Skill Acquisition and Utilization During Evidence-Based Psychosocial Treatments for Childhood Disruptive Behavior Problems: A Review and Meta-analysis

We review 85 empirical articles published since 2000 that measured the acquisition and/or utilization of parent management skills and/or child cognitive-behavioral skills in the context of an evidence-based treatment (EBT) for childhood behavior problems. Results showed that: (1) there are no standardized measures of skill acquisition or skill utilization that are used across treatments, (2) little is known about predictors, correlates, or outcomes associated with skill acquisition and utilization, and (3) few studies systematically examined techniques to enhance the acquisition and utilization of specific skills. Meta-analytic results from a subset of 68 articles (59 studies) showed an overall treatment–control ES = .31, p < .01 for skill acquisition and ES = .20, p = ns for skill utilization. We recommend that future research focus on the following three areas: (1) development of standardized measures of skill acquisition and utilization from a “common elements” perspective that can used across EBTs; (2) assessment of the predictors, correlates, and outcomes associated with skill acquisition and utilization; and (3) development of innovative interventions to enhance the acquisition and utilization of cognitive-behavioral and parent management skills.     

A Test of the Central Factor in Visual Adaptation

Bull, Nina. The Attitude Theory of Emotion. New York: Nervous and Mental Disease Monographs, 1951. Pp. 159. Reviewed by William E. Galt.     

CRM in Sales-Intensive Organizations: A Review and Future Directions

With the advent of technology enabling greater customer tracking, more robust knowledge management, and direct customer communication, the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) strategies has grown in importance with many implications for sales-intensive organizations. Implications of CRM strategy, analytical CRM, and operational CRM are discussed, particularly in terms of research opportunities. Although there are, no doubt, many other interesting and worthwhile research opportunities available, the nexus of technology, CRM, and sales-intensive go-tomarket strategies provide myriad opportunities for exciting research.     

On Working Memory Capacity and Implicit Associations between Advanced Age and Dangerous Driving Stereotypes

Despite a large literature on implicit stereotypes, no one has scientifically documented the stereotype that older adults are dangerous drivers, even though its existence may impact older adults' driving performance through stereotype threat. The present studies are the first to use implicit tests to document the stereotype that older adult drivers are dangerous drivers. Experiment 1 (N = 159) documented a negative stereotype of older adult drivers in young and older adults by using a novel driving and age Implicit Association Test (IAT). Experiment 2 (N = 216) demonstrated that individual differences in working memory capacity moderate the degree to which young adults can willfully change this IAT score such that higher working memory capacity was associated with greater control of this negative stereotype of age and driving. This finding illustrates the potential utility of working memory capacity in interventions designed to reduce the impact of implicit stereotypes and negative attitudes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Refocusing Effort Across Job Tasks: Implications for Understanding Temporal Change in Job Performance

This study introduces a component of adaptability, namely, a shift in the relative emphasis among different job tasks, to the measurement of employee job performance. Using a multiyear longitudinal data set on the performance of professional basketball players, the results indicate that (a) refocusing one's efforts among different job tasks exists in this context, (b) refocusing accounts for variation in performance, and (c) refocusing increases the odds of continued employment the following year. These findings have implications for understanding temporal change in job performance.     

Neural Efficiency in Expert Cognitive-Motor Performers During Affective Challenge

Skilled individuals demonstrate a spatially localized or relatively lower response in brain activity characterized as neural efficiency when performing within their domain of expertise. Elite athletes are experts in their chosen sport and thus must be not only adept in the motor domain but must be resilient to performing under the stress of high-level competition. Such stability of performance suggests this population processes emotion and mental stress in an adaptive and efficient manner. This study sought to determine if athletes with a history of successful performance under circumstances of mental stress demonstrate neural efficiency during affective challenges compared to age-matched controls. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the blood-oxygen level–dependent response was recorded during emotional challenge induced by sport-specific and general unpleasant images. The athletes demonstrated neural efficiency in brain regions critical to emotion regulation (prefrontal cortex) and affect (insula) independently of their domain of expertise, suggesting adaptive processing of negative events and less emotional reactivity to unpleasant stimuli.     

An evaluation of advance notice to increase compliance among preschoolers

Advance notice of an upcoming instruction was evaluated to increase compliance among 3 children (4 to 5 years old) who exhibited noncompliance. Results show that the procedure was ineffective for all 3 participants. Advance notice plus physical guidance or physical guidance alone was necessary to increase compliance.     

Further evaluation of antecedent interventions on compliance: the effects of rationales to increase compliance among preschoolers

Functional analyses were conducted to identify reinforcers for noncompliance exhibited by 6 young children. Next, the effects of rationales (statements that describe why a child should comply with a caregiver-delivered instruction) were evaluated. In Experiment 1, 3 participants received the rationales immediately after the therapist's instruction. In Experiment 2, 3 additional participants received more practical rationales immediately before the therapist's instruction. The results indicate that rationales were ineffective for all 6 children. A guided compliance procedure increased compliance for 1 child; contingent access to preferred items with or without response cost increased compliance for the other participants. Although levels of problem behavior varied within and across participants, they were often higher in the rationale and guided compliance conditions.     

The Asceticism Dimension of the Protestant Work Ethic: Shedding Its Status of Invisibility

Asceticism seems an “invisible” Protestant work ethic (PWE) dimension that has largely been ignored in research. This study, building directly on existing knowledge, investigated the possibility that deference to authority was central to asceticism and the possible ethical implications of this. In 3 samples of employed persons, results demonstrated that highly ascetic individuals were highly authoritarian, were low in advanced moral reasoning, and regarded ethically questionable activities benefiting organizations (but not individuals) as relatively acceptable. However, “hard workers,” another PWE dimension, regarded all ethically questionable activities as inappropriate, regardless of the beneficiary, and were less clearly authoritarian. Significant relationships involving the PWE may sometimes be undetectable when combining distinct dimensions, and asceticism merits attention as a distinct PWE component.