Behavior modification in schools: ethical issues and suggested guidelines

This paper explores the major problems involved in the ethical and adequate use of behavior modification procedures in social settings. Problems are presented in the form of controversial issues which the concerned behavior change agent should be aware of at each step of a behavior change program: selection of the target child, data collection and record keeping, implementation of a behavior change program, personnel qualifications. Suggested guidelines for addressing the problems are provided.     

Identifying a school's real agenda: Nine steps

Nine steps are described which enable a school psychologist to determine the real agenda of a school system. The “real” agenda of a school is defined as those behaviors that are encouraged and discouraged by each school's culture on a daily basis. These steps include (a) community expectations, (b) grading system, (c) testing program, (d) school achievement level, (e) curricular options, (f) changes in personnel, (g) organizational changes, (h) budget implications, and (i) walking the halls.     

The usefulness of distinguishing between a defensive and a nondefensive external locus of control

The study's purpose was to determine whether a distinction can be made between individuals adopting an external locus of control as a defense and those adopting the orientation because it reflects their life experience. It was hypothesized that the two groups differ in the amount of personal responsibility they accept for task outcomes. Internals and externals were identified and then further designated as high or low in action taking. Among externals, a high action-taking score implied defensiveness. Subjects randomly received either success or failure feedback on a presumed task of interpersonal sensitivity. Defensive externals varied their causal attributions as a function of outcome, whereas nondefensive externals did not (p < .05). The distinction between defensive and nondefensive external control was thus supported.     

The effects of visual similarity on proofreading for misspellings

In three experiments, subjects read prose passages and circled misspellings in them. The misspelled words were created by replacing a single letter with another one. The visual similarity between the correct letter and the one that was substituted for it increased the percentage of proofreading errors. The results suggest that proofreaders search through a visual representation of the text and that a hierarchical feature test is applied to this representation, according to which subjects give first priority to resolving letter envelope and second priority to discriminating additional visual features. A sophisticated-guessing decision rule is also implicated for the misspellings that do not alter letter envelope: Subjects are tolerant of missing letter features but are intolerant of additional features.     

The effect of appealing distractors on the performance of hyperactive children

The study investigated whether hyperactive children were more suceptible to appealing distractors than were normal children. Twenty hyperactive and 20 normal children performed arithmetic tasks under three levels of distraction: no distraction, low-appeal distraction, and high-appeal distraction. Hyperactive children were significantly more affected by both low- and high appeal distractors than were the normal children.This report is based upon a dissertation submitted by A. Radosh in partial fulfillment of the Ph.D. degree. The valuable contributions of Dr. Tina Moreau and Dr. Daniel Caputo are gratefully acknowledged. The study was supported in part by NIMH grant MH 18579.     

A comparison of recognition memory to numerical decision: How prior probabilities affect cutoff location

In two experiments, a recognition memory task, in which subjects judged whether a given five-digit number had been shown previously, was compared to a numerical decision task, in which subjects judged whether a given five-digit number represented the height of a man or a woman. Subjects were found to shift β (the cutoff point along the decision axis) with changes in prior probabilities in the direction specified by signal detection theory in the numerical decision task but not in the recognition memory task. An explanation of the results, in terms of a difference in ? (discriminability) between the two tasks, was ruled out. In contrast, explanations which cannot be ruled out involve differences between the tasks in the amount of practice required for the subject to learn the manner in which the stimuli are distributed along the decision continuum, and differences in the availability of an alternative basis for response other than the decision continuum.     

Detecting phonemes and letters in text: Interactions between different types and levels of processes

In six experiments, subjects detected phonemes or letters in text presented auditorily or visually. Experiments 1 and 2 provided support for the hypothesis that a mismatch between the phoneme and letter representations of a target leads to detection errors. In addition, visual word unitization processes were implicated. Experiments 3 and 4 provided support for the hypothesis that the Gestalt goodness of pattern affected detection errors when subjects searched for letters. Experiments 5 and 6 demonstrated that the effects of unitization on the detection of letters in common words were decreased by altering the familiar configuration of the test words. The combined results of all six experiments lead to the conclusion that both visual and phonetic processes influence letter detection, that these processes communicate through a type of cross-checking, and that there are at least two levels of visual (and perhaps of phonetic) processing involved in the letter detection task.     

Is there really very rapid forgetting from primary memory? The role of expectancy and item importance in short-term recall

In two experiments, subjects recalled one of two letter segments following a digit-filled retention interval. In Experiment 1, recall expectancy was manipulated by using precues that correctly informed or misinformed subjects concerning which letter segment wou;d be tested for recall. In Experiment 2, item importance was varied by precuing one segment as important but requiring that the uncued segment be recalled first. Recall performance was very low under conditions of low expectancy and low segment importance, but the slopes of the retention-functions did not demonstrate more rapid forgetting than under standard -conditions. The previous observations of very rapid forgetting from primary memory may be a function of an elevated initial recall level in the earlier studies. Our retention functions were compared with predictions of the Estes perturbation model. The findings suggested that when secondary memory processes were reduced, forgetting order information from primary memory occurred at the same rate as that estimated on the basis of previous studies using the standard distractor task.     

Associations between sleep variables and ostensibly paranormal experiences and paranormal beliefs: A scoping review

Night-time is a period of great significance for many people who report paranormal experiences. However, there is limited understanding of the associations between sleep variables and seemingly paranormal experiences and/or beliefs. The aim of this review is to improve our understanding of these associations while unifying a currently fragmented literature-base into a structured, practical review. In this pre-registered scoping review, we searched for relevant studies in MEDLINE (PubMed), PsycINFO (EBSCO), Web of Science and EMBASE using terms related to sleep and ostensibly paranormal experiences and beliefs. Forty-four studies met all inclusion criteria. All were cross-sectional and most investigated sleep paralysis and/or lucid dreaming in relation to ostensibly paranormal experiences and paranormal beliefs. Overall, there were positive associations between many sleep variables (including sleep paralysis, lucid dreams, nightmares, and hypnagogic hallucinations) and ostensibly paranormal experiences and paranormal beliefs (including those of ghosts, spirits, and near-death experiences). The findings of this review have potential clinical implications such as reducing misdiagnosis and treatment development and provide foundations for further research. Our findings also highlight the importance of understanding why so many people report ‘things that go bump in the night’.     

Postpartum depression: Proposal for prevention through an integrated care and support network

Social science research and clinical literature concur with our experience as providers of psychoeducational and clinical services: Postpartum depression results from the interplay of a multitude of individual and contextual factors. In light of the extensive literature on postpartum depression, it is surprising that models for prevention have not been established. We propose a model for prevention through integrated care and support, in which a wide range of existing services are used. This model is similar to comprehensive prevention models proposed by advocates of integrated service systems, such as community mental health and family support. The article includes illustrative case material.