Selective attentional responses and overtraining in a discrimination shift paradigm

Peed and Forehand's conclusion that “a theory of vicarious consequences based upon an informational analysis of imitation has serious limitations” is questioned on several grounds. In addition to the fact that Peed and Forehand's research design is not sufficiently sensitive to warrant accepting the null hypothesis, a review of recent literature suggests that the effects Liebert and Fernandez originally predicted from an informational analysis have been obtained by other investigators. Finally, studies in which an informational heuristic has been employed in areas of observational learning other than vicarious consequences attest further to its usefulness in stimulating discovery.     

Poison-enhanced neophobia: Effects of CS-UCSUCS-CS procedures and long-delay training

Experiment 1 (n = 110 male rats) showed that pairing sucrose with toxicosis under forward or backward conditioning procedures yielded reliable poison-enhanced neophobia toward casein hydrolysate. Forward procedures produced reliably greater and more persistent enhancement of neophobia. Experiment 2 (n = 160 male rats) showed that interpolating 10 min, or 1, 4, 8, or 12 hr between sucrose and toxicosis yielded reliable aversion effects to sucrose and poison-enhanced neophobia to casein at each interval except 8 and 12 hr. Generally speaking, the effects of training interval were similar for conditioned aversion and enhanced neophobia but conditioned aversion effects were more enduring.     

Sexual Harassment Severity: Assessing Situational and Personal Determinants and Outcomes1

The current study bridges literatures on sexual harassment, person‐environment systems, and stress and appraisal processes. Conventional wisdom equates severity of sexual harassment with type of harassment. We test this notion empirically and posit a more comprehensive model that examines both person‐ and situation‐level variables. Data came from 13,743 U.S. Armed Forces women responding to survey questions about a significant experience of sexual harassment. Multiple regression results indicate that pervasiveness of sexual harassment relates outcomes better than does type of sexual harassment. Pervasiveness and type interact to predict subjective appraisal of harassment. Additionally, according to multiple‐group structural equation models, appraisal mediates relations between pervasiveness and outcomes. Results further suggest that relations among sexual‐harassment antecedents and outcomes are consistent, regardless of the type of sexual harassment. These findings highlight the importance of examining both persons and situations when assessing sexual harassment severity.     

‘You Gotta See Both at the Same Time’: Visually Analyzing Player Performances in Basketball Coaching

Developing novices’ proficiency in skilful activities is central to the reproduction of human societies. The interactional practices through which instruction is accomplished have provided a rich focus for ethnomethodological and conversation analytic studies examining classroom settings, and, more recently, non-classroom environments of instruction in practical and manual skills. This paper examines the work of instruction in basketball training and in particular the correction of player performances, which are a ubiquitous and central feature of instruction in basketball training sessions. A central part of this instructional action relies on the coach observing training activities to determine players’ competencies and to extract relevant correctables from the players’ embodied displays, which are in turn embedded within complex arrangements of rapidly moving bodies situated in material environments. In this paper we examine the visual-analytic work involved in both organizing and observing a basketball training activity, demonstrating the sequential layering of multiple membership categorization devices drawn upon in producing and recognizing actions in this setting. We argue that the coach deploys spatial orientations which function analogously to membership categorization devices, with players’ bodily positions relative to one another and the material structure of the surround generating category-like sets of rights, responsibilities, and sequential relevancies. As we demonstrate, these orientations provide crucial resources for the identification of players’ errors and thereby for the organization of instruction in interaction in this setting.     

Motivational interviewing or reminders for glaucoma medication adherence: Results of a multi-site randomised controlled trial

Objective: Nonadherence reduces glaucoma treatment efficacy. Motivational interviewing (MI) is a well-studied adherence intervention, but has not been tested in glaucoma. Reminder interventions also may improve adherence.

Design: 201 patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension were urn-randomised to receive MI delivered by an ophthalmic technician (OT), usual care or a minimal behavioural intervention (reminder calls).

Main Outcome Measures: Outcomes included electronic monitoring with Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) bottles, two self-report adherence measures, patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. Multilevel modelling was used to test differences in MEMS results by group over time; ANCOVA was used to compare groups on other measures.

Results: Reminder calls increased adherence compared to usual care based on MEMS, p = .005, and self-report, p = .04. MI had a nonsignificant effect but produced higher satisfaction than reminder calls, p = .007. Treatment fidelity was high on most measures, with observable differences in behaviour between groups. All groups had high baseline adherence that limited opportunities for change.

Conclusion: Reminder calls, but not MI, led to better adherence than usual care. Although a large literature supports MI, reminder calls might be a cost-effective intervention for patients with high baseline adherence. Replication is needed with less adherent participants.