Group interpersonal skills training in a natural setting: an experimental study.

This study assessed effectiveness of group interpersonal skills training conducted in a natural setting with nonanalogue clients. Subjects (Ss) in a behavioral-training condition received 4 hr of instruction consisting of modeling, behavioral rehearsal, coaching, feedback and reinforcement. Training focused on positive and negative social responses and on initiating interactions, as well as reacting to interactions initiated by others. Subjects in a discussion-control condition engaged in focused discussion of interpersonal concerns but received no experiential practice. Within a pre-test-post-test control group design, subjective and objective measures were used to assess training effects. When compared to Ss involved in group discussion. Ss participating in group behavioral training revealed greater pre- to post-test changes on selfreported probability of engaging in selected interpersonal responses and on objective measures of eye contact, speech duration, positive affective responses, use of no-statements, compliance, refusals and requests for new behavior. Support for generalization of training is presented and methodological issues are discussed.     

A Study of Stereotyped Thinking: Affective Reactions to Persons as the Basis for Judging their Nationality

Summary

Thirty female Ss and one female confederate enrolled in introductory psychology courses participated in the experiment. Each discussion group consisted of two naive Ss and the confederate. The effect of quality of argument on eye contact and the relationship between leadership votes and eye contact were studied. It was found that (a) when the confederate gave high quality arguments she received more eye contact and more leadership votes from naive group members (t = 3.69, p < .01, t = 5.36, p < .01, respectively); (b) when ranked on a leadership questionnaire, the confederate was ranked significantly higher in the high quality condition than in the low quality condition (X ² = 41.00, p < .001); (c) the correlation between eye contact and leadership votes across quality conditions was r = .69, p < .01.     

MAU程序和自由讨论的群体决策质量比较

采用实验室研究方法,比较了在信启、不分享条件下多特征效用模型(MAU)决策程序和自由讨论对群体决策质量的影响,并对影响MAU决策质量的主要因素进行了初步探讨。结果发现：(1)MAU程序可以较好地克服群体动力学方面的一些消极影响,表现出挖掘信息(尤其是非分享信息)的充分性。但MAU程序在被试的态度和社会交互作用等心理效标上并未显示出优势;(2)在MAU条件下,群体规模的增大对分享和非分享信息的讨论量无显著影响。而任务难度效应要和群体规模一起才能起到作用。     

Interview training with adolescents—A controlled group study incorporating generalization and social validation

Ten school-leavers were allocated either to an interview-training group (E) or a discussion control group (C) for three sessions. For E group a combination of modelling, coaching, roleplay, feedback and discussion was used to train both verbal and non-verbal interview skills. An attempt was made to programme generalization of treatment effect into training and subjective evaluations of interview skill were made by an experienced Personnel Officer to assess the social importance of the skills trained. After C group had completed three sessions to control for the non-specific effects of being in therapy, they received the same training as E group. Subjects were assessed using videotaped roleplayed interviews at the beginning and end of each training phase. After training E group showed significant improvements on both global and specific ratings of interview skill compared to C group; there was evidence of generalization and maintenance of treatment effect and the social importance of the skills trained was substantiated by the subjective evaluation data. C group then went on to replicate the changes in E group.     

HOW SUPERVISORS INFLUENCE PERFORMANCE: A MULTILEVEL STUDY OF COACHING AND GROUP MANAGEMENT IN TECHNOLOGY-MEDIATED SERVICES

This multilevel study examines the role of supervisors in improving employee performance through the use of coaching and group management practices. It examines the individual and synergistic effects of these management practices. The research subjects are call center agents in highly standardized jobs, and the organizational context is one in which calls, or task assignments, are randomly distributed via automated technology, providing a quasi-experimental approach in a real-world context. Results show that the amount of coaching that an employee received each month predicted objective performance improvements over time. Moreover, workers exhibited higher performance where their supervisor emphasized group assignments and group incentives and where technology was more automated. Finally, the positive relationship between coaching and performance was stronger where supervisors made greater use of group incentives, where technology was less automated, and where technological changes were less frequent. Implications and potential limitations of the present study are discussed.     

