Functional analysis of aberrant behavior through measurement of separate response topographies

Functional analysis results for multiple topographies of aberrant behavior were graphed in an aggregate fashion and then separately for 48 clients. The results indicated that multiple topographies of behavior may be maintained by different contingencies. These results indicate that graphing functional analysis data in an aggregate fashion and then separately may improve the accuracy of their interpretation.     

Individual differences in causal learning and decision making

In judgment and decision making tasks, people tend to neglect the overall frequency of base-rates when they estimate the probability of an event; this is known as the base-rate fallacy. In causal learning, despite people's accuracy at judging causal strength according to one or other normative model (i.e., Power PC, DeltaP), they tend to misperceive base-rate information (e.g., the cause density effect). The present study investigates the relationship between causal learning and decision making by asking whether people weight base-rate information in the same way when estimating causal strength and when making judgments or inferences about the likelihood of an event. The results suggest that people differ according to the weight they place on base-rate information, but the way individuals do this is consistent across causal and decision making tasks. We interpret the results as reflecting a tendency to differentially weight base-rate information which generalizes to a variety of tasks. Additionally, this study provides evidence that causal learning and decision making share some component processes.     

An evaluation of dual-process theories of reasoning

Current theories propose that reasoning comprises two underlying systems (Evans & Over, 1996; Sloman, 1996; Stanovich & West, 2000). The systems are identified as having functionally distinct roles, differ according to the type of information encoded, vary according to the level of expressible knowledge, and result in different responses. This article evaluates the arguments and the evidence from a select number of key tasks that have been supportive of dual-reasoning theorists' proposals. The review contrasts the dualist approach with a single-system framework that conjectures that different types of reasoning arise through the graded properties of the representations that are utilized while reasoning, and the different functional roles that consciousness has in cognition. The article concludes by arguing in favor of the alternative framework, which attempts to unify thedifferent forms of reasoning identified by dual-process theorists under a single system.     

Reliability and validity of the Beck depression inventory--II with adolescent psychiatric inpatients

This investigation was conducted to validate the Beck Depression Inventory--II (BDI-II; A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996) in samples of adolescent psychiatric inpatients. The sample in each substudy was primarily Caucasian. In Study 1, expert raters (N=7) and adolescent psychiatric inpatients (N=13) evaluated the BDI-II items to assess content validity. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analyses of several first-order solutions failed to provide adequate fit estimates to data for 205 boys, 203 girls, and the combined sample. Exploratory factor analyses identified new item-factor solutions. Reliability estimates were good (range =.72 to.91) for the BDI-II total and scale scores. In Study 3 (N=161 boys and 158 girls from Study 2), preliminary evidence for estimates of concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity were established for the BDI-II.     

Attentional strategies in dichotic listening

A person can attend to a message in one ear while seemingly ignoring a simultaneously presented verbal message in the other ear. There is considerable controversy over the extent to which the unattended message is actually processed. This issue was investigated by presenting dichotic messages to which the listeners responded by buttonpressing (not shadowing) to color words occurring in the primary ear message while attempting to detect a target word in either the primary ear or secondary ear message. Less than 40% of the target words were detected in the secondary ear message, whereas for the primary ear message (and also for either ear in a control experiment), target detection was approximately 80%. Furthermore, there was a significant negative correlation between buttonpressing performance and secondary ear target-detection performance. The results were interpreted as being inconsistent with automatic processing theories of attention.     

The Ethics of Geoengineering: A Literature Review

Science and Engineering Ethics - Geoengineering as a technological intervention to avert the dangerous climate change has been on the table at least since 2006. The global outreach of the...     

The interaction between response effects during the acquisition of response priming

In three experiments we investigated the role of associative learning in the acquisition of response priming by effect stimuli, by examining their interaction during response-effect learning. Having replicated the ability of visual effect stimuli to prime their associated responses, we paired a response with a compound consisting of visual and auditory effects before assessing the ability of the auditory effect stimulus to prime the response. This priming was reduced if the visual stimulus had been pre-trained as an effect of the response. By contrast, priming by the visual effect stimulus was potentiated when the auditory effect had been pre-trained. We interpret these interactions in terms of contemporary associative learning theory derived from studies of conditioning.     

The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support: Analyses of Internal Reliability,Measurement Invariance,and Correlates Across Gender

In this study, we examined estimates of internal consistency reliability, measurement invariance, and differential correlates of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) in samples of undergraduate men (n = 270) and women (n = 340). The MSPSS is designed to assess 3 sources of perceived social support: family, friends, and significant others. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 24 years (M _age = 19.60, SD = 1.4 years). First, composite scale reliability and coefficient omega methods provided adequate estimates of internal consistency reliability for the original MSPSS total and subscale scores. Second, results of multiple-groups invariance confirmatory factor analysis provided support for configural and metric invariance. Partial measurement invariance was attained for scalar and strict measurement invariance across men and women. Additionally, given the high correlations among the first-order factors, we conducted multiple-groups bifactor item response theory (bifactor-IRT) analysis to evaluate further the performances of the individual MSPSS items across gender. Support for the bifactor model was strong. Third, we conducted a series of simultaneous regression analyses to identify potential correlates of the social support construct for women and men.     

Religious Commitment,Attitudes Toward Suicide,and Suicidal Behaviors Among College Students of Different Ethnic and Religious Groups in Malaysia

The variation in suicide patterns across ethnic groups with different religious background is a puzzling social phenomenon. This study sought to examine the impact of religious commitment and attitudes toward suicide on suicidal behaviors of college students across major ethnic and religious groups in a multicultural society of Malaysia. A total of 139 college students completed Religious Commitment Inventory-10, Attitudes Toward Suicide Scale, and Suicidal Behavior Questionnaire-Revised. Findings showed significant discrepancies in attitudes toward suicide, but not suicidal behaviors across ethnic and religious groups. Suicide acceptance significantly affected suicidal behaviors as well. Although religious commitment is not associated with suicidal behaviors, its deviation is reflected in students’ acceptance of suicide. Additionally, college students’ suicide risk, lifetime, and recent suicide ideation, as well as their likelihood of future suicide attempt can be associated with their acceptance of suicide. The influence of attitudes toward suicide and religion, therefore, should be taken into consideration while implementing suicide prevention programs as it helps shape the norms about suicide among youths.     

Eighteen‐month‐olds’ memory for short movies of simple stories

This study investigated twenty four 18‐month‐olds’ memory for dynamic visual stimuli. During the first visit participants saw one of two brief movies (30 seconds) with a simple storyline displayed in four iterations. After 2 weeks, memory was tested in the visual paired comparison paradigm in which the familiar and the novel movie were contrasted simultaneously and displayed in two iterations for a total of 60 seconds. Eye‐tracking revealed that participants fixated the familiar movie significantly more than the novel movie, thus indicating memory for the familiar movie. Furthermore, time‐dependent analysis of the data revealed that individual differences in the looking‐patterns for the first and second iteration of the movies were related to individual differences in productive vocabulary. We suggest that infants’ vocabulary may be indicative of their ability to understand and remember the storyline of the movies, thereby affecting their subsequent memory.