Effects of Refutational Messages,Thought Provocation,and Decision Deadlines on Signing to Donate Organs1

Across three experiments college students were given refutational messages or other treatments encouraging signing drivers' licenses to donate bodily organs in case of accidental death. An attitudinal measure (willingness to sign) predicted observed signing behavior, but relatively weakly. A measure of behavioral expectation to sign or not to sign predicted more strongly. A discussion with family was encouraged, the impact of that discussion also predicted signing but less strongly so. In Study 1 groups given a refutational message signed at no greater rates than a group given a control message. In Study 2 a refutational message group and a group asked to think about donating for 2 min signed at higher rates than a true control group. In Study 3 groups asked to decide whether or not to sign by a certain date and time signed at a higher rate than a refutational message group as in earlier studies. These procedures are recommended for organ donation signing campaigns.     

Cree Conceptions of Cognitive Competence

The study of cognitive competence in various cultures has shifted from examining “general intelligence” (very often only in terms known to Western cultures), to a concern for indigenous conceptions of what it means to be a capable person in that culture. Ethnographic techniques elicited the range of Cree terms for such general competence. With a sample of 60 Cree adults in Northern Ontario (stratified by age and sex), we obtained card sorts for 20 terms (piles sorted on basis of similarity), and semantic differential ratings (on 12 bipolar adjective dimensions), for two of the terms. A two-dimensional solution was obtained using Multidimensional scaling. On one dimension there was a cluster of core terms (e.g. wise, thinks hard, pays attention, respectful, good sense of direction) at one end, and three other terms (stupid, crazy, “backwards knowledge”) at the other. On the second dimension, a pair of terms translated as “mentally tough” (with implications of perseverance, stamina, bravery) was at one end, and two other terms (understands new things, religious) were at the other. The term for “lives like a white person” was opposite the core cluster of terms for Cree competence. Ratings of the two terms (“wise” and “understands new things”), indicate that both are associated with: Taking time, good, hard-working, careful, patient, self-sufficient, strong, developing, bush-related, and easy to see. These results indicate some clear differences from Western notions of intelligence as being fast, analytic and without social or moral dimensions.     

Groups as social network members: Overlooked sources of social support

In a study of the link between physical disability and social relationships among the elderly, questions about social network and social support evoked a surprisingly large number of group responses. People mentioned "my grandchildren," "the people in my building," "people at the senior center," and other groups in ways that suggested that the real unit of support was extraindividual and could not be accurately understood by reference to individual people within those groups. This paper describes the frequency of such responses and the circumstances under which they emerged. Definitions of social support and of social network should not be restricted to dyadic relationships between individuals; better understanding of social support processes would derive from consideration of the kinds of social support functions best offered by groups vs. individuals and consideration of differences in the ways in which support is derived from groups and individuals.     

Self psychology and its relationship to the practice of group psychotherapy

This article discusses self psychology as a theory of personality development and conceptual framework for diagnosing psychopathology. It seeks to show how specific components of this theory, including selfobjects, bipolar self, mirroring, tension arc, and nuclear self, can be compared with the "curative factors" of group psychotherapy, as presented by Yalom (1975). These include altruism, group cohesiveness, universality, interpersonal learning, guidance, and family reenactment. Existing literature is used to explain both theories and develop their synthesis.     

A single-subject approach to evaluating vehicle safety belt reminders: Back to basics

A single-subject ABA reversal design was applied to evaluate the effectiveness of a limited 8-s safety belt reminder system and two modified reminder systems (a delayed and second reminder) to increase the safety belt use of 13 drivers. The research was conducted with a specially equipped research vehicle that permitted the manipulation of different safety belt reminder stimuli and the unobtrusive recording of a driver's belt use. For 2 subjects, the limited 8-s reminder increased safety belt use. For another 2 subjects, the second reminder markedly increased belt use. Some subjects were uninfluenced by the reminder systems presented; others always buckled up during both baseline and intervention conditions. The approach and results are discussed with regard to the application of behavior analysis methodologies (e.g., cumulative records) and principles (e.g., schedules of reinforcement) to advance the utility and investigation of safety belt reminder systems.     

BEACHES: AN OBSERVATIONAL SYSTEM FOR ASSESSING CHILDREN'S EATING AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BEHAVIORS AND ASSOCIATED EVENTS

An integrated system for coding direct observations of children's dietary and physical activity behaviors was developed. Associated environmental events were also coded, including physical location, antecedents, and consequences. To assess the instrument's reliability and validity, 42 children, aged 4 to 8 years, were observed for 8 consecutive weeks at home and at school. Results indicated that four 60-min observations at home produced relatively stable estimates for most of the 10 dimensions. Interobserver reliabilities during live and videotaped observations were high, with the exception of “consequences” categories that occurred in less than 1% of observed intervals. Evidence of validity was provided by findings that antecedents were associated with respective dietary and physical activity behaviors. The five physical activity categories were validated by heart-rate monitoring in a second study. The Behaviors of Eating and Activity for Children's Health Evaluation System is appropriate for studying influences on diet and physical activity in children in a variety of settings.     

Physiologic reactivity to startling tones in women with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Autonomic and eyeblink reactivity to startling tones were investigated in women with histories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Twenty-one women with current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 23 with lifetime but not current PTSD, and 13 women who never had PTSD listened to 15 95-dB, 500-ms, 1000-Hz tones with a 0-ms rise time while heart rate (HR), skin conductance (SC), and orbicularis oculi electromyogram (EMG) responses were measured. Participants in the current and lifetime PTSD groups produced larger HR responses across tones and showed slower absolute habituation of SC response magnitude compared with the never PTSD group. EMG response magnitudes did not differ among groups. Women with CSA-related PTSD showed increased autonomic reactivity and slower habituation to high-intensity tones similar to that observed in primarily male, combat PTSD samples. This suggests that heightened autonomic responsivity to startling stimuli in PTSD is not gender or event specific.     

Guidance and Counseling in the Elementary School: Its Theoretical Base

Although many proponents of elementary counseling and guidance have stressed the preventive, developmental approach, an examination of job practices shows some inconsistency between the approach as stated and its implementation. This discrepancy is traced to the failure of elementary counseling and guidance to develop a theoretical base that relates guidance and counseling processes to the process of child development in the early childhood years. This research-based article attempts to identify the problem further, to examine its origins, and to find a solution to it. The author shows how a communication-theory approach could bridge this gap and offers some suggestions for its implementation and use.     

The influence of affective statements on performance on implicit and explicit memory tasks

Consumers are often exposed to brand names presented concurrently with information such as brand claims and warnings, prior to making product choices. As implicit memory has been implicated in the consumer choice process, two experiments were conducted to assess the influence of additional information, namely simple positive and negative statements, on implicit and explicit memory tasks. In Experiment 1, the mere presence of additional statements at study significantly reduced performance on a two‐alternatives forced recognition task. However, the same manipulation had no effect on implicit preference judgement task performance. The valence of the accompanying information had no effect on either task. In Experiment 2, using modified implicit and explicit choice tasks, performance on the former was unaffected by statement valence, whereas the latter task was. Hence, positive priming was obtained for brand names previously shown with negative information. The results of the experiments are discussed in relation to both implicit memory and consumer choice. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.