Attitudinal qualities relating to the strength of the attitude-behavior relationship

A study was conducted to examine the relation between each of several attitudinal qualities and attitude-behavior consistency. Subjects' attitudes toward volunterring to participate in psychological research were assessed. The number of experiments in which each subject volunteered to participate was employed as the measure of behavior. Attitude-behavior consistency was significantly related to (1) the amount of direct experience upon which the subject's attitude was based (specifically, the number of experiments in which the subject had previously participated), (2) the degree of certainty with which the attitude was held, and (3) how well-defined the subject's attitude was, as measured by the width of his latitude of rejection. These three attitudinal qualities were significantly intercorrelated, suggesting that direct experience with an attitude object may produce an attitude that is both better defined and more confidently held than an attitude formed through more indirect means.     

Behavioral self-control in classroom settings: A review of the literature

Reviews the research on the use of behavioral self-control procedures with students in classroom settings. Thirteen published articles are reviewed. The three student classroom behaviors of on-task behavior, disruptive behavior, and academic behavior are considered. The use of behavioral self-control procedures appears promising with on-task and academic behaviors and inconclusive with disruptive behavior. The reviewed studies were weak regarding follow-up analyses and controlling for student prior experience with external contigency programs. Further research with behavioral self-control in different settings seems warranted.     

Tables of d′ for variable-standard discrimination paradigms

Signal detection theory (SDT) allows a bias-free measure of sensitivity, d′, to be simply estimated from discrimination data when certain conditions are met. The computation is not straightforward, however, in several popular discrimination designs, such as two- and four-interval same-different designs and the ABX design. The present tables, derived from the SDT models of Macmillan, Kaplan, and Creelman (1977), make possible the estimation of d’ from these complex discrimination designs.     

Alcohol breath tests: Criterion times for avoiding contamination by “mouth alcohol”

Using either a gas chromatography or an infrared absorption technique, series of blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) determined by breath tests were obtained from human subjects immediately subsequent to their having only oral contact with beverages ranging in ethyl alcohol concentration from 4% to 95% +. Times for total dissipation of mouth alcohol residuals to a level of practical nonsignificance ranged from 10 to 19 min. Dissipation rates were an inverse and approximately exponential function of the ethyl alcohol concentration of the beverage and were greatly shortened by rinsing the mouth with warm (34°C) water prior to testing. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance to the methodology of a number of research studies employing BAC breath-testing equipment.     

The use of a self-control package to enhance temporal generality of a parent training program

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a self-control package in enhancing temporal generality of a parent training program. Sixteen mothers and their clinic-referred noncompliant children were assigned to either a parent training alone group, or a parent training plus self-control group. All mother-child dyads were treated individually by teaching the mother to reward compliance and other prosocial behavior, and to use time-out for noncompliance. In addition, mothers who also received self-control training learned to self-monitor their use of their new parenting skills and to reinforce themselves for use of the skill during a 2 month follow-up period. Assessment consisted of four home observations by independent observers prior to treatment, after treatment, and at a 2 month follow-up. The data indicated that the children in the parent training plus self-control group were significantly more compliant and less deviant at the 2 month follow-up than the children in the parent training alone group. Parental behavior did not differ between the two groups at the follow-up.     

Suppression and substitution in the treatment of nailbiting

The effectiveness of a package treatment for reducing nailbiting was studied. The package was composed of both positive procedures aimed at teaching adaptive behavior to substitute for nailbiting and negative procedures aimed at advancing skills for suppressing nailbiting. The design of the study permitted an analysis of the contributions of both positive and negative components of the package. Subjects assigned to combined, positive, negative and placebo groups received four weekly treatment sessions, and changes in their nailbiting behavior were compared with untreated controls. As in previous studies, nonspecific factors such as demand and attention to ones nails were found to be important determinants of outcome. In addition, positive procedures were found to be substantially more important than negative procedures in the maintenance of reductions in nailbiting over a 4-month follow-up period.     

Pyramid Power in Career Development

Stewart and Nejedlo discuss the use of the Career Development Pyramid as a model for career development and as a practical aid in career counseling. The model graphically depicts the synergistic relations of career choice factors, life-style, self-concept, and the specific job. The authors discuss the relationship between the quadrihedral model and current career development theories. They suggest applied uses of the pyramid and provide a working plan for copy and use by career development counselors.