自由讨论条件下群体决策质量的影响因素

通过实验室实验考察了自由讨论条件下群体决策质量的影响因素,并对Stasser所提出的信息取样模型进行了验证,结果发现：(1)部分证实Stasser的信息取样模型。在信息不分享的条件下,如果讨论前群体成员的偏好比较一致时,群体的确倾向于讨论分享信息和群体所偏好的候选人的信息;但如果讨论前的偏好不一致或任务难度较低时,这一结论难以成立。(2)自由讨论条件下,群体规模的增加会增加分享信息的讨论量,而对非分享信息的讨论程度则无显著影响。而在任务难度方面,只有任务难度较大的情况下才有分享信息的讨论优势。     

Inhibition of Threshold Excitation in the Human Eye

Sixty–seven albino rats were tested in a maze situation under five different conditions in an attempt to investigate the presence of “social influences.” One condition was comprised of naive subjects, each run singly. A second condition was comprised of naive subjects run in pairs. A third condition consisted of naive subjects run in squads of three each. A fourth condition consisted of one naive subject run with one trained subject; and the remaining condition consisted of one naive subject run with two trained subjects. The results showed that performance was facilitated by increasing the number of naive subjects in the presence of other naive subjects (“numbers effect”), by the presence of a performing, trained S (“trained effect”), and by increasing the number of trained subjects (“interaction effect”). Inasmuch as these findings are in apparent contradiction to those reported by some previous researchers, an attempt was made to provide an explanation for the differences in experimental findings.     

Incongruities between values,motives, and skills: exploring negative effects of self-exploration in career coaching

ABSTRACT

Psychometric tools are increasingly applied during coaching, but little is known about their effects on clients’ well-being. We investigated the effects that are evoked when psychometric tools reveal incongruities between career-related values, motives, and skills during career coaching within an early-career sample. Results reveal a negative effect of within-person incongruities on life satisfaction and self-efficacy over time. Further, we compared these effects across different career coaching settings (one-on-one coaching vs. group coaching). Compared to clients in group coaching, clients who received feedback on their incongruities during a one-on-one coaching session experienced a decline in life satisfaction. The results indicate that psychometric tools should carefully be incorporated in career coaching interventions. Further practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.     

A game-to-game investigation of the relation between need-supportive and need-thwarting coaching and moral behavior in soccer

ObjectiveAlthough perceived need-supportive and need-thwarting coaching have received considerable attention, the question whether coach behavior fluctuates from game to game, with resulting associations with players’ moral behavior has not been examined.Design and methodA Belgian sample of soccer players (N = 197; M = 26.57) was followed during five competition games, with players completing measures both prior to and following each game assessing, pre-game and on-game perceived coaching as well as athletes’ moral behavior.ResultsResults of multilevel analyses indicated that there exists substantial variation in perceived need-thwarting and need-supportive coaching behavior from game to game. The game-to-game variation in perceived pre-game need-thwarting coaching behavior related positively to variation in the adoption of an objectifying stance, which, in turn, related to variation in antisocial behavior oriented towards the opponent, the referee, and even their own teammates. Variation in perceived on-game need-supportive and need-thwarting coaching behavior yielded an additional relation to team-related moral outcomes. Finally, supplementary analysis indicated that these effects also held for an objective marker of moral functioning (i.e., number of yellow cards) and that players’ level of competition-contingent pay related to their antisocial behavior via an objectifying stance.ConclusionThe discussion highlights the fluctuating and dynamic nature of motivating coaching behavior, and its association with players’ moral functioning.     

What a person thinks upon learning he has chosen differently from others: Nice evidence for the persuasive-arguments explanation of choice shifts

Small shifts in choice occur even without discussion, when individuals merely know each other's preference. This appears to support an interpersonal comparison explanation of group induced shifts in choice and to refute explanations based on persuasive argumentation. The present study demonstrates the contrary, that such effects are consistent with the persuasive-arguments formulation and are obtained under particular conditions specified only by the latter theory, to wit: Knowledge of other's choices is assumed to lead a person to think of reasons (arguments) others might have had for their choices-reasons which ordinarily would not come to mind without this knowledge. Such reasoning functions in the same way as persuasive argumentation during group discussion; it causes the person to persuade himself that an alternative course of action now has greater merit than the one he initially preferred. To test this analysis, an experiment was performed in which subjects responded to choice-dilemma items under three different conditions: Following their own choice (I) they learned what several others had chosen and then wrote arguments in support of alternatives given in that same item; (II) they learned what several others had chosen and then wrote arguments in support of alternatives given in a different item; and (III) they received no information about others' choices but merely wrote arguments on that item. As predicted, shifts in choice occurred only if the person knew what others chose and had an opportunity to think about the latter (condition I); they did not occur if an opportunity to think of others' choices was denied (condition II), nor if knowledge of others' choices was withheld (condition III). Content analysis of the arguments subjects produced in conditions I and II completely supported the hypothesis, as did analyses of responses to postexperimental questionnaire which directly asked the subjects about their feelings and thoughts upon learning what others had chosen.     

