A comparison of blocked and mixed‐trial methods for teaching auditory–visual discriminations

Behavior analysts typically teach conditional discriminations in a mixed‐trial format but may switch to a blocked‐trial format for learners displaying limited acquisition. No known research has shown that mixed‐trial methods are more effective or efficient than blocked‐trial methods for teaching discriminations, so it is not clear why this format has been adopted as the “first‐line” intervention. We compared blocked and mixed‐trial formats for teaching novel auditory–visual discriminations to three adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Results show blocked‐trial methods resulted in faster skill acquisition in all cases, suggesting this format may be a preferable starting point for instruction.     

How Cognitive Behavioural,Rational Emotive Behavioural or Multimodal Coaching could Prevent Mental Health Problems,Enhance Performance and Reduce Work Related Stress

This case study describes the therapeutic work with a client suffering from depression. A cognitive approach was used and a brief summary of the problem and the therapy is outlined. The client had suffered from procrastination for a long time and this was one of the key areas to be addressed in therapy. This case is presented to highlight that cognitive behavioural, rational emotive behavioural or multimodal coaching may be able to prevent mental health problems. It is possible that the client’s problem with procrastination could have been tackled in psychologically based coaching at an earlier stage. Psychological coaching could have provided the client with tools to deal with the procrastination and increase her self-awareness. This could have prevented the development of the depression or helped the client to intervene at an earlier stage.

“To Protect and to Serve?”: An Exploration of Police Conduct in Relation to the Gay,Lesbian, Bisexual,and Transgender Community

While there are studies that focus specifically on hate crimes, especially anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender motivated violence, little research has been done to examine the role that law enforcement officials play in responding to crimes related to the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender (GLBT) community. This study, therefore, attempts to do just that. Using traditional content-analysis techniques, we examine 1,896 incident reports that were collected by a GLBT advocacy group in Minnesota, between 1990 and 2000, to begin to understand the range of police responses in relation to the GLBT community. Results indicate that while police conduct improved, negative responses and behaviors on the part of law enforcement officials outnumbered positive responses. The most common complaint by Helpline callers was inadequate response by the police; there were also numerous callers indicating that they were further victimized at the hands of the law enforcement officials. The data suggest a continued need for the education of law enforcement officials regarding issues facing the GLBT community, advocacy for victims of crime who are many times reluctant to report an incident to the police and increased attention to issues of oversight and accountability for officers who are responding to calls for help from the GLBT community.

Dieting behaviors, body shape perceptions, and body satisfaction: cross-cultural differences in Argentinean and Swedish 13-year-olds

This exploratory study represents a cross-cultural effort to examine differences in dieting practices and weight loss attempts, perceived body shape, and body satisfaction between young Argentinean and Swedish adolescents. The study group consisted of 358 Argentinean (193 girls, 165 boys) and 874 Swedish (474 girls, 400 boys) 13-year-olds. A main finding was that Argentinean and Swedish adolescents did not differ on body satisfaction, although girls in both countries displayed greater body dissatisfaction than did boys. Dieting and weight loss attempts were more prevalent among the Argentinean adolescents, especially among girls, and did not appear to depend on overweight or perception of body shape. The samples also differed in their perceptions of body shape and the effect those perceptions had on their body satisfaction, with Swedish adolescents suffering more from negative body shape perceptions.     

Individual differences in imagery and reports of aversions

Recent theoretical models highlighting the role of imagery in trauma and aversion learning focus on the role of images in memory (e.g., Brewin, Dalgleish, & Joseph, 1996) and images as substitute stimuli in aversive conditioning (Dadds, Bovbjerg, Redd, & Cutmore, 1997). An unanswered question is whether individual differences in imagery are associated with different rates of traumatisation and aversion states (fear and avoidance of various stimuli). We examine one aspect of this: does high imagery ability correlate with the frequency with which people report aversions? Three samples of university students were tested on the Betts Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery, the Tellegen Absorption Scale, and a new measure we designed to sample of range of aversions. As hypothesised, vividness of imagery showed positive correlations with number of aversions reported. This relationship held after controlling for general neuroticism and proneness to disgust. Results for absorption showed no relationship. The results are unable to disentangle causal paths but suggest a focus on individual differences in imagery vividness may be fruitful for understanding individual differences in aversion learning.     

