A Comparison of Results and Acceptability of Functional Behavioral Assessment Procedures with a Group of Middle School Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (E/BD)

There is currently controversy over the validity and applicability of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures with students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD). A set of FBA procedures, including teacher and student interviews and direct classroom observations, were carried out with eight students with disabilities (7 classified E/BD, one classified LD). Results indicated that when all three methods (teacher/student interviews, classroom observations) yielded a ranking for a function they agreed 64% of those occasions. For those situations in which there was overall disagreement there was agreement between teacher interview and classroom observations most of the time. Social validity data indicated that both students and teachers felt that the assessment procedures were a useful and productive process.     

A Review of the Effects of Interspersing Procedures on the Stages of Academic Skill Development

Basic and applied research related to the effects of interspersing trials of maintenance (i.e., review) tasks among trials of acquisition tasks on academic skill development is reviewed. In general, empirical research suggests that interspersing procedures are effective in facilitating acquisition, learning rate, and maintenance. However, some inconsistency exists among the data that suggests student learning, in some instances, may be impeded. Research also suggests that interspersing procedures are not conducive to facilitating generalization. The discrepancy between various research findings and the consistent failure of research on interspersing procedures to increase generalization is critically reviewed in relation to a hierarchical learning theory set forth by Haring and Eaton (1978). From this hierarchical learning theory perspective, inconsistent results may be better understood and predicted. Implications for current practice and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Convergence and predictive validity in measures of optimism and pessimism: Sequential studies

Optimism and pessimism are personality variables that have repeatedly been shown to affect health, job performance, and social relationships. Various instruments purport to measure these dispositions that differ substantially in their theoretical and measurement models. While research has examined relations between subsets of these measures, their unique predictive ability has been neglected. Three sequential studies evaluated the interrelation and predictive ability of the three most utilized instruments, the Life Orientation Test (LOT), the O/P Instrument (OPI) and variants of the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ). Consistent with expectations, measures sharing a future-expectancy component (LOT and OPI) were moderately related and most predictive of health, depression, and coping. ASQ measures were modestly related to the LOT and OPI and offered less consistent predictions.     

An extension of freud and jung’s theory of the relation of dream states to schizophrenia

The central model for both Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung for the generation of schizophrenia’s hallucinations and delusional system is described as the intrusion of nighttime dream states into the waking consciousness. In this theoretical exegesis, a rent or tear is made in the ego instated by strongly repressed aggressive impulses which then create a dream-world for the patient as they subsequently overwhelm ego defenses. A parallel between this mode of knowing and, for example, the regioning of Martin Heidegger in his Discourse on Thinking is brought forward. Since these modes of thought are analogical and metaphorical, analysis based on this similarity may provide for greater insight into the thought and perceptual disorders of schizophrenia. An understanding of this kind of thought process may then provide a bridge towards more effective therapeutic interventions. A distinction is made between thought processes, per se, and those causal factors of a biological nature.     

Determinants of stress-related growth: Gender,stressfulness of the event,and coping strategies

The present study aimed to investigate the determinants of stress-related growth. For this aim the associations of gender, stressfulness of the event, and three coping strategies (problem-oriented, fatalistic, and helplessness) with stress-related growth were tested by multiple regression analysis. Participants were 132 undergraduate students. Results revealed that females reported higher levels of stress-related growth than males, and as expected, higher levels of the stressfulness of the event associated with more stress-related growth. Furthermore, frequent utilization of problem-oriented and fatalistic coping strategies was associated with higher stress-related growth. These findings were discussed in the light of relevant literature and culture-specific features. This work has been supported by the Turkish Academy of Sciences, in the framework of the Young Scientist Award Program (TG-TUBA-GEB>P/2002-l-l 1).     

Perceptions of self and of ideal mates: Similarities and differences across the sexes

For 19 mating-relevant traits, single males (N= 53) and single females (N= 86) rated (a) themselves relative to their same-sex peers, (b) their perceptions of the qualities desired by members of the opposite sex in an ideal partner, and (c) the qualities desired in their own ideal romantic partner. Several themes emerged from the data. First, males’ and females’ judgments of what members of the opposite-sex seek were generally accurate. Second, males and females both feel that they fall short of perceived opposite-sex expectations in a few areas. Third, both males and females desire an ideal partner better than themselves, but this is especially true for females. These findings are discussed in terms of evolutionary social psychological principles.     

Mechanisms of autobiographical memory retrieval in younger and older adults

In this study, retrieval of autobiographical memories was compared within or without the context of a lifetime period and between younger and older adults. The results of two experiments demonstrated that memories were more accessible for younger and older adults when they were retrieved within a time period context than without such context. However, when the retrieval context was more constrained and limited to cue word memories, the benefit of retrieval context disappeared. The results also suggested that as compared with younger adults, older adults were more likely to selectively retain memories with distinctive characteristics, such as being self-relevant and emotionally intense, particularly when remote memories were involved. Mechanisms of autobiographical memory retrieval in younger and older adults.     

Both sides get the point: Hemispheric sensitivities to sentential constraint

Behavioral studies have consistently reported striking differences in the impact of sentence-level information on the processing of words presented in the right (RVF) versus the left (LVF) visual field, with context effects apparent only for RVF items. The consistent lack of such effects in the LVF has been taken to mean that right hemisphere language comprehension is largely insensitive to message-level meaning. We used the functional specificity afforded by event-related potential measures to assess this claim. Target words completing strongly and weakly constraining sentence contexts, in which constraint arose at the sentence level rather than from lexical associations, were presented laterally in the LVF or RVF. Increased constraint significantly reduced N400 amplitudes with presentation in both VFs, with no differences in the timing or amplitude of these effects. These results are inconsistent with the view that the VF asymmetries found in behavioral measures reflect differential hemispheric capacities at the level of semantic analysis and integration, although VF-based differences on earlier components (P2) suggest asymmetries in the impact of sentential context on perceptual aspects of word processing in the two hemispheres.