Effects of peer reporting on cooperative play and aggression of kindergarten children

Kindergarten children were given opportunities to report to their class during “sharing time” the cooperative or friendly behaviors of their peers which had occurred during the day. Children whose cooperative behavior was reported by a peer received a happy face badge as a reward. Later, only peer praise served as a reward for those whose friendliness was mentioned by a peer. Cooperative behavior increased and aggressive acts decreased when peers reported prosocial behavior to the class. A reversal phase, in which unfriendly acts were reported, produced a decrease in cooperation and an increase in aggression. Peer reporting was a natural and inexpensive means of increasing prosocial responses of these children. Anecdotal teacher reports suggested a generalized behavioral improvement.     

The school psychologist as expert witness in due process hearings

As a consequence of the Consent Agreement reached between the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, school of psychologists are finding themselves increasingly in the role of expert witness in due process hearings. The paper identifies a number of problems regarding the witness behavior of psychologists in these hearings and proposes some recommendations and resolutions.     

Law, educational reform, and the school psychologist

The law has become a major vehicle for those seeking to reform education. The two areas of reform which most affect school psychologists are the extension of the right to a public education to previously discriminated against and excluded groups, and the extension of the protection of the Bill of Rights to all school children. The potential impact of these areas on the role of the school psychologist is suggested by preliminary findings on one such reform, the right of retarded children to an appropriate education and the guarantee of that right through the provision of procedural due process. Any response to the reform by school psychologists will involve risks and opportunities which must be carefully weighed if a wise choice is to be made from the point of view of both children and the profession.     

Event-based prospective remembering in a virtual world

Most laboratory-based prospective memory (PM) paradigms pose problems that are very different from those encountered in the real world. Several PM studies have reported conflicting results when comparing laboratory- with naturalistic-based studies (e.g., Bailey, Henry, Rendell, Phillips, & Kliegel, 2010 ). One key contrast is that for the former, how and when the PM cue is encountered typically is determined by the experimenter, whereas in the latter case, cue availability is determined by participant actions. However, participant-driven access to the cue has not been examined in laboratory studies focused on healthy young adults, and its relationship with planned intentions is poorly understood. Here we report a study of PM performance in a controlled, laboratory setting, but with participant-driven actions leading to the availability of the PM cue. This uses a novel PM methodology based upon analysis of participant movements as they attempted a series of errands in a large virtual building on the computer screen. A PM failure was identified as a situation in which a participant entered and exited the "cue" area outside an errand related room without performing the required errand whilst still successfully remembering that errand post test. Additional individual difference measures assessed retrospective and working memory capacity, planning ability and PM. Multiple regression analysis showed that the independent measures of verbal working memory span, planning ability, and PM were significant predictors of PM failure. Correlational analyses with measures of planning suggest that sticking with an original plan (good or bad) is related to better overall PM performance.     

Object-based selection within and beyond the focus of spatial attention

In a series of experiments, we examined the effect of perceptual objects on visual attentional processing in the presence of spatially cued attentional selection. Subjects made speeded judgments about two visual elements that were either both on the same object or on two different objects. Judgments were faster when the elements were on the same object than when they were on different objects, revealing an object advantage. Importantly, the object advantage remained even when either exogenous or endogenous spatial cues were used to direct the subjects' attention to a part of the display, contrary to earlier findings of other researchers. The object advantage, however, did disappear when the stimulus duration was shortened substantially. The results show that object-based selection is pervasive and is not diminished by the act of selective attention. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the mechanisms that underlie attentional selection.     

国际合作中知情同意面临的难题及思考

目前在医学研究的国际合作中,知情同意原则在实施中出现了许多争议和难题.结合一些典型案例,对知情同意的跨文化研究、知情同意表格的误解以及保护受试者与自由研究之间的权衡等问题进行了深入地分析.指出:加强交流、相互尊重、求同存异是解决跨文化研究的必由之路;严格审查、加强监管是避免知情同意流于形式的重要手段;鼓励与防范并举才能达到双赢的局面.     

基督教伦理理论的两种类型

在西方基督徒中间,对与性、家庭生活和医学伦理问题相联系的个体道德问题,存在着严重的分歧.因为在今天的基督徒中间存在着两种伦理理论决定着他们的观点,第一种道德判断是"道义论",另一种道德判断叫做"后果主义".     

社会焦虑与大学生自杀人群分析研究

生命是神圣的,珍爱生命,追求生命是人的本能欲望。近年来大学生的自杀问题已经引起社会的普遍关注,社会焦虑引发精神疾病,情绪失控自杀被认为是大学生自杀的普遍过程,建议对大学生进行珍爱生命等有关的心理教育。     

医患双方对医患关系认知差异性的调查分析

采取整群随机抽样方法,现场调查发现,医患双方对医患关系重要性的认知一致,而对其性质、发展趋势、法律适用,以及医患冲突的主要诱因、责任主体、主要解决方式的认知状况均存在着显著性差异。相互理解、交流和尊重是建立和谐医患关系的根本措施。     

Outcomes of training in supervision: Randomised controlled trial

There is little controlled research on the impact of supervisor training on supervision. The current study examined the effects of supervision training in a sample of 46 supervisor–supervisee pairs of mental health practitioners. It compared Immediate 2‐day workshop training of the pair, a wait‐list control in which workshop training was delayed 3 months, and a condition in which supervisors were trained 3 months before their partners (Split). Benefits of Immediate training were restricted to supervisors reporting fully specified agreements, and to reduction of some perceived problems. Self‐efficacy in providing effective supervision fell in the Split condition, relative to the other conditions. Across conditions in general there was a fall from baseline to post‐test assessment in the proportion of sessions where recommended supervision strategies were used, perhaps partly because the controlled trial extended across the summer vacation period. Results are consistent with other observations of the limited impact of workshop training on practice.