Effects of parent training on parent instruction and child learning of intellectual skills

The present investigation examined the effects of a brief parent training package on parental application of behavioral procedures during child instruction. In addition, it investigated the effects of parent training on child learning of two intellectual skills. Forty-nine parents and their $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}$ to 5-year-old children participated. A discriminant analysis revealed that the parent training package produced variations in parental use of modeling, physical prompting, verbal instructional prompting, and aversive control. However, the pattern of variations differed across instructional tasks. Regression analysis showed that parent training produced differences in child learning in one of the two skills targeted for instruction.     

The detection of anisochrony in monaural and interaural sound sequences

Nakao and Axelrod (1976) and van Noorden (1975) showed that the threshold for discriminating an anisochronous duple rhythm (a series of clicks with a temporal offset on every other one) from an isochronous rhythm (no offset) is poorer when the clicks are presented alternately to the two ears than when they are presented to the same ears. Van Noorden reported that the difference between the thresholds in the alternating and nonalternating conditions varied with the tempo of the sequence. Nakao and Axelrod found invariance of this threshold difference with sequence speed. According to our quantification of temporal processing of interaural sequences, the latter result should be expected. We carried out five psychophysical experiments to establish interaural and monaural discrimination between isochronous and anisochronous rhythms. Across experiments, base time intervals of 60–720 msec were spanned. The main result was that we replicated the poorer discrimination for interaural sequences. This deterioration in discrimination was the same for all sequence speeds. It was also the case that the thresholds were almost constant up to a sound repetition rate of about 3 per second, but increased linearly with slower rates. This result supports evidence in the literature that temporal processing of sequences faster than about 3–4 sounds per second differs from temporal processing of slower sequences.     

Social comparison and the drive upward revisited: Affiliation as a response to marital stress

To test theoretical ideas derived from classic and recent social comparison theory, two studies examined affiliative tendencies as a response to marital problems among individuals varying in marital dissatisfaction. Study 1 (n. = 632) showed that the higher the degree of marital dissatisfaction and the higher the uncertainty about how things are going in one's marriage, the stronger was the desire for affiliation (operationalized as the desire to talk with others about one's marriage). Moreover, among individuals high in marital dissatisfaction, a preference for upward affiliation was found, i.e. for contact with others having better marriages. Individuals with lower levels of dissatisfaction preferred affiliation with similar others. Women experienced more uncertainty and a stronger affiliative tendency than men. In Study 2 (n = 233), these findings were largely replicated. Moreover, it was shown that the desire to affiliate when facing marital stress was particularly strong among individuals high in interpersonal orientation.     

Progress of research in the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis by study of the cerebrospinal fluid

There are neither specific cell investigations nor immunological tests for the diagnosis of MS. Various immunological alterations occur in the course of the disease, but none is unique to MS. Accurate diagnosis remains confined to the clinical field. The diagnosis can be supported by CSF analysis. Laboratory examinations can help to determine the particular stage of the disease and provide clues to the etiology and pathogenesis. The appearance of abnormal CSF levels increases the certainty of the diagnosis.     

Performance‐based pay is fair,particularly when I perform better: differential fairness perceptions of allocators and recipients

We examined in two experiments the impact of the roles that people enact (allocator or recipient) and performance attributions (talent or effort) on fairness perceptions of pay systems (performance‐based pay or job‐based pay). To test the relative effects of the roles that people enact, in the control conditions, participants were asked to evaluate the fairness of both allocation norms from ‘behind a veil of ignorance’ (Rawls, 1971 ). As hypothesized, the results consistently demonstrate that whereas recipients were biased in their fairness perceptions, allocators tended to be non‐biased in their fairness perceptions. The self‐interest bias among recipients was particularly strong when talent rather than effort attributions were imposed on them. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bindung und Liebe in den Partnerschaften von Psychotherapiepatienten

