Social Categorization and Stimulus Equivalence

Northern Irish Protestant subjects, Northern Irish Catholic subjects, and English Protestant subjects were taught a series of conditional discriminations using a matching-to-sample procedure. In the presence of Northern Irish Catholic names, subjects were trained to select three-letter nonsense syllables, and in the presence of the nonsense syllables subjects were trained to select Northern Irish Protestant symbols. Subjects were then tested to determine whether the Protestant symbols and Catholic names had become related through symmetry and transitivity. A generalization test was employed to allow for a preliminary investigation of the transfer of experimentally generated equivalence responding to untrained, socially loaded names. Preliminary findings suggest that prior social learning might interfere with equivalence responding. The relevance of these results to the theoretical interpretation of the equivalence phenomenon and to social attitude measurement in general is discussed.

     

Change schools through revolution,not evolution

The school's traditional practices are linked to current failures and to the limited prospects of future success. The major problems with current school practices are: adopting instructional programs that have never been fieldtested and revised on the basis of data; using diagnostic practices that blame the child as being the sole cause of poor performance; using testing techniques that do not imply curricular remedies; promoting children beyond their grade-level performance; failing to provide teachers with effective training and monitoring. Recommendations for changing the system to become accountable and databased include: bringing pressure from outside the system; lobbying for alternatives to public schools; promoting intervention by the board; involving parents in union negotiations; establishing committees of expert teachers to review administrative proposals and report to the board. The central feature of the plan is to fire administrators who fail to meet attainable student-achievement goals. This practice would ensure that administrators are reinforced when children succeed, a feature that is not part of current practices.     

Is the three-term contingency trial a predictor of effective instruction?

Two experiments are reported which test the effect of increased three-term contingency trials on students' correct and incorrect math responses. Experiment 1 included two junior high school students in need of special instruction in mathematics while in Experiment 2 two other students with similar instructional needs from the same classroom were studied. In the first experiment the increased rate of presentation (3 times the baseline rate) was done without regard to whether the antecedent teacher presentations to the student were presented vocally or in written form; in the second experiment, the rates of presentation were systematically rotated across written and vocal presentations. The dependent variables were rate per minute of correct and incorrect responses of students (vocal or written). The experiments used designs incorporating features of the multiple baseline (Students A and B) and reversal (Students B, C, and D). The data showed that increasing the number of three-term trials increased correct rates while incorrect rates remained relatively low. The second experiment replicated these findings with two other students and found that the treatment effect occurred independently with vocal and written antecedents when each was isolated. The results warrant further research to test whether or not rates of presentation of three-term contingency trials are predictors of effective instruction.     

Evaluating the filial behaviour scale across three cultural groups using exploratory structural equation modelling

Filial piety is a Confucian concept that guides how children treat and take care of their parents. The Filial Behaviour Scale (FBS) is a 25-item instrument developed in the Chinese context measuring behavioural manifestations of filial piety. Although the components of filial piety have been found to be relevant across cultures, little research has investigated the psychometric properties of the FBS in other cultural contexts. The present study evaluated the factor structure, internal consistency, measurement invariance and construct validity of the FBS across three cultural groups: the United States, Italy and Malaysia. Participants were 1090 emerging adults (67% females; M_age = 21.29 years, SD = 1.97; White Americans: n = 455, White Italians: n = 428, Malays: n = 328). A two-factor structure emerged across groups: Obedience/Obligation (behaviours showing obedience and obligation towards parents) and Relationship (behaviours expressing affection and promoting positive parent–child relationships). The two factors demonstrated adequate internal consistency, full configural, partial metric and partial scalar invariance, as well as unique associations with depressive symptoms and parent–child relationships across groups. These findings yielded a more nuanced understanding of filial behaviour and supported the utility of a two-factor FBS among emerging adults in various cultural contexts.     

Adolescents’ Change in Motivation as a Result of Buddhist Education: How Does It Make a Difference in Their Learning Outcomes?

Motivation significantly influences students’ learning outcomes. Changing their learning motivation improves their performance. This study used an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach, with the participation of 140 adolescents attending retreats at three Zen monasteries belonging to the Truc Lam (Bamboo Forest) Zen sect, to examine how they changed their motivation, what made them change, and how the change improved their learning outcomes. The study also evaluated the effect of gender and age on changes in motivation. The results indicated that many teenagers had changed from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation thanks to Dharma lessons, teacher support, and leisure activities. Compared to students who maintained their extrinsic motivation unchanged, they had better learning outcomes. Age, but not gender, had a considerable effect on changes in teenagers’ motivation. These findings provide more evidence for extending Buddhist education and conducting further research on young Buddhist learners’ motivation in various contexts.     

Cultural group norms for harmony explain the puzzling negative association between objective status and system justification in Asia

Why do poorer and less educated Asians trust their institutions of governance more than their richer and well educated counterparts, despite their disadvantaged position within society? System justification theory (SJT) assumes that this trust is driven by a system-level motivation that operates independently from social identity needs. In two nationally representative surveys spanning several years (N_total = 221,297), we compared SJT's explanation with a newer social identity model of system attitudes (SIMSA): that system justification amongst disadvantaged Asians is driven by a group norm for harmony, especially amongst those who are strongly invested in their national ingroup. The results supported SIMSA more than SJT. Specifically, a strong sense of national identification boosted trust in systems of governance amongst poorer and less-educated Asians, both when societal norms for harmony (Study 1), and personal endorsement of this norm (Study 2) were strong. Hence, social identity needs help to explain stronger system justification among objectively disadvantaged Asians.     

What makes people happy? Decoupling the experiential-material continuum

Extant literature suggests that consumers derive more happiness from experiences (e.g., vacations) than from material possessions (e.g., furniture). However, this literature typically pits material against experiential consumption, treating them as a single bipolar construct of their relative dominance: more material or more experiential. This focus on relative dominance leaves unanswered questions regarding how different levels of material and experiential qualities each contribute to happiness. Four preregistered studies (N = 3,288), using hundreds of product categories, measured levels of material and experiential qualities using two unipolar items. These studies investigate recalled, evoked, and anticipated happiness. Results show a more nuanced view of the experiential advantage that is critical for future research and consumer theory: material and experiential qualities both have positive relationships with happiness. Further, there is no inherent trade-off between experiential and material qualities: consumers can enjoy consumption that is high on both (e.g., swimming pools and home improvements).     

不同感觉通道词汇影响聋生汉字加工的实验研究

本研究为考察聋生在接受不同感觉通道词汇时的汉字加工特点和听觉编码所起的作用,采用听觉词汇、视觉词汇和其他感觉词汇等三类词汇为实验材料,对手语聋生组、口语聋生组以及大学生进行了新旧词汇判断、包含与排除两个实验。实验表明,聋生在汉字加工中不仅使用视觉编码,而且无意识地、自动地使用了听觉编码,这在内隐测验中可表现出来。由此可推断,聋生汉字加工困难的原因在于有意识地使用听觉编码的能力较低。     

Therapists' Use of Religious and Spiritual Interventions in Christian Counseling: A Preliminary Report

This study explored the use of religious and spiritual interventions in counseling by Christian therapists (N = 100). Use of religious and spiritual interventions correlated with personal religiousness and clinical training involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions. Course work involving either psychology or theology did not correlate with use of or self‐reported competency in using religious and spiritual interventions. Self‐reported competency was associated with personal religiousness; professional beliefs, attitudes, and values; personal experiences with counseling; and clinical training involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions. It is suggested that training programs incorporate clinical rotations, workshops, and supervision involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions to teach therapists to use religious and spiritual interventions in counseling.