A community program to reward children's use of seat belts

This paper reports on a community-wide effort to increase elementary school children's use of seat belts. Twenty-five schools serving over 9,000 children participated in a program of rewards (stickers, bumper strips, and chances on pizza dinners) administered by parent-teacher organization volunteers. Comprehensive observations were made at three representative schools. Categorization of compliance with safety rules required all passengers to be buckled into safety devices before the children received the rewards. The rewards, on average across schools, increased compliance from baseline of 18.1% to 62.4% during the interventions. Withdrawal of the rewards resulted in a decrease to 49% compliance, but this rate remained above baseline. The involvement of community groups and institutions in this safety program is highlighted.     

Applying Behavioral Momentum Theory to Increase Compliance

ABSTRACT

Behavioral momentum has been used as a theory to create effective interventions to increase compliance with requests, including student compliance in schools. These interventions are based on delivering a series of high probability compliance request-response-reinforcement (RRR) trials at high rates just prior to providing a request for a response that has often resulted in noncompliance. In this article, a real example of a substitute teacher leading her class through the Hokey-Pokey is used to describe and clarify interventions based on behavioral momentum. Analysis of specific procedural variables that may impact the effectiveness of interventions based on behavioral momentum theory is provided to assist practitioners with development and implementation of these proce dures within educational contexts. Recommendations for future research on this innovative technology areprovided.     

THE EFFECT OF RESPONSE EFFORT ON COMPLIANCE IN YOUNG CHILDREN

We evaluated the effect of response effort on compliance with three children who exhibited noncompliance when asked to relinquish a preferred toy. Participants were given access to a preferred toy and then asked to place the toy in a toy bin, which was located either 0.3 m (low effort) or 3 m (high effort) away. We used a reversal design to evaluate the effect of the effort manipulation. Compliance by all three participants was sensitive to the effort manipulation. In addition, compliance by two participants maintained as the distance required to comply with instructions was systematically increased. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of three-step prompting on compliance with caregiver requests

Three-step prompting is a procedure commonly used in behavioral assessments and interventions; however, little research has evaluated the effects of this procedure on increasing children's compliance with caregiver requests. In this study, caregivers of children who demonstrated low levels of compliance were trained to use three-step prompting when presenting task requests to their children. Results indicated that training caregivers to implement this procedure decreased the frequency of caregiver-delivered prompts and increased compliance by the children.     

The Personality and Emotions of Men

Summary

The present study investigated the effect of required effort (moderate vs. low), level of expertise (“Dr.” vs. “Mr.”), and sex of the psychologist on compliance with the recommendations of school psychologists. One hundred forty-four elementary school teachers served as subjects. The psychologists evaluated a child from each teacher's class and recommended that she send for materials which would help the child's perceptual and reading development. Results indicate that compliance varied directly with required effort, but was unrelated to level of expertise and sex. It is argued that psychologists in schools may influence teachers as a function of legitimate power, whereas expert power is operative when dealing with the public.     

A friendship intervention for children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: preliminary findings

Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are known to experience difficulty in peer relationships. Neither standard interventions for ADHD nor peer acceptance-oriented interventions fully remedy this problem. We propose that interventions targeting ADHD children's dyadic friendships may be more realistic strategies for improving peer relationships. Hence, a friendship intervention, implemented within the context of an intensive behavioral treatment program with 209 ADHD children, is described. A model is proposed in which the friend's antisocial behavior relates to parental compliance with the friendship intervention, and both the friend's antisocial behavior and parental compliance predict friendship quality and treatment response. Results indicate that children paired with peers lower on antisocial behavior and children whose parents had higher levels of compliance with the friendship intervention achieved higher quality friendships and were rated by teachers as more improved.     

AN APPOINTMENT-KEEPING IMPROVEMENT PACKAGE FOR OUTPATIENT PEDIATRICS: SYSTEMATIC REPLICATION AND COMPONENT ANALYSIS

Child health-care appointments that are not kept are an important pediatric problem. Previous research has shown that reducing effort (with a parking pass) and reminding patients (with mailed and telephone reminders) significantly improved appointment keeping for first-time and patient-scheduled appointments. This study, using a posttest-only group design, evaluated the effects of various combinations of that intervention applied to clinic-scheduled follow-up appointments. All combinations of the intervention significantly increased cancellations, but none increased appointments kept or decreased appointments not kept significantly. Log linear analyses showed that the lag time between scheduling and the appointment significantly influenced appointment keeping. The results suggest that if clinics want to increase cancellations, a mailed reminder and effort reduction are sufficient. To increase appointment keeping, other interventions, such as reduced lag time, may be necessary.     

