Side effects of extinction procedures in a remedial preschool

Several studies have shown that behavior modification procedures aimed at a single behavior may have effects on other, nonmanipulated behaviors. A young retarded boy engaged in excessive conversation with his preschool teacher. The teacher then began to ignore his initiated conversation during free-play periods, and it decreased. In addition, (1) social behavior relative to children increased, and (2) use of girls' toys decreased during free play. Also, (3) appropriate behavior at group academics declined, while (4) disruptions rose. In a second study, the teacher alternated conditions of praise and ignoring for talking with children. Talking with children varied accordingly. In addition, use of girls' toys and group academics disruptions rose during the ignoring condition. Appropriate behaviors dropped. Lastly, a timeout procedure was used to eliminate the undesirable side effects of disruptions and of use of girls' toys. Apparently, a response class may have member behaviors that covary directly and/or inversely. Some covariations may be socially desirable, others undesirable. The appearance of undesirable "side effects" can be controlled using behavior modification techniques.     

Prior cocaine exposure disrupts extinction of fear conditioning

Psychostimulant exposure has been shown to cause molecular and cellular changes in prefrontal cortex. It has been hypothesized that these drug-induced changes might affect the operation of prefrontal-limbic circuits, disrupting their normal role in controlling behavior and thereby leading to compulsive drug-seeking. To test this hypothesis, we tested cocaine-treated rats in a fear conditioning, inflation, and extinction task, known to depend on medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Cocaine-treated rats conditioned and inflated similar to saline controls but displayed slower extinction learning. These results support the hypothesis that control processes in the medial prefrontal cortex are impaired by cocaine exposure.     

"A picture's worth a thousand words": language use in the autophotographic essay

The authors applied Pennebaker's Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program to autophotographic essays addressing the question, "Who are you?" to test hypotheses about individuality and social connectedness. Specifically, the authors tested whether insight-oriented words would correlate with individuality ratings, defining essays that portray unique persons who creatively explore the self. Second, the authors tested whether connectedness, operationalized by photos of people-touching and self with others, would correlate with social process words. In 164 student photo essays, greater linguistic cognitive complexity characterized individuality, even when controlling for needs for cognition and uniqueness, and verbal intelligence. Connectedness predicted social words. These findings show that autophotography essays do capture complex self-reflective thought and suggest LIWC may be a valuable tool for understanding the expression of individuality and relatedness.     

Childhood psychological maltreatment,sense of self,and PTSD symptoms in emerging adulthood

This study outlines the relationships among childhood psychological maltreatment (CPM), an understudied form of maltreatment, sense of self (SOS), a developmental construct negatively impacted by trauma, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in emerging adults. Results from regression analysis on a sample of emerging adults (N = 358) indicated CPM to be the greatest predictor of a weaker SOS, even when considered alongside other types of child maltreatment. Among those exposed to CPM, SOS was a significant predictor of PTSD symptoms, explaining 34.1% of the variance in the outcome. Counseling interventions that focus on SOS during emerging adulthood are recommended as one important consideration for survivors of CPM who experience PTSD symptoms. Specific counseling practice and research implications are included.     

Job Insecurity in Recent Business School Graduates: Antecedents and Consequences

This research examined the relationship of perceived threats to job security, job satisfaction, and psychological mood among recent business school graduates. Most job insecurity research has considered longer-tenured organizational employees. Two hundred and seventeen respondents completed anonymous questionnaires. LISREL analysis provided considerable support for the research model. Perceived threats to job security had direct effects on job insecurity and job satisfaction and indirect effects on psychological mood through job insecurity and job satisfaction.     

Experimenter Influences and Children's Cross-Gender Behavior

We measured 120 third and fourth gradechildren's willingness to participate in severalbehavioral tasks after assessing their verbalpreferences for gender-typed and cross-gender activities(children were primarily Caucasian). Before beginning eachtask, children were either encouraged to or discouragedfrom engaging in cross-gender activities, or they wereencouraged to choose whatever activities they preferred. Relative to the control condition,experimenters were able to reduce but not increase theproportion of cross-gender activities children engagedin. Children who gave high ratings to cross-gender items during the preference test were more willingthan other children to take cross-gender selectionshome.     

A cost-effectiveness evaluation of parent training

Outcomes from a parenting program that was modified to reduce costs and a wait-list control condition were compared. Costs were reduced by over 50%. Sixty-six parents participated. Treatment parents reported significantly greater improvements in child behavior problems, parent attitudes, and satisfaction with family relationships when compared to untreated controls. These effects were maintained at three months follow-up. Outcomes for 35 of the children in the sample who had clinically significant behavior problems before treatment were also examined separately. The difference between clinical recovery rates, i.e., movement from the clinical to normal range during treatment, for control and treatment children was not statistically significant. Limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Job stressors,Type A behavior,coping responses,and psychological burnout among teachers

This study examined a research model developed to understand psychological burnout in work settings. Data were collected from 473 teachers and school administrators using questionnaires completed anonymously. Four groups of predictor variables identified in previous research were considered: individual demographic and situational variables, Type A behavior, job Stressors and coping responses. Type A behavior, job Stressors and coping responses were significantly and independently related to levels of psychological burnout.