The momentum of compliance

Compliance with demanding requests that are normally ineffective may be increased by presenting a series of easy or high-probability (high-p) requests before the more demanding requests. Mace and his colleagues have discussed the effectiveness of the high-p procedure in relation to behavioral momentum—the tendency for behavior, once initiated and reinforced, to persist in the face of a challenge. The high-p procedure differs in several ways from that employed in laboratory research on momentum, and the methods and findings of basic research may not be relevant to applied work on compliance. This article reviews some laboratory procedures used in research on behavioral momentum, summarizes the major findings of that research, and discusses its relevance to the high-p procedure and its outcomes. Increased compliance with demanding requests following the high-p procedure can be understood in relation to the procedures and findings of basic research, but some questions arise in the process of translating research into application via the metaphor of momentum. These questions suggest some new directions for both experimental and applied behavior analysis.     

Response-independent food delivery and behavioral resistance to change

Response-independent food was delivered during a dark-key phase between two multiple-schedule components to explore its disruptive effects on responding. Responding in components was maintained by separate variable-interval 120-s schedules, with a 2-s reinforcer in Component 1 and a 6-s reinforcer in Component 2. Across conditions the rate and duration of response-independent food presentations were manipulated. The results showed that response rates in both components decreased as a function of the duration and the rate of response-independent food presentations; moreover, the decrease in response rate relative to the baseline level was larger in Component 1 than in Component 2. These findings were consistent with expectations from behavioral momentum theory, which predicts that if equal disruption (response-independent food in this case) is applied to responding in two components, then the ratio of response-rate change in Component 1 versus Component 2 should remain constant, irrespective of the magnitude of that disruption.     

ALTERNATIVE REINFORCEMENT INCREASES RESISTANCE TO CHANGE: PAVLOVIAN OR OPERANT CONTINGENCIES?

Two multiple-schedule experiments with pigeons examined the effect of adding food reinforcement from an alternative source on the resistance of the reinforced response (target response) to the decremental effects of satiation and extinction. In Experiment 1, key pecks were reinforced by food in two components according to variable-interval schedules and, in some conditions, food was delivered according to variable-time schedules in one of the components. The rate of key pecking in a component was negatively related to the proportion of reinforcers from the alternative (variable-time) source. Resistance to satiation and extinction, in contrast, was positively related to the overall rate of reinforcement in the component. Experiment 2 was conceptually similar except that the alternative reinforcers were contingent on a specific concurrent response. Again, the rate of the target response varied as a function of its relative reinforcement, but its resistance to satiation and extinction varied directly with the overall rate of reinforcement in the component stimulus regardless of its relative reinforcement. Together the results of the two experiments suggest that the relative reinforcement of a response (the operant contingency) determines its rate, whereas the stimulus-reinforcement contingency (a Pavlovian contingency) determines its resistance to change.     

Tests of behavior momentum in simple and multiple schedules with rats and pigeons.

Four experiments examined the relationship between rate of reinforcement and resistance to change in rats' and pigeons' responses under simple and multiple schedules of reinforcement. In Experiment 1, 28 rats responded under either simple fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, or variable-interval schedules; in Experiment 2, 3 pigeons responded under simple fixed-ratio schedules. Under each schedule, rate of reinforcement varied across four successive conditions. In Experiment 3, 14 rats responded under either a multiple fixed-ratio schedule or a multiple fixed-interval schedule, each with two components that differed in rate of reinforcement. In Experiment 4, 7 pigeons responded under either a multiple fixed-ratio or a multiple fixed-interval schedule, each with three components that also differed in rate of reinforcement. Under each condition of each experiment, resistance to change was studied by measuring schedule-controlled performance under conditions with prefeeding, response-independent food during the schedule or during timeouts that separated components of the multiple schedules, and by measuring behavior under extinction. There were no consistent differences between rats and pigeons. There was no direct relationship between rates of reinforcement and resistance to change when rates of reinforcement varied across successive conditions in the simple schedules. By comparison, in the multiple schedules there was a direct relationship between rates of reinforcement and resistance to change during most tests of resistance to change. The major exception was delivering response-independent food during the schedule; this disrupted responding, but there was no direct relationship between rates of reinforcement and resistance to change in simple- or multiple-schedule contexts. The data suggest that rate of reinforcement determines resistance to change in multiple schedules, but that this relationship does not hold under simple schedules.     

