Teaching social skills to emotionally disturbed adolescent inpatients

A social skills training program was evaluated with emotionally disturbed adolescent inpatients. The targeted social skills required an action or reaction within six skill areas. The program was adapted from a commercially available social skills training game that features the use of response specific feedback, self-monitoring, individualized reinforcers, and individualized performance criteria. A peer conducted the baseline and posttraining sessions while the training was conducted by an adult who had no previous interactive history with the subjects. A multiple baseline design across groups demonstrated that the program increased appropriate responding in all skill areas and that these effects generalized during the posttraining peer conducted sessions. A generalization test indicated that the subjects used their newly learned skills with a novel adult outside the training setting. The program appears quite applicable to emotionally disturbed adolescents since it targets skills in a variety of areas and employs standardized procedures to enhance replicability.     

Observers’ sensitivity to dynamic anomalies in collisions

The present study examined observers’ ability to discriminate canonical and dynamically anomalous collisions that were presented in either frictionless or frictional systems. Whereas previous research has provided qualitative demonstrations that dynamic information can be extracted from visual events, the current study provides a parametric assessment of observers’ sensitivity to dynamic invariants. Our findings indicate that observers are competent when viewing both familiar, terrestrial (frictional) systems and unfamiliar but computationally simpler, 0-G (frictionless) systems. Thus, our sensitivity to these dynamic invariants in visual events is robust in natural systems whose dynamic properties differ from those of the environment in which we evolved and developed.     

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.     

Temporal manipulation of stimulus patterns using the Apple II: Tachistoscopic and part presentation

A technique is described in which line-drawn pictures can be rapidly interlaced, allowing for sequential part presentation or tachistoscopic presentation on the Apple II. This is accomplished using a two-stage process in which the pictorial stimuli are converted into machine code data files and then used to create a rapidly changing display consisting of two or more line drawings. The latter stage could be accomplished in less than 2 msec but is limited by the frame time of the monitor (17–20 msec).     

Difficulty and familiarity norms for 192 single-solution word fragments

Normative data are presented for the probability of successfully completing 192 single-solution word fragments. Normative data on the familiarity of college students with the solution words are also given, along with estimates of word frequency from existing norms. Regression analyses were performed in order to predict fragment completion difficulty from familiarity, frequency, and several structural characteristics of the fragments. Familiarity, whether or not first and/or last letters appeared in the fragment, and the ratio of letters to missing letters in the fragment were included in the regression equation as significant predictors of difficulty for this fragment set.     

Learning and motivation: Computer simulations of the Rescorla-Wagner,Solomon-Corbit,and Schull models

A suite of programs is described for simulating the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model of associative learning, the Solomon and Corbit (1974) opponent-process theory, and Schull’s (1979) extension of the latter. The programs are written for the Commodore 64 computer.     

Containment theory and juvenile delinquency: a reevaluation through factor analysis

All seven variables of containment theory were operationalized for questionnaires. Data were collected from 677 adolescents in a variety of high schools and correctional institutions, and divided into categories by race and sex. Factor analysis indicated that the structure of the relationships among the seven containment variables and delinquency was substantially different among black females.     

Projective-cognitive assessment of thoughts and feelings and their relationship to adaptive behavior in a dental situation

The purpose of this study is to examine the interrelationships among coping statements, a self-report measure of anxiety and maladaptive overt behavior in a real-life stressful situation. Measures of these variables (interviews using TAT-like cards, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, Behavior Profile Rating Scale) were taken from 23 adolescents prior to and during their dental visit. Results indicated that as disruptive "in-chair" overt behavior increased, so did the percentage of coping statements. In addition, as self-report levels of anxiety increased, the percentage of coping statements significantly decreased. Interestingly, there was no significant relationship between self-report levels of anxiety and disruptive in-chair behavior. It was also noted that the subjects' self-report levels of anxiety significantly decreased following their opportunity to verbalize their coping/noncoping statements via the TAT-like procedure. The implications of these interrelationships to cognitive-behavioral theory are discussed.     

Shyness, group dependence and self-concept: attributes of the imaginary audience

The imaginary audience of 328 early and late adolescents was studied from the viewpoint of providing educators and clinicians with insight into its attributes--those which both facilitate and hinder youths' development. Early adolescents (about 14 or 15 years of age) displayed a greater awareness of an imaginary audience which probably contributed to their observed, elevated group dependence. Unexpectedly, the shyness of adolescents highly sensitive to an imaginary audience increased with age, possibly because they are unwilling to provide themselves with the social experiences necessary for decentering. Likewise, those highly sensitive to an imaginary audience projected low self-concepts and thus imply that their audience is relatively critical; thus, they probably validate a self-fulfilling prophecy, oblivious to a possible contradictory external reality. The anticipated fact that females appeared to be less socially bold and more group dependent than males might account, in part, for females' greater responsiveness to an imaginary audience. It is suggested that educators and clinicians encourage youth to validate social hypotheses in order to promote the dissolution of the imaginary audience, especially of those who are shy and display self-deprecatory tendencies.