Vocalization and looking behaviour of Down's syndrome infants.

The effect of contingent and non-contingent vocal stimulation on vocalization and looking behaviour was investigated for 10 Down's syndrome infants. There were two experimental sessions consisting of four stages, namely 1 min base-line, 1 min experimental condition, a further 1 min base-line and a final 2 min experimental condition. Maternal vocal stimulation was contingent upon infant vocalization for the experimental conditions of one session and was presented every 10 s independent of infant vocalization for the experimental conditions of the other session. Neither condition increased infant vocalization but there was a significant decrease in looking at mother during the base-line stages which followed maternal vocalization (F = 5.07, d.f. = 4, 28, P less than 0.01). It is suggested that looking behaviour may be an important indication of competence in pre-linguistic social communication for developmentally delayed infants.     

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 Fate of School Dropouts in the Marine Corps

A group of 3,731 marines on whom age and educational status at enlistment were available were studied. At the end of two years of active duty, subjects were classed as Non-success if they presented evidence of unsatisfactory adjustment to the Corps. All other subjects were classed as Success. The Success rates of different classes of subjects by educational grouping are shown. The hypothesis that subjects who complete high school before enlistment have higher Success rates than do those who drop out of school, and that, of the dropouts, those completing their education after enlistment have a higher Success rate than those who do not complete their education, was supported.     

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.     

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.     

What can a moving face tell us?

This research assessed the impact of facial motion on perceptions of age-related person qualities. Ss judged the power of point-light displays of the faces of children, middle-aged adults, and elderly adults. Ratings were obtained of (a) dynamic displays filmed while the stimulus persons were reciting the alphabet, (b) dynamic displays filmed, while the stimulus persons engaged in an interaction, and (c) static versions of the displays. Facial age exerted no effect on the perceived power of nondynamic displays. However, moving displays of children's faces were judged to be less powerful than were those of adults. Differences in perceived age could not explain these effects. The implications of these data for the developing area of social event perception are discussed.     

The phylogeny fallacy: Developmental psychology's misapplication of evolutionary theory

The habit of thinking about ontogeny and phylogeny as alternative means by which information is made available to the developing individual has a long history in both biology and psychology. This article examines existing proximate (ontogenetic) and ultimate (preontogenetic) approaches to the study of human development and describes an alternative, developmental systems approach for directing research programs. On this view, phenotypes are not simply transmitted in the genes, nor are they contained in features of the environment. Rather, traits or characters are always constructed by the complex coaction of organic, organismic, and environmental factors operating during individual ontogeny. This expanded, systematic view of heredity and phenotypic development serves to eliminate the need for the dichotomization of developmental explanations into proximate and ultimate causes and directs research attention to the organism-context transaction process, thereby including a large class of variables typically omitted from preontogenetic explanations of development.     

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.