The Dimensions Underlying Loneliness Counseling Interventions: A Multidimensional Scaling Solution

The purpose of this study was to investigate major dimensions affecting the acceptability of loneliness counseling interventions from the potential client's perspective and to compare the results with dimensions posited by theoretical models of treatment acceptability. Data were collected from 241 university students who were asked to sort loneliness counseling interventions on the basis of their similarities. Multidimensional scaling analyses revealed 4 dimensions underlying the acceptability of loneliness counseling interventions: the type of activity required by the intervention, the counselor-client relationship, the difficulty of the intervention, and the fit of the intervention to the problem.     

The mechanics of reinforcement

Mathematical principles of reinforcement were developed in order to (1) account for the interaction of target responding and other behavior; (2) provide a simple graphical representation; (3) deal with measurement artifacts; and (4) permit a coherent transition from a statics to a dynamics of behavior. Rats and pigeons were trained to make a target response while general activity was measured with a stabilimeter. The course of behavioral change was represented as a trajectory through a two-dimensional behavior space. The trajectories rotated toward or away from the target dimension as the coupling between the target response and the incentive was varied. Higher rates of reinforcement expanded the trajectories; satiation and extinction contracted them. Concavity in some trajectories provided data for a dynamic generalization of the model.