BELIEF VS. COMMITMENT, VALIDITY VS. VALUE: A RESPONSE TO WARD GOODENOUGH

Abstract. This paper is on Ward Goodenough's recent article (27: 3), suggesting that his points can be clarified by reiterating the distinction between the realms of meaning and relevance. Religion's "truth" is in the form of its ualue; the "proof" which it requires is uindication; and the resulting "faith" must be understood as commitment.     

Effects of active student response during error correction on the acquisition and maintenance of geography facts by elementary students with learning disabilities

An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of Active Student Response (ASR) error correction and No Response (NR) error correction during instruction of the capitals of states and countries. Three students with learning disabilities were provided one-to-one daily instruction on four sets of 14 unknown capitals (7 ASR capitals and 7 NR capitals). Student errors during instruction on ASR capitals were immediately followed by the teacher stating the capital and the student repeating it (an active student response). Errors on NR capitals were immediately followed by the teacher stating the capital while the student visually attended to a geography card with the correct capital handwritten on it (an on-task response). During instruction each of the three students correctly stated more capitals taught with ASR instruction than he or she stated with NR error correction. Results of same-day and next-day tests show that all three students learned more capitals with ASR error correction than with NR error correction The students also correctly stated more ASR error correction capitals on 1-week maintenance tests.     

Offering predictive testing for Huntington disease in a medical genetics clinic: Practical applications

Predictive testing for Huntington disease is presently offered in a select few medical genetics centers in the United States. This is in part due to the labor intensive counseling and psychological testing suggested by the research protocols. We discuss some specific suggestions for establishing programs for Huntington disease predictive testing within pre-existing medical genetics clinics to encourage more centers to offer presymptomatic testing. This will allow more at risk individuals the opportunity to consider predictive testing and cut down the expenses of traveling to the few predictive testing centers that currently exist. The counseling principals will remain similar to those discussed here, even following the identification of the Huntington disease mutation.     

Parental assessment of the adjustment of children following abduction by the other parent

We present a multiple regression model that explores post-return adjustment of school-age children who experienced abduction by a parent. The model includes: a) child and family characteristics preceding abduction, b) characteristics of the abduction experience, and c) child and family characteristics following return. Overall, the model accounts for 21% of the variance in post-return adjustment of children (p.05). The most salient finding is that post-return adjustment of children was best explained by characteristics of the child and family before the abduction occurred. Domestic violence perpetrated by one or both parents was the most significant factor.     

Nonsuicidal physically self-damaging acts in adolescents

To determine the frequency and correlates of nonsuicidal physically self-damaging acts in 12–14 year olds, a two stage epidemiologic survey with a self-administered questionnaire (N=3283) followed by a psychiatric interview of a subsample of the adolescents and their parents (N=444) was used. Prevalence estimates of interview validated nonsuicidal physically self-damaging acts were 2.46% in males and 2.79% in females. Significant relationships were found between nonsuicidal physically self-damaging acts and suicidal ideation, major depression and undesirable life events. Data suggest that physically self-damaging acts occur at substantial rates during early adolescence. The strong correlation between nonsuicidal self-destructive acts and both suicidal ideation and major depression clarifies prior conflicting reports in the literature and suggests that a history of self-damaging acts should be taken into consideration when evaluating for possible depression and suicide risk.     

The aggression-coercion cycle: Use of seclusion and restraint in a child psychiatric hospital

The widespread use of seclusion and restraint in child psychiatric hospitals to manage aggression and noncompliance is based on the assumption that coercive consequences reduce the frequency of undesirable behaviors exhibited by the patients. We report a study of the use of seclusion and restraint in a public child psychiatric hospital during a 3-year period. Twenty-eight percent of the patients had been secluded or restrained a total of 1670 times. About 25% of these patients had been secluded more than five times during their hospitalization, and 32% had been placed in restraints more than once. Behaviors that typically resulted in repeated seclusion included physical aggression toward staff, verbal aggression toward peers, non-compliant or oppositional behavior, and self-harm. Variables that predicted patients most at risk for repeated seclusion included age, gender, and psychiatric diagnosis. The predictor variables for those most at risk for repeated restraint included age, property destruction, and self-harm. The high rates of use of seclusion and restraint suggest that these methods for controlling the behavior of children and adolescents in this child psychiatric hospital may not have been therapeutic. We suggest that staff in such hospitals engage in a pattern of behavior characterized by an aggression-coercion cycle, in which increasingly aggressive and coercive behaviors are exhibited by both patients and staff.     

MacLaboratory for Psychology: Successes,failures, economics,and outcomes over its decade of development

The history of the development of MacLaboratory for Psychology offers insights into both problems and solutions in academic software creation and implementation. Superficially, MacLaboratory for Psychology has been very successful, having garnered numerous acclamations, including two EDUCOM awards. It is used on thousands of Macintoshes at universities, hospitals, schools, and other institutions worldwide. However, there have also been some shortcomings to its use. In a candid discussion, successes, failures, the economics of software development, and student outcomes are addressed. Specific examples from the software as it has been used by over 10,000 undergraduates at Drexel University provide guidelines for future academic software in such domains as multimedia use, psychological and scientific education, classroom implementation, faculty research, and software support and maintenance.     

Lotus 1-2-3 simulation of frequency encoding on the basilar membrane

A spreadsheet simulation was designed to describe frequency encoding on the basilar membrane according to the place theory (Greenwood, 1961). For any given frequency, the simulation displayed the location of maximum amplitude on the basilar membrane and the relevant critical bandwidth. The authors found a very high correlation between data given by the simulation and data from empirical research. The high correlation indicates the validity of the place theory of frequency encoding and the usefulness of this simulation for future research purposes.