Maternal Attributions Related to Compliance with Cystic Fibrosis Treatment

This study examined mothers' attributions related to their children's compliance with various components of medical treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF). Mothers of children with CF were queried regarding adherence rates and reasons for child compliance with chest physiotherapy, inhalation therapy, exercise, medication, and dietary treatments. Maternal attributions for compliance were assessed on the dimensions of parental locus, stability, and controllability. Mothers reported significantly less compliance with diet than with other CF treatments; they also perceived the reasons for compliance with diet and exercise as more external and less under their control. These findings are discussed in relation to parent–child interactions that may be critical to improving treatment adherence, particularly in the context of nutritional interventions.     

Effects of differential reinforcement and task difficulty on preschoolers' compliance with teacher instructions

Preschool children in day schools were given instructions to complete certain tasks. Four tasks were given of two types and two levels of difficulty. In each condition compliance with at most one instruction (one task) was reinforced. In two similar experiments, with six children, general results were: compliance with easy tasks was maintained without reinforcement when any task compliance was reinforced; compliance for hard tasks remained high only when that specific task was reinforced. Thus, generalization of compliance with instructions varied with task difficulty. The setting and procedure for both studies were designed to reduce possible coercive features of laboratory studies of generalized performance. Results show generalized performance can occur under naturalistic conditions. The effect of effort, as a response characteristic affecting generalized performance, is discussed.     

Effects of Stimulant Medication Treatment on Mothers' and Children's Attributions for the Behavior of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Participants were 55 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who were receiving ongoing treatment with stimulant medications and their mothers, and 31 children with ADHD who were beginning stimulant medication and their mothers. Mothers and children offered attributions for child behaviors that occurred when the child was medicated and not medicated. Mothers rated child compliance and prosocial behavior as more global and stable when the child was medicated and rated noncompliance, ADHD symptoms, and oppositional behavior as more externally caused, less global and stable, but more controllable by the child when the child was medicated. Children rated both their compliance and noncompliance as more controllable in the medicated condition. On a forced-choice measure, both mothers and children selected ability, effort, and task attributions for compliance more in the not-medicated condition, and pill-taking attributions more in the medicated condition. This was reversed for noncompliance, which was attributed more to effort, task, or ability in the medicated condition and more to not taking a pill in the not-medicated condition. The potential risks and benefits for parent–child interactions and children's self-perceptions of these medication-related differences in attributions are discussed.     

Path model of multidimensional compliance with cancer therapy

Patients newly diagnosed with hematologic malignancies were followed for a 6-month treatment period to assess compliance with three regimen requirements for cancer therapy: anti-neoplastic medication self-administered intermittently, supportive medication self-administered daily, and monthly clinic appointments. The effect on compliance of three intervention "packages" (some combination of education, shaping of pill-taking behavior, and home restructuring) and the extent that patient satisfaction, knowledge, and uncertainty about illness-related events mediated the effects of the interventions were also examined. Blood levels of the drugs and self-report measures indicated that compliance with daily pill taking was higher for each intervention group compared to a control group. Similar results were obtained for compliance with clinic appointments. No improvement in intermittent self-medication was found. Although each intervention package increased patient knowledge and satisfaction, path analyses demonstrated that knowledge did not affect any aspect of compliance, whereas satisfaction was associated with increased appointment keeping only. Daily pill taking was influenced directly by the behavioral components of the interventions. Uncertainty did not influence compliance but was associated with depression, which was negatively correlated with intermittent self-medication.     

