An Evaluation of a School-Based Suicide Awareness Intervention

This study employed a self-report questionnaire in a Solomon four-groups design to assess the efficacy of suicide intervention classes in achieving their instructional objectives. Because adolescents are often the first to know of a peer's suicidal thoughts or plans, the goal of the classes was to increase the likelihood that students who come into contact with potentially suicidal peers can more readily identify them and will be consistently inclined to take responsible action on their behalf. Students who participated in the classes as compared to controls showed significant gains in relevant knowledge about suicidal peers and significantly more positive attitudes toward help seeking and intervening with troubled peers. Results of this study will be used to strengthen components of the lessons aimed at enhancing the likelihood of performance of responsible interventions     

The relationship between differential stimulus relatedness and implicit measure effect sizes

Implicit measures have been hypothesized to allow researchers to ascertain the existence and strength of relations between stimuli, often in the context of research on attitudes. However, little controlled behavioral research has focused on whether stimulus relations, and the degree of relatedness within such relations, are indexed by implicit measures. The current study examined this issue using a behavior‐analytic implicit‐style stimulus relation indexing procedure known as the Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST). Using a matching‐to‐sample (MTS) procedure to train stimulus equivalence relations between nonsense syllables, the number of iterations of the procedure was varied across groups of participants, hence controlling stimulus relatedness in the resulting equivalence relations. Following final exposure to the MTS procedure, participants completed a FAST. Another group of participants was exposed to a FAST procedure with word pairs of known relatedness. Results showed that increasing relatedness resulted in a linear increase in FAST effect size. These results provide the first direct empirical support for a key process‐level assumption of the implicit literature, and offer a behavior‐analytic paradigm within which to understand these effects. These results also suggest that the FAST may be a viable procedure for the quantification of emergent stimulus relations in stimulus equivalence training.     

Depression After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Review of Evidence for Clinical Heterogeneity

Depression represents a major source of disability among individuals who have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI), with estimates of prevalence in this population ranging over 50%. In comparison with other sequelae of TBI, depression is often poorly conceptualized and treated among acute care and rehabilitation professionals. One reason for this is the lack of clear etiological models for the development of depression following TBI. This paper argues that post-TBI depression actually represents a heterogeneous category, with multiple etiologic pathways and clinical implications. The literature in this area is reviewed, with an emphasis on an appreciation of the diversity within this clinical population. Conclusions focus on suggestions for differential diagnosis and treatment options.     

The Influence of Physical Attractiveness and Gender on Ultimatum Game Decisions

Physical appearance influences behavior in a number of environments, yet surprisingly little is known about the influence of physical attractiveness on the bargaining process. We conducted an ultimatum game experiment to investigate the influence of physical attractiveness and gender on ultimatum game decisions. Results from this study revealed no significant differences in the offers or demands attractive and unattractive people made. However, attractive people and men were treated differently by others. Consistent with the notion of a “beauty premium,” attractive people were offered more, but more was demanded of them. Men were also offered more, and less was demanded of them. We discuss implications of these results with respect to bargaining and the labor market.     

The experimental analysis of human sexual arousal: Some recent developments

Experimental analyses of human sexual arousal have been decidedly sparse. Recent developments in the analysis of derived relational responding, however, have opened the way for a modern behavior-analytic treatment of complex or "novel" human behavior, including specific instances of human sexual arousal. The current article examines some of these developments and their relevance to the analysis of emotional behavior, with a focus on sexual arousal. Recent research that has examined the acquisition of sexual stimulus functions within a relational frame paradigm is then outlined. Finally, a series of relational frame interpretations of a variety of human sexual arousal phenomena is offered.     

Objective self-awareness,standards of evaluation,and moral behavior

In a performance setting, subjects were given an opportunity to cheat without fear of detection on puzzle problems. Subjects were led to believe that successful performance was due to ability in some conditions, but to luck in other conditions. In fact, most of the problems were insolvable, so that success was impossible without cheating. Self-awareness was induced in half the subjects by having them sit in front of a mirror and listen to a tape recording of their own voice as they worked on the puzzle problems; the remaining subjects were not exposed to a mirror and listened to a tape of someone else's voice as they worked on the problems. It was predicted that cheating frequency would be higher under ability attribution conditions than under luck attribution conditions, and that this effect of performance attribution would be greater among self-aware subjects than among non-self-aware subjects. Results confirmed these hypotheses. Discussion centered on the differential use of morality and competence standards for behavior when in a state of self-awareness.     

Deterring the Onset of Smoking in Children: Knowledge of Immediate Physiological Effects and Coping with Peer Pressure,Media Pressure,and Parent Modeling1

Entering seventh grade, most children believe that smoking endangers their long-term health. Nevertheless, three sources of social pressure were found to often have an overriding influence to begin smoking: peers, models of smoking parents, and media. Interventions were developed to train children to cope with these pressures. Also stressed were immediate rather than long-term physiological effects of smoking. A dependent measure was utilized that generates increased validity of self-reports of smoking. A 10-week investigation was completed with 750 male and female students entering the seventh grade. Rates of onset of smoking in treatment groups were significantly lower than in a pretest-single posttest control group.