A pragmatic trial evaluating the effectiveness of web versus live training in functional behavior assessment and interventions among special educators

This study adopted a pragmatic trial with randomization to investigate the relative effectiveness of web versus live training on special educators' competence and perceived skills in functional behavior assessments (FBA) and behavior interventions. Pragmatic trials seek to determine the effectiveness of an intervention in a real-world setting to ensure better application and generalizability in routine practice conditions. The live training group received an in-person workshop delivered in a lecture format via powerpoint slides. The web training group received asynchronous online instruction via a secure website. The same training content was delivered to both groups. Participants were randomly assigned across both instructional modalities and completed two pre- and post-test measures. Results indicated that participants (N = 104) in both groups showed a significant increase in theoretical competence of FBA and behavior interventions post training. Only participants in the live workshop group reported a significant increase in perceived skill scores. When comparing outcomes across groups, the live training group gained significantly more theoretical competence in FBA and behavior interventions than that in the web training group. These results shed light on the practical implications of online platforms for professional development among in-service teachers in behavior management for schools with children having disabilities and challenging behavior.     

Instance‐based Learning: A General Model of Repeated Binary Choice

A common practice in cognitive modeling is to develop new models specific to each particular task. We question this approach and draw on an existing theory, instance‐based learning theory (IBLT), to explain learning behavior in three different choice tasks. The same instance‐based learning model generalizes accurately to choices in a repeated binary choice task, in a probability learning task, and in a repeated binary choice task within a changing environment. We assert that, although the three tasks are different, the source of learning is equivalent and therefore, the cognitive process elicited should be captured by one single model. This evidence supports previous findings that instance‐based learning is a robust learning process that is triggered in a wide range of tasks from the simple repeated choice tasks to the most dynamic decision making tasks. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender Ideology and Social Transformation: Using Mixed Methods to Explore Processes of Ideological Change and the Promotion of Women’s Human Rights in Tanzania

Despite growing international interest in policies and practices to enhance women’s status and well-being in the Global South, ideological constraints to structural transformation and increasing opportunities available to women are widespread. There is thus considerable need to examine how ideological processes surrounding women’s status and value can be challenged. In the current study we used mixed method analyses to examine a process of deideologization—the contestation and transformation of traditional ideology—among a group of Maasai women in northern Tanzania. First, thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative interviews conducted with 16 Maasai women. Themes involving traditional ideology, the value of popular education, and components of a deideologization process were identified and assessed. Second, quantitative structural equation modeling was used to test a process model connecting women’s participation in popular education classes to increased political efficacy, decreased discomfort speaking at community meetings, and, in turn, deceased patriarchal beliefs about women. Overall, findings provided evidence for an iterative deideologization process catalyzed by popular education that led to improvements in women’s lives. The importance of promoting processes of deideologization via locally driven efforts to improve the status and well-being of women are discussed.     

Feminist Organizing in Rural Nicaragua: Assessing a Psychosocial Process to Promote Empowered Solidarity

This study examines a psychosocial process linking women's involvement in a grassroots women's organization with skills and experiences to promote empowered solidarity. Empowered solidarity is described as a process of increasing the sense of connection and capacity to create social transformation among a group of people united by interest in addressing a social issue. Data collected and analyzed for this research were 298 quantitative surveys conducted with two groups of women living in rural Nicaragua. One group of women were members of a grassroots feminist organization, and the other group lived in nearby communities where the organization did not offer programs. Findings document higher levels of leadership skills and sense of community, and lower levels of powerlessness among members of the organization. Additionally, tests of a process model using structural equation modeling provides support for a model that links involvement in the organization to women's increased interest in, capacity and experience in working to support women, broadly. Overall findings from this research are valuable to both community psychologists and groups seeking to enhance social justice and uphold feminist values of equity and community well‐being.     

Prompt Density,Rate of Reinforcement,and the Persistence of Manding

The Psychological Record - Previous research has documented the effects of prompting mands at a relatively high rate (i.e., rich schedule) or low rate (i.e., lean schedule). These previous studies...     

A Cognitive Model of Dynamic Cooperation With Varied Interdependency Information

We analyze the dynamics of repeated interaction of two players in the Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) under various levels of interdependency information and propose an instance‐based learning cognitive model (IBL‐PD) to explain how cooperation emerges over time. Six hypotheses are tested regarding how a player accounts for an opponent's outcomes: the selfish hypothesis suggests ignoring information about the opponent and utilizing only the player's own outcomes; the extreme fairness hypothesis weighs the player's own and the opponent's outcomes equally; the moderate fairness hypothesis weighs the opponent's outcomes less than the player's own outcomes to various extents; the linear increasing hypothesis increasingly weighs the opponent's outcomes at a constant rate with repeated interactions; the hyperbolic discounting hypothesis increasingly and nonlinearly weighs the opponent's outcomes over time; and the dynamic expectations hypothesis dynamically adjusts the weight a player gives to the opponent's outcomes, according to the gap between the expected and the actual outcomes in each interaction. When players lack explicit feedback about their opponent's choices and outcomes, results are consistent with the selfish hypothesis; however, when this information is made explicit, the best predictions result from the dynamic expectations hypothesis.     

