Assessing potency of high- and low-preference reinforcers with respect to response rate and response patterns

Previous research has suggested that the availability of high-preference stimuli may override the reinforcing efficacy of concurrently available low-preference stimuli under relatively low schedule requirements (e.g., fixed-ratio 1 schedule). It is unknown if similar effects would be obtained under higher schedule requirements. Thus, the current study compared high-preference and low-preference reinforcers under progressively increasing schedule requirements. Results for 3 of the 4 participants indicated that high-preference stimuli maintained responding under higher schedule requirements relative to low-preference stimuli. For 1 participant, high-preference and low-preference stimuli were demonstrated to be equally effective reinforcers under increasing schedule requirements. Implications with respect to rate of performance and response patterns are discussed.     

On the nature of nonverbal working memory fractionation: a case of selective spatial short-term memory deficit in a child

Several lines of research on adult subjects demonstrate a visual/spatial fractionation of nonverbal working memory (WM), while behavioral studies on normal children support the idea of a static/dynamic distinction. In the present paper, we report a child (Z.M.) who failed on nonverbal WM tasks. To verify the nature of his defect, we carried out two experiments: in Experiment 1, Z.M. failed on spatial WM tasks but not on visual WM tasks and was not affected by the static/dynamic format of stimulus presentation; in Experiment 2, this visual/spatial dissociation was extended to the imagery domain. These results are best accounted for within the visual/spatial fractionation of WM and confirmed the role of WM in mental imagery. Clinical and rehabilitative implications of the present findings are also discussed.     

Decreasing scoring errors on Wechsler Scale Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests: a preliminary study

Studies of graduate students learning to administer the Wechsler scales have generally shown that training is not associated with the development of scoring proficiency. Many studies report on the reduction of aggregated administration and scoring errors, a strategy that does not highlight the reduction of errors on subtests identified as most prone to error. This study evaluated the development of scoring proficiency specifically on the Wechsler (WISC-IV and WAIS-III) Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests during training by comparing a set of 'early test administrations' to 'later test administrations.' Twelve graduate students enrolled in an intelligence-testing course participated in the study. Scoring errors (e.g., incorrect point assignment) were evaluated on the students' actual practice administration test protocols. Errors on all three subtests declined significantly when scoring errors on 'early' sets of Wechsler scales were compared to those made on 'later' sets. However, correcting these subtest scoring errors did not cause significant changes in subtest scaled scores. Implications for clinical instruction and future research are discussed.     

Spatial language influences memory for spatial scenes

Does language influence recognition for spatial scenes? In Experiments 1 and 2, participants viewed ambiguous pictures, with or without spatial sentences. In a yes—no recognition task, only the spatial sentences group made more false alarms toward the center of the spatial category than in the other direction; three other comparison groups showed no such tendency. This shift toward the core of the semantic category suggests that spatial language interacted with perceptual information during encoding. In Experiment 3, we varied the materials to test the interactive encoding account against a separate encoding account in which separately stored sentences are accessed during picture recognition. The results support the interactive encoding account in which spatial language influences the encoding and memory of spatial relations.     

Executive Inhibitory Control and Cooperative Behavior During Early School Years: A Follow-Up Study

Several links between aspects of executive functioning and the development of social competence have been established. The present study investigates the relation between executive inhibitory control and cooperative/non-cooperative behavior, in an ecological setting, and from a longitudinal perspective. Elementary school children (n=195) of three age groups (7, 9, 11 years, initially) were measured at two consecutive time points, at a one-year interval, with tasks tapping executive inhibitory control (the Stroop test), and social competence (a collaborative puzzle solving task). Executive inhibition was identified as the most influential stable predictor only in the case of non-cooperative behavior and presented strong concurrent relations with both cooperative and non-cooperative behavior at follow-up, even when controlling for previous level of the same behavior. The findings imply the need to consider the important role of executive inhibitory processes in multifactorial models of social competence development and in the refinement of present interventions.     

When the customer shouldn't be king: antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment by clients and customers

Much of the work in today's service industries requires women to deal with people outside of their organizations, namely, customers and clients, yet research on sexual harassment has focused almost exclusively on sexual harassment within organizations. Because the threat of harassment also operates at the boundaries of organizations, our existing models based solely on harassment inside organizations may be too restricted to adequately explain the harassment experiences of women in today's economy. To address this, the authors introduce a theoretical model of the antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment by clients and customers (CSH) and describe 2 field studies conducted to test components of the model. In Study 1, they developed a model of antecedents and consequences of CSH and illustrated that certain contextual factors (client power and gender composition of the client base) affect levels of CSH and that CSH is related to a number of job and psychological outcomes among professional women. Study 2 revealed that CSH is related to lower job satisfaction among nonprofessional women, above and beyond that which is accounted for by internal sexual harassment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Examining the familial link between positive affect and empathy development in the second year

Within a sample of 584 twins aged 12 to 25 months (292 pairs) studied longitudinally, positive affect measured through two laboratory pleasure episodes and maternal report at 12 and 22 months significantly predicted empathy-related helping and hypothesis testing assessed between 19 and 25 months. Girls showed significantly more concern than did boys, whereas boys engaged in hypothesis testing significantly more than did girls. Behavior-genetic analyses indicated substantial shared environmental influences for positive affect and empathy composites of helping and concern. Genetics and the nonshared environment influenced empathy-related hypothesis testing. The best fitting bivariate model included shared and nonshared environmental influences on positive affect and helping, with environment accounting for the covariation between the two traits. The covariation between positive affect and hypothesis testing was genetically influenced.     

The effects of blocking mouthing of leisure items on their effectiveness as reinforcers

Leisure items are commonly used as reinforcers in behavior-analytic applications. However, a defining feature of autism is the occurrence of stereotypy, and individuals with autism often engage leisure items in a stereotyped manner. The opportunity for stereotyped interaction may be the only aspect of a contingent stimulus that makes it a reinforcer for appropriate behavior. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of blocking stereotyped reinforcer interaction on reinforcer efficacy for 2 children with autism. Results showed that blocking stereotypic reinforcer interaction did not influence reinforcer efficacy.     

Cross-ethnic Applicability of the Gender-based Attitudes Toward Marriage and Child Rearing Scales

The reliability and validity of Hoffman and Kloska’s (1995) Gender-based Attitudes toward Marital Roles (GATMR) and Gender-based Attitudes toward Child Rearing (GATCR) were assessed for a sample of Mexican American mothers and fathers (n = 167) of fifth-grade children in a large metropolitan area in the southwestern United States. Factor analysis was conducted, and the results suggest that the 6-item GATMR is conceptually distinct and reliable for this ethnic group. Correlation of GATMR scores for mothers and fathers with divisions of family labor suggest good validity. A 5-item revised GATCR demonstrated modest reliability and good construct validity. The value of these scales for work with Mexican American families is noted. Theoretical implications for gender socialization are explored, and suggestions for further research are offered. This research was supported by Grant # MH 54154-01A2 from the National Institute of Mental Health.     

‘Not in my name’? The Italians and the war in Iraq

We performed a secondary analysis of data collected on a representative sample of Italians to study the attitudes and behaviours developed by the Italians with regard to war in general and the war in Iraq particularly. Moreover, we built a model predicting the probability of participating in pro‐peace demonstrations. The Italians seem polarized in their attitudes towards war and skeptical concerning the reasons for the attack on Iraq. Our models explained the probability of publicly showing one's opposition to the war in Iraq in terms of beliefs towards war in general, of attitude towards this conflict particularly, of frequency of newspaper‐reading and of values, showing that the sociodemographic and psychological variables played a significantly less relevant role. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.