An Unwillingness to Act: Behavioral Appropriateness, Situational Constraint, and Self-Efficacy in Shyness

ABSTRACT Three reasons for the failure to demonstrate social skills were examined in an attempt to integrate social skills deficit and dysfunctional cognition approaches to self-labeled shyness To assess social skills knowledge, the willingness to demonstrate such knowledge, and self-efficacy expectations for enacting social behaviors, 40 shy and 40 nonshy adults were asked to judge the appropriateness of situated behaviors and indicate whether they characteristically enacted and felt capable of producing them Results suggested that shys may be unaware of the appropriateness of some behaviors in some situations, however, shys and nonshys more often agree on behavioral appropriateness standards Compared to nonshys, shys are less likely to enact social behaviors and tend to have low self-efficacy It was suggested that shys' self-awareness of characteristic responses and low self-efficacy expectations may contribute to failures to demonstrate social skills knowledge     

Effects of daily stress on negative mood

This article examines the influence of daily stressors on mental health in a community sample. Ss were 166 married couples who completed diaries each day for 6 weeks. In pooled within-person analyses, daily stressors explained up to 20% of the variance in mood. Interpersonal conflicts were by far the most distressing events. Furthermore, when stressors occurred on a series of days, emotional habituation occurred by the second day for almost all events except interpersonal conflicts. Contrary to certain theoretical accounts, multiple stressors on the same day did not exacerbate one another's effects: rather an emotional plateau occurred. Finally on days following a stressful event, mood was better than it would have been if the stressor had not happened. These results reveal the complex emotional effects of daily stressors, and in particular they suggest that future investigations should focus primarily on interpersonal conflicts.     

Acupuncture and emotion: the influence of acupuncture anesthesia on the sensory and emotional components of pain

Objective indices (heart rate, perspiration quantity, finger plethysmograph curves, and facial expression) and subjective indices (sensory and emotional subject reports) were recorded for 25 young Chinese adults (16 men, 9 women) during and after the simultaneous application of a strong pain stimulus and either foot classical (alloneural points Tsusanli and Yanglingchuan) or hand classical (alloneural points Hegu and Neiguan) acupuncture. Both forms of acupuncture were equally effective, showing that stimulation of the same nerve is not essential for pain relief. Acupuncture assuaged the emotional, but not the sensory, response to the painful stimulation.     

Job Satisfaction Among Type C Career Changers

Type C careerists perceive their second occupations as being more intrinsically, extrinsically, and generally satisfying than they did their initial occupations.     

CO-WORKER IMPLEMENTED JOB TRAINING: THE USE OF COINCIDENTAL TRAINING AND QUALITY-CONTROL CHECKING ON THE FOOD PREPARATION SKILLS OF TRAINEES WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

In two studies, co-workers of persons with disabilities were taught to use coincidental training procedures while completing their own jobs. In Study 1, the effects of coincidental training on the salad-making skills of 3 trainees with mild and moderate mental retardation were evaluated. Coincidental training by co-workers resulted in improved accuracy of the salad-making skills of the trainees. In Study 2, trainees were also coincidentally taught to make quality-control checks of their salads. An alternating treatments and multiple baseline design indicated that the trainees more readily acquired the skills when taught to check the correctness of their work.     

The family void: treatment and theoretical aspects of the synchronous family paradigm

The synchronous paradigm is a model of families whose members remain uninvolved and disconnected from each other yet somehow maintain relatively unvarying or even rigid patterns of behavior. In the synchronous paradigm, calm agreement and harmonious unity of action are valued above all. The concept of synchronous operation was first formulated by Constantine to solve certain theoretical problems growing out of the work of Kantor and Lehr. The theory has been elaborated upon through linkages established with other clinical and theoretical models of family dysfunction. Clinical experience in treating synchronous families has now contributed more detailed and practical understanding. Clinically, disabled synchronous families may present as bland, boring, or even death-like. They may have considerable difficulty accommodating to necessary developmental changes or to the demands of life crises, employing a variety of strategies to maintain the appearance of synchrony at the expense of adaptation. Their ability to ignore change and to absorb interventions can tax the abilities of even the most creative and energetic therapist. On the other hand, the quiet efficiency of the family and the social sensitivity of its members can be strong assets. Awareness of their strengths and special vulnerabilities can help the family therapist work more effectively with synchronous families.     

Altering contingencies to facilitate compliance with traffic light systems

The effects of altering light pattern sequences on driver compliance at a busy, urban intersection were explored. The baseline light timing sequences resulted in only 46.8% of drivers stopping at the yellow or red lights. Using an A-B-C design, we altered light pattern sequences that increased the probability of drivers stopping at the signals to 88.8% and 98.8%. These findings indicate that traffic light contingencies have potent effects in influencing driver behaviors at busy intersections. Following completion of the study, the traffic engineer approved the permanence of the light timing pattern that increased traffic rule compliance. Accident data collected before and after the light timing changes indicated a reduction in automobile accidents.     

The Relative Effectiveness of Three Compliance Techniques in Eliciting Donations to a Cultural Organization

To compare the relative effectiveness of three compliance techniques during a museum fund-raising drive, 89 individuals were asked to contribute $1 to the museum after having been exposed to an initial request according to one of the following conditions: (1) in the foot-in-thedoor condition, individuals were first asked to sign a petition in support of the museum; (2) in the door-in-the-face condition, they were initially asked for a $5 contribution; (3) in the. low-ball condition, they were asked to contribute 75 cents and then to increase this amount by 25 cents in order to support the children's program: and (4) in the control condition, subjects simply received the target request for $1. The groups differed significantly in terms of the number of individuals who donated, and in the amount of their contributions. The low-ball condition was generally the most effective, especially with respect to the amount of money contributed. This was followed in turn by the door-in-the-face and control conditions, with the foot-in-the-door condition the least effective in virtually every comparison. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the experimental analysis of compliance, as well as the development of more effective fund-raising programs.     

ASSESSMENT OF STIMULUS PREFERENCE AND REINFORCER VALUE WITH PROFOUNDLY RETARDED INDIVIDUALS

We evaluated a procedure for identifying potential reinforcers with profoundly retarded individuals. In Experiment 1, six persons were repeatedly exposed to 16 stimuli, and approach behaviors to each stimulus were used to identify preferred and nonpreferred stimuli. In Experiment 2, we examined the reinforcing properties of preferred and nonpreferred stimuli by delivering them contingently on the occurrence of arbitrarily selected responses. Results revealed that the preferred stimulus conditions typically produced higher rates of responding than did either the baseline or the nonpreferred stimulus conditions, suggesting that the procedure can be used to assess reinforcer value for individuals with limited behavioral repertoires.