Autonomy as a Source of Pro-social Influence Among Incarcerated Adolescents1

Previous research has found that greater autonomy for incarcerated adolescents is associated with pro-social outcomes. The present paper interprets the pro-social impact of autonomy in terms of three established lines of research in social psychology: leadership style, coercive social control, and reactance. In addition, it attempts to clarify whether autonomy in this setting has a direct influence on residents' values or an indirect influence resulting from an increase in residents' acceptance of the treatment goals. Data were collected by questionnaires administered to 434 residents and 156 staff members at four residential institutions for adjudicated adolescents. The data were analyzed using a structural equation model with unobserved variables (LISREL). A model positing both direct and indirect influences of autonomy fit the data very well. Autonomy contributed to pro-social values both through greater acceptance of the treatment goals as well as through a direct influence on values.     

Psychosocial characteristics of preschool siblings of handicapped and nonhandicapped children

This project examined psychosocial characteristics of 24 preschool-aged siblings of handicapped children in relation to a control group of 22 siblings of nonhandicapped children. Subjects were matched on family size and income, sibling age, birth order, sex, age spacing, and marital status of their parents. Results indicated no statistically significant differences between groups of children on measures of perceived self-competence and acceptance, understanding of developmental disabilities, empathy, and child care responsibility. Significant group differences were found where brothers of handicapped children were rated by their mothers as being more depressed and aggressive than brothers of nonhandicapped control children. Sisters of handicapped children were rated by mothers as being more aggressive than sisters of nonhandicapped children. Sisters of handicapped children and brothers of nonhandicapped children had significantly fewer privileges and more restrictions on their home activities than other groups. Results are discussed in relation to previous research on older silbings of handicapped children and the general literature on family stress and childhood disability and disease. The importance of examining sibling functioning via multiple measures of child behavior is stressed.The authors are grateful to the children and families who participated in the project. The assistance of Dr. Ricardo Barrera, Christine DiBlasio, Lisa Kaye, Paola Bellabarba, Jeanne Logozzo, Donna Motley, Jennifer Harter, and Tina Meisell is also gratefully acknowleged. This project was funded by Grant Number G008300345 from the U.S. Department of Education.     

The effects of commitment to threats and promises upon bargaining behaviour and outcomes

The course of bargaining is determined in part by interdependent individuals exchanging messages so as to influence other's behaviour, and thereby to increase the likelihood of achieving outcomes consistent with their own goals. The communication of threats and promises are two major message strategies that are employed to influence the behaviour of others in a bargaining relationship. The present study examines the effects of players' level of commitment to these forms of message strategies upon behaviour in a duopoly bargaining task. Past research has oprationalized commitment in terms of the consistency with which an individual has followed through on threats or promises in the past. In the present research, Becker's (1960) concept of a side-bet is employed to provide an alternative means for defining and manipulating commitment. A side-bet obtains when either a threatener or a promiser posts a valued resource, say a bond, which they forfeit if they do not follow through on their stated threat or promise. The main expectations of the present study were that increased commitment to threat meassages would lead to more competitive behaviour and outcomes within a duopoly bargaining task, whereas increased commitment to promise messages would produce more cooperative behaviour and outcomes. Partial support for these major expectations, as well as confirmation of a number of secondary expectations, was obtained.     

Conflict of interest between therapist-patient confidentiality and the duty to report sexual abuse of children

All 51 jurisdictions in the United States require physicians to report suspected child abuse. In most jurisdictions, reporting requirements override both confidentiality and privilege associated with the physician-patient relationship. The authors review the literature relevant to the conflict between privacy and reporting abuse and report the results of a national survey of therapists at sex offender treatment units. They discuss ethical problems experienced under these statutes by therapists who attempt to provide treatment for sex offenders, and by therapists who are required to report past instances of child abuse even when there is no evidence of ongoing abuse.     

A hardware and software interface for sensing changes in rotary position with an Apple II microcomputer

A design for an Apple II interface that senses relative rotary position and/or motion via a digital potentiometer is presented. A thorough discussion of the circuit’s theory of operation and a fully commented BASIC software listing are included. Suggested applications include an infinite-turn rotary device for psychophysical methods of adjustment, the sensing of rotary translations of a steering wheel in a driving simulator, and a digital tachometer/odometer for tracking performance on stationary exercise bicycles and treadmills.     

Of beasties and butterflies: Evidence for the stability and domain-specificity of individual differences in categorization

Previous research has failed to demonstrate unambiguously the relative stability across time and consistency across tasks of individual differences in categorization, or categorization breadth The present study of categorizing behavior in college students assesses breadth at each of four points in time over a six-week period Results are consistent with an interpretation of breadth as a highly stable individual difference variable, but one that is constrained by the nature of the stimulus sets employed High stability coefficients were observed for each of two redundant tasks In contrast, cross-task consistency indices were generally low Personality correlates of breadth were similarly weak and inconsistent Several variables are suggested that may attenuate the generality of categorization breadth The existence of multiple styles of categorization is discussed     

USING REINFORCEMENT AND CUEING TO INCREASE HEALTHY SNACK FOOD CHOICES IN PRESCHOOLERS

We examined the effects of behavioral procedures to modify the food choices of preschoolers during a snack period at school (training setting) and at home (generalization setting). In the first experiment, we evaluated the usefulness of nutrition training and a generalization programming strategy of cueing to improve healthy snacking; in the second experiment we investigated the effect of nutrition training alone. In addition, three cases are presented that illustrate individualized procedures to facilitate generalization of healthy snacking to home. Results indicated that children's healthy snack choices increased in the preschool training setting, that generalization to home was achieved only when procedures to program it were implemented, and that the best results were found when the generalization procedures were tailored to the individual child.