The relationship between selection optimization with compensation, conscientiousness, motivation, and performance

This study tested the hypothesis that the relationship between conscientiousness and job performance is mediated by resource allocation strategies specific to a meta-theory called selective optimization with compensation (SOC). Data were collected from employees at a large, Midwestern financial institution. In general, results lend some support to the role of SOC as a mediator. Specifically, results indicated that especially for positions with larger amounts of autonomy and responsibility (i.e., managerial), highly conscientious individuals are more likely to report using strategies of loss-based selection and compensation and that these strategies in turn lead to higher levels of performance. However, the strategies of loss-based selection and compensation did not fully mediate the conscientious-performance relationship. Nevertheless, these strategies did contribute unique variance of their own in predicting work place performance. In fact, these strategies accounted for almost as much unique variance as conscientiousness and support the role of SOC as a unique predictor of job performance.     

Counseling Latinos With Substance Abuse Problems

This article introduces a combination of approaches based on multicultural interventions and sociopolitical themes that provide interventions for working with Latinos with substance abuse problems.     

The Frequency of Prayer,Meditation and Holistic Interventions in Addictions Treatment: A National Survey

This study examines the prevalence of endorsing the twelve step approach and the use of prayer, meditation, and holistic techniques in a national sample of 139 substance abuse treatment centers. Ninety one percent of the programs endorsed a twelve step orientation. Twenty six percent of the programs actively used prayer and 58% used meditation as a component of treatment. Thirty three percent of the programs used some form of a self-designated holistic technique. There was a divergent range of techniques that were used by programs, falling into four broad categories: (1) nutrition, exercise, relaxation and physical health; (2) recreation and adventure-based activities; (3) religious and spiritual practices; and (4) the use of specific therapy modalities.     

Effects of word frequency and age of acquisition on short-term memory span

The experiments reported examine the effects of two highly related variables, word frequency and age of acquisition, on short-term memory span. Short-term memory span and speech rate were measured for sets of words which independently manipulated frequency and age of acquisition. It was found that frequency had a considerable effect on short-term memory span, which was not mediated by speech rate differences—although frequency did affect speech rate in one experiment. For age of acquisition, this situation was reversed; there was a small but significant effect of age of acquisition on speech rate, but no effect on memory span. This occurred despite results confirming that the stimuli used in the experiments produce an effect of age of acquisition on word naming. The results are discussed in terms of a two-component view of performance on short-term memory tasks.     

Improving Migrant Students' Spelling of English and Spanish Words with Error Correction

We examined the effects of error correction on spelling accuracy of culturally and linguistically diverse students enrolled in summer Migrant Education. In an error correction strategy, students spelled a word, viewed a correct model, and corrected specific errors. In a traditional strategy, students wrote words three times each while viewing a correct model. Words were presented in Spanish or English. Results showed that students with and without learning disabilities, whose primary language was English, correctly spelled more English words in the error correction condition than the traditional. Students whose primary language was Spanish correctly spelled Spanish words equally well in both conditions, possibly because of the phonetic nature of the Spanish language.     

Transitive inference in pigeons: Control for differential value transfer

Transitive inference (TI) effects have been demonstrated in several nonhuman species using a nonverbal version of the task in which A is better than B is represented in a simple simultaneous discrimination, A+B?. Following five-term training (e.g., A+B?, B+C?, C+D?, D+E?), the choice of B over D on test trials is taken as evidence of TI. Recently, differential value transfer from the S+ to the S? in a simultaneous discrimination has been proposed as a noncognitive basis for these effects. Two experiments were conducted to control for differential value transfer. The results suggest that differential value transfer is not the only basis for nonhuman TI performance. An alternative account based on spatial mapping is discussed.     

Division of attention: Age differences on a visually presented memory task

Young and old adults were compared in their efficiency of remembering concurrently presented series of letters and digits in three separate experiments. Instructions and payoffs to vary attentional emphasis across the two types of material in different conditions allowed the examination of attention-operating characteristics in the two age groups. Strategy-independent measures derived from these attention-operating characteristics revealed that older adults exhibited greater performance deficits than young adults when dividing their attention between the two tasks, even though dual-task difficulty was individually adjusted for each subject. It was concluded that either the total amount of attention available for distribution or the efficiency of its allocation decreased with age even though the ability to vary one’s attention between concurrent tasks in response to instructions and payoffs remained intact.     

TOO MUCH REINFORCEMENT,TOO LITTLE BEHAVIOR: ASSESSING TASK INTERSPERSAL PROCEDURES IN CONJUNCTION WITH DIFFERENT REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES WITH AUTISTIC CHILDREN

Task interspersal procedures have been quite effective in increasing autistic children's motivation to learn. These procedures have typically demonstrated that the inclusion of reinforced maintenance tasks (previously learned tasks) increases responding to new acquisition tasks because more reinforcers, in general, are available. However, studies have not specifically addressed the effects of various schedules of reinforcement, used in conjunction with task interspersal procedures, upon response acquisition. In the present study, a multiple baseline design across subjects was used to assess different reinforcement schedules. Five autistic children participated in learning sessions, during which trials of an acquisition task were interspersed with trials of three maintenance tasks. Correct responses to acquisition tasks were continuously reinforced throughout all conditions, while the reinforcement schedule for competent performance of maintenance tasks differed systematically. Results indicated that all children learned the new tasks when food reinforcers were presented only for acquisition tasks. Results are discussed in terms of behavioral contrast and improving the effectiveness of motivation-enhancing procedures for autistic children.