Defense Mechanisms in Rational Emotive Cognitive Behavior Therapy Personality Theory

It has been argued that if rational emotive cognitive behavior therapy (RECBT) is to survive and prosper in the present century, the personality theory underlying it requires further development, greater clarification, and more comprehensiveness. In this article it is argued that RECBT personality theory could be further broadened and strengthened by attempting to incorporate the classic defense mechanisms of psychoanalytic theory via stripping them away from Freud’s hypothetical dynamic unconscious and instead resting them on Ellis’s concept of the unconscious. First, to provide proper context, the unconscious and the defense mechanisms are briefly discussed. Then attention is turned to the 10 classic defense mechanisms, discussed one by one. In each described mechanism, the mechanism in question is defined, then placed in the framework of RECBT personality theory along with ample examples. Then the clinical implications of each mechanism are briefly explored, with RECBT practitioners in mind. It is hoped that this discussion will, in some way, help to broaden and strengthen RECBT theory and practice.     

Feminism: Definitions,support, and correlates of support among female and male college students

The purpose of our research was to examine definitions of feminism, support for feminism, and gender attitude and personality trait correlates of support. Using a sample of predominately White college students, findings indicated quite favorable definitions of feminism, and more support than opposition to it, especially among female respondents. Support for feminism was related to 5 of 6 gender attitude dimensions for females, but unrelated to their gender personality traits. For males, support was related to only one gender attitude dimension, and to femininity; more feminine males were more supportive. Implications for the distinction between feminism and feminist and for the status of feminism among college students are discussed.     

SELF-INSTRUCTIONAL TRAINING WITH PRESCHOOLERS: AN ATTEMPT TO REPLICATE

We attempted to replicate an intervention program by Bornstein and Quevillon (1976), which had shown that the disruptive classroom behavior of Head Start children could be dramatically reduced through self-instructional training. Although the subject population and procedures were quite similar across studies, our self-instructional training did not produce socially significant, durable increases in either appropriate classroom behavior or changes in teacher ratings of the children's behavior. These results suggest that additional variables may have been responsible for Bornstein and Quevillon's success.     

Briefly delayed reinforcement: An interresponse time analysis

Key-peck responding of pigeons was compared under VI or DRL schedules arranging immediate reinforcement and briefly (.5 sec) delayed reinforcement. Delays were either signaled by a blackout in the chamber, unsignaled, or unsignaled with an additional requirement that responding not occur during the .5 sec interval immediately preceding reinforcement (response delay). Relative to the immediate reinforcement condition, response rates increased during the unsignaled delay, decreased during the signaled delay, and were inconsistent during the response delay condition. An analysis of interresponse times (IRTs) under the different conditions revealed a substantial increase in the frequency of short (0 to .5 sec) IRTs during the unsignaled condition and generally during the response delay conditions compared to that during the immediate reinforcement baseline. Signaled delays decreased the frequency of short (0 to .5 sec) IRTs relative to the immediate reinforcement condition. The results suggest that brief unsignaled delays and, in many instances, response delays increase the frequency of short IRTs by eliminating constraints on responding.     

DEVELOPMENT OF BASIC AUDITORY DISCRIMINATION IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract— Intensity (loudness), frequency (pitch), and duration discrimination were examined in 41 normal-hearing children, aged 4 to 6 years, and 9 adults. A second study retested 25 of the youngest children 12 to 18 months later. Intensity discrimination showed the least improvement with age and was adultlike by age 5 for most of the children. In contrast, frequency and duration discrimination showed highly significant improvement with age, but remained poorer than adults' discrimination for many 6-year-olds. Large individual differences were observed within alt tasks and age groups.     

Social Cognitive Theory as a Framework to Explain Intentions to Practice Healthy Eating Behaviors1

Our focus in this study was the observed gap between informed awareness and the intention to act. We used elements of social cognitive theory to develop a theoretical model of six psychosocial factors hypothesized to influence the intention to adopt healthy eating behaviors. Survey data from 490 white-collar employees were analyzed using a Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) program and a stacked model. The overall fit of the model to one half of the data was excellent, x² (6, 237) = 3.79, p= 0.71, and the model was successfully replicated with the second half of the data x² (28, 249) = 28.68, p= 0.43. Our model suggests that self-efficacy expectations (a) partially depend on the perceived likelihood of an outcome; (b) act as a conduit for the effects of media, disincentives, and outcome expectancy; and (c) have powerful direct influences on intentions. As expected, outcome expectancy adds little to the prediction of intentions.     

The Effects of Minimal and Maximal Peer Tutoring Systems on the Academic Performance of College Students

The effects of two levels of peer tutoring on the academic performance of 193 college students enrolled in two sections of introductory psychology were investigated. In Section 1,10 groups of 3 men and 3 women randomly assigned to 10 undergraduate peer tutors participated in Experimental Condition 1 (E-1). In Section 2, two groups of 20 and 21 students randomly assigned to two undergraduate peer tutors participated in Experimental Condition 2 (E-2). Students not participating in an experimental condition comprised the control groups for each section (C-1 and C-2). The treatment analysis of E1 vs. C-1 and E-2 vs. C-2 revealed significant differences where E-1 and E-2 were clearly superior in academic performance. These data demonstrate that undergraduate peer tutors can enhance the academic performance of college students. Positive ratings by the participating students and peer tutors provide further evidence of the positive program effects.