Effort and Aspirations in Tax Evasion: Experimental Evidence

Is the effort exerted to earn taxable income considered in compliance decisions? And if so, is hard‐earned income or easy money more likely to be concealed from authorities? While economic theory postulates that prior costs should not affect present decisions, psychological research shows that prior investments of money, time, or effort do matter. Findings from previous studies on the impact of effort on abstract decision tasks suggest two contradictory predictions for the context of tax compliance decisions: Either taxable income earned by high effort is subjectively of higher value, and therefore more likely to be evaded, or investments of effort cause a shift of the reference point through the establishment of an aspiration level, resulting in honest declaration of income. Two experiments were conducted to test these predictions. In a business simulation, taxable income was obtained by different levels of effort and consequently had to be reported to authorities. Results show that tax evasion was more pronounced in low‐effort conditions. This suggests that effort changes the reference point rather than the slope, and provides evidence that in tax compliance decisions aspiration levels serve as reference points. Implications for tax audits are discussed. L'effort déployé pour obtenir des revenus imposables est‐il pris en compte dans les décisions qui en découlent? Et si c'est le cas, est‐ce l'argent facile ou les revenus durement gagnés qui présentent une plus forte probabilité d'être soustraits au fisc? Alors que la théorie économique postule que le coût antérieur n'a pas de retombées sur les décisions présentes, les recherches de psychologie montrent que les investissements passés en argent, temps ou effort ont leur importance. Des travaux sur l'impact de l'effort sur des tâches de décision abstraite débouchent sur deux prédictions contradictoires en ce qui concerne les décisions relatives à l'impôt: ou le revenu imposable obtenu à la suite d'un effort substantiel est subjectivement fortement valorisé et a de fortes chances d'être camouflé, ou l'effort investi provoque un changement de référence à travers l'instauration d'un niveau d'aspiration, ce qui a pour conséquence une déclaration honnête des revenus. On a réalisé deux expériences pour mettre à l'épreuve ces prédictions. Dans une simulation commerciale, le revenu imposable a été obtenu suite à différents niveaux d'effort et devait être portéà la connaissance du fisc. Les résultats montrent que l'évasion fiscale était plus accentuée dans les conditions où l'effort était modeste. Il faut en conclure que l'effort entraîne une mutation du système de référence plutôt qu'une simple modification de niveau et que dans les décisions relatives à l'impôt les niveaux d'aspiration servent de point de référence. On réfléchit aux leçons à en tirer pour le contrôle fiscal.     

Prompting Metacognition During a Job Search: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial with University Job Seekers

Searching for a job is a self-directed activity that requires self-regulation over significant periods of time; yet, in the scientific community, we know little about proximal support interventions that shape the self-regulation processes during a job search. Using an experimental design, we tested a proximal support intervention in the form of metacognitive prompts and how this shaped metacognition and effort in 123 university job seekers over a period of 9 weeks. Job seekers who were exposed to the intervention reported higher levels of metacognition, effort, and a greater number of job interviews compared to job seekers in a control condition. Additionally, the present study revealed that the prompting intervention, compared to the active control condition, resulted in higher levels of metacognition for job seekers who were less committed to finding a job than for job seekers who were more committed to finding a job. In summary, the current study makes important contributions to the job search literature and practice by fine-tuning our understanding of the interventions that may support metacognition during the job search process and the individuals for whom these interventions may be most effective.     

Power Politics and the Balance of Risk: Hypotheses on Great Power Intervention in the Periphery

Great powers frequently initiate risky diplomatic and military interventions in the periphery—regions that do not directly threaten the security of a great power's homeland. Such risky interventions are driven by leaders' aversion to losses in their state's relative power, international status, or prestige. These leaders often persist in such courses of action even when they incur mounting political, economic, and military costs. More surprisingly, they undertake risky strategies toward other great powers in an effort to continue these failing interventions. Hypotheses concerning such interventions are derived from the prospect theory and defensive realist literatures.     

Examining the relationship between self-reported compliance and psychopathic personality traits

The relationship between antisocial traits and forensically-relevant compliance is equivocal, perhaps due to the heterogeneity of antisocial traits. In an effort to better understand this relationship, the current study used the construct of psychopathy as a means of parsing this heterogeneity. Specifically, the relationship between psychopathy as captured by the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005) and compliance measured by the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS; [Gudjonsson, 1989] and [Gudjonsson, 1997]) among a sample of university students (n = 131) was explored. Results revealed that total scores on the PPI-R were unrelated to compliance. However, specific facets of the PPI-R were related to the GCS, but in opposite directions. This might explain inconsistent findings in the extant literature. The findings stemming from the study provide insights into the relationship between antisocial traits and forensically-relevant compliance and offer direction to future efforts aimed at understanding this relationship. Implications for these distinct relationships in the context of false confessions are discussed.     

