Top-down contingencies in peripheral cuing: The roles of color and location

According to contingent-processing accounts, peripheral cuing effects are due to the cues' inadvertent selection for processing by control settings set up for targets (e.g., C. L. Folk, R. W. Remington, & J. C. Johnston, 1992). Consequently, cues similar to targets should have stronger effects than do dissimilar cues. In the current study, this prediction is confirmed for cue-target combinations similar or dissimilar in the static features of color (Experiments 1-3) and location (Experiment 4), even when both cues and targets share the dynamic feature of abrupt onset. Perceptual priming (Experiment 2) and reallocation of attention did not account for similar-dissimilar differences (Experiments 3 and 4). The results are best explained by top-down-contingent attentional effects of the similar cues. Implications for bottom-up accounts of peripheral cuing effects are discussed. ((c) 2003 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gewaltprävention statt Präventivschlag

Die Psychotherapie -     

Working memory capacity and self-regulatory behavior: toward an individual differences perspective on behavior determination by automatic versus controlled processes

In the present research, the authors investigated how individual differences in working memory capacity moderate the relative influence of automatic versus controlled precursors on self-regulatory behavior. In 2 studies, on sexual interest behavior (Study 1) and the consumption of tempting food (Study 2), automatic attitudes toward the temptation of interest had a stronger influence on behavior for individuals who scored low rather than high in working memory capacity. Analogous results emerged in Study 3 on anger expression in a provoking situation when a measure of the automatic personality trait of angriness was employed. Conversely, controlled dispositions such as explicit attitudes (Study 1) and self-regulatory goals (Studies 2 and 3) were more effective in guiding behavior for participants who scored high rather than low in working memory capacity. Taken together, these results demonstrate the importance of working memory capacity for everyday self-regulation and suggest an individual differences perspective on dual-process or dual-system theories of human behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Faustlos: Evaluation of a curriculum to prevent violence in elementary schools

The “Faustlos”¹ curriculum, an adaptation of the American Second Step program, for the prevention of aggressive behaviors of elementary school children was evaluated in a 3-year control group study (30 classes served as an experimental group, 14 classes as a control group). The results show significant changes in the emotional competences and prosocial developments of children aged 6–9 years. Children who participated in the “Faustlos” lessons showed significantly reduced anxiety and internalizing behaviors compared with the control group. The parents’ ratings of their children's behavior (according to the Child Behavior Checklist) provided clear evidence of improved social behavior outside the school environment.     

Rezension

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Attribution theories of lay epistemology?

Different attribution theories differ from each other less by their relation to different epistemic problems than by their taking account of different goals to which causal attributions can be functional. The process of causal attribution is influenced by the goals to which causal attributions are functional. A second criteria for differentiating attributions theories is that they proceed from different information bases.     

IMPROVING SOCIAL INTERACTION IN A CHRONIC PSYCHOTIC USING DISCRIMINATED AVOIDANCE (“NAGGING”): EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS AND GENERALIZATION

Three social-interaction behaviors of a withdrawn, chronic schizophrenic were increased using a discriminated avoidance (“nagging”) procedure. The three behaviors were: (a) voice volume loud enough so that two-thirds of his speech was intelligible at a distance of 3 m; (b) duration of speech of at least 15 sec; (c) placement of hands and elbows on the armrests of the chair in which he was sitting. “Nagging” consisted of verbal prompts to improve performance when the behaviors did not meet their criteria. A combined withdrawal and multiple-baseline design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure, and the contingency was sequentially applied to each of the three behaviors in each of four different interactions to determine the degree of stimulus and response generalization. Results indicated that the contingency was the effective element in increasing the patient's appropriate performance, and that there was a high degree of stimulus generalization and a moderate degree of response generalization. After the patient's discharge from the hospital, the durability of improvement across time and setting was determined in followup sessions conducted at a day treatment center and at a residential care home. Volume and duration generalized well to the new settings, while arm placement extinguished immediately.