Reducing the Linear Perception of Nonlinearity: Use of a Physical Representation

Research shows that while judging accumulations of quantities over time (e.g., money in a bank account or CO₂ in Earth's atmosphere), people assume that the shape of the accumulation is similar to the shape of the inflow (i.e., people rely on a correlation heuristic). Relying on the correlation heuristic is particularly worrisome for Earth's climate, as judging the CO₂ accumulation according to its emissions (inflow) would underestimate the actual (nonlinear) increase. This misperception undermines the seriousness of climate problem and results in wait‐and‐see behavior. We report two experiments where the effectiveness of a physical representation is compared with graphical and text representations in reducing people's underestimation of nonlinear accumulation in different contexts and problems. A physical representation presents an accumulation using a picture that works as a metaphor. In the first experiment, participants drew the shape of an accumulation over time relying on physical or graphical representations in one of two contexts: carbon dioxide and marbles. Although the participants underestimated the accumulation in both contexts, underestimations were reduced in the physical representation compared with the graphical representation. In the second experiment, we extended the evaluation of physical representations against both text and graphical representations in two different climate problems (with linearly increasing or decreasing inflow). Again, underestimations of the accumulation were reduced in the physical representation compared with the other two representations, regardless of the nature of the problem. We discuss implications of using the physical representation for improving people's estimates of nonlinear CO₂ accumulation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prospective memory in early and established psychosis: An Indian perspective

Individuals affected by psychosis often have deficits in several neurocognitive functions. Prospective memory (PM), the ability to remember to do things, is crucial for activities of daily living, social and occupational functioning, but very few studies have attempted to examine this domain of functioning in people with psychosis, particularly in India. A total of 71 patients with psychosis, (both early and established psychosis), and 140 age, gender and education-matched healthy controls were assessed using the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination. PM was assessed using the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ). Group differences were evaluated using Mann–Whitney U-tests. Significantly greater cognitive deficits, higher anxiety and depression were evident in the psychosis group compared with controls. The psychosis group performed significantly poorer on both time- and event-based tests in CAMPROMPT than controls. These differences remained when controlling for age, education, general cognitive functioning and mood. The subjective measure of PM (PRMQ) did not differentiate the two groups. The PM performance of early and established psychosis patients was similar. Comparisons with cross-cultural data (PRMQ UK norms and CAMPROMPT and PRMQ Chinese data) revealed important differences in PM performance. Individuals with psychosis have significant deficits in both time- and event-based PM. CAMPROMPT emerged as a more sensitive PM measure compared with PRMQ. Results from cross-cultural comparisons underscore the need for cultural contextualization of assessments.     

Economic Predictors of Differences in Interview Faking Between Countries: Economic Inequality Matters,Not the State of Economy

Many companies recruit employees from different parts of the globe, and faking behavior by potential employees is a ubiquitous phenomenon. It seems that applicants from some countries are more prone to faking compared to others, but the reasons for these differences are largely unexplored. This study relates country-level economic variables to faking behavior in hiring processes. In a cross-national study across 20 countries, participants (N = 3,839) reported their faking behavior in their last job interview. This study used the random response technique (RRT) to ensure participants’ anonymity and to foster honest answers regarding faking behavior. Results indicate that general economic indicators (gross domestic product per capita [GDP] and unemployment rate) show negligible correlations with faking across the countries, whereas economic inequality is positively related to the extent of applicant faking to a substantial extent. These findings imply that people are sensitive to inequality within countries and that inequality relates to faking, because inequality might actuate other psychological processes (e.g., envy) which in turn increase the probability for unethical behavior in many forms.     

Distinct performance profiles on the Brixton test in frontotemporal dementia

The Brixton Spatial Anticipation Test is a well-established test of executive function that evaluates the capacity to abstract, follow, and switch rules. There has been remarkably little systematic analysis of Brixton test performance in the prototypical neurodegenerative disorder of the frontal lobes: behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) or evaluation of the test’s ability to distinguish frontal from temporal lobe degenerative disease. We carried out a quantitative and qualitative analysis of Brixton performance in 76 patients with bvFTD and 34 with semantic dementia (SD) associated with temporal lobe degeneration. The groups were matched for demographic variables and illness duration. The bvFTD group performed significantly more poorly (U = 348, p < .0001, r = .58), 53% of patients scoring in the poor–impaired range compared with 6% of SD patients. Whereas bvFTD patients showed problems in rule acquisition and switching, SD patients did not, despite their impaired conceptual knowledge. Error analysis revealed more frequent perseverative errors in bvFTD, particularly responses unconnected to the stimulus, as well as random responses. Stimulus-bound errors were rare. Within the bvFTD group, there was variation in performance profile, which could not be explained by demographic, neurological, or genetic factors. The findings demonstrate sensitivity and specificity of the Brixton test in identifying frontal lobe degenerative disease and highlight the clinical value of qualitative analysis of test performance. From a theoretical perspective, the findings provide evidence that semantic knowledge and the capacity to acquire rules are dissociable. Moreover, they exemplify the separable functional contributions to executive performance.