Electronic Performance Monitoring: A Laboratory Investigation of the Influence of Monitoring and Difficulty on Task Performance, Mood State, and Self-Reported Stress Levels

Increases in the sophistication of workplace computerization has provided modern-day managers with superior tools, such as electronic performance monitoring (EPM), with which to supervise their employees. Expanding on studies by Aiello (e. g., Aiello, 1993), the present study aimed to examine EPM in a social facilitation framework, exploring not only the relationship with task performance and stress, but also with an individual's subjective mood state. Thirty-three female and 15 male university students were required to solve a series of anagrams via a purpose-built computer program. Both the difficulty of the anagrams (easy or difficult) and the presence of monitoring (present or absent) were varied for each participant. Results indicated that the visual presence of EPM resulted in an easy task being performed with greater proficiency and a difficult task being performed with less proficiency. When participants were attempting to solve an easy task, the presence of EPM resulted in a participant's mood state becoming significantly more positive; whereas when solving a difficult task, EPM caused a more negative mood state. Similarly, it was found that a higher level of subjective stress was experienced when EPM was present, as opposed to absent. when individuals were performing a difficult task. The implications for the workplace applications produced by this study are discussed.     

Minimax d-optimal designs for item response theory models

Various different item response theory (IRT) models can be used in educational and psychological measurement to analyze test data. One of the major drawbacks of these models is that efficient parameter estimation can only be achieved with very large data sets. Therefore, it is often worthwhile to search for designs of the test data that in some way will optimize the parameter estimates. The results from the statistical theory on optimal design can be applied for efficient estimation of the parameters.A major problem in finding an optimal design for IRT models is that the designs are only optimal for a given set of parameters, that is, they are locally optimal. Locally optimal designs can be constructed with a sequential design procedure. In this paper minimax designs are proposed for IRT models to overcome the problem of local optimality. Minimax designs are compared to sequentially constructed designs for the two parameter logistic model and the results show that minimax design can be nearly as efficient as sequentially constructed designs.     

Promotion of empirically validated psychotherapies in counselling psychology

The extent to which psychotherapies have empirical support is a long-standing and controversial issue in counselling psychology. Recently, the American Psychological Association Division of Clinical Psychology (Division 12) established a task force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures. The role of the task force was to define empirically validated treatment and make recommendations in relation to methods for educating mental health professionals, third party payers and the public about effective psychotherapies. The findings and recommendations of the task force are brought to the attention of readers. We believe that counselling psychologists should be proactive in the promotion of empirically validated psychotherapies.     

Developing rich and quickly accessed knowledge of an artificial grammar

In contrast to prior research, our results demonstrate that it is possible to acquire rich, highly accurate, and quickly accessed knowledge of an artificial grammar. Across two experiments, we trained participants by using a string-edit task and highlighting relatively low-level (letters), medium-level (chunks), or high-level (structural; i.e., grammar diagram) information to increase the efficiency of grammar acquisition. In both experiments, participants who had structural information available during training generated more highly accurate strings during a cued generation test than did those in other conditions, with equivalent speed. Experiment 2 revealed that structural information enhanced acquisition only when relevant features were highlighted during the task using animation. We suggest that two critical components for producing enhanced performance from provided model-based knowledge involve (1) using the model to acquire experience-based knowledge, rather than using a representation of the model to generate responses, and (2) receiving that knowledge precisely when it is needed during training.     

Perceived environmental predictors of physical activity over 6 months in adults: activity counseling trial.

PURPOSE: In the present study, the authors extend previous cross-sectional findings by using a prospective design to determine whether physical and social environmental characteristics predict physical activity over 6 months. DESIGN: Inactive adults were recruited to the Activity Counseling Trial, a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial of physical activity intervention in primary care. Participants were 387 women and 474 men aged 35-75 years in 3 regions; 1/3 were minorities; 56% had some college education. Baseline perceived environmental variables were used to predict physical activity at 6 months, adjusting for experimental condition and other potential moderators. MEASURES: The validated 7-day physical activity recall interview was used to estimate minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity. A standardized survey was used to measure social and physical environmental variables around the home and neighborhood. RESULTS: Women reporting no unattended dogs and low crime in their neighborhoods and men reporting frequently seeing people being active in their neighborhoods did 50-75 more minutes of physical activity per week than did those with different environmental characteristics. Interactions of environmental variables with age group suggested that older adults may be more affected by environmental variables than are younger adults. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported social and physical environmental variables were significantly related to moderate to vigorous physical activity among a diverse sample of adults living in 3 regions of the United States. These prospective findings strengthen the conclusion from previous cross-sectional studies that environmental variables are important correlates of physical activity.     

