Learning to Teach: The Acquisition and Maintenance of Teaching Skills

We reviewed 49 studies which used direct observation procedures to provide data on the effects of pre-service and inservice training in practical classroom teaching behaviors and skills. We found stronger effects for training packages which included classroom practice with performance feedback. The research provided conflicting evidence regarding the value of modeling, role-play, cueing systems, and contingency management components in practical skills training. The weakest training effects were those produced by microteaching, Minicourse, and protocol training packages. Twenty of the evaluations also provided follow-up data but the design of these studies did not permit any conclusions to be drawn regarding the training conditions which are necessary for the maintenance of newly acquired classroom teaching skills. We concluded that identification of the training conditions which are necessary for the maintenance of new teaching skills will require more thoughtful conceptualizations of maintenance and its measurement, and more carefully designed component analyses of those factors suggested by basic research as being necessary for maintenance.     

An Integrative View of Conflict Adaptation and Active Maintenance

The conflict adaptation (CA) effect refers to the reduction in the interference effect observed in conflict tasks that follow incongruent compared to congruent trials. It has been suggested that CA is caused by the exertion of flexible cognitive control, supported by many behavioral and neuroimaging studies; however, it remains unclear how conflict‐related features of the preceding trial are conveyed to subsequent trials for following adaptation. This review aims to summarize evidence supporting the top‐down modulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and passive short‐term maintenance in the posterior brain areas as mechanisms underlying CA, respectively, and to suggest a new integrated view of CA, including active maintenance in working memory. We review empirical evidences suggesting that both dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior brain regions play critical roles in CA, rather than either top‐down modulation or passive maintenance alone. Although the active maintenance view of CA appears to explain many existing findings, empirical studies are required to directly test this view.     

Psychosocial mediators of a theory-based resistance training maintenance intervention for prediabetic adults

Objective: Examine psychosocial mediators of the effects of high vs. low-dose resistance training (RT) maintenance interventions among older (ages 50–69), overweight and pre-diabetic adults.

Design: Participants (N = 123) completed a three-month supervised RT initiation phase and were subsequently randomised (time 1) to high or low-dose six-month unsupervised RT maintenance interventions (time 2), followed by a six-month no-contact phase (time 3).

Main Outcome Measures: Online measures of putative mediators and RT behaviour.

Results: RT intervention condition (high vs. low dose) had significant effects on change from time 1 to time 2 in behavioural expectation, self-regulation and perceived satisfaction (f² = .04–.08), but not outcome expectancies, RT strategies or behavioural intentions (f² ≤ .02). Change in each of the putative mediators, except for outcome expectancies (f² ≤ .02), had significant effects on RT behaviour at times 2 (f² = .12–.27) and 3 (f² = .23–.40). In a multiple mediation model, behavioural expectation (f² = .11) and self-regulation (f² = .06) mediated the effects of RT intervention condition on time 2 RT behaviour, whereas perceived satisfaction did not (f² = .01). Self-regulation was a significant mediator of intervention effects on time 3 RT behaviour (f² = .11), but behavioural expectation and perceived satisfaction were not (f² = .04).

Conclusions: Findings suggest that behavioural expectation and self-regulation are appropriate targets for RT maintenance interventions among at-risk older adults.     

The effects of different mastery criteria on the skill maintenance of children with developmental disabilities

The acquisition of skills by individuals with developmental disabilities typically includes the attainment of a certain mastery criterion. We conducted a survey of practitioners who indicated the most commonly used mastery criterion as 80% accuracy across three consecutive sessions. Based on these results, we conducted a series of three experiments to evaluate the relation between mastery criterion and subsequent skill maintenance with 4 individuals with various developmental disabilities. Results suggest that 80% accuracy across three consecutive sessions may be insufficient for producing maintenance in some cases.     

Being dishonest about our prejudices: moral dissonance and self-justification

We applied the moral dissonance reduction framework, used to explain the maintenance of a positive self-concept in dishonest behavior, to understand self-justification of prejudice. Participants identified ambiguously negative intergroup behaviors, then evaluated those behaviors when performed by others and themselves. As predicted by moral dissonance reduction, participants were less critical of their own behavior when considering others’ behaviors before their own. In a third study directly comparing prejudiced and dishonest behavior, participants’ responses showed the greatest self-justification in the initial question about their behavior regardless of the content of the question, whereas subsequent questions showed more stability, consistent with the idea that participants adjusted their initial self-reports to avoid damage to their self-concepts.     

Self‐efficacy or perceived behavioural control: Which influences consumers' physical activity and healthful eating behaviour maintenance?