The effect of coaching interviewees on subsequent interview performance in structured experience‐based interviews

This study investigated the effect of coaching interviewees on subsequent interview performance within a structured experience‐based interview format. Using a post‐test only experimental design, participants (N=144) were assigned to one of three coaching conditions of increasing comprehensiveness: low (introduction‐only training), medium (introduction plus awareness training), and high (introduction plus awareness plus skill training). Results indicated that individuals who participated in more comprehensive coaching ultimately received higher interview ratings. Results also identified interviewee knowledge as a partial mediator of the relationship between coaching comprehensiveness and subsequent interview performance.     

Behavioral coaching in the development of skills in football, gymnastics, and tennis

A review of the literature indicates that methods of skill acquisition based on the operant paradigm have been scientifically validated with many motor behaviors. However, these procedures have been limited to the use of positive reinforcement for correct performance when applied to the acquisition of complex sports skills in natural settings. To find complementary procedures to enhance skill acquisition, a coaching method involving several behavioral techniques was developed that focused on remediation of errors. This coaching method combined the following components: (1) systematic use of verbal instructions and feedback, (2) positive and negative reinforcement, (3) positive practice, and (4) time out. Three sports, football, gymnastics, and tennis, were selected to determine the effectiveness and generality of this behavioral coaching method. A total of 23 male and female subjects, ranging in age from 11 to 35, was included in this study. Baseline data were first collected for each sport under standard coaching conditions. Next, the behavioral coaching method was evaluated depending on the sport in either a multiple baseline or a reversal design. The behavioral dimensions selected were blocking in football; backward walkovers, front hand springs, and reverse kips in gymnastics; and the forehand, backhand, and serve in tennis. Behavioral coaching was immediately effective in increasing the correct execution of complex skills in all three sports. Gains of up to 10 times the baseline performance were achieved in each sport. In football, behavioral coaching resulted in an increase in correct blocking performance from a baseline average of 5% to 51.3%. Gymnasts' performances increased from baseline averages of 2.7% to 52.6% across the three skills. In tennis, standard coaching produced an average of 6% correct performance which increased dramatically under behavioral coaching to 57% across the three strokes. The success of the behavioral coaching package used here suggests that a technology of behavior may offer additional and complementary strategies to the acquisition of motor skills in the natural environment.     

The effects of prolonged exposure to phobic situations upon agoraphobic patients treated in groups

Nineteen female agoraphobic patients were treated by exposure to imaginal and real phobic stimulation in groups. There were three groups, including 7, 5 and 6 patients respectively, and each group received 9 hr of treatment spread over three sessions. The first two treatment hours of the first two sessions were arranged as a crossover design, patients being randomly allocated at the first session to imaginal or reality treatment for an hour followed by the other treatment for an hour, and receiving the treatments in reverse order at the second session. On both occasions there was a third hour of treatment after 1 hr unstructured group discussion over lunch. Psychological and behavioural measures were made before and after each part of treatment, and at follow-up 5 months after treatment.

Patients were significantly helped by this procedure. Practice sessions were associated with much more improvement than imaginal ones, and there was also an order effect, the first treatment received on each treatment day being more effective than the second. Group discussion over lunch did not improve the patient's phobias. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Using Coaching to Support Teacher Implementation of Classroom-based Interventions

Despite the growing evidence base for the efficacy of preventive interventions, the level of implementation of these interventions in schools is often less than optimal. One promising approach to supporting teachers in implementation of interventions is the use of coaching. In this study, teachers were trained in a universal classroom management intervention and provided ongoing coaching. The association between the type and amount of coaching activities and teacher implementation of proactive classroom management over time were investigated. Results indicated that teachers who received more performance feedback had higher levels of implementation over time in comparison with teachers who received less feedback. In addition, a significant interaction between the amount of coaching a teacher received and his or her implementation of proactive classroom management was found. Increased implementation over time was observed for teachers with lower initial levels of implementation who received more coaching, whereas implementation decreased over time for teachers who received less coaching. The importance of coaching as a support system for enhancing implementation quality of classroom-based preventive interventions is discussed.     

