An assessment of social validity trends in applied behavior analysis

Research articles published during the first 31 years of Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis were assessed for reports of social validity measures. Two measures of social validity (treatment outcome and treatment acceptability) were assessed for each article. In addition, articles were assessed for the incorporation of analog versus naturalistic settings. Overall, treatment outcome and acceptability measures were reported in less than 13% of articles. In addition, studies conducted in naturalistic settings were more likely to report social validity measures than studies conducted in analog settings. Possible reasons for the deficit in the reporting of social validity measures and potential outcomes of this deficit are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Behavioral skills training to increase interview skills of adolescent males in a juvenile residential treatment facility

Some studies suggest that acquiring employment following release from prison may reduce recidivism; however, few studies have evaluated procedures for teaching job-related skills to adolescents in residential detention facilities. Stocco et al. (2017) used behavioral skills training (BST) to improve interview skills of college students. The current study used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the extent to which BST improved interview skills for 7 adolescents who had been adjudicated for sexual offenses. Results show that BST increased appropriate responses to interview questions for 4 students and BST plus modifications (i.e., stimulus and response prompts) increased correct responding to questions for the other 3. In addition, BST increased appropriate questions, correct posture, and smiling, and decreased fidgeting for all 7 students. We briefly discuss the social implications of teaching interview skills to adjudicated adolescents, as well as the limitations of the findings.     

Non-directive play therapy as a means of recreating optimal infant socialization patterns

The paper proposes that non-directive play therapy recreates conditions similar to those created between a carer and infant during normal development. By the heightening in therapy of essentially normal developmental processes the child with harmful or inadequate relationship experiences is enabled to rework and reintegrate these into normal interactiv patterns. Ways are reviewed in which non-directive play therapy exemplifies important attachment properties in an individual's primary relationships, and recreates healthy carer-infant patterns of interaction such as topicsharing, face-to-face interactions, mutuality and symbolic play, in order to bring about therapeutic change. This primary corrective function is similar to other responsive therapeutic approaches, but it is argued that a particular strength of non-directive play therapy lies in its inherent flexibility and responsiveness to the individual child, which resembles normal infant socialization with a sensitive carer.     

When Good Feelings Turn Mixed: Affective Dynamics and Big Five Trait Predictors of Mixed Emotions in Daily Life

In this study, we examine how daily life fluctuations in positive affect (PA) and negative afect (NA) relate to mixed emotions—that is, simultaneous positive and negative feelings. We utilised three experience sampling studies (total N = 275), in which participants reported their affect 10 times each day for up to 14 days. Because people generally experience fairly stable moderate levels of PA in daily life, we proposed that mixed emotions would typically occur when NA increases and overlaps with, but does not entirely eliminate, PA. Accordingly, within individuals, we found that mixed emotions in daily life were more strongly predicted by changes in NA and the occurrence of negative events than by changes in PA and positive events. At the between-person level, individuals with more variable NA, more stable PA, and higher trait Neuroticism scores experienced higher average levels of mixed emotions. Further, we found evidence that the average magnitude of NA increases may partially mediate the association between Neuroticism and mixed emotions. We also found that positive predictors of mixed emotions are negative predictors of individuals' within-person PA/NA correlations—that is, affective synchrony. Our findings elucidate trait predictors and affective dynamics of daily life mixed emotions, which appear closely intertwined with NA variability. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Functional belief and judgmental belief

Synthese - A division between functional (animal) belief, on the one hand, and judgmental (reflective) belief, on the other, is central to Sosa’s two-tier virtue epistemology. For Sosa, mere...     

Daddy,daddy cool: stallion–foal relationships in a socially-natural herd of Exmoor ponies

Animal Cognition - Different forms of direct paternal investment have been described in mammals. One such species where paternal care was noticed, but remains poorly understood, is the horse (Equus...     

Religion and Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Objectives: To determine whether cardiovascular-disease risk-factor profiles of majority-church members differ from those of non-church members we examined a large population-based random sample. Methods: Data from the two cross-sectional surveys of the Pawtucket Heart Health Program conducted in 1981–82 (n = 2442) and 1983–84 (n = 2799) were evaluated. Trained interviewers collected physiological measures including height, weight, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and a small blood sample (for total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein). Smoking, exercise, sociodemographics, and church membership were determined by self-report. Results: Church members were older, more likely to be female, Portuguese, married, have more people living in their households, and were also more likely to be greater than 20% overweight. Forty-eight percent of church members reported never having smoked cigarettes compared to 35.4% of non-church members. Differences in systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol were attributable to age, sex, and ethnicity. Conclusions: Aside from cigarette-smoking status and body-mass index, the risk profile of the two groups was not different, indicating that health-promotion interventions geared to the general population may not need to be tailored too extensively for members of religious organizations based on health status. On the other hand, the demographic differences and easy access to entire families may require more attention.     

Disengagement Training for the Treatment of Pathological Worry: A Preliminary Test

Pathological worry is characterized by an inability to distract or disengage from worry, and this uncontrollability is the defining feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The present study assessed a novel computerized strategy that targets these attention difficulties. Worry Disengagement Training (WDT), which involves alternating between writing about one’s worry and positive topics, was evaluated in a sample with elevated worry (N = 50), most of whom met for GAD diagnosis (66%). Compared to waitlist, WDT led to increased ability to disengage from in vivo worry on a breath focus task, resulting in fewer negative intrusions (β = -.29, p = .02; sr² = .08). Relative to waitlist, WDT also led to lower self-reported general worry (β = -.36, p = .001, sr² = .14) and depressive symptoms (β = -.25, p = .02, sr² = .07). These effects remained in the subset of participants meeting criteria for GAD. WDT did not impact anxious arousal, suggesting some specificity of effects. These findings provide preliminary support for WDT as an effective strategy to increase disengagement ability and reduce worry and depression. Limitations and future directions are discussed.