Publishing Patterns in the Personnel and Guidance Journal

This reviews the leading institutional and individual producers of articles in the Personnel and Guidance Journal. The review covers the past 16 volumes of the Journal.     

Production and elimination of disruptive classroom behavior by systematically varying teacher's behavior

The effects of teacher behaviors on the classroom behaviors of children were investigated by systematically varying approving (praise, smiles, contacts, etc.) and disapproving (verbal reprimands, physical restraint, etc.) classes of teacher behavior. Measures were taken on both teacher and child behaviors. Each day a sample of 10 children was observed. The subject pool was a class of 28 well-behaved children in a middle-primary public school class. The results demonstrated that approving teacher responses served a positive reinforcing function in maintaining appropriate classroom behaviors. Disruptive behaviors increased each time approving teacher behavior was withdrawn. When the teacher's disapproving behaviors were tripled, increases appeared most markedly in the gross motor and noise-making categories of disruptive behavior. The findings emphasize again the important role of the teacher in producing, maintaining, and eliminating disruptive as well as pro-social classroom behavior.     

Memory for psychophysical scaling judgments

In three experiments, we examined memory for responses and stimuli experienced in a single direct psychophysical scaling session in which subjects made absolute magnitude estimations of the loudnesses of pure tones. Recall of scaling responses was found to be accurate for the softest and loudest stimuli, but systematically greater than actual judgments for the intermediate stimulus amplitudes, yielding distorted psychophysical functions for the recall data which nonetheless had the same power function exponent as that for the judged stimuli. Also, memory for the range of stimulus amplitudes was fairly accurate, but subjects could not distinguish between judged and nonjudged amplitudes within that range. The results are consistent with the role of extreme stimuli as anchors for judgment, and indicate that memories for these stimuli and responses made to them can be expected to influence future scaling judgments. These results also are consistent with the uncertainty hypothesis of mnemophysics. The present research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to L.M.W. Thanks to the reviewers for insightful critiques.     

Long-term executive function deficits in children with traumatic brain injuries: assessment using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF).

Long-term deficits in executive functions following childhood traumatic brain injuries (TBI) were examined using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). Parents completed the BRIEF approximately 5 years postinjury as part of a prospective study of children injured between the ages of 6 and 12. The children were between 10 and 19 years of age at the time of the assessment, and included 33 with severe TBI, 31 with moderate TBI, and 34 with orthopedic injuries. Parents also rated children's adaptive functioning and completed several other measures of parent and family functioning. Children were administered a neuropsychological test battery that included several measures of executive functions. The groups displayed a significant linear trend in BRIEF scores, with the largest deficits in executive functions reported in children with severe TBI. BRIEF scores were related consistently across groups to a test of working memory, but not to other neuropsychological measures. BRIEF scores also predicted children's adaptive functioning and behavioral adjustment, as well as parent psychological distress, perceived family burden, and general family functioning. The findings indicate that TBI results in long-term deficits in executive functions that are related to children's psychosocial outcomes, as well as to parent and family functioning.     

Computer-aided analysis of in-flight physiological measurement

Computer Science Corporation, U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California Heart waveforms were collected from pilots under laboratory baseline conditions and in flight. Described is the computer-aided method for smoothing the heart waveforms recorded in flight.