Filmed treatment as an effective fear-reduction technique

The present study attempted to determine whether age and sex of a film model would differentially affect fear reduction in the viewing children. The experiment also tested the reactions of Ss to films using real feared objects versus films of simulated objects. Twenty-five fourth- and fifth-grade males who were fearful of snakes were shown a treatment film for a total of 10 minutes. Pretreatment and posttreatment tests included asking Ss to approach and handle a live 4-ft. boa constrictor. Results indicated that models' age and sex characteristics did not influence their effectiveness as behavior-change agents. It was found that the use of the real feared object in the treatment film was a more effective fear reducer than was a replica of the object.This paper is based on research supported in part by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant 03234 to Dr. James Bryan.Thanks are extended to Mr. James Fritts and the many other personnel from District 68 of Skokie, Illinois, who enabled us to perform this experiment.     

Race vs belief as determinants of attraction,in a group interaction context

Three experiments which tested the’ effects of race vs belief similarity as determinants of prejudiced responding in a live interaction situation,are reported. Two black and two white confederates engaged a white S in a discussion of an issue (ROTC in Experiments I and II and abortion in III). One white and one black confederate agreed with the S’s position and the other pair disagreed. Ss then rated all four confederates on a variety of scales. Results showed strong belief effects in all three experiments but very few race effects. A few measures showed a “renegade effect” against dissimilar white confederates. It was concluded that simply increasing the power and realism of the experimental situation does not in any important way increase the number of racially prejudiced responses. Some conditions which may elicit strong and consistent race prejudice effects are discussed.     

Psycholinguistic research in language intervention programming: The pronoun system

This paper presents a linguistic analysis of the pronoun system in terms of binary semantic and syntactic features. A model is presented which indicates how these features serve to differentiate among the members of this set. A hypothetical order of development of these features is proposed, supported by developmental data. Suggestions are made regarding the possible relationship of the pronoun system to other areas of language. Finally, proposals are presented for the development of pronoun training procedures within the context of language training programs.This research was supported in part by Speech and Hearing grant HD 05088 and in part by CORE grant HD 02528.     

Articulatory organization in the prefix effect

Neisser, Hoenig, and Goldstein (1969) reduced the “stimulus prefix effect” (diminished recall of seven digits preceded by a redundant prefix) when the redundant prefix and the recall digits were produced by different speakers. In the present studies, similar results were obtained using one speaker only, but with the prefix and recall digits spoken separately in different utterances and combined by tape splicing. The results support a hypothesis concerning the perception of intact, wholistically organized articulatory units. A second hypothesis, also based on the idea of intact articulatory units, was tested.     

An Investigation of Client and Counselor Variables That Influence Likelihood of Counselor Self-Disclosure

Selected client and counselor variables affecting reported likelihood of self-disclosure by 120 experienced clinicians in relation to four scenarios were examined. Variables included client age and diagnosis and counselor gender, experience, and exposure to disclosing counselors in their own experience of counseling. Disclosure likelihood was greatest for high ego-strength diagnoses and for respondents who reported positive disclosures from counselors in their own counseling experiences. Reasons for and against using self-disclosure also were examined. Reasons for disclosing included promoting universality, giving encouragement, modeling, rapport-building, and offering alternatives. Reasons against disclosing included boundary blurring, concern about counselor welfare, merging, and premature closure. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

AIDS Educator Effectiveness as a Function of Sexual Orientation and HIV Status1

This study investigated the effectiveness of an AIDS educator as a function of his HIV status and sexual orientation. A 2 × 2 factorial design was employed where 136 heterosexual undergraduates viewed I of 4 videotapes of an AIDS educator who introduced himself as either HIV positive or negative and either heterosexual or homosexual. The videos were identical except for the introduction. Results revealed that all videos increased knowledge about AIDS. However, students' perceptions of risk increased only when they believed the educator was HIV positive and heterosexual. Intentions to get tested for HIV increased when they perceived the educator as HIV positive but declined when they thought she was HIV negative. Results suggest the sexual orientation and HIV status of educators can impact their effectiveness.     

On the relevance of locus equations for production and perception of stop consonants

We examined the possible relevance of locus equations to human production and perception of stop consonants. The orderly output constraint (OOC) of Sussman, Frachter, and Cable (1995) claims that humans have evolved to produce speech such thatF2 at consonant release andF2 at vowel midpoint are linearly related for consonants so that developing perceptual systems can form representations in anF2 _ons-by-F2 _vowel space. The theory claims that this relationship described by locus equations can distinguish consonants, and that the linearity of locus equations is captured in neural representations and is thus perceptually relevant. We investigated these claims by testing how closely locus equations reflect the production and perception of stop consonants. In Experiment 1, we induced speakers to change their locus equation slope and intercept parameters systematically, but found that consonants remained distinctive in slope-by-intercept space. In Experiment 2, we presented stop-consonant syllables with their bursts removed to listeners, and compared their classification error matrices with the predictions of a model using locus equation prototypes and with those of an exemplar-based model that usesF2 _ons andF2 _vowel, but not locus equations. Both models failed to account for a large proportion of the variance in listeners’ responses; the locus equation model was no better in its predictions than the exemplar model. These findings are discussed in the context of the OOC.     

How controllable is occupational violence?

Occupational violence may be an issue in a number of workplaces, and be of two main sources—those sites where cash is handled, and sites with aggressive clients. Legal requirements make it mandatory for an employer to provide a safe workplace, but just how controllable is occupational violence? A risk management equation is developed to assist the manager to ascertain the level of risk for violence in the workplace.     

VARIANT AND INVARIANT HIGH-PROBABILITY REQUESTS: INCREASING APPROPRIATE BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN WITH EMOTIONAL-BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS

This study examined the effects of variant versus invariant high-probability (high-p) request sequences on the performance of requests to initiate a social bid by young children with emotional-behavioral disorders. In the initial phases of the investigation, a multiple baseline design showed that the delivery of invariant sequences (i.e., high-p requests delivered in the same sequence) produced initial increases in compliance to requests to initiate a social bid to a peer. However, increases were not maintained across the invariant condition. The delivery of variant high-p sequences produced increases in compliance to requests to initiate social bids that were maintained across the variant condition. In a follow-up condition, the number of requests within the pool of the variant and invariant high-p requests were controlled. Results of the follow-up condition replicated those found in the initial condition. Implications for applied use and future research are discussed.