Alcohol and Complex Functioning1

Twenty-five managers participated in two parallel 6-hour quasi-experimental simulations. On placebo treatment days, the subjects received hourly placebo drinks. On alcohol treatment days (order counterbalanced), enough alcohol was provided prior to the fourth hour of simulation participation to attain a breath alcohol level (BAL) of near 0.10. All other drinks contained a placebo beverage. Complex task performance was assessed on five variables derived from complexity theory, comparing performance for three measurement periods: (a) prior to the fourth hour of simulation participation (placebo treatment), (b) during the fourth hour (rising BALs on alcohol treatment days), and (c) during the fifth/sixth hours (falling BALs). Alcohol diminished the participants’ breadth of approach (differentiation). Performance on indicators of strategic functioning (integration) decreased after BALs had begun to fall but not while BALs were rising. The implications for performance of complex tasks under the influence of alcohol and for the applicability of the acute tolerance phenomenon to complex task environments are considered.     

The autonomy–community balance and the equity–law distinction: Anarchy's task for psychological jurisprudence

Anarchist political theory holds that efforts to achieve an optimal balance between individual autonomy and psychological sense of community are often hindered rather than helped by institutionalized legal principles and practices. Despite law's dominance, echoes of earlier forms of social organization more in keeping with optimal well-being may be identified in legal doctrine related to such topics as the distinction between law and equity, jury nullification, and the Ninth Amendment, all of which have been subject to much criticism. Adherents of psychological jurisprudence concerned with the subjective experience of law and with social justice should take seriously the anarchist position that radical social change is needed to help society progress in a direction more suited to basic human needs and values.     

Integrating instructional procedures into traditional congregate care situations for people with severe disabilities

Many institutional and community residential agencies experience difficulties in providing habilitative services when direct care staff are working with groups of people with severe disabilities. We evaluated a means of assisting direct care personnel in integrating instructional strategies into traditional congregate care situations. In Experiment 1, integrated teaching strategies were operationalized for two direct care staff persons. The strategies were based on individualized client habilitative goals and the use of brief response prompting and contingent reinforcement paradigms. The staff members integrated the teaching procedures into their group routines with clients upon implementation of an integrated-teaching staff training and management program. The program involved two staff training sessions and ongoing performance feedback. In Experiment 2, four staff members in another living unit integrated the strategies into their group routines upon implementation of a simplified version of the program. Additionally, while the program was in effect, adaptive behaviors increased in frequency for 19 of 20 clients with profound multiple disabilities. Results of the experiments demonstrate a means through which residential agencies may enhance provision of continuous active treatment in accordance with clinical and governmental guidelines. Suggestions for future rescarch are provided, focusing on overcoming obstacles residential personnel face in providing treatment services in congregate situations.     

Personnel selection to control employee violence

There is a range of on-the-job violent behaviors which are costly and of concern to employers. This review of research shows that on-the-job violence can be predicted when standardized instruments and a statistical model of prediction are used for personnel selection. The research shows that persons will reveal violent tendencies on psychological tests.This is intended as an introductory non-technical business note for managers and human resource professionals.For an empirically based review contact the first author or see: Slora, K.B., Joy, D.S., Jones, J.W., & Terris, W. (1991). The prediction of on-the-job violence. In J.W. Jones (Ed.)Preemployment honesty testing: Current research and future directions. Westport, CT: Quorom Books.     

Semantic priming in the pronunciation task: The role of prospective prime-generated expectancies

In the relatedness proportion effect, semantic priming increases with an increase in the probability that a word prime will be followed by a semantically related word target. This effect has frequently been obtained in the lexical decision task but not in a pronunciation task. In the present experiment, relatedness proportion was manipulated in two pronunciation tasks, one with and one without nonword targets, using category names as primes. In both tasks, a relatedness proportion effect occurred for high-dominance category exemplars but not for low-dominance category exemplars. These results converge with recent lexical decision results in suggesting that semantic priming in pronunciation is affected by a prospective prime-generated expectancy that is modulated by the relatedness proportion.     

