Psychologists in secondary schools: Training and present patterns of service

Psychologists serving randomly selected secondary schools were surveyed regarding actual and preferred patterns of service and training. Though a small sample was employed, the random sampling procedure and high response rate attained were viewed by the investigators as effective means for controlling the sampling error that often occurs in survey research. As a group, respondents indicated little specialized training for working with the secondary school population. Traditional assessment and report writing activities occupied the main portion of respondents' working time although nearly all reported involvement in the design and implementation of intervention plans for a variety of client groups. The psychologist-to-student ratio was found to be 1:6180, and more than 60% of those surveyed reported plans for a career change out of school psychology. One-fourth of the districts surveyed reported that psychological services were not regularly available.     

Effect of varying picture-sentence congruence on children's free recall.

70 fourth-grade children were shown objects arbitrarily arranged in an integrated scene. Subjects were randomly assigned to conditions which either presented a sentence that correctly labeled and correctly described the physical arrangement of the objects, presented a sentence containing the correct labels of the objects but not the correct physical arrangement, or presented a sentence which did not contain the correct labels and incorrectly described the physical arrangement. Control conditions either provided subjects with correct labels or omitted presentation of verbal prompts. Congruence between the object display and the sentence produced significantly higher recall and clustering than the incongruence or control conditions. The incongruence conditions did not produce significantly higher recall than the control conditions, suggesting that incongruence interferes with formation of stable grouping of items which appears to be an important factor in facilitating free recall.     

A computer interview language: Programming the on-line interactive computer

Seven computer interview and two disk file commands are executed by a computer program to display multiple-choice questions on a CRT video screen, to record clients’ answers, and to branch to various sets of questions. The program interpreting these commands uses little computer memory and does not require change each time the interview is altered or expanded. It can be written in almost any general-purpose programming language.     

Detecting changes in simulated events II: Using variations of momentary time‐sampling to measure changes in duration events

The extent to which a greater proportion of small behavior changes could be detected with momentary time‐sampling (MTS) was evaluated by (a) combining various interval sizes of partial‐interval recording (PIR) with 20 s, 30 s, 1 min MTS and (b) using variable interval sizes of MTS that were based on means of 20 s and 1 min. For each targeted percentage, low, moderate, and high inter‐response times (IRTs) to event‐run ratios were compared with reversal designs to determine whether sensitivity increased with either variation of MTS. The results showed that (a) combinations of 30 s and 1 min MTS/PIR yielded increased sensitivity over MTS alone; however, the increased sensitivity was offset by an increased probability of generating false positives and (b) variable‐interval MTS produced comparable sensitivity to fixed‐interval MTS. Thus, none of the methods increased detection of small behavior changes (decreased false negatives) without also increasing false positives. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Influence of Affective and Instrumental Beliefs on Exercise Intentions and Behavior: A Longitudinal Analysis

Programs encouraging exercise might reduce coronary illness. Ajzen's theory of planned behavior is a useful model for understanding exercise motivation. The current study investigated the contribution of the instrumental and affective components of attitude. As part of a community-based study of exercise behavior, 424 men and 572 women completed questionnaires, with 365 participants providing 6-month follow-up data. Regressions highlighted the affective component as a much more powerful predictor of intention compared to the instrumental component. After controlling for prior exercise, intention was not predictive of later exercise, although the affective component was. The implications for exercise promotion are discussed.