AN ANALYSIS OF MAINTENANCE FOLLOWING FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING

The multiple and long-term effects of functional communication training relative to a common reductive procedure (time-out from positive reinforcement) were evaluated. Twelve children participated in a functional analysis of their challenging behaviors (Study 1), which implicated adult attention as a maintaining variable. The children were then matched for chronological age, mental age, and language age and assigned to two groups. One group received functional communication training as an intervention for their challenging behavior, and the second group received time-out as a contrast. Both interventions were initially successful (Study 2), but durable results were achieved only with the group that received functional communication training across different stimulus conditions (Study 3). Students whose challenging behaviors were previously reduced with time-out resumed these behaviors in the presence of naive teachers unaware of the children's intervention history. The value of teaching communicative responses to promote maintenance is discussed as it relates to the concept of functional equivalence.     

Fostering networking behavior,career planning and optimism,and subjective career success: An intervention study

The present study evaluated personal resource-oriented interventions supporting the career development of young academics, working at German universities within the STEM fields. The study sought to foster subjective career success by improving networking behavior, career planning, and career optimism. The study involved a quasi-experimental pre-post intervention with two intervention and two control groups (N = 81 research associates). Participants of the first intervention group received networking training; participants of the second intervention group received the same networking training plus individual career coaching. Participants of both intervention groups were female. Participants of the control groups (i.e., male vs. female group) did not participate in any intervention. As expected, path analyses, based on mean differences from pre-test to post-test, revealed an increase in career planning and career optimism within the networking plus career coaching intervention group, that was indirectly positively related to changes in subjective career success. Contrary to our expectations, the networking group training alone and in combination with the career coaching showed no effectiveness in fostering networking behavior. Results are discussed in the context of career counseling and intervention effectiveness studies.     

群体决策过程中的信息取样偏差

一般认为,决策群体的优势是能综合各个成员拥有的不完整信息,形成对所有决策备择方案的无偏差的认识,从而作出最佳选择。但“群体讨论中的有偏差信息取样模型’认为,群体在决策中往往表现出倾向于讨论两种信息：(1)各成员讨论前都拥有的信息;(2)支持成员在讨论前所偏好的信息。该实验通过模拟人员选拔决策形式的实验室实验,对这一模型的假设进行验证。研究结果表明,大多数群体选择了一开始受到大多数成员支持的候选人,而非实际的最佳人选;群体讨论非但未纠正,反而加强了成员对候选人原有的歪曲印象。     

Response acquisition with delayed reinforcement: a comparison of two-lever procedures.

Groups of 8 experimentally naive rats were exposed during 8-hr sessions to resetting delay procedures in which responses on one lever (the reinforcement lever) produced water after a delay of 8, 16, 32, or 64 s. For rats in one condition, responses on a second (no-consequences) lever had no programmed consequences. For rats in another condition, responses on a second (cancellation) lever during a delay initiated by a response on the reinforcement lever prevented delivery of the scheduled reinforcer; responses on the cancellation lever at other times had no programmed consequences. Under both conditions and at all delays, most subjects emitted more responses on the reinforcement lever than did control rats that never received water emitted on either lever. At 8-s delays, both conditions engendered substantially more responding on the reinforcement lever than on the other lever, and performance closely resembled that of immediate-reinforcement controls. At delays of 16 and 32 s, however, there was clear differential responding on the two levers under the cancellation condition but not under the other condition. When the delay was 64 s, differential responding on the two levers did not occur consistently under either condition. These findings provide strong evidence that the behavior of rats is sensitive to consequences delayed by 8, 16, and 32 s, but only equivocal evidence of such sensitivity to consequences delayed 64 s. They also indicate that acquisition depends, in part, on the measure of performance used to index it.     

Effects of attention during encoding on sex differences in object location memory

Attention plays a key role in memory processes and has been widely studied in various memory tasks. The role of attention in sex differences in object location memory is not clearly understood. In the present study, two experiments involving 186 participants and using an object array presented on paper were conducted to examine two encoding conditions: incidental and intentional. In each experiment, the participants were randomly assigned to divided versus full attention conditions. In the first experiment, which involved incidental encoding, women outperformed men in memorising location‐exchanged objects in both the full and in the divided attention condition. In the second experiment, which involved intentional encoding, women outperformed men in memorising location‐exchanged objects in the full attention condition, but not the divided attention condition. These findings deepen our knowledge regarding the role of attention in object location memory, specifically in terms of the conditions under which females have an advantage for detecting changes in an array of objects.