Using multiple-exemplar training to teach a generalized repertoire of sharing to children with autism

The current study examined the utility of multiple-exemplar training to teach children with autism to share. Stimuli from 3 of 4 categories were trained using a treatment package of video modeling, prompting, and reinforcement. Offers to share increased for all 3 children following the introduction of treatment, with evidence of skill maintenance. In addition, within-stimulus-category generalization of sharing was evident for all participants, although only 1 participant demonstrated across-category generalization of sharing. Offers to share occurred in a novel setting, with familiar and novel stimuli, and in the presence of novel adults and peers for all participants during posttreatment probes.     

Effects of Ingroup Bias and Gender Role Violations on Acquaintance Rape Attributions

Two studies of ethnically diverse US college students from northern California examined whether ingroup bias and gender norm violations influence acquaintance rape attributions (Study 1, N?=?118; Study 2, N?=?140). Participants read vignettes depicting acquaintance rape and completed questionnaires. Victims were part of participants’ ingroup or outgroup. Study 1 manipulated the victim’s sexual history (chaste or promiscuous). Study 2 manipulated the victim’s alcohol use (sober or intoxicated). Ingroup victims were perceived more positively than outgroup victims if the victims were promiscuous or intoxicated. More guilt was attributed to rapists of ingroup victims than outgroup victims if the victims were promiscuous or intoxicated. Findings are examined in relation to ingroup bias and gender norm violations.     

Need for Cognition and Affective Orientation as Predictors of Sales Performance: An Investigation of Main and Interaction Effects

Two constructs—need for cognition (NFC) and affective orientation (AO)—might be helpful in explaining and ultimately predicting two measures of sales performance: a self-rated behavioral measure and an objective sales measure. Specifically, we hypothesize (1) a positive relationship between NFC and sales performance; (2) a positive relationship between AO and sales performance; and (3) a positive interaction effect between NFC and AO on sales performance. The results of this study revealed both NFC and AO correlated with self-rated behavioral performance but only NFC correlated with both performance measures; suggesting that need for cognition may be the more influential of the two for sales organizations concerned with selling behaviors as well as sales outcomes. The hypothesized interaction effect was not supported.     

Perceptual experience and posttest improvements in perceptual accuracy and consistency

Two experiments investigated the relationship between perceptual experience (during practice) and posttest improvements in perceptual accuracy and consistency. Experiment 1 investigated the potential relationship between how often knowledge of results (KR) is provided during a practice session and posttest improvements in perceptual accuracy. Experiment 2 investigated the potential relationship between how often practice (PR) is provided during a practice session and posttest improvements in perceptual consistency. The results of both experiments are consistent with previous findings that perceptual accuracy improves only when practice includes KR and that perceptual consistency improves regardless of whether practice includes KR. In addition, the results showed that although there is a relationship between how often KR is provided during a practice session and posttest improvements in perceptual accuracy, there is no relationship between how often PR is provided during a practice session and posttest improvements in consistency.     

A review of research methods in IO/OB work-family research

A methodological review was conducted of work-family (WF) research published in industrial-organizational psychology and organizational behavior journals over a period of 24 years (1980-2003). Content analysis was conducted on 225 individual studies published in 210 articles to categorize methodological features, including the research design, sources of data used, data analysis techniques, reliability and validity of measures used, and sociodemographic characteristics of the samples. Results support many of the criticisms of WF research and suggest that scholars publishing WF research in industrial-organizational psychology and organizational behavior journals could make greater use of longitudinal and experimental research designs, gather more multisource data, and move beyond the individual level of analysis. Adopting more diverse conceptualizations of family, including a greater proportion of racial and ethnic minorities, and studying workers in occupations other than managerial or professional positions also appear warranted. Finally, methodological trends varied across specific WF content areas, which suggests that distinct methodologies might be useful to advance knowledge of specific WF topics.     

