The use of an intermittent schedule of reinforcement to evaluate detection dogs’ generalization from smokeless-powder

Animal Cognition - Odor generalization is essential for detection dogs. Regardless of its importance, limited research is available on detection dog odor generalization. The objectives of this...     

Maternal and Paternal Psychological Control Dimensions: Relations with Adolescent Outcomes

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Parental psychological control (PC) is an emotionally manipulative parenting behavior that is used to control adolescents’ thoughts, feelings, and...     

Stereotype susceptibility narrows the gender gap in imagined self-rotation performance

Three studies examined the impact of stereotype messages on men’s and women’s performance of a mental rotation task involving imagined self-rotations. Experiment 1 established baseline differences between men and women; women made 12% more errors than did men. Experiment 2 found that exposure to a positive stereotype message enhanced women’s performance in comparison with that of another group of women who received neutral information. In Experiment 3, men who were exposed to the same stereotype message emphasizing a female advantage made more errors than did male controls, and the magnitude of error was similar to that for women from Experiment 1. The results suggest that the gender gap in mental rotation performance is partially caused by experiential factors, particularly those induced by sociocultural stereotypes.     

The experience of receiving scholarship aid and its effect on future giving: a listening guide analysis

Why are there so many people who receive scholarship aid who do not give back to the schools that gave it? Social exchange theories grounded in the assumption of direct reciprocity have long been the framework used within higher education to understand donative behavior. As a result, conventional wisdom within higher education holds that recipients of scholarship aid will later donate money to the institution that provided it. However, the philanthropic data show that most aid recipients do not, in fact, give back. This study probes the underlying factors for this phenomenon by using the Listening Guide, a voice-centered relational method of discovery, to analyze and interpret interviews with 10 scholarship recipients. By providing a more robust understanding of the experience of receiving, the findings challenge some of the most basic psychological and sociological assumptions about giving and generosity within higher education.     

Textual demands of passages in three english/language arts common core assessments and one core literacy program for intermediate elementary grades

The Common Core has emphasized reading for comprehension, including making inferences. However, little is known about the textual demands found within assessment and instructional passages that are promoted as being in line with Common Core expectations. The purpose of this content analysis was to identify the readability levels, passage length, and types of inferences found within 72 fiction and nonfiction passages from the PARCC, Smarter Balanced, and SAGE Common Core assessments and one core literacy program, Journeys, for students in grades three, four, and five. Results show that the readability levels of passages in this study were written at higher levels than their associated grade levels. Anaphoric relationships were by far the most common inference type found in the texts, followed by Prior Knowledge and Retrospective inferences.     

Treatment of elopement following a latency‐based interview‐informed,synthesized contingency analysis

Using a latency measure during a functional analysis of problem behavior increases the brevity of the assessment period and decreases risks resulting from exposure to contexts intended to evoke problem behavior. In addition, latency‐based functional analyses may be especially suitable for discrete behaviors such as elopement, which require resetting the environment after each instance of the response. We evaluated a comprehensive assessment and treatment package for the elopement of two children diagnosed with autism. We observed short latencies to elopement during the test condition of the analysis and no elopement during the control condition. We then taught the participants multiple forms of functional communication responses of increasing complexity while elopement was blocked. This was followed by the thinning of reinforcement to a terminal goal, creating a treatment package that nearly eliminated elopement and was socially validated by caregivers.     

The development and validation of a measure of character: The CIVIC

The present research study sought to develop and validate a character scale – the Comprehensive Inventory of Virtuous Instantiations of Character using a total sample size of 3679 across five studies. In Study 1, character trait items were generated using an integrative classification system. In Study 2, character trait scales were further refined and their factor structure examined, revealing eight higher-order character dimensions or character cores: appreciation, intellectual engagement, fortitude, interpersonal consideration, sincerity, temperance, transcendence, and empathy. Study 3 established convergent validity of character traits with extant measures and discriminability from personality facets, social desirability, and moral cognitive development. Study 4 revealed that character cores were more strongly related to evaluative constructs than personality dimensions. Study 5 demonstrated that character cores predicted performance and psychological well-being outcomes above and beyond personality. The implications of our findings for the assessment and taxonomy of character are discussed.     

SOCIOEMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN TODDLERS WITH LANGUAGE DELAY

Toddlers with language delay are at risk for persistent developmental and behavioral difficulties; however, the association between socioemotional/behavior problems and language in young children is not well understood. This study explored socioemotional/behavior problems in a unique sample of toddlers with language delays using a measure developed explicitly for this age group. Toddlers identified by 18 months with receptive and expressive language delay (LD; n = 30) or typical development (TD; n = 61) were evaluated at 18 and 24 months of age using the Infant‐Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) and the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Compared to toddlers who had TD, toddlers with LD had significantly more concerning scores at 18 and 24 months on all ITSEA domains. The rate of “clinical concern” on most domains was not high in either group, except that >60% of LD toddlers were in the clinical concern range on the Competence domain. Socioemotional/behavioral problems were dimensionally related to receptive and expressive language, with greater language delay associated with more concerning ITSEA scores. Socioemotional and behavioral problems are related to receptive and expressive language abilities in 18‐ and 24‐month‐olds, indicating the need for screening of both types of concerns in toddlers identified with potential language delays.     

A Dyadic Perspective on Speech Accommodation and Social Connection: Both Partners' Rejection Sensitivity Matters

Findings from confederate paradigms predict that mimicry is an adaptive route to social connection for rejection‐sensitive individuals (Lakin, Chartrand, & Arkin, 2008). However, dyadic perspectives predict that whether mimicry leads to perceived connection depends on the rejection sensitivity (RS) of both partners in an interaction. We investigated these predictions in 50 college women who completed a dyadic cooperative task in which members were matched or mismatched in being dispositionally high or low in RS. We used a psycholinguistics paradigm to assess, through independent listeners' judgments (N = 162), how much interacting individuals accommodate phonetic aspects of their speech toward each other. Results confirmed predictions from confederate paradigms in matched RS dyads. However, mismatched dyads showed an asymmetry in levels of accommodation and perceived connection: Those high in RS accommodated more than their low‐RS partner but emerged feeling less connected. Mediational analyses indicated that low‐RS individuals' nonaccommodation in mismatched dyads helped explain their high‐RS partners' relatively low perceived connection to them. Establishing whether mimicry is an adaptive route to social connection requires analyzing mimicry as a dyadic process influenced by the needs of each dyad member.     

School-based mental health programming for children with inattentive and disruptive behavior problems: first-year treatment outcome

This article examines the effectiveness of an evidence-based behavioral treatment package for children with inattentive and disruptive behavior problems when delivered in the context of a school-based mental health program. Child symptomatology and functioning are assessed in a treatment group (n = 30) and a waitlist control group (n = 12) across multiple time points (fall, winter, and spring). Treatment includes a daily report card procedure, year-long teacher consultation, and parenting sessions. According to the parent report, treated children show marked reductions in hyperactive and impulsive, oppositional or defiant and aggressive behavior, and marked improvement in peer relationships. Teachers observe treatment-related group differences in inattention, academic functioning, and the student-teacher relationship. Feasibility and acceptability data have implications for transporting evidence-based treatments to community settings and for integrating mental health services into the culture of the school community.