This research investigated the role of a commercial program, Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation (MB12WBT), that uses a variety of tools including social support to influence weight management behaviours such as exercising and eating healthfully. The need for research into weight management remains current given obesity rates have continued to increase in recent decades. Weight management is a complex behaviour that for many consumers involves barriers that influence their commitment to continue exercising and eating healthily. The Theory of Planned Behaviour is frequently used to explain, and to a lesser extent predict, behaviours such as physical activity and healthy eating; however, there is much debate as to whether a perceived behavioural control variable or self‐efficacy is the best predictor of behaviour. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse data from a sample of 724 respondents who answered a baseline and three month follow‐up survey. The analysis revealed self‐efficacy and perceived behavioural control were two distinct constructs. Self‐efficacy was a better predictor of behaviour than perceived behavioural control variables as suggested in the original Theory of Planned Behaviour. Furthermore, self‐efficacy had a significant impact on exercising and eating healthfully behaviour. The findings and implications for both behaviour change theory and practice are discussed.     

Renewed behavior produced by context change and its implications for treatment maintenance: A review

Behavioral treatment gains established in one setting do not always maintain in other settings. The present review examines the relevance of basic and translational research to understanding failures to maintain treatment gains across settings. Specifically, studies of the renewal effect examine how transitioning away from a treatment setting could evoke a return of undesirable behavior, rather than newly trained appropriate behavior. Studies of renewal typically arrange three phases, with a response trained and reinforced under a particular set of contextual stimuli in the first phase. Next, that response is extinguished, often under a different set of contextual stimuli. Finally, that response returns despite extinction remaining in effect upon returning to the original training context or transitioning to a novel context. Thus, removing the extinction context is sufficient to produce a recurrence of the response. The findings suggest treatment effects can become specific to the context in which the treatment was delivered. This literature offers promising methods for systematically assessing the factors contributing to treatment maintenance and improving generalization of treatment gains across contexts. Therefore, the present review suggests basic and translational research on renewal provides an empirical literature to bring greater conceptual systematization to understanding generalization and maintenance of behavioral treatment.     

Self‐control depletion impairs goal maintenance: A meta‐analysis

Initial exertion of self‐control has been suggested to impair subsequent self‐regulatory performance. The specific cognitive processes that underlie this ego depletion effect have rarely been examined. Drawing on the dual‐process theory of executive control (Engle & Kane, 2004 ; Kane & Engle, 2003 ), the current meta‐analysis revealed that initial self‐control exertion impairs participants’ capacities of maintaining the task goal but its effect on capacities of resolving response competition is in need of further investigation. Our results are more consistent with recent theoretical views that consider ego depletion as a switch cost and a result arising from reduced motivation to engage in further self‐control.     

‘I think a little bit of a kick is sometimes what you need’: Women’s accounts of whole-body scanning and likely impact on health-related behaviours

Objective: This study was designed to investigate whether whole-body scanning might promote healthy eating and physical activity in women, and to explore the effects of scanning on body image.

Design: Fourteen women aged 22–45 years without histories of eating disorders or whole-body scanning took part in semi-structured interviews before and after scanning. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Results: Scans did not look as expected, and participants expressed ‘surprise’ and ‘shock’. Participants focused on perceived negative aspects of their bodies as revealed in scan images, and agreed that women with body concerns would find scans too ‘real’ and ‘raw’. Eleven women who met UK Government physical activity and healthy eating guidelines reported that the scan provided additional motivation to maintain, and in nine cases to increase, those behaviours. Two women who neither exercised nor ate healthily would not increase physical activity or change their diets significantly following scanning.

Conclusion: Whole-body scanning may enable maintenance or even acceleration of physical activity and healthy eating, but is unlikely to be useful in promoting initiation of these behaviours. Participants engaged in unhelpful body critique when viewing scans; scanning needs to be confined to contexts where support is provided, to avoid increasing body-related concerns.     

家庭功能与流动青少年认同整合的关系:希望与父母文化持守的作用

本研究采取整群抽样的方法对来自广东省三所民办中学的1345名流动青少年进行问卷调查,探查流动青少年的家庭功能对其认同整合的影响,以及希望和父母文化持守在其中所起的作用。结果表明：（1）流动青少年的家庭功能正向预测了认同整合。（2）希望在流动青少年的家庭功能与其认同整合两者间起部分中介作用,家庭功能既对认同整合产生直接影响,也通过希望对认同整合产生间接影响;（3）流动青少年的父母文化持守调节了家庭功能与认同整合的关系。