Training Public School Special Educators to Implement Two Functional Analysis Models

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and efficiency of a training package to teach public school special educators to conduct functional analyses of challenging behavior. Six public school educators were divided into two cohorts of three and were taught two models of functional analysis of challenging behavior: traditional and trial-based functional analysis. The effect of the training package on functional analysis implementation was evaluated using multiple-baseline designs across participants for each functional analysis model. The sequence of functional analysis models taught was counterbalanced across cohorts. Following the training package, all participants reached 100 % implementation fidelity during role-plays and classroom sessions with students, and maintained high fidelity at follow-up role-play sessions. Data on training duration, trials to criterion, and social validity revealed that trial-based functional analysis training had a shorter duration and was rated as the more favorable functional analysis model.     

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Morningside Math Facts Curriculum on Fluency,Stability, Endurance and Application Outcomes

A randomized controlled trial was used to evaluate the impact of a frequency-building curriculum to increase the fluency of component mathematics skills in a sample of 28 males aged 9–11 years. Assessments of mathematical ability were conducted before and after the training period to evaluate the impact of learning component skills fluently on endurance, stability and application of mathematical skills. Statistically significant differences between the experimental training group and treatment-as-usual control group were found on measures of fluency, endurance, stability and one subtest of the Wechsler Individual Achievement test of mathematical ability. Results indicate the efficacy of the frequency-building curriculum in promoting fluency with component skills. Results are discussed in light of research and theory in the area of instructional design and behavioral fluency enhancement.     

Toward an integrative,pluralistic psychology: On the hermeneutico-dialogical conditions of the possibility for overcoming fragmentation

While casting the long-standing problem of fragmentation in a new light, the recent resurgence of interest in pluralism also poses fresh challenges regarding how this pluralism is to be harnessed in the service of integration. In response, the present paper seeks to vindicate the merits of, and to elaborate on the possibilities inherent in, the hermeneutico-dialogical proposal proffered by Yanchar, Slife and associates over a decade ago, but whose potential has remained underexplored in the intervening period. More specifically, the aim is to gain a renewed hearing for this proposal by foregrounding its distinctive possibilities as a means of harnessing pluralism in the interests of overcoming fragmentation. To this end, following a brief review of the status of the problem, I revisit the merits of integrative pluralism as a response to fragmentation as a prelude to elaborating on how the hermeneutico-dialogical proposal can facilitate this. Thereafter, I focus on elucidating the conditions of the possibility for engaging in the requisite sort of dialogical interaction, and expanding on its epistemological, methodological, and ontological underpinnings. The paper concludes with a brief defense of the practical viability of this proposal in response to anticipated charges of utopianism.     

Conceptions of Research Methods Learning Among Psychology Undergraduates: A Q Methodology Study*

Abstract

A range of conceptions held about research methods learning have previously been identified. This study aimed to examine in-depth shared conceptions among undergraduate psychology students. Utilizing Q methodology, which links both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to uncover the subjective viewpoints that a group of individuals hold toward a particular domain, participants ranked statements reflecting different conceptions of research methods learning. Ranks were then factor analyzed and four distinct profiles of student conceptions were identified, labelled, and described in qualitative detail: research methods as integral to psychology, research methods as a digression from psychology, research methods as disconnected from psychology, and research methods as beneficial to psychology. Some of the perspectives displayed a clear understanding about the reasons for undertaking research and learning about research methods in psychology, whereas other standpoints saw research as being something that was difficult to relate to the practice of psychology. Findings are considered in terms of how some conceptions appear to be more beneficial or problematic to hold than others and recommendations are made to educators about how they could support students to change their views.     

Prejudice,polyculturalism, and the influence of contact and moral exclusion: A comparison of responses toward LGBI,TI, and refugee groups

Prejudice toward marginalized groups is recognized as a complex and harmful social issue. The present study investigates the role of polyculturalism in undermining prejudice toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people and refugees. A pilot study (N = 76) compared participants' prejudice, contact, and moral exclusion toward lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) and transgender or intersex (TI) people. There were differences for three out of four variables; thus, LGB and TI variables were separated in the study proper (N = 154). In this study, we investigated moral exclusion and contact (quantity and quality) relating to LGB, TI, and refugee groups as simultaneous mediators of the relationship between polyculturalism and prejudice, while taking into account openness as per previous research. Structural equation modeling indicated that moral exclusion and contact quality acted as mediators between polyculturalism and prejudice for LGB people, TI people, and refugees.     

Contextual memory and skill transfer in category search

In three experiments, we examined transfer and contextual memory in a category search task. Each experiment included two phases (training and test), during which participants searched through category and exemplar menus for targets. In Experiment 1, the targets were from one of two domains during training (grocery store or department store); the domain was either the same or changed at test. Also, the categories were organized in one of two ways (alphabetically or semantically); the organization either remained the same or changed at test. In Experiments 2 and 3, domain and organization were held constant; however, categories or exemplars were the same, partially replaced, or entirely replaced across phases in order to simulate the dynamic nature of category search in everyday situations. Transfer occurred at test when the category organization or domain was maintained and when the categories or exemplars matched (partially or entirely) those at training. These results demonstrate that transfer is facilitated by overlap in training and testing contexts.     

Exploring specificity of speeded aiming movements: Examining different measures of transfer

Participants were trained and tested to move a mouse cursor from a start position to targets on a circular display in a perceptual-motor reversal condition, with horizontal, but not vertical, reversals. During training, some participants (experimental) moved to two targets either along a single diagonal axis (D1) or along both axes (D2). For D2, return movements from the targets were in the same direction as instructed movements to unpracticed targets. Others (control) trained on all targets. Testing always involved all targets. At test, movement times (to reach the target after leaving the start position) were shorter on trained than on untrained targets, especially for the D1 condition, documenting training specificity. However, movement times in the experimental conditions to new targets during testing were shorter than those in the control condition during training, documenting transfer of learning, with more transfer for D2 than for D1. Initiation times (to leave the start position after target onset) showed no transfer. The results provide evidence that specificity and transfer are not mutually exclusive and depend on the measure used to assess performance.     

War and poverty

Philosophical Studies - Because the poorest people tend to die from easily preventable diseases, addressing poverty is a relatively cheap way to save lives. War, by contrast, is extremely...