The triad of science foundations, instructional technology, and organizational structure

Over the centuries and across all societies educational achievement does not improve. The attempt to improve the instructional process has concentrated on instructional technology. But these attempts have overlooked the importance of two other factors: the science that should underlie the instructional technologies and the organization that must operate those technologies. A considerable step forward in handling the problems of instructional effectiveness has been the derivation of instructional technologies based on Skinnerian science. But the instructional technologies based on Skinner's analysis of behavior are promoted as if they were to operate in an organizational vacuum. The division of labor, and its necessary coordination and control, is taken for granted. But in any large scale enterprise, the organization of the division of labor must fit the technology through which that enterprise achieves its mission. Educational technology must tie directly to a pertinent science and to a proper organizational structure. To teach effectively requires an overhaul along three lines: 1) a relevant science that reflects and encapsulates an accurate understanding of behavior; 2) a contingency-based technology of instruction that directly derives its practices upon proper scientific principles; and 3) a suitable organization based on teaching teams that operate the new instructional technology.     

Factors Associated with Providers’ Work Engagement and Burnout in Homeless Services: A Cross‐national Study

The complexity of homeless service users’ characteristics and the contextual challenges faced by services can make the experience of working with people in homelessness stressful and can put providers’ well‐being at risk. In the current study, we investigated the association between service characteristics (i.e., the availability of training and supervision and the capability‐fostering approach) and social service providers’ work engagement and burnout. The study involved 497 social service providers working in homeless services in eight different European countries (62% women; mean age = 40.73, SD = 10.45) and was part of the Horizon 2020 European study “Homelessness as Unfairness (HOME_EU).” Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), findings showed that the availability of training and supervision were positively associated with providers’ work engagement and negatively associated with burnout. However, results varied based on the perceived usefulness of the training and supervision provided within the service and the specific outcome considered. The most consistent finding was the association between the degree to which a service promotes users’ capabilities and all the aspects of providers’ well‐being analyzed. Results are discussed in relation to their implications for how configuration of homeless services can promote social service providers’ well‐being and high‐quality care.     

The Subtle Influence of Check and X Marks: How Symbolic Markings Influence Judgment

Symbols can exert an influence on how we think, feel, and even behave. Here we examine whether symbolic markings serve as primes and influence how people make judgments. We propose that making either a check or an X mark to indicate an opinion can lead people to process the same information differently, thereby influencing the judgment people make. Across four experiments, we find that the check and X marks carry different symbolic associations; people associate check with good and X with bad. We also find downstream consequences of these mental associations. People who make positively connoted check marks (as opposed to negatively connoted X marks) to indicate their judgments are more agreeable toward familiar, controversial social policies as well as market research survey items on values and life styles. Differential symbolic markings with check and X marks seem to shape how people think and make judgments.     

Organized Community Activity Participation and the Dynamic Roles of Neighborhood Violence and Gender among Latino Adolescents

Relative to their peers, Latino youth are underinvolved in organized community activities (e.g., Boys and Girls Club), and their experiences lack examination. This study employed a neighborhood case‐study approach to examine the experiences of Latino youth in a neighborhood with high levels of violence and their participation in organized community activities. Employing a cluster sampling design (Lohr, Sampling: Design and analysis. Pacific Grove, CA: Nelson Education, 2009), we used quantitative, spatial, and qualitative data to understand adolescents’ participation in organized community activities. Furthermore, to understand how adolescents from the same neighborhood may experience violence differently we examined gender differences. Those who participated in organized community activities witnessed more violence, regardless of gender. General violence (e.g., robberies, shootings) was dispersed throughout the neighborhood, but gender‐specific violence was concentrated along the main street of the neighborhood. In qualitative interviews, adolescents reported this concentration of violence a deterrent to their participation: sexual harassment for girls and gang intimidation for boys. Our findings highlight the unique experiences of youth in violent neighborhoods and the importance of examining differential constraints for those within the same neighborhood.     

The Identity Development of Urban Minority Young Men in Single‐Mother Households

This phenomenological study explored the gender and career identity development of 13 urban minority young men, with an emphasis on the potential impact of father absence and single‐mother parenting. Six themes were identified: (a) emotional intelligence and maternal appreciation and internalization, (b) consequent assumption of a parentified role, (c) nontraditional perception of masculinity, (d) experienced paternal void, (e) resilience, and (f) the limitations and aspirations in career pathways. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Revisionism about free will: a statement &; defense

This article summarizes and extends the moderate revisionist position I put forth in Four Views on Free Will and responds to objections to it from Robert Kane, John Martin Fischer, Derk Pereboom, and Michael McKenna. Among the principle topics of the article are (1) motivations for revisionism, what it is, and how it is different from compatibilism and hard incompatibilism, (2) an objection to libertarianism based on the moral costs of its current epistemic status, (3) an objection to the distinctiveness of semicompatibilism against conventional forms of compatibilism, and (4) whether moderate revisionism is committed to realism about moral responsibility.

Factors Affecting HIV Contraceptive Decision-Making Among Women

We examined contraceptive decision-making among African American, Latina, and European American women ages 18–50 years. Logistic regressions examined relationships between demographic and religious factors, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), reasons for sex, and contraceptive decision-making. Women who were older, single, African American, used pregnancy prevention, and had histories of STDs and unintended pregnancies made contraceptive decisions alone. Older and African American women were more likely to choose no contraception. Among contraceptive users, African Americans used effective methods of pregnancy, but not disease, prevention. Women with STD histories, and younger, more educated women were more likely to use methods that prevent against both pregnancy and disease. Theoretical implications about contraceptive choices among ethnically diverse women are discussed.     

Stimulus Fading and Response Elaboration in Differential Reinforcement for Alternative Behavior

A hallmark of applied behavior analysis is the development of function‐based interventions for problem behavior. A widely recommended function‐based intervention is differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), in which reinforcement is contingent upon socially acceptable alternatives to problem behavior (e.g., teaching communication skills). Typically, DRA is introduced under rich schedules of reinforcement. Although effective for initiating behavior change, rich schedules are often impractical in the natural setting. In this study, we evaluated the extent to which a stimulus fading program could be employed to elaborate alternative behavior (mands) in two individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. For both participants, problem behavior was reduced substantially upon implementation of the DRA procedure. Further, problem behavior rates remained low and mand rates decreased to more practical levels as the DRA behavioral requirements increased during the fading program. The fading approach demonstrated in this paper may be a useful component of intervention packages for clinicians. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Procesamiento de la información en la esquizofrenia: Amplitud de aprehensión

Resumen

Esta investigación ha tenido como objetivo comparar la amplitud de aprehensión de dos grupos de pacientes esquizofrénicos (paranoide y no-paranoide) y la de un grupo de sujetos normales. Las variables independientes han sido la duración de la exposición y el número de items. Los resultados sugieren que los esquizofrénicos procesan la información visual menos eficientemente que los normales.