Is it Racist? Addressing Racial Microaggressions in Counselor Training

This article describes a series of activities for educating counselors regarding a form of racism dubbed racial microaggressions. Meaning and impact of microaggressions are examined. Activities for responding to microaggressions can be applied to clinical and school contexts, and are useful for educators in professional and university settings.     

Pilot Testing of an Online Training for Criminal Justice Professionals on Medication‐Assisted Treatment

There is widespread misunderstanding about medication‐assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction. Although most MAT trainings target providers, criminal justice program staff and treatment referrers often determine offender placement. This article supports the efficacy of an online MAT training for criminal justice stakeholders.     

The Balancing Act—Ethical Issues in Parent Training Research: Confidentiality,Harm Reduction,and Methodology

Attention and disruptive behavior disorders present considerable challenges for children and their parents. These challenges have led to the development of parenting programs; however, there is a paucity of literature that discusses the ethical dilemmas parent training researchers face. This article reviews ethical principles and professional standards relevant to parent training research and provides case material to illustrate the challenge of balancing ethical adherence and empirical rigor using three ethical issues that commonly arise in parent training research. In particular, this article focuses on ethical issues surrounding confidentiality in a group setting, use of control groups, and limiting changes in medication/treatment status outside of the treatment protocol.     

Foreign Language Training Transfer: Individual and Contextual Predictors of Skill Maintenance and Generalization

Foreign language proficiency is a critical skill in which many U.S. military personnel receive extensive training. However, very little research has examined the factors associated with the successful transfer of this training. This study therefore investigates the impact of individual and contextual variables on two different types of foreign language skill transfer measures in a military context. Archival data were analyzed from 133 U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) teams, including 919 Soldiers who had completed job-required foreign language training. Results indicate that initial skill acquisition had a positive impact on both the maintenance and generalization of language skills. The posttraining time interval between training and transfer measurement was negatively associated with skill maintenance, suggesting significant skill decay over time. The team context also accounted for significant variability in skill transfer, and the team mean skill level moderated the relationship between individual initial skill and subsequent generalization to job performance.     

An evaluation of multiple‐schedule variations to reduce high‐rate requests in the picture exchange communication system

Using procedures similar to those of Tiger, Hanley, and Heal (2006), we compared two multiple‐schedule variations (S+/S– and S+ only) to treat high‐rate requests for edible items in the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Two individuals with autism participated, after they showed persistent requests for edible items after PECS training. Stimulus control was achieved only with the multiple schedule that involved presentation of a discriminative stimulus during reinforcement components and its removal during extinction components (S+ only). Discriminated requests were maintained for the 1 participant who experienced schedule thinning.     

VALIDATION OF SOCIAL SKILLS OF ADOLESCENT MALES IN AN INTERVIEW CONVERSATION WITH A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN ADULT

Seventy convicted young male offenders were videotaped during a 5-min standardized interview with a previously unknown adult. In order to determine the social validity of the behavioral components of social interaction for this population, measures of 13 behaviors were obtained from the tapes. These measures were then correlated with ratings of friendliness, social anxiety, social skills performance, and employability made by four independent adult judges from the same tapes. It was found that measures of eye contact and verbal initiations were correlated significantly with all four criterion rating scales. The frequencies of smiling and speech dysfluencies were both significantly correlated with ratings of friendliness and employability. The amount spoken was found to be a significant predictor of social skills performance whereas the frequency of head movements influenced judgments of social anxiety. The latency of response was negatively correlated with social skills and employability ratings and the frequency of question-asking and interruptions correlated significantly with friendliness, social skills, and employability ratings. Finally, the levels of gestures, gross body movements, and attention feedback responses were not found to influence judgments on any of the criterion scales. The implications of the study for selection of targets for social skills training for adolescent male offenders are discussed.     

工作记忆刷新及其训练效应——经颅直流电刺激的作用

工作记忆刷新是执行功能的重要成分之一。以往研究结合n-back任务和经颅直流电刺激（transcranial direct current stimulation ,tDCS）技术探究刷新能力,发现tDCS技术能够一定程度上增强刷新训练效果并引起大脑神经元相关活动的变化,其增强效果能够维持一定的时间,且能够迁移到其他认知任务之中。但tDCS的干预效果在各项研究中存在一定的差异性。其作用效果会受到训练任务与训练方式、电流强度、电极布局和训练时间间隔等因素的影响。未来研究可以探索tDCS结合刷新训练的最佳刺激参数,以获得最优化的干预效果。     

Examination of the effects of traditional and modern martial arts training on aggressiveness

This study addresses two issues associated with the relationship between martial arts training and aggressiveness. The first is a replication of two recent findings, that for students trained traditionally, length of training varies inversely with aggressiveness, whereas for students trained in a “modern” style, length of training and aggressiveness are related directly. Second, we examine two competing explanations for the findings above. One is the training hypothesis, which holds that elements present in traditional approaches to martial arts but absent in modern approaches act to reduce aggression levels of students. These may include meditation, philosophy, emphasis on the kata (the forms of combat), etc. The alternate hypothesis, selection, holds instead that these findings are artifactual, a result of differential mortality in a setting characterized by high drop-out rates. Two categories of students were interviewed: “movers,” students who had trained in more than one school, and “quitters,” students who had terminated their training, for any reason. These students were compared with “stayers” from an earlier study. Our results are consistent with the opposite effects of traditional and modern martial arts training on aggressiveness. Further, the data generally support the training hypothesis as against selection.