EFFECTS OF FEEDBACK AND SELF-MONITORING ON HEAD TRAUMA YOUTHS' CONVERSATION SKILLS

The effects of feedback and self-recording on the small group conversational behaviors of two head trauma youths were evaluated. Feedback involved providing clients a light signal corresponding to positive or negative social interactions. The self-monitoring procedure required that the clients flip a switch corresponding with their positive or negative interactions. An A₁-B₁-C₁-A₂-C₂-B₂ design in which the feedback phase (B) and self-monitoring phase (C) were alternated to control for order effects demonstrated the efficacy of both interventions. Performance gains were also shown to generalize to less structured situations, bringing the clients' level of positive responses into a range established with a social comparison group.     

What creates the dilemma in ethical dilemmas? Examples from psychological practice

Twenty psychologists were interviewed about an ethical dilemma that they had found to be particularly difficult to resolve. In just under half of the cases the dilemma involved a perceived conflict of ethical principles (e.g., the welfare of the consumer vs. the right to privacy). In the other cases, the psychologists were prevented from following an ethically prescribed course of action by some nonethical consideration such as contractual obligation, legal requirement, or the demands of an employer. We discuss the implications of these two sorts of dilemmas for psychological practice and make some suggestions for proactive approaches to ethical problem solving.     

Use of antianxiety drugs as countermeasures in the detection of guilty knowledge.

To evaluate whether antianxiety drugs enable guilty subjects to appear innocent on polygraph tests, we compared the effects of diazepam, meprobamate, and propranolol on the outcome of a guilty knowledge test (GKT). Seventy-five undergraduate students were evenly divided among one innocent and four guilty groups. Subjects in each of the guilty groups received either one of the drugs or a placebo prior to the administration of the GKT and after viewing a videotape that depicted a burglary as seen from the perspective of the burglar. The results showed that drug status had no influence on the outcome of the GKT. Innocent subjects who coincidentally obtained high scores on a recognition memory test covering details of the mock crime tended to obtain higher guilt scores on the GKT.     

Beyond the intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy: Self-determination in motivation and learning

Researchers have typically portrayed intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as dichotomous. Although this dichotomy has explanatory utility, we present a differentiated view of extrinsic motivation, arguing that the relative autonomy of one's motivated actions is more useful for characterizing the motivational basis of learning than is the undifferentiated intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy. Our concept of autonomous extrinsic motivation is based on a developmental analysis of the processes of internalization and integration. In this article we review extensive research indicating that intrinsic motivation and integrated internalization are facilitated by autonomy supportive social contexts, and that these autonomous forms of motivation, in turn, promote high-quality learning.Preparation of this article was facilitated in part by research grant HD-19914 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Human Motivation Program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Rochester.     

The self ideal versus the model ideal

A list of 50 ways of perceiving one's personal ideal was constructed and administered to 74 women about to make a lifelong commitment. The mean number of items endorsed was 28. An item analysis yielded discrimination indices for 28 items at better than the .05 level of significance. These attitudes were discussed as less motivativing, and opposite attitudes from the same point of view were grouped under six principles of motivation: dominant relationship, closeness, growth, valuational center, similarity, realism. From these two diametrically opposite perceptual structures of attitudes emerged the self ideal and the model ideal.Daniel Patrick Foley, S.J., is with Xavier University. This report is based on a paper entitled Constellation of Attitudes Toward a Religious Ideal, presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, Hawaii, September, 1972.     

Existential measurement: A factor analytic study of some current psychometric instruments

The foray of quantification research into the arena of existentialism and ontology has given rise to several psychometric instruments pertinent to the area. Both exploratory and Confirmatory principal-factor analyses were used to study the relationships among 16 existential scales currently in use in the research literature. Participants were 133 individuals comprised of 74 females and 59 males with a median age of approximately 30.5 years. Approximately one half of the sample was in attendance at the University of Regina and Saskatchewan during the 1976–1977 fall term, while the remainder was drawn from the respective communities. Confirmatory factor analysis supported both the prediction of substantial condensation of existential scales and the presence of an avoidance of ontological confrontation factor. Exploratory factor analysis provided some support of the theory that the avoidance of existential confrontation is a central function of neurosis. Extracted factors were interpreted and examined with respect to implications for existential-ontological theory and research.     

The Pareto Argument and Inequality

The Pareto argument for inequality holds that any change from a position of equality to one of inequality is justified so long as everyone benefits from the change. G.A. Cohen criticizes this argument (which he attributes to Rawls) on the ground that changes can normally be found which preserve both equality and Pareto-efficiency. However, this does not resolve the basic conflict between the two desiderata . Strong egalitarians hold that Pareto changes are not for the better if they increase inequality too greatly. Thus if the Pareto argument holds, then strong egalitarianism is unsustainable. I argue that egalitarians need not be troubled by the Pareto argument for inequality. The Pareto criterion would not be widely accepted unless it takes account of moral harms; but if it does take account of moral harms then there is no reason to doubt that egalitarian concerns can be incorporated into the Pareto argument.
email : p.shaw@philosophy.arts.gla.ac.uk     

The Application of Latent Curve Analysis to Testing Developmental Theories in Intervention Research

The effectiveness of a prevention or intervention program has traditionally been assessed using time-specific comparisons of mean levels between the treatment and the control groups. However, many times the behavior targeted by the intervention is naturally developing over time, and the goal of the treatment is to alter this natural or normative developmental trajectory. Examining time-specific mean levels can be both limiting and potentially misleading when the behavior of interest is developing systematically over time. It is argued here that there are both theoretical and statistical advantages associated with recasting intervention treatment effects in terms of normative and altered developmental trajectories. The recently developed technique of latent curve (LC) analysis is reviewed and extended to a true experimental design setting in which subjects are randomly assigned to a treatment intervention or a control condition. LC models are applied to both artificially generated and real intervention data sets to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention program. Not only do the LC models provide a more comprehensive understanding of the treatment and control group developmental processes compared to more traditional fixed-effects models, but LC models have greater statistical power to detect a given treatment effect. Finally, the LC models are modified to allow for the computation of specific power estimates under a variety of conditions and assumptions that can provide much needed information for the planning and design of more powerful but cost-efficient intervention programs for the future.