Client,Treatment, and Therapist Variables Related To Outcome in Brief,Systems-Oriented Family Therapy

Client, therapist, and treatment characteristics were examined with respect to how much of the variance they could account for in a variety of outcome measures. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine relationships among each of the client, therapist, and treatment characteristics studied and the various outcome measures. For the 219 families that were treated with brief family therapy, only a relatively low amount of variance in any of the outcome measures could be accounted for. The amount of explained variance, however, varied considerably from one outcome measure to the other. When the more homogeneous groups of clients (single parents or adolescent identified patients) were considered, the amount of explained variance generally showed an increase. Different sets of client, therapist, and treatment variables accounted for the variance in these outcome measures across client groups, demonstrating both the complexities of the relationships and the relative independence of various outcome measures. New variables are suggested for future research.     

TEACHING THE HANDICAPPED TO EAT IN PUBLIC PLACES: ACQUISITION,GENERALIZATION AND MAINTENANCE OF RESTAURANT SKILLS

This study examined classroom-based instruction in restauranting skills for handicapped persons. Three male students were taught each of four skill components in sequential order: locating, ordering, paying, and eating and exiting. Training was implemented in a multiple baseline design across subjects and consisted of modeling and role playing in conjunction with photo slide sequences and a simulated ordering counter. The use of a menu containing general item classes and a finger matching procedure for identifying errors in the delivery of change greatly reduced the reading and math skills necessary to enter and complete the program. Periodic probes were conducted in a McDonald's restaurant prior to, during, and up to one-year following the termination of training. In addition, two probes (overt and covert observation) were conducted in a Burger King restaurant to assess further generalization to a location different from the one depicted throughout training. Results showed that students' performance on restaurant probes improved as a result of training, generalized to novel settings, maintained over an extended period of time, and was comparable to that of a normative sample of nonretarded persons.     

TRAINING PARENTS IN BEHAVIORAL SELF-MANAGEMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF GENERALIZATION AND MAINTENANCE

This study examined the generalization and maintenance effects of three phases of parent training (Instructions plus Feedback and two Self-management Training phases) on levels of disruptive child behavior and the accuracy with which parents implemented programs. Data were collected from five families in three main settings: the initial training setting (the home), a variety of generalization settings in the community, and the family breakfast. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used. Instructions plus Feedback comprised instructing parents to use a range of behavior management procedures and provided home-based differential feedback concerning accuracy of program implementation. Self-management Training phases involved training parents in goal setting, self-monitoring, and planning skills, specific to their performance of appropriate parenting skills in generalization settings. Results indicated that the Instructions plus Feedback phase was sufficient to produce reduced levels of problem behavior at home and high levels of accurate implementation, but generalization effects out of home were equivocal. Self-management maintained reduced levels of problem behavior at home but, in addition, resulted in generalization effects in community settings for both children and parents. Maintenance probes 3 months following the program revealed the effects had been maintained.     

The effect of modification of expressive displays on vicarious emotional arousal

Several recent experiments have demonstrated that modulation of the facial expressive response is accompanied by changes in autonomic arousal and subjective response to painful stimuli. The present study asked whether facial self-regulation may also bring about changes in covert vicarious emotional experience. Three groups of subjects were exposed to a videotaped model displaying intermittent pain to shock in a differential vicarious autonomic conditioning paradigm. Subjects in the inhibit and amplify groups were asked, respectively, (a) to inhibit their facial muscles or (b) to pose a facial response of pain when the model was shocked. It was predicted that the inhibit group would show less autonomic arousal to the model's expressive display (empathy) and less conditioning (as measured by skin conductance and heart rate change), and the amplify group more empathy and conditioning, than a third group who was given no facial instruction. In fact, the amplify group showed more skin conductance arousal, heart rate acceleration, and activity in response to the model's expressive display of pain than did the other two groups (which were not different from each other), but no more autonomic or facial conditioning. The overall pattern of physiological data is interpreted as generally supportive of a facial feedback theory of emotion: where significant between-groups' differences were obtained in facial activity, as in vicarious instigation, autonomic arousal differences also emerged; where no expressive differences were obtained, as in vicarious conditioning, no differences in autonomic arousal were found.     

Salient features of color space

Recent research has demonstrated that focal regions of color space are cognitively more salient than nonfocal regions. Employing a linguistic hedge task, the experiment here sought mainly to verify the cognitive primacy of loci representing Berlin and Kay’s first four chromatic categories over foci representing the remainder. The experimental results failed to support the primacy hypothesis, an outcome that gives rise to a number of theoretical implications. Additional questions in the analysis concerned the relationship between the salience of a color and its lightness (Munsell value) and saturation (Munsell chroma). While the results permit no simple interpretation for lightness, a definite trend emerged in the case of saturation.     

Hemispheric asymmetries in faculty and student musicians and nonmusicians during melody recognition tasks

Current research has suggested that musical stimuli are processed in the right hemisphere except in musicians, in whom there is an increased involvement of the left hemisphere. The present study hypothesized that the more musical training persons receive, the more they will rely on an analytic/left-hemispheric processing strategy. The subjects were 10 faculty and 10 student musicians, and 10 faculty and 10 student nonmusicians. All subjects listened to a series of melodies (some recurring and some not) and excerpts (some actual and some not) in one ear and, after a rest, to a different series of melodies in the other ear. The task was to identify recurring vs. nonrecurring melodies and actual vs. nonactual excerpts. For student musicians, there was a right-ear/left-hemispheric advantage for melody recognition, while for student nonmusicians, the situation was the reverse. Neither faculty group showed any ear preference. There were no significant differences for excerpt recognition. Two possible explanations of the faculty performance were discussed in terms of physical maturation and a functionally more integrated hemispheric approach to the task.     

A psychometric analysis of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire

The psychometric properties of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire were examined in independent samples of male and female high school students, college students, and adults. In each of the six samples a two-factor structure (masculinity/instrumentality and femininity/expressivity) paralleling the empirically derived scales was found. Additional factor analyses of negative masculine and feminine traits were reported. Discriminant analyses revealed highly significant differentiation between the sexes. The reliabilities (Cronbach alpha) of the unit-weighted scales in each sample were also satisfactory.Support for this research was provided by NASA Grant NSG 2065 (Robert L. Helmreich, Principal Investigator) and NSF Grant BNS 78-08911 (Janet T. Spence and Robert L. Helmreich, Principal Investigators). The article was prepared while the second author was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, with support from the Spencer Foundation, NIMH Grant 5T32MH14581-03, and the University of Texas Research Institute.     

Manager behavior in a social context: the impact of impression management on attributions and disciplinary actions

Two experimental studies were run to test the effects of subordinate impression management on the appraisals and responses of a manager, following an incident of poor performance. Two common impression management tactics, accounts and apologies, were manipulated in each of the studies. Subjects in both studies were experienced nursing supervisors. On the basis of the "discounting effect" reported in the attributional literature it was hypothesized that accounts of external causes for poor performance, i.e., excuses, would lead subjects to (1) attribute less responsibility to the subordinate, (2) be less personal in their responses, and (3) be less punitive in their responses. Apologies, because of their "equity restoration" effects, were expected to influence subjects' disciplinary responses to the poor performance, without necessarily affecting their attributions of responsibility. Experiment 1. which employed written stimulus materials and a repeated-measures design, provided strong support for all hypotheses. Experiment 2. which employed a film stimulus and between-subjects design, provided strong support for the accounts hypotheses but only minimal support for the apology hypotheses. The results highlight the importance of social information cues in the appraisal of performance.