EVALUATING A SUPERVISION PROGRAM FOR DEVELOPING AND MAINTAINING THERAPEUTIC STAFF-RESIDENT INTERACTIONS DURING INSTITUTIONAL CARE ROUTINES

This study evaluated a program to teach and maintain language training interactions between institutional staff and profoundly handicapped children during a routine care task. Following baseline observations of bath sessions, staff were sequentially taught in multiple baseline fashion to vocalize more during the bath, praise child vocalizations, imitate sounds, and provide sound prompts. Procedures included a brief in-service meeting followed by a series of supervisory prompts and feedback. Results indicated that staff acquired the interaction skills in the bath sessions and that the skills generalized to another direct care task, dressing. The number of days on which components of supervision were implemented decreased from 47% of all days during the experimental conditions to 19% of the days during a 19-week maintenance period with no decrease in staff behavior. The interactions were shown not to interfere with the quality of the direct care task nor to increase the amount of time necessary to complete it. Also, some increases were noted for child vocalization frequencies. The advantages of providing therapeutic interactions during care routines are discussed along with the need for staff management techniques with long-term maintenance value.     

Changing Contraceptive Usage Intentions: A Test of the Fishbein Model of Intention1

The Fishbein model of intention suggests that intention may change as a consequence of change in either a related attitudinal or normative component. This hypothesis was tested on intention to use contraceptives. Users and nonusers of contraceptives were exposed to a message designed to change contraceptive-usage attitude, to a message directed toward changing the normative beliefs associated with using contraceptives, or to a no-message control. The messages advocated one of three contraceptive techniques: (a) males were advised to use condoms, (b) males were advised to rely on their partner's use of oral contraceptives, or (c) females were advised to use oral contraceptives. Contraceptive-usage intention changed only in the two conditions where the model's requirements for change were present. Thus, the pattern of change agreed with Fishbein's suggestions and provided moderate support for the intention model and its application to intention change in health care settings.     

INVOLVING INSTITUTIONAL STAFF IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF SIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS WITH PROFOUNDLY RETARDED PERSONS

A program to involve institutional staff in developing manual sign language skills with profoundly retarded persons was evaluated. In Experiment 1, six direct care staff, with close supervision, taught a small repertoire of signs to six profoundly retarded residents who had not benefited from previous training in vocal language. Training was conducted in a group format using instructions, modeling, manual guidance, contingent reinforcers, and feedback. During training, all residents learned to identify pictures of objects with manual signs. Generalization observations during unstructured times on the residents' living unit indicated that staff used their signing skills with the residents in addition to their vocal interactions but the residents did not increase their signing or vocalizing. In Experiment 2, the residents' skills in signing with real objects on their living unit as opposed to pictures of objects were evaluated and provided with additional training where necessary. Results indicated that all participating residents learned to communicate with signing during structured interactions on their living unit, and the skills maintained during follow-up assessments ranging from 39 to 49 weeks. Results are discussed regarding the variable generalization effects noted as well as the general benefits and disadvantages of teaching manual signing skills to profoundly retarded persons.     

Is phonological recoding under strategic control?

Two experiments are reported in which subjects were required to name the color in which letter strings were printed. In the first experiment, color-naming latencies were the same when the letter strings were pseudohomophones of color words (e.g., PINC) as when they were color names (e.g., PINK). Both these conditions produced slower responses than control strings matched with the pseudohomophones for visual similarity to the color word (e.g., PINN). Unlike the first experiment, the second included trials in which the ink color was congruent with the color to which the letter string was related. The results with incongruent stimuli paralleled those in the first experiment. With the congruent stimuli, however, responses were faster with color words than with either their pseudohomophones or control strings, which were equally slow. It is proposed that phonological recoding occurs relatively slowly but cannot be suppressed even when it harms performance.