Investigating the Effects of Applicant Justice Perceptions on Job Offer Acceptance

Drawing on extant recruitment and organizational justice theory, this research examines the effects of justice perceptions on job acceptance decisions across 2 samples (n = 332 and 2,974) of applicants to jobs within the U.S. military. More specifically, we examine justice–job offer acceptance relations relative to other pertinent recruitment predictors including, organizational image, familiarity, person–organization (P–O) fit perceptions, and recruiter behaviors. Findings from both studies support the importance of justice perceptions in influencing job offer acceptance. Fairness perceptions accounted for 29.37% and 19.22% of the unique variance in job offer acceptance, in Studies 1 and 2, respectively. The results of this research provide much needed empirical evidence to the scant literature on actual job acceptance and highlight important practical implications for employers.     

Increasing Single‐Word Requests to Multiword Requests in Children with Autism and Related Disabilities

Initial language training with children with autism often focuses on the production of single‐word requests (i.e., mands). As a child progresses in treatment, it is desirable to increase the mean length of utterance (MLU) of requests. The present study examined treatment outcomes of behavioral intervention designed to increase the MLU of requests in a larger sample of children with language delays (n = 30). Intervention consisted of prompts and differential reinforcement for lengthier requests, and trials were conducted flexibly throughout the treatment session. A non‐concurrent multiple baseline across participants design was utilized to establish experimental control, and MLU intervention consisted of a baseline and treatment phase for each participant. Nonoverlap of all pairs (NAP) was employed to estimate an effect size. Overall treatment effects were medium to large (average NAP = 0.89; average d = 2.36), and the majority of the sample (70%) demonstrated strong treatment effects. Results suggest that targeted behavioral intervention to increase the length of requests can be effective for children with autism and associated language delays. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Memory systems in the rat: effects of reward probability,context, and congruency between working and reference memory

The interaction of working and reference memory was studied in rats on an eight-arm radial maze. In two experiments, rats were trained to perform working memory and reference memory tasks. On working memory trials, they were allowed to enter four randomly chosen arms for reward in a study phase and then had to choose the unentered arms for reward in a test phase. On reference memory trials, they had to learn to visit the same four arms on the maze on every trial for reward. Retention was tested on working memory trials in which the interval between the study and test phase was 15 s, 15 min, or 30 min. At each retention interval, tests were performed in which the correct WM arms were either congruent or incongruent with the correct RM arms. Both experiments showed that congruency interacted with retention interval, yielding more forgetting at 30 min on incongruent trials than on congruent trials. The effect of reference memory strength on the congruency effect was examined in Experiment 1, and the effect of associating different contexts with working and reference memory on the congruency effect was studied in Experiment 2.     

The Munroe-Meyer Approach: Continuous Integration of Didactic Instruction,Research, and Clinical Practice

Increased demand for applied behavior analysis (ABA) services has increased the need for additional masters-level practitioners and doctoral-level academicians and clinical directors. Based on these needs, the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s (UNMC) Munroe-Meyer Institute has developed a PhD program. The academic structure at UNMC allowed us to create our PhD program in a relatively quick and efficient manner. Our PhD program has many unique features, including (a) close integration of didactic instruction with clinical and research training provided by leading experts in ABA in which students immediately apply concepts introduced in the classroom during coordinated clinical and research practica; (b) structured grant writing training in which students learn to write and submit an NIH-level grant; (c) financial support in the form of a stipend of $23,400 per year, free health benefits, and a full-tuition waiver for up to 12 credits per semester for UNMC courses (a benefits package worth approximately $50,000 per year for an out-of-state student); and (d) encouragement and financial support to present papers at local, regional, and national behavior analysis conferences.     

Concepts of deviance and disturbance in children and adolescents: A comparison between the United States and Japan

Fifth and eleventh graders in the United States (N = 169) and Japan (N = 166) were interviewed about their reactions to stories describing various forms of psychological deviance in hypothetical peers. For each story, students were asked if any of the protagonist's behaviours seemed strange or unusual; why these behaviours were strange or unusual; and why the protagonist acted the way he or she did. More Japanese than American students mentioned the psychological reasoning of the individual, and more American than Japanese students mentioned external influences and violation of social norms in explaining and conceptualizing deviant conduct, respectively. Few developmental or gender differences emerged. Results are discussed in terms of the individualism‐collectivism paradigm and cultural differences in attributions for success and failure.     

Behavior and autonomic nervous system function assessed via heart period measures: The case of hyperarousal in boys with fragile X syndrome

Physiological responses may inform us about and help us to interpret behavioral responses. For example, hyperarousal may be a source of behavior problems in children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). To evaluate this approach, we examined heart period data in specific contexts in boys with FXS and in normally developing chronological-age-matched boys. Spectral analysis was used to evaluate the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems’ contributions to heart period. Boys with FXS had shorter interbeat intervals, lower parasympathetic activity, and similar sympathetic activity. Also, the groups were differentially responsive to experimental challenge. These results have important implications for our understanding of the basic nervous system dysfunction in FXS and for the strategies likely to be effective in terms of pharmacological intervention with these children. These methods can be applied to a variety of contexts and populations, including children who are sensory defensive, socially avoidant, inattentive, or hyperactive.     

Openly Carrying Handguns for Self-Defense

The journal articles in the extant philosophical literature which argue in favor of carrying handguns for self-defense tend to assume that these weapons will be concealed and make no mention of carrying them openly. This paper aims to show that, since open-carry can be more effective for self-defense than concealed-carry, any argument for a moral right to carry a handgun for self-defense which relies on a claim of their effectiveness and which assumes concealed-carry, entails the moral right to carry them openly in public.