A rejoinder to Pribram

Summary Contrary to Pribram's assertion, Köhler proposed a functional isomorphism between brain processes and phenomenal events; the sense organs are not implied in the isomorphism principle. With respect to the facts of the Köhler-Pribram collaboration reliance on the written record is recommended.     

The effect of self-recording on the classroom behavior of two eighth-grade students

The effects of self-recording on classroom behavior of two junior high school students was investigated. In the first experiment, study behavior of an eighth-grade girl in history class was recorded. Following baseline observations her counselor provided slips for the girl to record whether or not she studied in class. This resulted in an increase in study. When slips were withdrawn, study decreased and then increased once self-recording was reinstated. After teacher praise for study was increased, self-recording was discontinued without significant losses in study behavior. In the final phase, increased praise was also withdrawn and study remained at a high level. In the second experiment, the number of talk outs emitted by an eighth-grade boy were recorded during math period. Following baseline, slips for recording talk outs were issued for the first half of the period, for the second half, and then for the entire period. Talk outs decreased when self-recording was in effect and increased again when self-recording was discontinued. When self-recording was reinstituted in the final phase there was a slight, though not significant decrease in talking out when compared to the baseline condition.     

Effects of using self-recording and self-observation in reducing disruptive behavior

In an attempt to reduce the levels of disruptive behavior, six participants in a school for students with behavior disorders were shown edited videotapes depicting themselves appropriately engaged in classroom activities. The participants were first exposed to a training condition in which both appropriate and inappropriate behaviors of a peer were either observed or observed and recorded. In the intervention condition, the participants either self-observed and self-recorded their behaviors from videotape or simply observed themselves on videotape. The results showed idiosyncratic effects across both conditions. Measures of treatment integrity and treatment acceptability were also conducted. The results of this study are compared with similar research investigating self-observation interventions.     

Training parents as behavior modifiers: self-recording of contingent attention

Two mothers of deviant young children were instructed to count their episodes of attention to appropriate child behavior in their homes, using wrist counters. Attention and appropriate child behavior were defined before counting began. Independent observations of parent-child interactions showed that, for each mother-child pair, the percentage of maternal attention given following appropriate child behavior increased, as did the child's appropriate behavior. Removal of the counters did not produce a reversal of the behaviors; instead the increased level stabilized. One mother was then instructed to count her attention to inappropriate child behavior and to decrease it. This instruction had little effect on her attention, and her child's behavior did not change. When both parents were again instructed to count their episodes of attention to appropriate behavior, further improvements in both mothers, and in their children resulted. These results were obtained despite inaccurate parent self-recording. Follow-up observations made over the next five months showed these behavioral gains to be durable. A third parent and his child were unaffected by this training procedure. Thus, there are instances in which self-recording may function as an effective and economical parent-training technique for effecting improvements in child behavior.     

Negation: A rejoinder to Wales and Grieve

Wales and Grieve (1969) report an experiment in which they show that a factor of “confusability” affects the comprehension of affirmative and negative sentences, and then claim that this is a relevant factor in explaining the difficulty of negatives. The present paper submits arguments and experimental evidence to dispute this claim.     

A questionable questionnaire: a rejoinder to Marks

In a recent article Marks argues that two previous articles in this journal in 1986 and 1988, questioning the construct validity of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire, should be dismissed due to methodological flaws and overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In this response to Marks, the methodologies of the two studies in question are clarified and defended. Research and other evidence supporting the two Chara studies are presented. It is concluded that the construct validity of the imagery questionnaire has not been established and that further investigations of the questionnaire, and particularly its rating scale, are warranted.     

A rejoinder to Bimrose & Bayne

To understand the role of theory in guidance, it is reasonable to ask if the theories taught to guidance practitioners are applied in the manner of applied science and, if this is not so, to enquire further into their connection to practice. This is, it is contended, what the earlier article by Kidd et al. does. The status of guidance as a profession is immaterial in this regard, and was not, therefore, considered in the article. Bimrose & Bayne accuse the article of ignoring parts of the literature which were either not relevant, or were actually considered in the conduct of the study on which the article was based. Their methodological criticisms, which are considered particularly gratuitous, fall into two categories: those based upon misreading, and those which are so seriously undeveloped as to verge on the incomprehensible. The need for a clear rationale for theory in guidance is asserted, and it is not pretended that the article has achieved such a rationale. Bimrose & Bayne's views about what guidance is or might be are all very well, but do not yet amount to a convincing rationale either. It is suggested that there are closer parallels between the article and the views of its critics than they acknowledge.