Examination of efficacious,efficient, and socially valid error‐correction procedures to teach sight words and prepositions to children with autism spectrum disorder

Prior research shows that learners have idiosyncratic responses to error‐correction procedures during instruction. Thus, assessments that identify error‐correction strategies to include in instruction can aid practitioners in selecting individualized, efficacious, and efficient interventions. The current investigation conducted an assessment to compare 5 error‐correction procedures that have been evaluated in the extant literature and are common in instructional practice for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Results showed that the assessment identified efficacious and efficient error‐correction procedures for all participants, and 1 procedure was efficient for 4 of the 5 participants. To examine the social validity of error‐correction procedures, participants selected among efficacious and efficient interventions in a concurrent‐chains assessment. We discuss the results in relation to prior research on error‐correction procedures and current instructional practices for learners with ASD.     

Sanctification of life and health: insights from the landmark spirituality and health survey

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between sanctification of life and health. Sanctification is defined as a process through which aspects of life are perceived as having divine character and significance. A latent variable model was created to test the following hypotheses that link sanctification with health: (1) people who attend worship services more often are more likely to develop a sanctified view of life; (2) individuals who develop a sanctified view of life are likely to be more compassionate, (3) people who are more compassionate will provide more emotional support to others, (4) providing more support to others will be associated with a greater sense of meaning in life, and (5) people who have derived a deeper sense of meaning in life will enjoy better health. Data from a new cross-sectional nationwide survey (N?=?2932) provide support for each of these hypotheses.     

Reflections on a Community Psychology Setting and the Future of the Field

The 50th anniversary of the Swampscott Conference offers an opportunity to reflect on a community psychology setting, The Consultation Center at Yale, that was formed in response to the 1963 Community Mental Health Act and the 1965 Swampscott Conference. The Center has flourished as a community psychology setting for practice, research, and training for 39 of the 50 years since Swampscott. Its creation and existence over this period offers an opportunity for reflection on the types of settings needed to sustain the field into the future.     

It’s in the means: Process focus helps against procrastination in the academic context

Two studies tested the hypotheses (1) that focusing on the process of goal pursuit is associated with lower levels of procrastination and (2) that this relationship is moderated by fear of failure and task aversiveness. Study 1 used a between-subjects design with hypothetical scenarios (N = 92). Study 2 used a 5-week longitudinal within-subject design in a real-life context (N = 50). Both studies found converging evidence for the main-effect hypothesis, that is, process focus is negatively associated with procrastination in the academic context (e.g., studying for an exam). Process focus was also negatively related to task aversiveness and fear of failure. However, findings regarding moderation effects of fear of failure and task aversiveness were mixed. Taken together, findings support the hypothesis that the cognitive representation of a goal primarily in terms of its means (i.e., process focus) versus its outcome is related to less procrastination: Focusing on the process of a task can help to reduce procrastination.     

Predicting Self‐Confident Behaviour with Implicit and Explicit Self‐Esteem Measures

The present research compared the validity of popular direct and indirect measures of self‐esteem in predicting self‐confident behaviour in different social situations. In line with behavioural dual‐process models, both implicit and explicit self‐esteem were hypothesized to be related to appearing self‐confident to unacquainted others. A total of 127 participants responded to the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale, the Multidimensional Self‐Esteem Scale, and an adjective scale for measuring explicit self‐esteem (ESE). Participants' implicit self‐esteem (ISE) was assessed with four indirect measures: the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the name‐letter task (NLT), and two variants of an affective priming task, the reaction‐time affective priming task (RT‐APT) and the error‐based affective priming task (EB‐APT). Self‐confident behaviour was observed in four different social situations: (i) self‐introduction to a group; (ii) an ostracism experience; (iii) an interview about the ostracism experience; and (iv) an interview about one's personal life. In general, appearing self‐confident to unknown others was independently predicted by ESE and ISE. The indirect measures of self‐esteem were, as expected, not correlated, and only the self‐esteem APTs—but not the self‐esteem IAT or the NLT—predicted self‐confident behaviours. It is important to note that in particular the predictive power of the self‐esteem EB‐APT pertained to all four criteria and was incremental to the ESE measures. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Readiness for Change: Involving the Family with Adolescents in Residential Settings

Adolescence is a pivotal time in human development and can be a challenging time for individuals to learn to regulate emotions, while also balancing biopsychosocial changes. The family plays a key role in an adolescent’s development. Thus, it is imperative for families to remain involved when adolescents are in residential treatment for emotional or behavioral issues. In this paper, we explore the benefits of, and methods for, increasing the identified patient’s (i.e., the adolescent’s) and the family’s readiness for change. The process of increasing family engagement in residential treatment is considered through the lens of the Stages of Change model. Barriers practitioners may face with adolescents and their families are also addressed.     

Justice as the Practice of Non-Coercive Action: A Study of John Dewey and Classical Daoism

In this essay, I will argue for an understanding of justice that is grounded in our imperfect world by drawing upon the works of John Dewey and the Classical Daoist philosophers. It will require a reconstructed understanding of persons as a field/continuum of interrelations and an updated understanding of human action and agency. This understanding of justice takes the form of non-coercive action, interaction that respects the particularity of each lived situation. The practice culminates in an ability to respond to the environment considered to be ziran (自然) or ‘self-so’ by the Daoist Philosophers. As described in the Dao De Jing, it is the cultivation of the ‘Three Jewels of the Dao’, the most central of them being compassion making, this practice of justice as non-coercive action also understandable as the practice of compassion as described by the Classical Daoist philosophers.     

Remarks On Quantum Ontology

Despite the discrepancies between quantum objects and `classical' ones, mainly with regard to the fact that the latter may be thought of as `individuals', contrary to the former, we still regard the quanta as `things' in our ordinary discourse as well as in the logico-mathematical basis of quantum theories. This paper considers some possibilities for accomodating the logico-mathematical framework of the theories which deal with such a strange ontology where the inhabitants are things devoid of identity and both having and not having certain properties.``All right', said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.``Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin', thought Alice, ``but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!'Lewis Carroll