Community Readiness for Change and Youth Violence Prevention: a Tale of Two Cities

This case study identifies a situation in which there exists a set of preconditions for the successful application of evidence based practice to bear on the community based problem of youth violence. The concept of readiness to change and its impact on the success or failure of interventions designed to change harmful or dangerous behavior among individuals is well established and understood in intervention research. In recent years this concept has been discussed and developed in the community intervention and harm reduction literatures. The current study is one of a community where an attempt was made to identify community levels of harm, develop a strategic plan to reduce the source of harm, and develop, implement, and evaluate youth violence prevention interventions. Over more than 5 years of involvement by university based researchers and community partners, the effort was largely unsuccessful. The events of this project are discussed within the context of the Community Readiness Model Edwards et al. (J Community Psychol 28(3): 291-307, 2000) and we present a narrative that helps to highlight the reasons for the relative lack of success of the effort. We suggest additional strategies and actions that might have helped to overcome the lack of readiness of this particular community to reduce the harms associated with youth violence. Suggestions that may improve chances for a more successful set of outcomes for other communities in similar states of readiness to change and with similar challenges are given.     

The effects of antecedent interventions and extinction on toddlers' compliance during transitions

We compared the effects of two antecedent strategies commonly used in early childhood settings to increase compliance during activity transitions: a warning condition, in which children were informed of the transition 2 min before it began, and a condition in which children were allowed access to a toy during the transition. Both antecedent interventions were ineffective when implemented alone; however, when these strategies were combined with extinction, improvements in compliance were observed for all children.     

Blood glucose monitoring by diabetic adolescents: compliance and metabolic control

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is used in the management of diabetes to guide insulin and diet adjustments. However, SMBG has not achieved its potential impact on diabetic control, perhaps due to poor compliance. Research on SMBG compliance interventions has been hampered by a lack of reliable and practical methods of behavioral assessment. The appearance of reflectance meters with memory permits precise, yet efficient, measurement of SMBG behaviors, allowing more effective interventions. This study evaluated a behavioral contract for SMBG compliance among diabetic adolescents, using reflectance meters with memory to assess the target behavior. Thirty patients were randomized to either meter-alone or meter-plus-contract conditions; an additional 12 patients served in a conventional-therapy control group. Compliance for the meter-alone group declined sharply during the 16-week intervention, whereas it remained at or above baseline levels for the meter-plus-contract group. Despite the large between-groups differences in SMBG frequency, both groups showed equal, moderate improvement in measures of diabetic control, suggesting that SMBG frequency had little impact on health status in this sample. There were no intervention-specific effects on overall diabetes compliance or patient or parent adjustment to diabetes. Few of the measured patient characteristics were significant predictors of treatment response. Further research into maximizing the therapeutic impact of SMBG is needed.     

Teachers facing school failure: the social valorization of effort in the school context

This paper describes two studies concerning teachers’ classroom interventions facing school failure. The role of two main variables is investigated: the lack of effort as a cause of failure students are held responsible for by teachers, and teacher’s social representations of intelligence. The first study (Study 1) explored the impact of “lack of effort” causal attribution for student’s failure on the intervention strategies adopted by 122 high school teachers. Study 2 analyzed the impact of social representations of intelligence, held by 202 high school teachers, on “lack of effort” causal inference and on behavioral interventions. Results highlight that teachers mostly choose more severe educational interventions with retributive purpose when failure is ascribable to an absence of effort expenditure by the student. Moreover, the findings support the role of teachers’ social representations of intelligence in failure explanations and in educational practices, showing that “lack of effort” attribution and practices with retributive purpose are predicted by the social representation of intelligence “as a gift”. Results are analyzed and discussed by considering the effort as a normative parameter of the school environment. This research was supported financially in part by MURST “University funds, 2004 (Ex 40%)”. Portions of these results were presented at the 8th International Conference on Social Representations, Rome.     

Effects of differential negative reinforcement on disruption and compliance

We examined the effects on compliance of two types of differential negative reinforcement (DNR) with a 5-year-old girl with a history of severe disruption. During DNR (communication), escape from instructional trials was provided contingent on a communicative behavior. During DNR (compliance), escape was provided contingent on compliance. Both interventions decreased inappropriate behavior and increased appropriate behavior. However, during DNR (communication), compliance rarely occurred.