TREATMENT OF SELF-INJURY AND HAND MOUTHING FOLLOWING INCONCLUSIVE FUNCTIONAL ANALYSES

Numerous studies have used functional analyses to prescribe interventions for severe behavior disorders. The majority of these studies have focused on behavior that is clearly maintained by socially mediated reinforcement, such as contingent access to attention, tangibles, or escape from instructional demands. However, a significant proportion of functional analyses do not yield conclusive results. We examined interventions for 3 children with severe disabilities following inconclusive functional analyses. First, preferred stimuli were identified for each child via a stimulus preference assessment. Second, a functional analysis was conducted for 2 of the 3 children. High rates of aberrant behavior were seen even (if not especially) in no-interaction sessions. The 3rd child was observed for several consecutive no-interaction sessions; behavior persisted in this condition. Third, interventions based on environmental enrichment were analyzed in an analogue setting. For all of the children, environmental enrichment decreased aberrant behavior if preferred stimuli were used in the procedure. To obtain further reductions in aberrant behavior, explicit reinforcement of toy play was required for 2 children, and a brief (5-s) time-out was necessary with 1 child. Finally, effects of treatment carried over to the school or home environment following teacher or family training. Results are discussed in the context of basic reinforcement principles and future directions for research.     

Coping behavior and locus of control in children1

Several investigators report a distinction between inward (withdrawn, somaticizing, fearful) behavior and outward (antisocial, hostile, aggressive) behavior. The present study was designed to clarify the relationship between type of coping behavior and locus of control (i.e., the attribution of causality to internal vs. external factors) for children aged 4 to 12 years. Two locus of control (LOC) instruments were administered—the Nowicki-Strickland and a new measure which distinguished between LOC for desirable and undesirable events. Measures of coping behavior were completed by parents. Results indicated that the new LOC scale related to type of coping behavior: external LOC children tended to have a greater proportion of inward behavior. Furthermore, desirable-event items were better able to distinguish between inward and outward behavior than were undesirable-event items. The Nowicki-Strickland scale was significantly correlated with the new scale, but not with coping behavior. Replication of the findings was obtained in a subsequent study. Discussion centered on the relationship between generalized perceptions of control and situationally manipulated perceptions of control, and differences between perceptions of control involved in inward and outward behavior.     

Similarities and differences in social attitudes in four Western countries1

A referents scale (single words and short phrases) constructed to measure social attitudes and values was administered to 500 graduate students of education in the United States, 427 mature evening students in Spain, 130 German students, 270 Dutch students, and 685 Dutch adults, a random sample of the Netherlands. The attitudes of the samples were compared by analysis of the means of clusters of referents associated with the factors common to all samples. The means of selected individual referents of social significance were similarly compared across samples. In general, the U.S. student sample and the Netherlands random sample were more conservative than the Spanish, Dutch, and German student samples. On the other hand, the Dutch, Spanish, and American students were more liberal than the Dutch random sample and the German students. The correlations between the profiles of means of referents common to pairs of samples were mostly substantial (average r's of .75 for conservative referents and .62 for liberal referents), indicating considerable cross-cultural agreement in the rank ordering of the referents within the conservative and within the liberal categories, and thus, presumably, common cores of reaction to the two kinds of referents. The use of attitude-value referents, especially in cross-cultural research, was judged valid and useful.     

Sex differences in symbol-digit substitution task performance

Estes (1974) proposed that the superior performance of women over men on the Digit-Symbol Substitution subtest of the Wechsler scales was due to their greater ability to encode symbols verbally. Three forms of a symbol-digit substitution task were administered to 62 female and 96 male college students. The symbol sets of the three forms differed in the relative amount of figural and spatial orientational information. Women performed better than men on the form which used the Wechsler symbol set in which all symbols are figurally different and, presumably, most easily coded verbally. Men performed better than women on the form which had the greatest amount of spatial orientational information. Estes' hypothesis is supported by these findings.     

Estimating major sources of measurement error in individual intelligences scales: Taking our heads out of the sand

Four ubiquitous major sources of measurement error for individual intelligence scales were identified and discussed. It was argued that where these sources cannot be directly investigated, they should be estimated rather than ignored. The typical magnitude of error arising from each of content sampling, time sampling, scoring, and administration was estimated; their composite was found to produce a far larger standard error of measurement than manuals of individual intelligence tests typically report. Implications for practitioners are discussed.     

Modernization and sex roles: The status of women in the Thai bureaucracy

Modernization is conceptualized as a change in socially sanctioned roles. This study investigates the repatterning of sex and occupational roles in the modernizing bureaucracy of Thailand. Although Thai women have traditionally participated actively in family and economic life, such freedom and equality with males has not been carried over into modern occupations. Female Thai civil servants have lower positions and are paid less than their male counterparts with comparable preparation and accomplishments; and the females make greater sacrifices in family roles. Yet women express greater satisfaction with their civil service jobs than men. Explanations for these findings are suggested.     

Effect of perceptual cohesiveness on pattern recoding in the block design task

In the block design task, one type of intelligence test task, the subject reproduces a square-field pattern by assembling cubes having solid and diagonally divided surfaces. The task requires that the subject recode the perceived stimulus pattern into the alternatives available on the block surface. This experiment examined the effect on response or reproduction time of perceptual cohesiveness of pattern, quantified as the number of adjacent same-colored edges of cubes which abutt to form the pattern. This stimulus variable interacts with the type of design (quantified as total set size for designs constructed of all solid surfaces, all diagonally divided surfaces, or mixtures of the two types of surfaces) and with cuing (presence or absence on stimulus pattern of a superimposed grid congruent with block edges of the constructed design). Cohesiveness increases the difficulty of “mentally slicing” or recoding the pattern into the set of block alternatives. The psychological processes involved in recoding probably are the most important ones underlying the intelligence test task.     

THE ROLE OF ATTENTION IN THE TREATMENT OF ATTENTION-MAINTAINED SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR: NONCONTINGENT REINFORCEMENT AND DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT OF OTHER BEHAVIOR

Because there are potentially serious limitations to differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) (which is probably the most widely used treatment procedure for behavior problems), we examined an alternative procedure—noncontingent reinforcement (NCR). Three females with developmental disabilities, all of whom engaged in severe self-injurious behavior, participated. During a pretreatment functional analysis, each subject's self-injury was shown to be differentially sensitive to social attention as a maintaining consequence. Next, each subject was exposed to a DRO treatment and an NCR treatment. During DRO, attention was delivered contingent on the absence of self-injury for prespecified intervals. During NCR, attention was delivered on a fixed-time schedule that was not influenced by the subject's behavior. Results showed that both procedures were highly effective in reducing self-injury, probably because the functional reinforcer for self-injury was used during treatment. Furthermore, there was evidence that NCR attenuated several of the limitations of DRO. These results are particularly interesting in light of the long experimental history of NCR as a control rather than as a therapeutic procedure.