Initiation of Reflective Frames in Counseling for Huntingtons Disease Predictive Testing

Genetic professionals and clients are likely to assign different meanings to the extended format of the counseling protocols for predictive testing. In order to facilitate informed, client-centered decisions about the possibility of predictive testing, counselors routinely use the question format to initiate what we call "reflective frames" that invite clients to discuss their feelings and encourage them to adopt introspective and self-reflective stances toward their own experience--spanning the past, the present, and the hypothetical future. We suggest that such initiations of reflective frames constitute a key element of counselors' nondirective stance, although the exact nature of their formulations can be complex and varied. Examining 24 Huntington's Disease (HD) clinic sessions involving 12 families in South Wales with the tools of discourse analysis, our focus in this paper is twofold: (i) to propose a classification of six types of reflective questions (e.g. nonspecific invites, awareness and anxiety, decision about testing, impact of result, dissemination, and other) and to examine their distribution across the various clinic appointments, and (ii) to investigate the scope of these questions in terms of temporal and social axes. We link our analysis to the current debate within the genetic counseling profession about the merits of reflection- versus information-focused counseling styles and the need to abide by professionally warranted and institutionally embedded counseling protocols.     

Autonomy gone awry: a cross-cultural study of parents’ experiences in neonatal intensive care units

This paper examines parents experiences of medical decision-making and coping with having a critically ill baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) from a cross-cultural perspective (France vs. U.S.A.). Though parents experiences in the NICU were very similar despite cultural and institutional differences, each system addresses their needs in a different way. Interviews with parents show that French parents expressed overall higher satisfaction with the care of their babies and were better able to cope with the loss of their child than American parents. Central to the French parents perception of autonomy and their sense of satisfaction were the strong doctor–patient relationship, the emphasis on medical certainty in prognosis versus uncertainty in the American context, and the sentimental work" provided by the team. The American setting, characterized by respect for parental autonomy, did not necessarily translate into full parental involvement in decision-making, and it limited the rapport between doctors and parents to the extent of parental isolation. This empirical comparative approach fosters a much-needed critique of philosophical principles by underscoring, from the parents perspective, the lack of emotional work" involved in the practice of autonomy in the American unit compared to the paternalistic European context. Beyond theoretical and ethical arguments, we must reconsider the practice of autonomy in particularly stressful situations by providing more specific means to cope, translating the impersonal language of rights" and decision-making into trusting, caring relationships, and sharing the responsibility for making tragic choices.     

Dissociations between implicit and explicit memory in children: the role of strategic processing and the knowledge base

A review of the literature shows that explicit memory develops substantially from three years of age to adulthood, while implicit memory remains stable across this age range. Previously, this developmental dissociation has been attributed to different memory systems, or to confounds with perceptual vs. conceptual processing. Prompted by an alternative developmental framework, the experiments reported here provide evidence against both interpretations. Instead, it will be argued that (a) the implicit-explicit developmental dissociation reflects differences in strategic processing (strategy use and metamemory) across childhood and (b) that implicit memory can show development if a child's knowledge base in the tested domain is developing with age.     

Phantom ROC: Recollection rejection in a hybrid conjoint recognition signal detection model

The present experiments test predictions of dual process models with regards to recollection rejection using a model called phantom ROC. Participants studied pictures and then took a recognition test in which they were presented with targets (i.e., the exact picture presented), related lures (i.e., the same object but from a different angle), and unrelated lures (i.e., objects that had not been shown). For each item, participants answered both standard recognition and meaning recognition questions. In Experiment 1 participants studied pictures under either full attention or divided attention. In Experiment 2 some participants were told that no object was shown twice (i.e., mutual exclusivity instructions), while others were told that both camera angles might have been shown for some objects (no mutual exclusivity instructions). The present experiments provide three converging measures, all of which are consistent with dual process models that propose a recollection rejection mechanism.