BEHAVIORAL MOMENTUM IN THE TREATMENT OF NONCOMPLIANCE

Behavioral momentum refers to the tendency for behavior to persist following a change in environmental conditions. The greater the rate of reinforcement, the greater the behavioral momentum. The intervention for noncompliance consisted of issuing a sequence of commands with which the subject was very likely to comply (i.e., high-probability commands) immediately prior to issuing a low-probability command. In each of five experiments, the high-probability command sequence resulted in a “momentum” of compliant responding that persisted when a low-probability request was issued. Results showed the antecedent high-probability command sequence increased compliance and decreased compliance latency and task duration. “Momentum-like” effects were shown to be distinct from experimenter attention and to depend on the contiguity between the high-probability command sequence and the low-probability command.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A CONSTANT TIME-DELAY PROCEDURE TO TEACH CHAINED RESPONSES TO ADOLESCENTS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

The effectiveness of a 5-s constant time-delay procedure to teach three chained food preparation behaviors to four moderately retarded adolescent students was evaluated within a multiple probe design across behaviors. Results indicate that the procedure was effective in teaching all four students to make a sandwich, boil a boil-in-bag item, and bake canned biscuits. The skills maintained with at least 85% accuracy over a 3-month period. Training generalized from the school to the home setting for the 2 subjects that completed generalization probe sessions. The percentage of errors across all skills and students was less than 9%.     

Preventing Substance Abuse Among American-Indian Adolescents: A Bicultural Competence Skills Approach

Tobacco, alcohol, and drug use are problems for American-Indian people. We reviewed these problems and the explanations for them and described a bicultural competence skills approach for preventing substance abuse with American-Indian adolescents. Data from a study of that approach suggest its efficacy with American-Indian youth. At posttest and a 6-month follow-up, American-Indian subjects who received preventive intervention based on bicultural competence skills concepts improved more than did American-Indian subjects in a no-intervention control condition on measures of substance-use knowledge, attitudes, and interactive skills, and on self-reported rates of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. Our findings have implications for future substance-abuse prevention research with American-Indian people.     

RELIABILITY AND FACTORIAL VALIDITY OF THE JUNIOR EYSENCK PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE IN ZIMBABWE

Six-hundred and thirteen girls and 601 boys in Zimbabwe completed the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (JEPQ). The reliability of the Neuroticism (N) and Social Desirability (L) factors was acceptable but the Psychoticism (P) and Extraversion (E) factors possessed modest reliability. While the factorial validity of the P, N and L scales was acceptable, the factorial validity of the E scale was poor. L scores were significantly correlated with N and P scores among girls and boys. Whereas Zimbabwean girls reported higher P scores than did Canadian girls, Zimbabwean boys reported lower P scores than did Canadian boys. Zimbabwean girls and boys reported lower E and N and higher P scores than their Canadian counterparts. This study provides broad support for Eysenck's basic personality model, but it does not support the use of this version of the JEPQ, and especially the E scale, among Zimbabwean children.     

Preschoolers' use of eye contact while speaking: The influence of sex,age, and conversational partner

The influences of sex, age, and conversational, partner (mother vs. stranger) on eye contact during verbalizations were examined in a longitudinal study of 33 children at 2 and 4 years of age. A free-play sample was obtained of each child interacting with mother and with a male or female experimenter. The amount of eye contact in conjunction with verbalization was analyzed. Significant main effects were found for sex (females engaged in a higher percent of eye contact than males) and conversational partner (more eye contact while speaking exhibited to experimenter than to mother). There was an interaction between age and conversational partner, in that mother received more and experimenter relatively less percent of eye contact during verbalizations as children got older. Notably, there was no main effect for age. These results revealed sex differences at an age (2–2 1/2 years) and in a context (free-play setting) not previously studied, demonstrating the robustness of the effect. Further, age findings seem indicative of unique developmental trends for eye contact during verbalizations for the ages between 2 and 4 years.Mount Saint Vicent University     

Emotional experiences during engagement in intrinsically and extrinsically motivated tasks

Previous theories of intrinsic motivation have traditionally ignored the experiential or subjective aspects of engagement in intrinsically and extrinsically motivated tasks. Part of the reason for the lack of research in this area was our ignorance of which emotions to study. Data are presented here from two studies designed to produce the first systematic evidence of changes in basic emotional states during task engagement. Our findings suggest that intrinsic and extrinsic tasks can be differentiated according to the emotional changes subjects retrospectively report about their engagement with these tasks, and point the way to future research incorporating emotion as an important variable to consider.The first author was supported in part by a Minority Fellowship administered by the American Psychological Association under a Clinical Training Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (5 T01 MH13833), and by a Regents Fellowship from the University of California, Berkeley.     

Developmental change in the understanding of affective meaning in music

The development of the understanding of affective meaning in music was investigated. Subjects aged 4, 5, 6, and 19 assigned verbal labels to musical segments previously determined by adults to be representative of one of four affects (happy, sad, angry, afraid). Analysis of correct interpretations and errors revealed a pattern of interactions among age, sex, and affect indicating that the ability to verbalize an understanding of affective meaning in music consistent with that of adult subjects is present during the preschool years. Age-related similarities in performance, as well as differences favoring both younger and older subjects, were observed and were discussed in relation to recent research in, and theories of, affective development and communication.The authors thank H. Julia Hannay, Edward Kemery, Shiela MacDonald, and Robert McGrath for their assistance in this research. The conceptual inspiration of Joseph Intrieri is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank Leslie Brody, Robin Hornik, and several anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier draft of the paper. Portions of this research were presented at the Southeastern Conference on Human Development, Baltimore, April 1982.     

Religion,Type A behavior,and health

In a study of air traffic controllers, religious differences are found in the way Type A behavior is associated with several health status indicators. Associations between the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) and physical illness incidence, health-promotive behavior, diastolic and systolic blood pressure, subjective distress and impulse control problems, and alcohol consumption are examined by religious attendance, religious affiliation, and change in affiliation. Findings confirm that Type A does not vary significantly by religion. However, there are several significant findings between Type A and various health indicators. Type A is associated with illness incidence, overall and more strongly in several religion, subgroups. Type A and alcohol consumption are related positively in Protestants and converts, and negatively in churchgoing Catholics. Type A is related to impulse control problems in churchgoing Protestants and to subjective distress in churchgoing Catholics. Finally, in individuals with weak or no religious ties, Type A is associated with lower blood pressure. This last finding suggests that in some people (for example, the irreligious or unchurched), the coronary-prone behavior pattern may have cardiovascular effects which are salutary in at least one respect.The authors wish to thank Dr. Kyriakos S. Markides and Laura A. Ray for their assistance with this study. Address requests for reprints to Dr. Levin at the Institute of Gerontology, 300 North Ingalls, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.