. Office of Education, Division of Research, Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, Project No. 23–2030, Grant No. OEG-0-9-232030-0762(032). Linda S. Berner contributed to the execution of the study. Her assistance is greatly appreciated.     

Mutual problem-solving skills training for premarital couples: A six-month follow-up

The purpose of the present study was to undertake a six-month follow-up of the communication and problem-solving skill level of those premarital couples trained in the Ridley, Avery, Harrell, Leslie, and Dent (in press) study. Fifty-nine percent of the original sample (14 experimental couples and 18 control couples) were given a behavioral assessment of communication and problem-solving ability six months after training. Results indicated that the experimental group, relative to the control group, had significantly higher pretest to follow-up scores on communication skills and the problem-solving steps. Discussions centered on the implications of skill maintenance over time and possible directions of future research.     

A further study of the pendulum phenomenon

A first series of experiments had demonstrated certain conditions eliciting or inhibiting a “pendulum” phenomenon in the visual perception of apparent movement. The present study consists of five further variations designed to show more clearly conditions of occurrence and non-occurrence of this type of movement. The main findings are:

(i) Altering the axis of display to vertical significantly reduces the frequency of pendular-movement perception;

(2) Altering the position of metronome from behind to the side of the visual display, gives results almost identical with those where the metronome was inaudible, but, when the metronome is illuminated in this position, all forms of movement perception are reduced, and no pendular movement is reported.

The results for all the ten conditions, including the five of the first series are summarized, and the following possible factors are discussed: past experience, physiological nystagmus, and intervening adaptation. All three may be required to account for the perceptual phenomena under investigation and the dichotomizing of explanations into “experiential,” or “physiological,” appears to be arbitrary and inconsistent with the complexity of the observed facts.     

A Web-based family problem-solving intervention for families of children with traumatic brain injury

We developed a Web-based intervention for pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) and examined its feasibility for participants with limited computer experience. Six families, including parents, siblings, and children with TBI, were given computers, Web cameras, and high-speed Internet access. Weekly videoconferences with the therapist were conducted after participants completed on-line interactive experiences on problem solving, communication, and TBI-specific behavior management. Families were assigned to videoconference with NetMeeting (iBOT cameras) or ViaVideo. Participants ranked the Web site and videoconferences as moderately to very easy to use. ViaVideo participants rated videoconferencing significantly more favorably relative to face-to-face meetings than did NetMeeting participants. Both the Web site and videoconferencing were rated as very helpful. All families demonstrated improved outcomes on one or more target behaviors, including increased understanding of the injury and improved parent-child relationships. All parents and siblings and all but 1 child with TBI said they would recommend the program to others. We conclude that a face-to-face intervention can be successfully adapted to the Web for families with varied computer experience.     

Self-reported arousal: further development of a multi-factorial inventory

Abstract.— The previously presented (Bohlin & Kjellberg, 1973) inventory of self-reported arousal, which contained four factor analytically derived scales, was further developed in the following way. First, the original factor pattern was cross-validated. Second, a new response scale was constructed which proved to be superior to the old one. Third, the inventory was extended with new items and factor analysis applied to this new inventory. From the model of phenomenological arousal advanced by Bohlin & Kjellberg (1973) six factors were hypothesized and it was shown that a similar solution could be obtained with the extended inventory. Finally, this six-factor pattern was cross-validated and six scales, labelled Sleep-Wakeful-ness, Energy, Stress, Irritation, Euphoria, and Concentration, were constructed.