Courteous service: Its assessment and modification in a human service organization

We evaluated strategies to increase behaviors associated with courteous provision of service by 3 staff members of a human service agency. Training included written instructions, practice, and performance feedback. A lottery procedure was introduced to maintain courteous service after training. The results of a multiple baseline design across the 3 participants showed marked increases in courteous behaviors following training. These effects were maintained at 3-, 5-, and 8-month follow-ups. Consumers' satisfaction with service also increased. These findings suggest that simple training and reinforcement procedures can enhance courtesy afforded those who receive service from public and nonprofit organizations.     

AN EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON OF THREE DIFFERENT SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT OF DRUG ABSTINENCE USING CIGARETTE SMOKING AS AN EXEMPLAR

The efficacy of three different schedules of reinforcement for promoting and sustaining drug abstinence was compared in this study. Cigarette smoking was studied as an exemplar of stimulant drug self-administration. Sixty cigarette smokers were assigned to one of three groups (progressive rate of reinforcement, fixed rate of reinforcement, and yoked control). Participants in all three groups were asked to refrain from smoking for 1 week. Participants in the progressive and fixed groups achieved greater mean levels of abstinence than those in the control group. Participants in the progressive group were significantly less likely to resume smoking when they became abstinent than participants in the other groups.     

THE FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARTIFICIAL FOOD COLORS AND HYPERACTIVITY

The presence of a functional relationship between the ingestion of artificial food colors and an increase in the frequency and/or duration of selected behaviors that are representative of the hyperactive behavior syndrome was experimentally investigated. Two eight-year-old females, who had been on the Feingold K-P diet for a minimum of 11 months, were the subjects studied. The experimental design was a variation of the BAB design, with double-blind conditions. This design allowed an experimental analysis of the placebo phases as well as challenge phases. Data were obtained by trained observers on Out of Seat, On Task, and Physically Aggressive behaviors, as they occurred in the subjects' regular class setting. Results indicated (a) the existence of a functional relationship between the ingestion of artificial food colors and an increase in both the duration and frequency of hyperactive children.     

MODIFICATION OF THE EXCESSIVE INAPPROPRIATE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR OF TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS USING HOME-BASED CONSEQUENCES AND DAILY REPORT-CARD PROCEDURES1

Two experiments investigated home-based reinforcement contingencies to control excessive behavior in normal classrooms. Subjects were, respectively, a 12-yr-old fifth-grade boy and a 9-yr-old fourth-grade boy, each in a separate classroom and with a different teacher. Following baseline observations in which observers recorded several categories of student behavior and teacher-student interaction, separate conferences were held including parents of the two children, the principal, teachers, and experimenters. A daily report-card procedure was agreed on, stipulating a one-day suspension from school following three successive “undesirable” daily report cards as well as the supervision of home-based privileges and other reinforcers usually contingent on satisfactory daily reports. Measurements of daily rates of teacher attention indicated no important change in this variable throughout the various experimental conditions. The daily report procedure significantly reduced disruptive classroom behavior. In a second experiment, a teacher-operated timer cued her own time-sample observations. Reliability measures revealed that the teacher could accurately measure the child's behavior while she was teaching the class. The procedure was ultimately successfully expanded to the teacher's total contact hours each day.     

大学毕业生的职业期望及其影响因素研究

本研究对当代大学生职业期望所包括的关键因素以及各因素之间的结构模式进行了深入分析,从职业动机、自我意识、环境意识以及个人的职业发展计划等多种不同角度对影响职业期望的因素进行了有益的探索,并在此基础上建立了"当代大学生职业期望的初步模型".     

管理培训背景下适应性绩效的结构分析

本研究以适应性绩效理论为基础,在上海、北京、广州、浙江、江苏、重庆等地用问卷调查了十多个企业的管理培训实施情况,得到了334个有效样本。对数据进行探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析后,得到了管理培训背景下的四因素适应性绩效结构模型,四个因素分别被命名为:压力和应急处理、创新解决问题、岗位持续学习以及人际和文化适应。该适应性绩效结构为管理培训评估研究中效标的确定提供了新思路。最后讨论了今后研究需要进一步注意的问题。     

Fat talk and self-presentation of body image: Is there a social norm for women to self-degrade?

The current investigations build upon previous ethnographic research, which identified a social norm for adolescent females to engage in “fat talk” (informal dialogue during which individuals express body dissatisfaction). In Study 1, participants were shown a vignette involving women engaging in fat talk dialogue and were subsequently asked to chose one of three self-presentational responses for a target female: (1) self-accepting of her body, (2) providing no information, or (3) self-degrading about her body. Male and female participants believed the target would be most likely to self-degrade, and that this would lead women to like her, while the self-accepting response would lead men to like her most. Study 2 used the same vignette but participants were asked to respond in an open-ended fashion. Participants again expected the target female to self-degrade. The present findings suggest college students perceive fat talk self-degradation of body image as normative.     

Integrating person and situation perspectives on work satisfaction: A social-cognitive view

Social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) was originally designed to help explain interest development, choice, and performance in career and educational domains. These three aspects of career/academic development were presented in distinct but overlapping segmental models. This article presents a fourth social cognitive model aimed at understanding satisfaction experienced in vocational and educational pursuits. The model posits paths whereby core social cognitive variables (e.g., self-efficacy, goals) function jointly with personality/affective trait and contextual variables that have been linked to job satisfaction. We consider the model’s implications for forging an understanding of satisfaction that bridges the often disparate perspectives of organizational and vocational psychology.     

The gendered nature of career related learning experiences: A social cognitive career theory perspective

The learning experiences questionnaire (LEQ; Schaub & Tokar, 2005) was used to examine learning experiences as they relate to SCCT (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) across the Holland (1997) RIASEC typology. In particular, differences in men’s and women’s career related learning experiences were examined. A sample of 319 undergraduates at a public Midwestern university completed an online survey. Gender differences were observed in reported levels of some learning experiences; similar to prior findings for self-efficacy and interests, women reported more learning experiences in the Social domain, and men reported more experiences in the Realistic and Investigative domains. Results also supported that more reported learning experiences in a given domain relate to higher self-efficacy and outcome expectations in that domain.     

Predicting Resource Utilization by Children with Serious Emotional Disturbance and Their Families

Our study represents a rural case management agency's use of its data to aid in its transition from being funded by federal grant funds to self-sustainment. We wanted to learn if some characteristics of those children served could predict the resources needed to serve them. We analyzed data on 90 children and adolescents living in a rural community. Using multiple regression analysis we found that CAFAS total and CBCL total problem scores predicted Medicaid reimbursements but not flexible funds spending or case management hours. History of psychiatric hospitalization, however, predicted flexible funds spending and case management hours. Using one-way ANOVA and post hoc analysis we found that the staff members' assessments of each child and family's level of service needs were reflected in differences in mean CAFAS total scores, Medicaid reimbursements and case management hours, but not CBCL total problem scores or flexible funds spending.