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.     

Cognitive mechanisms mediating the biasing effects of leader sex on ratings of leader behavior

The present study examined the effects of the sex of the leader, the sex of the rater, and the temporal position of leader performance information on ratings of leader behavior. Male and female subjects listened to an audiotape of a male or female leader and then rated the leader's initiating structure and consideration behaviors. The position of the leader performance information was manipulated by describing the leader as successful before or after raters listened to the audiotape or not presenting raters with the performance information. Analyses indicated that the sex of the leader and/or sex of the rater biased ratings of initiating structure when the performance information was presented after the audiotape and when no leader performance information was presented. Consideration ratings were affected only by the position of the leader performance information. The results are interpreted within a cognitive/implicit sex theory framework. Implications for leadership research are also discussed.Portions of the data analyzed in this study were collected by the second author as part of a master's thesis directed by Joseph A. Sgro.     

Gender roles,biological sex,and predisposition to conflict management

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the Communication-Conflict Instrument were administered to 182 husbands and wives. Results suggest that gender-role classification is a more significant discriminator of communication behavior than is biological sex. Androgynous spouses, more than feminine though not significantly more so than masculine spouses, reported themselves to be the most disposed to handle conflict constructively. On the subscales of the conflict instrument, androgynous persons had significantly more positive feelings scores than either masculine or feminine persons, plus higher task energy and desire-for-control scores than feminine persons. Similarly, masculine persons reported a significantly greater predisposition to manage conflict constructively than did feminine persons, having higher task energy and desire-for-control scores. Undifferentiated persons reported the lowest scores for conflict management.     

Achromatic color categories

Sternheim and Boynton’s (1966) continuous judgmental color-naming technique was used to assess the elemental nature of achromatic colors. Results from three subjects indicate that the names “black” and “white” are necessary and sufficient to describe achromatic test lights associated with the name “gray.” On the basis of the criteria that establishes a color as elemental, black and white were confirmed as elemental, whereas gray was not. These findings support the assumption of various opponent processing models that there are only two elemental achromatic sensations. In addition, the results support Hering’s (1920) view that black and white differ from the paired-chromatic opponent colors in that they are not mutually exclusive.     

The perceived support network inventory

The development and psychometric investigation of the Perceived Support Network Inventory (PSNI), a measure of perceived social support, is described. A group of 146 introductory psychology students participated in a test-retest study design that collected reliability, internal consistency, and construct, convergent, and discriminant validity data on the scale. In addition, a contrast group of 28 Counseling Center clients was administered the PSNI. Test-retest reliability of the PSNI total score and subscale scores ranged from .72 to .88. Internal consistency for the PSNI was .77. Construct validity estimates ranged from .21 to .57. Convergent validity estimates varied from -.25 to .20. Discriminant validity estimates varied from -.11 to .19. Sample differences between introductory psychology student mean PSNI total and subscale scores and Counseling Center client mean PSNI total and subscale scores proved significant. Recommendations for subsequent research and future application are offered.     

An investigation of planned helping behavior

It is argued that stable, individual differences in helping behavior have not generally been observed in previous research because of the type of helping studied. This paper advocates the study of planned helping behavior as opposed to spontaneous helping behavior. The results of three studies are reported. In Study 1, an instrument designed to measure level of involvement in planned helping activities was developed. Scores on this instrument were found to be stable over a 7-month period. Further analysis revealed two major types of planned helping: (a) formal, organizational helping and (b) informal helping between friends and family. Study 2 examined a variety of intrapsychic and demographic correlates of formal and informal planned helping. Study 3 found support for the hypothesis that people in helping professions have higher levels of involvement in everyday planned helping than do people in nonhelping occupations. It is concluded that the study of planned helping, although posing methodological difficulties, is a necessary adjunct to experimental research.     

CORRESPONDENCE TRAINING: AN EXAMPLE OF RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR?

Two groups of six mentally retarded adults were exposed to either a “say/do” correspondence training program or a “do only” reinforcement procedure to evaluate the suggestion of Rogers-Warren and Baer (1976) that reinforcement of the nonverbal target behavior in the absence of the relevant verbal behavior may account for the behavior changes seen in correspondence training. The participants worked in an experimental setting on a variety of manipulatory responses leading to various auditory and visual consequences. Analysis of individual patterns of responding indicated no apparent differences between the groups during training; four individuals in each group appeared to develop generalized correspondence skills. We conclude that the outcome of correspondence training may not necessarily be verbal regulation of behavior as is assumed. Rather, we suggest that the notion of rule-governed behavior can best account for the type of behavior changes seen in correspondence studies.     

Neuroticism,Somatic Complaints,and Disease: Is the Bark Worse than the Bite?

Perhaps because negative emotions are frequently expressed in physiological reactions, psychosomatic theories have often identified Neuroticism and its component traits (including anxiety, anger, and depression) as causal influences on the development of disease. These views are apparently supported by correlations between physical symptom reports and measures of Neuroticism in males. Data from 347 adult women in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging replicate this finding for total physical complaints and for most body systems. However, analyses of mortality in the literature and in the present article show no influence of Neuroticism, suggesting that symptom reporting may be biased by Neuroticism-related styles of perceiving and reporting physiological experiences. Researchers in this area are urged to employ objective measures of medical status, and to be alert to possible biases of self-selection and selective perception in interpreting associations between Neuroticism and disease.