Persistence of stereotypic behavior: examining the effects of external reinforcers

Basic research has shown that behavioral persistence is often positively related to rate of reinforcement. This relation, expressed in the metaphor of behavioral momentum, has potentially important implications for clinical application. The current study examined one prediction of the momentum metaphor for automatically reinforced behavior. Participants were 3 children who had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and who engaged in stereotypic behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. Results suggested that stereotypic behavior was more resistant to disruption following periods of access to preferred stimuli delivered on a variable-time schedule than following periods without access to preferred stimuli. The implications of these findings for the treatment of automatically reinforced behavior are discussed.     

Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of happiness: reactions to changes in marital status

According to adaptation theory, individuals react to events but quickly adapt back to baseline levels of subjective well-being. To test this idea, the authors used data from a 15-year longitudinal study of over 24.000 individuals to examine the effects of marital transitions on life satisfaction. On average, individuals reacted to events and then adapted back toward baseline levels. However, there were substantial individual differences in this tendency. Individuals who initially reacted strongly were still far from baseline years later, and many people exhibited trajectories that were in the opposite direction to that predicted by adaptation theory. Thus, marital transitions can be associated with long-lasting changes in satisfaction, but these changes can be overlooked when only average trends are examined.     

Shared, not unique, components of personality and psychosocial functioning predict depression severity after acute-phase cognitive therapy

In a sample of 100 patients with recurrent major depression, we collected depression severity data early and late in acute-phase cognitive therapy, plus a wide range of psychosocial variables that have been studied extensively in depression research, including measures of interpersonal, cognitive, and social functioning, and personality traits using an inventory that is linked with the Big-Three tradition in personality assessment theory. By assessing this broad range of variables in a single study, we could examine the extent to which relations of these variables with depression were due to (a) a common factor shared across this diverse set of constructs, (b) factors shared among each type of construct (personality vs. psychosocial measures), or (c) specific aspects of the individual measures. Only the most general factor shared across the personality and psychosocial variables predicted later depression.     

Detection of back random responding: effectiveness of MMPI-2 and Personality Assessment Inventory validity indices

Two experiments examined the detection and effects of back random responding (BRR) on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2 (MMPI-2) and the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Experiment 1 revealed that MMPI-2 Clinical and Content scales were relatively resistant to the effects of BRR. Fb--F > or = 20T was the most effective index for identifying invalid protocols. Experiment 2 revealed greater susceptibility of the PAI interpretive scales to the effects of BRR and less successful detection of BRR. The most effective PAI validity index was the combined indicator, ICN > or = 73T or INF > or = 75T. Clinical and empirical implications of these findings are discussed, and tentative modifications to the MMPI-2 interpretative guidelines are provided.     

Learning,prediction and causal Bayes nets

Recent research in cognitive and developmental psychology on acquiring and using causal knowledge uses the causal Bayes net formalism, which simultaneously represents hypotheses about causal relations, probability relations, and effects of interventions. The formalism provides new normative standards for reinterpreting experiments on human judgment, offers a precise interpretation of mechanisms, and allows generalizations of existing theories of causal learning. Combined with hypotheses about learning algorithms, the formalism makes predictions about inferences in many experimental designs beyond the classical, Pavlovian cue-->effect design.     

Effects of increased complexity of visuo-motor transformations on children's arm movements

The effects of increasing complexity of visuo-motor transformations on movement were examined in 4-, 6-, and 8-year-old children and adults. Participants performed a 'center-out' drawing task under three increasingly complex conditions: (1) Normal transformation: The target, line path and hand position were fully visible, in the horizontal plane, throughout the movement. (2) Aligned transformation: The target and line path were displayed horizontally above the workspace, with vision of the arm/hand occluded. (3) Vertical transformation: The target and line paths were presented on a vertical computer monitor with vision of the arm/hand occluded. Results showed that with increasing age, movements became faster, straighter, and smoother. The 4- and 6-year-old children were more variable in their specification of movement direction than the 8-year-old children and the adults, and were also more affected by the complexity of the transformation. This suggested that besides the complexity of the visual transformation, the familiarity/experienced environment might also play a role in 'sharpening' the transformation maps represented in movement planning.     

Openness to attitude change as a function of temporal perspective

Three studies investigated the impact of temporal perspective on people's dominant social goals and explored the implications of these goals for openness to attitude change. Participants who perceived time as limited expressed social preferences in accordance with emotion-regulation goals (Study 1), were more prone to modify their attitude to bring it into line with the attitude of an anticipated social partner (Study 2), and were more likely to go along with peer consensus opinion on a campus issue (Study 3) than were participants who perceived time as expansive. These studies demonstrate that perception of time plays a vital role in motivating social goals within the persuasion context.     

Stability and change in personality pathology: revelations of three longitudinal studies

Three major longitudinal studies of personality disorder jointly provide new insights into the nature of stability and change in this important domain of psychopathology. This commentary highlights some of the many convergent results, which indicate robust findings that can be considered "established," and also differences in the studies' purposes and methods that permit each study to make unique contributions. One of the most important findings across the studies is that DSM- diagnosed personality disorder is not as stable as the characteristic traits that underlie personality pathology, leading to the insight that DSM personality disorders are hybrids of more acute, "Axis I-like" symptoms that resolve more quickly and longer lasting affective, cognitive, and behavioral personality dysfunctions. Implications for future research are considered.