Predictors of HIV-related stigma among young people living with HIV.

Enacted and perceived HIV stigma was examined among substance-using young people living with HIV (YPLH) in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City (N = 147). Almost all YPLH (89%) reported perceived stigma, and 31% reported enacted experiences in the past 3 months; 64% reported experiences during their lifetime. The HIV stigma questions were characterized by factors of avoidance, social rejection, abuse, and shame. In multivariate models, enacted stigma was associated with gay or bisexual identity, symptomatic HIV or AIDS, and bartering sex. Perceived stigma was associated with female gender, symptomatic HIV or AIDS, bartering sex, lower injection drug use, and fewer friends and family knowing serostatus. Gay or bisexual YPLH who were also HIV symptomatic or AIDS diagnosed experienced more HIV stigma than their heterosexual peers.     

Differential production of positive and negative discriminative stimuli by normal and retarded children

Using an observing procedure similar to Wyckoff's (1969), two normal and two mentally retarded children were studied. The children were initially trained to earn pennies by pressing a rectangular key according to a multiple variable-interval extinction schedule of reinforcement. After discrimination training, the children were allowed to produce the discriminative stimuli by depressing a second or observing key. The retarded children were different from the normal children in that they produced more of the positive discriminative stimulus (S+) than the negative discriminative stimulus (S?). In the case of the retarded children, S+ observing started high and remained high. In the case of the normal children, S+ observing was initially substantial and then rapidly diminished.     

Punishment of observing by a stimulus associated with the lower of two reinforcement frequencies

Three pigeons were used to investigate the effects of a stimulus associated with the lower of two reinforcement frequencies on the response producing it. In a three-key chamber, pecking the center key produced grain on alternating variable-interval schedules with mean durations of 2 min or 30 sec. Initially, green illumination of the keys accompanied the more favorable (30-sec) schedule and red accompanied the less favorable (2-min) schedule. Then the keys remained yellow unless the bird pecked one of the side (observing) keys to produce the discriminative stimuli for a 30-sec period. Subsequently, when red was withheld as a possible consequence of pecking a particular side key, the rate on that key increased; when red was restored, the observing rate decreased. Thus the stimulus associated with less frequent reinforcement had a punishing effect on the behavior producing it. When green was withheld on one of the side keys and the other key produced both colors, observing behavior was not maintained on the red-only key, but was maintained on the key that produced both colors.     

Stimulus control of defensive burying in the rat

Rats shocked once through a wire-wrapped stationary prod mounted on the wall of a test chamber incorporated the bedding material covering the chamber floor into a defensive reaction. When tested 1 min later, they approached the prod and buried it. Evidence was provided by three separate studies of this burying response that rats had learned about the association of both the position and brightness of the prod with shock after this single conditioning trial. In Experiment 1, the amount of burying decreased if either the position or brightness of the prod had been changed prior to the test. In Experiments 2 and 3, rats were shocked through one of two prods (white or black) mounted on opposite walls of the test chamber. When the positions of the prods were unchanged for the test, almost every subject buried the prod through which it had been shocked, even when the conditioning-test interval was 24 hr; whereas, each rat directed substantial amounts of bedding material at both prods when the positions of the two prods were reversed. Thus, discriminated “avoidance” learning can be rapid, reliable, and enduring when shock is administered “by” a clearly defined stimulus object, i.e., when cue and consequence are spatially contiguous.     

The minister and the discharged mental patient

Pastoral Psychology -     

Don't Count Calorie Labeling Out: Calorie Counts on the Left Side of Menu Items Lead to Lower Calorie Food Choices

Providing calorie counts on restaurants’ menus/menu boards is one of the most prominent policy interventions that has been implemented to combat the obesity epidemic in America. However, previous research across multiple disciplines has found little effect of providing calorie counts on calories ordered, leading some to call calorie provision a failed policy. The authors propose that this failure is partly due to not considering how people process information when making food choices: Americans read from left‐to‐right, processing calorie information only after processing the food item's name. Thus, the authors test a simple way to improve the effectiveness of calorie counts: display calorie counts to the left (vs. right) of food items. A field study and a laboratory study with American participants found that calorie counts to the left (vs. right) decreased calories ordered by 16.31%. A final laboratory study demonstrated that this effect is reversed among Hebrew‐speakers, who read from right‐to‐left, providing further evidence that the order in which calorie information is processed matters. Accordingly, calling calorie labeling a policy failure may be premature.     

Any Size for a Dollar: The Effect of Any‐Size‐Same‐Price Versus Standard Pricing on Beverage Size Choices

Overconsumption of sugary drinks is linked with obesity. These beverages have been the target of recent public health policies, and, simultaneously, some firms have altered their pricing of such beverages, including charging the same price for all beverage sizes (“any‐size‐same‐price” pricing). We compare the effect of any‐size‐same‐price pricing versus standard pricing on soft drink beverage size choices and further explore the effect of this firm lever under different health‐related policy situations. Overall, we show that any‐size‐same‐price pricing increases consumers’ focus on the value of getting a good financial deal and thereby increases beverage size selections. Further, the allure of any‐size‐same‐price pricing prevents calorie postings from successfully reducing choice of larger sizes as occurs under standard pricing. However, a more graphic health intervention can reduce the appeal of larger sizes under any‐size‐same‐price pricing. Finally, the findings are not moderated by diet versus nondiet beverage selections, indicating that consumers do not perceive the value of larger sizes under any‐size‐same‐price pricing to come from getting more calories. We conclude by discussing how this work can improve the design of public health nutrition policies.     

Disruptive innovations for designing and diffusing evidence-based interventions

Evidence-based therapeutic and preventive intervention programs (EBIs) have been growing exponentially. Yet EBIs have not been broadly adopted in the United States. In order for our EBI science to significantly reduce disease burden, we need to critically reexamine our scientific conventions and norms. Innovation may be spurred by reexamining the traditional biomedical model for validating, implementing, and diffusing EBI products and science. The model of disruptive innovations suggests that we reengineer EBIs on the basis of their most robust features in order to serve more people in less time and at lower cost. A disruptive innovation provides a simpler and less expensive alternative that meets the essential needs for the majority of consumers and is more accessible, scalable, replicable, and sustainable. Examples of disruptive innovations from other fields include minute clinics embedded in retail chain drug stores, $2 generic eyeglasses, automated teller machines, and telemedicine. Four new research approaches will be required to support disruptive innovations in EBI science: synthesize common elements across EBIs; experiment with new delivery formats (e.g., consumer controlled, self-directed, brief, paraprofessional, coaching, and technology and media strategies); adopt market strategies to promote and diffuse EBI science, knowledge, and products; and adopt continuous quality improvement as a research paradigm for systematically improving EBIs, based on ongoing monitoring data and feedback. EBI science can have more impact if it can better leverage what we know from existing EBIs in order to inspire, engage, inform, and support families and children to adopt and sustain healthy daily routines and lifestyles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).