Investigating the role of E-contact and self-disclosure on improving Turkish-Kurdish interethnic relations

While recent research has started to pay more attention to the role of contact strategies on promoting intergroup harmony between Turkish and Kurdish communities, the effectiveness of a novel form of indirect contact strategy, E-contact—where participants engage in a cooperative and structured online interaction with an individual from the outgroup—has not yet been tested. Across two studies (N_{Study 1} = 110, N_{Study 2} = 176), we investigated the effects of E-contact among Turks on promoting positive attitudes and behavioral tendencies toward Kurds, testing outgroup trust and intergroup anxiety as mediators and incorporating a distinction between lower and higher self-disclosure conditions. As expected, E-contact led to more positive outgroup attitudes, as well as greater approach tendencies and decreased avoidance tendencies through increased outgroup trust (Studies 1 and 2) and reduced intergroup anxiety (Study 2). Study 2 also found that E-contact produced lower perceived interethnic conflict through increased outgroup trust. While both lower and higher personal disclosure conditions provided similar effects in the two studies, E-contact with heightened self-disclosure was especially effective at promoting more positive outgroup attitudes and reducing avoidance tendencies. Findings highlight potential benefits of using E-contact as a prejudice-reduction strategy in conflict settings.     

Comparing computer‐based training and lecture formats to teach visual analysis of baseline‐treatment graphs

Accurate analysis of data is vital to the validation of interventions. As such, there has been a recent increase in studies evaluating visual analysis training procedures. However, past investigations have not evaluated direct and indirect visual analysis training methods with matched instructional content that was systematically designed. Furthermore, training has rarely included assessment of generalization and maintenance of visual analysis skills. The purpose of the current dissertation study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of (a) computer‐based training, (b) lecture formats with and (c) without the opportunity to pause, and (d) a no‐training group to teach visual analysis of AB graphs to university students. To make these formats directly comparable, the instructional content was equated by ensuring information and examples were identical across the three training procedures. Eighty‐three students were randomly assigned to one of the four groups. Results showed that all three training formats produced increases in accurate responding compared to the no‐training group. Visual analysis skills generalized to novel graphs and maintained approximately 2 weeks following all trainings. These results suggest that structured approaches that are carefully designed to train visual analysis are effective and lead to gains that generalize and maintain in the absence of training.     

Fight the power: A heuristic exploration of systemic racism through dreams

Systemic racism, like many forms of difference and diversity, is poorly understood within the realms of counselling and psychotherapy. Whereas our profession has shied away from using its skills to explore the meaning and relevance of racism, this author over a number of years has studied many forms of intersectional otherness and recognises that racism is as much a relational experience between subject and other, both internally and externally. This paper therefore explores how an internalised experience of systemic racism can be understood through client work and dreamwork, offering ideas as to how the dreams of the racialised other may be understood; the symbolism, and the relevance of the racial complex hidden within them.     

The danger of conflating level-specific effects of control variables when primary interest lies in level-2 effects

In the multilevel modelling literature, methodologists widely acknowledge that a level-1 variable can have distinct within-cluster and between-cluster effects, and that failing to disaggregate these can yield a slope estimate that is an uninterpretable, conflated blend of the two. Methodologists have stated, however, that including conflated slopes of level-1 variables in a model is not problematic if substantive interest lies only in effects of level-2 predictors. Researchers commonly follow this advice and use methods that do not disaggregate effects of level-1 control variables (e.g., grand mean centering) when examining effects of level-2 predictors. The primary purpose of this paper is to show that this is a dangerous practice. When level-specific effects of level-1 variables differ, failing to disaggregate them can severely bias estimation of level-2 predictor slopes. We show mathematically why this is the case and highlight factors that can exacerbate such bias. We corroborate these findings with simulations and present an empirical example, showing how such distortions can severely alter substantive conclusions. We ultimately recommend that simply including the cluster mean of the level-1 variable as a control will alleviate the problem.     

Identity,incarnation, and the imago Dei

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion - A number of thinkers suggest that, given certain conditions, it’s possible that any concrete human nature could have been united...     

Assessment to identify learner-specific prompt and prompt-fading procedures for children with autism spectrum disorder

Few studies have evaluated the use of assessment to identify the most efficient instructional practices for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. This is problematic as these individuals often have difficulty acquiring skills, and the procedures that may be efficient with one individual may not be for others. The experimenters conducted instructional assessments to identify the most efficient prompt type (model, partial physical, full physical) and prompt-fading procedure (progressive delay, most-to-least, least-to-most) for teaching auditory–visual conditional discriminations for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Each assessment was conducted at least twice, and a final generality test combined the most and the least efficient prompt type and prompt-fading procedure for teaching novel auditory–visual conditional discriminations. The results demonstrated learner-specific outcomes for the prompt type assessment, whereas the least-to-most prompt fading procedure was most efficient for all participants.     

Back to sleep: Teaching adults to arrange safe infant sleep environments

There are over 3,000 sleep related infant deaths each year in the United States. Attempts to teach medical personnel and parents safe infant sleep practices in the infant sleep training literature have demonstrated mixed results. Thus, strategies to teach arrangements of safe infant sleep environments warrant further investigation. Behavioral skills training (BST) is an evidence-based teaching strategy shown to successfully teach various safety skills to children and adults. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of behavioral skills training to teach safe infant sleep practices to typically developing adults. Specifically, differential responding was assessed across multiple environmental arrangements typical of contexts parents may be exposed to when putting an infant to sleep. BST significantly improved appropriate arrangement of a safe sleep environment for infants for all 8 participants.     

Comparing skill acquisition under varying onsets of differential reinforcement: A preliminary analysis

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effect of implementing differential reinforcement at different times relative to the onset of teaching new skills to learners with autism spectrum disorder. Specifically, we first determined the most efficient differential reinforcement arrangement for each participant. Using the most efficient arrangement, we evaluated if differential reinforcement from the immediate onset, early onset, or late onset is the most efficient for learners to acquire a new skill. Three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who have a history of receiving intervention based on the principles of applied behavior analysis participated in this study. The immediate onset of differential reinforcement resulted in the most efficient instruction in 6 of 7 comparisons. The results are discussed in light of previous studies and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Infant positioning: A brief review

The American Academy of Pediatrics (2016a) has made several recommendations regarding the safe positioning of infants by caregivers, including placing infants in a supine position for sleep and in prone for supervised periods of tummy time. However, caregivers may have difficulty adhering with these recommendations. A small, but growing, number of behavior analytic studies have examined these infant safety recommendations and strategies for increasing adherence. This review describes behavior analytic research on infant positioning and provides suggestions for future research.