Ogden R. Lindsley and the historical development of precision teaching

This paper presents the historical developments of precision teaching, a technological offshoot of radical behaviorism and free-operant conditioning. The sequence progresses from the scientific precursors of precision teaching and the beginnings of precision teaching to principal developments since 1965. Information about the persons, events, and accomplishments presented in this chronology was compiled in several ways. Journals, books, and conference presentations provided the essential information. The most important source for this account was Ogden Lindsley himself, because Lindsley and his students established the basic practices that define precision teaching.     

A COMPONENT ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING ACROSS THREE TOPOGRAPHIES OF SEVERE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS

We evaluated the separate treatment components of a functional communication training program for 3 severely handicapped persons who each displayed different topographies of aberrant behavior. Following a functional analysis of maintaining conditions for inappropriate behavior (self-injury, stereotypy, aggression), each participant was trained to emit a communicative response that functioned to solicit reinforcement. For 2 participants, consequences (time-out or graduated guidance) for inappropriate behavior were also included. Treatment continued until the participants emitted the communicative response independently and no occurrences of inappropriate behavior were observed for at least two sessions. Following treatment, the separate contributions of the treatment components for communicative responding and for inappropriate behavior were evaluated with a reversal design. The results indicated that both sets of treatment components were necessary for maximal control over aberrant behavior. These results are discussed in relation to the efficiency, history, and control over reinforcement of both appropriate and inappropriate responses.     

Keeping a group psychotherapy program alive and well within a psychiatric residency

A mandatory year of outpatient group therapy training is an accepted part of residency training in psychiatry. Residents need stable groups to lead in order to have a satisfactory training experience. A solid group program is integrated and cohesive. A group therapy coordinator has to consider the following factors in developing and maintaining the optimum program: sanction from the department of psychiatry; integration of the program into the system; transfer of groups from one class to another; personal screening and followup of all referrals; availability to professionals in the community; coordinator participation in relevant group therapy classes; a vehicle for supervisors to collaborate with each other and administrator; and a format for all members of the group program community to interact.This paper is an elaboration of a symposium presentation, Training in Group Psychotherapy: The Quest for a Viable Model, AGPA Annual meeting, 1990.     

Variations in internet-related problems and psychosocial functioning in online sexual activities: implications for social and sexual development of young adults.

This survey of 760 university students examined differences in Internet-related problems and psychosocial functioning between four patterns of participation in online sexual information and entertainment activities. Students who did not participate in either online sexual activity were more satisfied with their offline life and more connected to friends and family. Those who engaged in both online sexual activities were more dependent on the Internet and reported lower offline functioning. Students who only sought sexual information maintained strong offline affiliations. Those who only sought entertainment did not report lower offline functioning. Respondents most deficient in offline social support did not report compensatory online support. Despite students' common participation in online sexual activities (OSA) as a venue for social and sexual development, those relying on the Internet and the affiliations it provides appear at risk of decreased social integration. The authors discussed the finding's implications for social and sexual development.     

Organizational Socialization: A Field Study into Socialization Success and Rate

The last decade has witnessed a resurgence of organizational socialization research. However, a critical question has been neglected: Is there a common underlying pattern to organizational socialization? We investigated newcomer learning, job satisfaction and intent to quit as common indicators of socialization, in research with 222 newcomers at two organizations during the crucial post‐entry period. The results support a learning‐dependent model of newcomer adjustment, with learning in specific domains related to improved attitudinal outcomes. Some aspects of organizational socialization were not uniform across the two organizations, suggesting a need for further development of socialization models and greater accounting for this in organizational socialization research.     

Structural and Community Change Outcomes of the Connect‐to‐Protect Coalitions: Trials and Triumphs Securing Adolescent Access to HIV Prevention,Testing, and Medical Care

Connect to Protect (C2P), a 10‐year community mobilization effort, pursued the dual aims of creating communities competent to address youth's HIV‐related risks and removing structural barriers to youth health. We used Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) to examine the perceived contributions and accomplishments of 14 C2P coalitions. We interviewed 318 key informants, including youth and community leaders, to identify the features of coalitions’ context and operation that facilitated and undermined their ability to achieve structural change and build communities’ capability to manage their local adolescent HIV epidemic effectively. We coded the interviews using an a priori coding scheme informed by CCAT and scholarship on AIDS‐competent communities. We found community mobilization efforts like C2P can contribute to addressing the structural factors that promote HIV‐risk among youth and to community development. We describe how coalition leadership, collaborative synergy, capacity building, and local community context influence coalitions’ ability to successfully implement HIV‐related structural change, demonstrating empirical support for many of CCAT's propositions. We discuss implications for how community mobilization efforts might succeed in laying the foundation for an AIDS‐competent community.     

Avatar-based therapy within prison settings: pilot evaluation

The paper presents an introduction of a newly developed, avatar-based virtual reality therapy, as an addition to the therapeutic programme, within a therapeutic community prison in the UK. The participants had six group sessions facilitated by a counsellor. The aim of the project was to investigate whether this approach would improve mental health outcomes for the prisoners, interpersonal relationships within the prison and facilitate the achievement of personal goals for the prisoners. The sample size (n?=?4) was insufficient to make firm conclusions about the mental health outcomes. However, the qualitative analysis showed a strong engagement with the programme in addressing personal issues, the development of insight and empathy, and improvements in relationships within the participants and with the counsellor. Further research with a larger sample is needed to establish efficacy of this type of therapy with the prison population.     

The effect of self-attribute relevance on how self-esteem moderates attitude change in dissonance processes

An experiment was conducted to examine the conditions under which self-esteem operates as an expectancy, as a resource, or does not influence cognitive dissonance processes. Based on the self-standards model of dissonance (Stone & Cooper, 2001), it was predicted that following a high-choice counter-attitudinal behavior: (a) priming positive self-attributes that were relevant to the discrepant behavior would cause participants with high self-esteem to report more attitude change as compared to participants with low self-esteem, (b) priming positive self-attributes that were irrelevant to the behavior would cause participants with high self-esteem to report less attitude change as compared to participants with low self-esteem, and (c) priming neutral self-attributes would eliminate self-esteem moderation of attitude change. The results of the attitude change measure supported the predictions. The discussion explores different processes by which the accessibility of cognitions about the self mediate dissonance arousal and reduction.