Inhibitory stimulus control in concurrent schedules

Six pigeons were exposed to two keys, a main key and a changeover key. Pecking the main key was reinforced on a variable-interval 5-min schedule when the key was blue and never reinforced when the key displayed a vertical line on a blue background. Each peck on the changeover key changed the stimulus displayed on the main key. Each subject was given two generalization tests, consisting of presentations on the main key of six orientations of the line on the blue background, with no reinforcements being given. In one test changeover-key pecks changed the stimulus; in the other test the changeover key was covered and the experimenter controlled stimulus changes. Both responses to the six stimuli and time spent in the presence of the stimuli gave U-shaped gradients when the changeover key was operative. With most subjects, absolute rates of responding to each stimulus produced unsystematic gradients, whether or not the changeover key was operative.     

THE REPRESENTATIVENESS OF OBSERVATIONAL SAMPLES OF DIFFERENT DURATIONS

The representativeness of behavioral observation samples with durations of less than the whole time of interest was investigated. A real-time recording system was developed to quantify the behavior of 5 profoundly mentally retarded physically handicapped adult students in an institutional training setting. Behavior was observed using six mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories during 2.5-hr observation sessions. Sample observation sessions with durations ranging from 15 to 135 min were computer simulated from the whole-session (150-min) records. It was found that the representativeness of these samples, when compared to whole-session records, was a function of the relative duration of the behavioral categories and of sample duration. The occurrence of relatively high-duration behaviors (lasting for more than 50% of the session) was estimated to within 20% error by samples of less than 60 min, but low-duration behaviors (1 to 3% of the session) were inadequately quantified even from 135-min samples. Increasing irregularity of bouts of behavior in the low-duration behaviors is suggested as the cause of the functions obtained. Implications of the findings for applied behavior analysis are discussed, with the recommendation that the adequacy of observational session durations be empirically assessed routinely.     

Psychoeducational Interventions with Pediatric Cancer Patients: Part I. Patient Information and Knowledge

We present a systematic review of published research on psychoeducational interventions for children with cancer. The current lack of an organizational model for this literature makes it difficult to form a coherent picture of the scattered literature and draw nomothetic conclusions. A model is described that is based on functional concepts from the literature on learning and instructional design. It is argued that it makes sense conceptually to analyze psychoeducational interventions in terms of psychoeducational principles, especially if the purpose is to illuminate the learning processes involved. Three categories of intervention are distinguished and the first of these, informational interventions to influence patient knowledge, is considered in this paper, and the other two categories will be reviewed in a subsequent paper. This review is organized by categories of information needs, intervention modes, and major types of independent variables. We concluded that the research supports few generalizable conclusions at this time, except that development of health-related knowledge in children is best accomplished by information transfer methods that are highly interactive and individualized. Interactive multimedia formats such as video games are seen as having the best potential, but further research is required.     

The association of physical maturation with family hassles among African American adolescent males

This research examined associations between physical maturation and adolescent-perceived family hassles within a sample of urban African American families who resided in high-risk communities. The purpose of the study was to examine the relations between physical maturation and youths' perceptions of their family context and the associated daily stresses experienced. The participants were 251 parent-son dyads who were interviewed separately. The combination of quantitative and qualitative results extends the literature on physical development and urban African American populations by indicating that parents are most aware of pubertal changes during early puberty. The findings suggested that adolescent-perceived hassles are indications of parental monitoring and more adaptive parenting strategies are needed for high-risk neighborhoods.     

Rethinking the Notion of “Hostility” in African American Parenting Styles

African American parenting strategies are important in the development of prosocial behavior and are linked to empathy, self-efficacy, and racial identity. This study examined how adolescent-perceived parenting strategies (i.e., warmth, “hostility,” cultural socialization) combined to form parenting styles and how these related to positive outcomes. Participants were 358 low-income, urban southern African American high school students. Cluster analyses revealed four distinct parenting styles. Findings provide evidence that Eurocentric norms are inadequate for understanding socialization in African American families. Results indicate that a rethinking of what constitutes “parental hostility” is required. Implications, future research directions, and clinical application are discussed.     

Research ethics for mental health science involving ethnic minority children and youths

In response to U.S. Public Health Service projects promoting attention to disparities in the outcomes of mental health treatments, in July 2001, the American Psychological Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Fordham University Center for Ethics Education convened a group of national leaders in bioethics, multicultural research, and ethnic minority mental health to produce a living document to guide ethical decision making for mental health research involving ethnic minority children and youths. This report summarizes the key recommendations distilled from these discussions.     

Response summation to a compound stimulus in a context of choice

Key pecks by two groups of pigeons were reinforced on concurrent schedules. For group Ē, pecks were reinforced during either a visual or an auditory stimulus; for group E, an additional, extinction component was available, during which both visual and auditory stimuli were absent. After training, both groups were given a compound test to measure preference among four stimuli, the three used in training plus a compound of the visual and auditory stimulus. Group E showed preference for the compound, emitting more pecks and spending more time in this stimulus than in other stimuli. Group Ē showed no preference between the compound and visual stimulus, nor between the auditory stimulus and the absence of both stimuli, but preferred the former pair over the latter pair of stimuli.     

Stimulus duration as a measure of stimulus generalization

Four pigeons in the line-positive group were trained with a vertical line on a green background that signalled intermittent reinforcement while a plain green field signalled extinction. Four pigeons in the line-negative group were trained with the opposite discrimination. Response to a control key terminated any trial and initiated the next trial. The birds also used the control key during generalization tests to control the durations of trials in which various line orientations were presented. These durations were summed to provide generalization gradients of stimulus duration that were positive or negative in accordance with the trained discriminations. In Experiment 2, birds from the line-positive group were tested with a procedure in which the control key was not available on some trials. This provided an independent assessment of response rates to the test stimuli. These rates were used to predict the stimulus durations obtained when the control key was available. The findings supported a general model for the prediction of response distributions among concurrent stimuli from rates observed with single stimuli.