Group interpersonal skills training in a natural setting: an experimental study.

This study assessed effectiveness of group interpersonal skills training conducted in a natural setting with nonanalogue clients. Subjects (Ss) in a behavioral-training condition received 4 hr of instruction consisting of modeling, behavioral rehearsal, coaching, feedback and reinforcement. Training focused on positive and negative social responses and on initiating interactions, as well as reacting to interactions initiated by others. Subjects in a discussion-control condition engaged in focused discussion of interpersonal concerns but received no experiential practice. Within a pre-test-post-test control group design, subjective and objective measures were used to assess training effects. When compared to Ss involved in group discussion. Ss participating in group behavioral training revealed greater pre- to post-test changes on selfreported probability of engaging in selected interpersonal responses and on objective measures of eye contact, speech duration, positive affective responses, use of no-statements, compliance, refusals and requests for new behavior. Support for generalization of training is presented and methodological issues are discussed.     

Acculturation, peer relations, and delinquent behavior of Chinese-Canadian youth

Studies have reported that youth of Chinese descent in North America tend to have lower rates of delinquency. Some investigators have attributed this phenomenon to the restraining effects of Chinese culture. In this study, acculturation, peer relations, and delinquency were examined in a sample of Chinese-Canadian youth. The results revealed that adherence to Chinese culture was related to lower delinquency, whereas the opposite was true for North American acculturation. It was found that association with delinquent peers was positively related and attachment to peers negatively related to delinquency, as predicted by differential association and control theories, respectively. Moreover, acculturation was positively related to association with delinquent peers and attachment to peers. However, there was the unexpected finding that association with Chinese peers was positively related to delinquency. These seemingly contradictory findings demonstrate the dilemma experienced by Chinese youth in North America.     

Mood and organizational citizenship behavior: the effects of positive affect on employee organizational citizenship behavior intentions

This study, involving 139 employees from a variety of industries, organizations, and positions in Singapore, measured the effects of mood on the intentions of employees to contribute actions that are organizationally desirable but are not part of their formal job requirements (organizational citizenship behavior). After effects of established patterns of historical organizational citizenship behavior, demographic characteristics, and employee positive and negative affectivity had been controlled, stepwise regression analysis revealed that the amount of positive affect currently experienced by an employee significantly influenced the employee's intention to perform specific acts of organizational citizenship.     

Sex differences on the MMPI-2 substance abuse scales in psychiatric inpatients.

Sex differences on the MMPI-2 addiction scales (MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale-Revised, Addiction Acknowledgement Scale, Addiction Potential Scale) and their ability to distinguish between substance-abusing and nonabusing psychiatric inpatients were examined. Men obtained higher mean raw scores than women on the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale-Revised and the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale, and substance abusers scored higher on all three scales. Even relatively low cutoff scores, however, on the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale-Revised resulted in false negative rates of 37 to 39%. The results support the utility of the MMPI-2 substance abuse scales; however, lower cutoff scores should be used with women and within a psychiatric population.     

On A Semantic Interpretation Of Kant's Concept Of Number

What is central to the progression of a sequence is the idea of succession, which is fundamentally a temporal notion. In Kant's ontology numbers are not objects but rules (schemata) for representing the magnitude of a quantum. The magnitude of a discrete quantum 11...11 is determined by a counting procedure, an operation which can be understood as a mapping from the ordinals to the cardinals. All empirical models for numbers isomorphic to 11...11 must conform to the transcendental determination of time-order. Kant's transcendental model for number entails a procedural semantics in which the semantic value of the number-concept is defined in terms of temporal procedures. A number is constructible if and only if it can be schematized in a procedural form. This representability condition explains how an arbitrarily large number is representable and why Kant thinks that arithmetical statements are synthetic and not analytic.     

Evaluating Rehabilitation Caseload Management Skills Through Computer Simulations

In this article the authors report on the development and validation of a computer-based rehabilitation caseload management simulation as a teaching and evaluation tool in counselor education. The computer simulation was administered to 18 rehabilitation students and 18 rehabilitation counselors. Their performance on the simulation was evaluated using six caseload management performance indicators. These performance indicators, derived from the computer simulation, were found to be effective in differentiating the student group from the experienced counselor group using discriminant analysis. Implications for the use of computer simulations in rehabilitation counselor education and future research directions are discussed.     

Social preference of female gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) as influenced by coat color of males

Female gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) of three distinct coat colors (agouti, black, and sandy or pink-eyed dilution) were tested in a Y-maze whose arms led to compartments containing unfamiliar male gerbils of varying coat colors. The stimulus animals were separated from the females by a Plexiglas door. The trials lasted for 2 min and each female was exposed to the following four combinations: two males of the same coloring as the female; one male of the same color and another of a different color from the female; both males of different color from the female. The number of crossings to the left and right arms was relayed by photocells to an IBM PC computer. The results indicate that agouti females preferred visiting the arm occupied by agouti males while those of the other coat colors showed no preference for the "wild-type" males. Instead, sandy and black female gerbils preferred to be in proximity with those of non-wild types.     

Treating criminal psychopaths in a therapeutic community program

A Therapeutic Community (TC) treatment program for adult male offenders is summarized and treatment outcome data are discussed. Psychopaths showed less clinical improvement, displayed lower levels of motivation and were discharged from the program earlier than non-psychopaths. There were significant positive treatment effects for the non-psychopaths and a mixed group. Psychopathy Checklist scores (Hare, 1985) consistently postdict and predict treatment outcome and attrition from the program.     

Component Skills as Predictors of Chinese Reading Proficiency in Primary School Children

This study was designed to examine the relevance of some cognitive skills to Chinese reading and to identify those that distinguish readers of different proficiency levels. Third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade children were given two sets of tests, the Chinese Reading Proficiency Test and five component skill tests. Skills in word recognition and in comprehension were examined through tasks measuring component detection, lexical coding, memory for gist, knowledge of syntax, and use of context. Subjects' responses on the knowledge of syntax task and the lexical coding task were found to be most effective in predicting reading proficiency of the third graders, but not the fourth- and fifth-grade children. Instead, use of context task was the best predictor of the older children's reading proficiency.