Cultural competence and evidence-based practice in mental health services: a complementary perspective

The need for cultural competence and the need for evidence-based practice in mental health services are major issues in contemporary discourse, especially in the psychological treatment of people of color. Although these 2 paradigms are complementary in nature, there is little cross-fertilization in the psychological literature. The present article illustrates the complementary nature of these 2 paradigms. A main point of convergence is related to the development of culturally adapted interventions in the move from efficacy research to effectiveness studies. The implications of cultural adaptations of empirically supported treatments for mental health services in terms of research and practice with ethnic/racial minority populations are discussed.     

Self-Handicapping Prior to Academic-Oriented Tasks in Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Medication Effects and Comparisons with Controls

Examined self-handicapping prior to academic-oriented tasks in children with and without ADHD and examined whether stimulant medication influenced self-handicapping. Participants were 61 children ages 6 to 13, including 22 children with ADHD tested after taking a placebo, 21 children with ADHD tested after taking stimulant medication, and 18 non-ADHD controls. Participants completed three measures of self handicapping and also completed self-evaluations of their performance. Results showed greater self handicapping and more positive self-evaluations in children with ADHD than in controls regardless of medication condition. Findings suggest children with ADHD may use self handicapping to ameliorate the effects of experiencing high rates of academic failure.     

Graphical language games: interactional constraints on representational form

The emergence of shared symbol systems is considered to be a pivotal moment in human evolution and human development. These changes are normally explained by reference to changes in people's internal cognitive processes. We present 2 experiments which provide evidence that changes in the external, collaborative processes that people use to communicate can also affect the structure and organization of symbol systems independently of cognitive change. We propose that mutual-modifiability-opportunities for people to edit or manipulate each other's contributions-is a key constraint on the emergence of complex symbol systems. We discuss the implications for models of language development and the origins of compositionality.     

Constructing culture in cowbirds (Molothrus ater)

In past work, the authors produced divergent patterns of courtship and communication in juvenile male cowbirds (Molothrus ater) by providing them with different social experiences during their 1st year. Here the authors determined whether these different social patterns could be transmitted to new generations of juvenile males. In Experiment 1, the authors exposed groups of juveniles to adult males who differed in the amount of male-male competition they produced. In Experiment 2, they gave groups of juveniles either social access to adult males or only visual and acoustic access to those males. In both experiments, juvenile males developed patterns of courtship and competition similar to those expressed by the adult males with whom they had social contact. The juveniles never had the opportunity to observe some of the adults' behaviors that they came to replicate. This suggests that the role of the adults was to establish the social structure in the groups, modifying juveniles' early social interactions. Juveniles were then "cultured" within these different learning environments, constructing social behavior similar to the adult males' behavior in their 1st year.     

On the biomedicalization of alcoholism

The shift in the prevailing view of alcoholism from a moral paradigm towards a biomedical paradigm is often characterized as a form of biomedicalization. We will examine and critique three reasons offered for the claim that viewing alcoholism as a disease is morally problematic. The first is that the new conceptualization of alcoholism as a chronic brain disease will lead to individualization, e.g., a too narrow focus on the individual person, excluding cultural and social dimensions of alcoholism. The second claim is that biomedicalization will lead to stigmatization and discrimination for both alcoholics and people who are at risk of becoming alcoholics. The third claim is that as a result of the biomedical point of view, the autonomy and responsibility of alcoholics and possibly even persons at risk may be unjustly restricted. Our conclusion is that the claims against the biomedical conceptualization of alcoholism as a chronic brain disease are neither specific nor convincing. Not only do some of these concerns also apply to the traditional moral model; above that they are not strong enough to justify the rejection of the new biomedical model altogether. The focus in the scientific and public debate should not be on some massive “biomedicalization objection” but on the various concerns underlying what is framed in terms of the biomedicalization of alcoholism.