Clinical assessment applications of ambulatory biosensors

Ambulatory biosensor assessment includes a diverse set of rapidly developing and increasingly technologically sophisticated strategies to acquire minimally disruptive measures of physiological and motor variables of persons in their natural environments. Numerous studies have measured cardiovascular variables, physical activity, and biochemicals such as cortisol in psychopathology and treatment research. The physiological concomitants of many behavior and medical disorders and the benefits of a multimethod assessment strategy provide strong rationales for clinical applications of ambulatory biosensor measurement. A number of psychometric dimensions of evaluation are important in clinical applications of biosensor measurement, including accuracy and validity, reliability and consistency, clinical utility, incremental validity and utility, sensitivity to change, generalizability, cost benefits, and the conditional nature of dimensions of biomeasure evaluation. The authors review ambulatory biosensor methods and make recommendations for use of the technology.     

Differences in startle reactivity during the perception of angry and fearful faces

Emotion researchers often categorize angry and fearful face stimuli as "negative" or "threatening". Perception of fear and anger, however, appears to be mediated by dissociable neural circuitries and often elicit distinguishable behavioral responses. The authors sought to elucidate whether viewing anger and fear expressions produce dissociable psychophysiological responses (i.e., the startle reflex). The results of two experiments using different facial stimulus sets (representing anger, fear, neutral, and happy) indicated that viewing anger was associated with a significantly heightened startle response (p < .05) relative to viewing fear, happy, and neutral. This finding suggests that while anger and fear faces convey messages of "threat", their priming effect on startle circuitry differs. Thus, angry expressions, representing viewer-directed threat with an unambiguous source (i.e., the expresser), may more effectively induce a motivational propensity to withdraw or escape. The source of threat is comparatively less clear for fearful faces. The differential effects of these two facial threat signals on the defensive motivational system adds to growing literature highlighting the importance of distinguishing between emotional stimuli of similar valence, along lines of meaning and functional impact.     

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of two forgiveness scales

This study examined the psychometric properties of two forgiveness scales using participants enrolled at a Midwestern Catholic university (N = 328). The Forgiveness Scale is a 15—item Likert-type scale designed to measure forgiveness toward an of-fender. The Forgiveness Likelihood Scale is a 10—item Likert-type scale designed to measure tendency to forgive across situations. Factor analyses revealed that the For-giveness Scale contains two subscales (i.e., Absence of Negative, Presence of Posi-tive) and the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale consists of a single factor. Both scales have adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Both subscales of the Forgiveness Scale were significantly correlated in the expected direction with mea-sures of forgiveness, religiousness, anger, hope, religious well-being, existential well-being, and social desirability. The Forgiveness Likelihood Scale was significantly correlated in the expected direction with measures of forgiveness, religiousness, trait anger, religious well-being, and social desirability. The authors thank Sarah Danko, Anne Hovancsek, Carla Kmett, Jennifer Martin, and Colleen Ryan for their assistance. We kindly request that researchers who use the forgiveness scales evaluated in this study provide us with a summary of their psychometric data for the scales. The idea for creating the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale was based upon the Willingness to Forgive Scale (Hebl & Enright, 1993).     

Religiosity, Spirituality, and the Subjective Quality of African American Men's Friendships: An Exploratory Study

The present study fills a crucial gap in literature surrounding the lives of African American men by exploring factors that shape the quality of these men's friendships. Drawing on data from a sample of 171 African American men, the study examines the relative utility of subjective religiosity, subjective spirituality, advice exchange, and affective sharing as predictors of the level of perceived support from male and female friends. Findings reveal age differences in subjective religiosity, subjective spirituality, and in level of advice and affective exchange in men's same-sex as well as cross-sex friendships. Age differences emerged in men's perceptions of the supportiveness of their friendships with women but not with men. Age was not a predictor of perceived supportiveness of same-sex or cross-sex friendships. Subjective religiosity did not predict support in same-sex or cross-sex friendships. Subjective spirituality positively predicted perceived support in men's same-sex friendships but not in cross-sex friendships. Implications of these findings are discussed.