Clinical Experiences in Conducting Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Social Phobia

Several authors have identified a disconnect between psychotherapy research, including research on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and real-world psychotherapy practice. This disconnect has several negative consequences, potentially including less-than-optimal practice standards as well as a lack of input from practicing psychotherapists on how research can be improved and made more relevant in their day-to-day clinical work. As part of an ongoing effort to engage practicing psychotherapists in a feedback loop with psychotherapy researchers, this study reports the results of a survey of CBT therapists who have used CBT in the treatment of social phobia (SP). The survey was designed primarily to document how often certain potential problems, identified by expert researchers and CBT manuals, actually act as barriers to successful treatment when CBT is employed in nonresearch environments. The participants were 276 psychotherapists responding to email, online, and print advertisements completing the online survey. Participants varied considerably in psychotherapy experience, work environment, experience in using CBT for SP, and in some ways varied in their usual CBT techniques when treating SP. Among the most prominent barriers identified by many of the participants were patient motivation, comorbidity, logistical problems (especially with exposures), patient resistance, and severity and chronicity of SP symptoms. These findings may be useful for psychotherapy researchers as areas for potential study. The results may also suggest topics requiring clinical guidelines, innovations within CBT, and dissemination of successful techniques to address the barriers identified here.     

‘Bricolage’: reclaiming a conceptual tool

This article provides the genealogy of bricolage and underscores the modifications it has undergone within the sociologies of culture and religion. It draws on the study of three new religious movements that teach unconventional versions of Hinduism and kabbalah, to show that the current understanding of bricolage in the studies of popular culture and religion over-estimates its eclectic and personal nature and neglects its sociocultural logics. It tends to take for granted the availability of cultural resources used in bricolage, and finally it fails to understand the social significance of individualism, overlooking the ways in which norms and power could be expressed through culture in the contemporary world. This article suggests that it would be best reclaiming bricolage's original meaning, prompting questions about the contexts that make certain elements available, social patterns that may organise bricolage, who ‘bricole’, what for, who is empowered, from what and by using whose tradition.     

Challenges in treating patients with psychosomatic disorders: some patterns of resistance

The treatment of people suffering from psychosomatic disorders poses important clinical challenges to psychoanalytic practice, including early abandonment, difficulties in engagement and superficial involvement in the treatment. The lack of systematic research on the subject suggests that a better understanding of the resistances and dynamics involved in such episodes is needed. Using supervision group to study treatments and inspired by action-research paradigm, this paper presents the results of an 18-month mixed-method qualitative clinical research on treating 22 cases. Thematic analysis revealed a frequent pattern of resistance to experience emotions that presented in two states: failure of repression (thin-skin) and massive repression (thick-skin). Narcissistic dynamics in the therapeutic relationship taking the form of ‘resistance to transference’ and a tendency to action were evident in both presentations. Symmetric and complementary counter-transference reactions, which compromised treatment, were also identified. Some technical implications are highlighted, such as the need to focus in the recovery of the patient's actual emotional experience and to understand such experience in the context of the ‘here and now’ of the therapeutic encounter. These findings suggest the need for a flexible approach to therapeutic work that moves between an ‘intrapsychic’ and a ‘relational’ focus.     

Testing mediator variables in a resistance training intervention for obese adults with type 2 diabetes

A poor understanding of behaviour change mechanisms has hindered the development of effective physical activity interventions. The aim of this study was to identify potential mediators of change in a home-based resistance training (RT) program for obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. Obese individuals with type 2 diabetes (N?=?48) were randomly allocated to either an RT intervention (n?=?27) or a control group (n?=?21) for the 16-week study period. The study sample included 16 men and 32 women and the mean age of participants was 54.4 (±11.7) years. Participants in the RT group received a multi-gym and dumbbells and home supervision from a certified personal trainer. RT behaviour was measured using a modified Godin Leisure Time Questionnaire. Social-cognitive constructs were measured and tested in a mediating variable framework using a product-of-coefficients test. The intervention had a significant effect on RT behaviour (p?<?0.001) and muscular strength (p?<?0.001). The intervention had a significant effect on RT planning strategies (p?<?0.01), which mediated the effect of the intervention on RT behaviour. The home-based RT program successfully targeted participants’ RT planning strategies which contributed to their exercise adherence.