Ego involvement moderates the assimilation effect of affective expectations

Based on the affective expectations model and research on mental effort mobilization, two experiments manipulated affective expectations (no expectations versus positive expectations) and ego involvement (low versus high) and assessed participants’ affective reactions to hedonically neutral stimuli. In Experiment 1, evaluations were more positive when participants had positive expectations about neutral photos—but only when ego involvement was low. High ego involvement neutralized this affective expectation assimilation effect. Experiment 2 replicated these findings for experienced mood after reading a hedonically neutral short essay. Furthermore, high ego involvement led to longer response latencies in the affect ratings in Study 1. The findings support the idea that high ego involvement resulted in relatively high mental effort that was necessary to detect discrepancies between affective expectations and stimuli’s real affective potential and therefore moderated the assimilation effect to affective expectations.

Scientific Integrity Principles and Best Practices: Recommendations from a Scientific Integrity Consortium

Science and Engineering Ethics - A Scientific Integrity Consortium developed a set of recommended principles and best practices that can be used broadly across scientific disciplines as a mechanism...     

Reinforcement magnitude and responding during treatment with differential reinforcement

Basic findings indicate that the amount or magnitude of reinforcement can influence free-operant responding prior to and during extinction. In this study, the relation between reinforcement magnitude and adaptive behavior was evaluated with 3 children as part of treatment with differential reinforcement. In the first experiment, a communicative response was shaped and maintained by the same reinforcer that was found to maintain problem behavior. Two reinforcement magnitudes (20-s or 60-s access to toys or escape from demands) were compared and found to be associated with similar levels of resistance to extinction. The relation between reinforcement magnitude and response maintenance was further evaluated in the second experiment by exposing the communicative response to 20-s or 300-s access to toys or escape. Results for 2 participants suggested that this factor may alter the duration of postreinforcement pauses.     

Further evaluation of the role of protective equipment in the functional analysis of self-injurious behavior

Using a procedure similar to the one described by Le and Smith (in press), we evaluated the effects of protective equipment during a functional analysis for 2 individuals who engaged in severe self-injurious behavior (SIB). Results of our analyses revealed that the use of protective equipment during functional analyses of SIB suppressed levels of responding such that a behavioral function could not be identified.     

Outcomes of a practical approach for improving conversation skills in adults with autism

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have deficits in conversation skills that can interfere with the development of personal and professional relationships. Further research is needed on efficient interventions for targeting conversation skills in adults with ASD and for evaluating the social validity of the outcomes. In this study, 2 practitioners implemented a 4‐week training program for 5 adults with ASD that combined individualized computer‐based instruction (CBI) and practice with peers to promote the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of conversation skills. Training was associated with improvements in 12 of 13 skills across participants. These findings, along with peer ratings of the participants' conversation skills, suggest that this model is a promising, socially valid approach for improving conversation skills in adults with ASD.     

Self-directedness and the susceptibility to distraction by saliency

People with low Self-directedness (SD) tend to explain their behaviour as being significantly influenced by events in the external environment. One important dimension of external cues is their level of salience: highly salient external stimuli are more likely to capture attention, even when such stimuli are not relevant to goals. We examined whether adults reporting low SD would exhibit greater susceptibility to distraction by highly salient external stimuli. Fifty-four (42 males) subjects completed the Attention Modulation by Salience Task (AMST) measuring reaction times to early- or late-onset auditory stimuli in the presence of high- or low-salience visual distractors. SD was assessed via self-report, and analyses tested the relationship between SD and performance on the AMST. Results showed a slowed early response to auditory cues during high salience compared to low salience. Indeed, individuals reporting low SD showed stronger salience interference, suggesting that external causality attribution is accompanied by a subconscious perceptual deficit.     

Riskanter Alkoholkonsum im Jugendalter

Binge drinking is common in adolescents. Externalizing behavior disorders, novelty seeking, lack of parental monitoring, delinquency and deviant peer affiliations are regarded as major risk factors. In the framework of a prospective longitudinal study, the specific explanatory power of these risk factors for variation in hazardous drinking behavior (here: maximum amount of alcohol drunk on one single occasion) of 15-year-olds is determined. A stepwise linear regression analysis revealed statistically significant independent contributions to the maximum amount of alcohol drunk on one single occasion for all risk factors. This implies that each of the risk factors investigated plays a unique role for adolescent binge drinking and provides clues for the conception of preventive strategies. Possible preventive measures derived from these findings are discussed.