Based on attachment theory and love style typology, this study focuses on the relation between experiences in romantic relationships and mental health in a clinical sample. 117 outpatients of a psychosomatic clinic took part in the study. Self-report measures were used to assess relationship quality, attachment dimensions, love styles and correlates of mental disorders. Compared to a student sample, the patients’ reports refer to lower relationship quality. They experience more anxiety and less romantic feelings in their relationships which is especially true for women. Furthermore, anxiety, jealousy and altruism in the patients’ relationships are related to a variety of correlates of mental disorders including psychosomatic complaints. Results indicate that experiences in romantic relationships are strongly associated with general psychological well-being.     

The effects of context changes on the reinstatement of extinguished conditioned behavior in a conditioned suppression task with humans

Reinstatement refers to the return of previously extinguished conditioned responses to test trials of a conditional stimulus (CS) when presentations of the unconditional stimulus (US) alone are given following extinction. Four experiments were conducted to determine whether reinstatement could be found in a conditioned suppression task with humans and whether contextual changes can abolish it. Experiment 1 demonstrated the reinstatement of conditioned suppression when acquisition, extinction, US alone, and test trials were all given in the same context. Experiments 2 and 3 suggested that the reinstatement effect was still present when the US alone presentations were given in a different context to the subsequent test trials. Experiment 4 replicated this effect using additional controls over the amount of exposure to the various contexts. The results suggest that reinstatement can be robust across changing contexts. Aspects of the conditioned suppression task that promote the transfer of learning across contexts or the establishment of configural context-CS stimuli may underlie the apparent lack of contextual control over reinstatement.     

Performing great and the purpose of performing better than others: on the recursiveness of the achievement goal adoption process

The purpose of the present research is to complement and extend previous achievement goal research by emphasizing that great performance may serve as an antecedent of performance‐approach goal adoption, that is, the wish to outperform others. A consistent finding across the three studies is, indeed, that great (perceived) performance and high performance expectancies are associated with the adoption of performance‐approach goals. It is concluded that the process of goal adoption is a dynamic, recursive process in which performance attainment is most likely to operate as both an antecedent and a consequence of goal adoption. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Go with the flow: conforming to others in the face of existential threat

In three studies we investigate the impact of mortality salience on conformity and show that people have a greater preference to conform to the opinions of others when mortality is salient. Study 1 shows that mortality salience increases the degree to which judgments of abstract drawings are influenced by the majority's opinion. Study 2 shows that mortality salience causes people to change their opinions towards societal issues, so that these fit the attitudes they think others have. Study 3 replicates the findings of the first study and additionally shows that people do not conform to the attitude of outgroup members. Our findings extend previous Terror Management Theory research and suggest that conforming to the group is a means to buffer the fear that may otherwise arise in existentially threatening situations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A randomized control trial to investigate the impact of the Lidcombe Program on early stuttering in German-speaking preschoolers

In order to investigate whether the Lidcombe Program effects a short-term reduction of stuttered speech beyond natural recovery, 46 German preschool children were randomly assigned to a wait-contrast group or to an experimental group which received the Lidcombe Program for 16 weeks. The children were between 3;0 and 5;11 years old, their and both of their parents’ native language was German, stuttering onset had been at least 6 months before, and their stuttering frequency was higher than 3% stuttered syllables. Spontaneous speech samples were recorded at home and in the clinic prior to treatment and after 4 months. Compared to the wait-contrast group, the treatment group showed a significantly higher decrease in stuttered syllables in home-measurements (6.9%SS vs. 1.6%SS) and clinic-measurements (6.8%SS vs. 3.6%SS), and the same increase in articulation rate. The program is considered an enrichment of currently applied early stuttering interventions in Germany.

Educational objectives: Readers will discuss and evaluate: (1) the short-term effects of the Lidcombe Program in comparison to natural recovery on stuttering; (2) the impact of the Lidcombe Program on early stuttering in German-speaking preschool children.