Using a guest- and confederate-delivered token economy to increase employee–guest interactions at a zoo

The present study used a token economy to promote guest greetings by employees at a zoological facility. Guests and confederate guests delivered tokens to zoo employees for making eye contact from 10 ft (3.05 m) away and verbally greeting guests from 5 ft (1.52 m) away (called a 10–5 interaction) and the tokens were exchangeable for small prizes. An ABAB design was used to evaluate the intervention. Results showed increases of 35.3 and 45.0% in correct employee–guest interactions in each intervention phase compared to baseline, thus suggesting that a guest-delivered token economy is an effective way to improve guest greetings. Limitations of the current study and opportunities for future research are discussed.     

Validation and predictive utility of the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire for Eating Disorders (SATAQ-ED): internalization of sociocultural ideals predicts weight gain

A widely used measure of societal influences on body image and eating disturbances—the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ) was validated in women with eating disorders. The original SATAQ and measures of convergence and divergence were administered to 165 eating disordered inpatients. Factor analyses were conducted to determine the underlying structure of the SATAQ. Convergent validity, diagnostic category norms and the predictive utility of the revised SATAQ were examined. Factor analyses indicated three factors: Internalization, Awareness, and Success. Internalization significantly predicted treatment success after controlling for admission BMI and drive for thinness. The revised SATAQ-ED measures multiple aspects of societal influence, predicts short-term outcome, and can be a useful tool for evaluating potential outcome and treatment efficacy.     

The effects of establishing operations on preferences for tangible items

Researchers have demonstrated that both deprivation and satiation can affect the outcome of preference assessments for food. In the current study, paired-stimulus preference assessments for tangible items were conducted under three conditions: control, deprivation, and satiation. Three persons with developmental disabilities and 3 typically developing preschool children served as participants. The results demonstrated that deprivation and satiation influenced the outcome of preference assessments of leisure items or toys.