A tutorial on the use of excel 2010 and excel for mac 2011 for conducting delay-discounting analyses

In recent years, researchers and practitioners in the behavioral sciences have profited from a growing literature on delay discounting. The purpose of this article is to provide readers with a brief tutorial on how to use Microsoft Office Excel 2010 and Excel for Mac 2011 to analyze discounting data to yield parameters for both the hyperbolic discounting model and area under the curve. This tutorial is intended to encourage the quantitative analysis of behavior in both research and applied settings by readers with relatively little formal training in nonlinear regression.     

Effects of behavioral skills training on parental treatment of children's food selectivity

We used behavioral skills training to teach parents of 3 children with autism spectrum disorder and food selectivity to conduct a home-based treatment package that consisted of taste exposure, escape extinction, and fading. Parent performance following training improved during both taste sessions and probe meals and was reflected in increases in children's acceptance of bites and decreases in their disruptive behavior. Parents also reported that increases in diet variety were maintained at follow-up.     

A Psychometric Study of 150 Adult Delinquents

Abstract

To test the hypothesis that cooperative and competitive behavior strategies affect attitudes toward success, 147 male and female adults (age range 16 to 51 years) wrote stories in response to a modification of Horner's (1972) success cue and completed a personality trait list for their cue figure. Subjects were given one of four cues that varied sex of cue figure (Anne vs. John) and behavioral strategy (cooperative vs. competitive). Both measures yielded differences as a function of the strategy variable, with significantly more positive stories written in response to the cooperative strategy cue than to the competitive strategy cue (p < .001), and significant differences between the strategy cues on 26 of 40 personality traits. Although sex differences were predicted, no differences were found as a function of sex of subject or sex of cue figure.     

The behavioral pharmacology of effort-related choice behavior: dopamine, adenosine and beyond

For many years, it has been suggested that drugs that interfere with dopamine (DA) transmission alter the "rewarding" impact of primary reinforcers such as food. Research and theory related to the functions of mesolimbic DA are undergoing a substantial conceptual restructuring, with the traditional emphasis on hedonia and primary reward yielding to other concepts and lines of inquiry. The present review is focused upon the involvement of nucleus accumbens DA in effort-related choice behavior. Viewed from the framework of behavioral economics, the effects of accumbens DA depletions and antagonism on food-reinforced behavior are highly dependent upon the work requirements of the instrumental task, and DA-depleted rats show a heightened sensitivity to response costs, especially ratio requirements. Moreover, interference with accumbens DA transmission exerts a powerful influence over effort-related choice behavior. Rats with accumbens DA depletions or antagonism reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks that have high response requirements, and show increased selection of low reinforcement/low cost options. Nucleus accumbens DA and adenosine interact in the regulation of effort-related functions, and other brain structures (anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, ventral pallidum) also are involved. Studies of the brain systems regulating effort-based processes may have implications for understanding drug abuse, as well as symptoms such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue or anergia in depression and other neurological disorders.     

Expanding on cross-price elasticity: Understanding tobacco product demand and substitution from the cross-price purchase task

We examine whether cigarettes serve as substitutes for electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) among ENDS users and demonstrate methodological extensions of data from a cross-price purchase task to inform policies and interventions. During a clinical laboratory study, n = 19 exclusive ENDS users and n = 17 dual cigarette/ENDS users completed a cross-price purchase task with cigarettes available at a fixed price while prices of own-brand ENDS increased. We estimated cross-price elasticity using linear models to examine substitutability. We defined five additional outcomes: nonzero cross-price intensity (purchasing cigarettes if ENDS were free), constant null demand (not purchasing cigarettes at any ENDS price), cross-product crossover point (first price where participants purchased more cigarettes than ENDS), dual-demand score (percentage of prices where both products were purchased), and dual-use break point (minimum relative price to force complete substitution). The cross-price elasticity results indicated that cigarettes could serve as substitutes for ENDS among ENDS users on average, but this average effect masked substantial heterogeneity in profiles of demand (here, a measure of the drug's reinforcement potential). Policies and regulations that increase ENDS prices appear unlikely to steer most exclusive ENDS users toward cigarette use, as most would not purchase cigarettes at any ENDS price, but they could prompt some dual users to substitute cigarettes completely while others remain dual users. This heterogeneity in consumer responses suggests additional indices of cross-product demand are useful to characterize the anticipated and unanticipated effects of tobacco price policies more fully.     

Objects of Heart's Desire

SUMMARY

We enter the world with an expectancy of love and a need to love. That which we love is dictated by our histories and limited by our fears. This paper explains some of the consequences of that for the individual and the couple.     

Evluation of the Homework Problem Checklist with Students with Behavior Disorders

In response to the call for educational reform, educators are beginning to review their programs and implement new instructional strategies such as homework programs to enhance the academic performance of students. Naturally, reliable and valid assessment instruments will be needed to identify students experiencing homework difficulties. The purpose of this study was to determine the inter-rater reliability and internal consistency of the Homework Problem Checklist (HPC) (Anesko, Schoiock, Ramirez, & Levine. 1987) for use with students with behavior disorders (BD). Fifty-one pairs of teachers and parents of students with BD completed the rating scale describing students' homework problems. The HPC demonstrated low to moderate levels of inter-rater reliability. Acceptable levels of internal consistency were reported for both teacher and parent ratings.     

A Review of Published Self-help Books for Panic Disorder

This brief review of 14 self-help books on panic disorder compares: target group, treatment time, included components, existence of structured exercises, and whether or not daily record-keeping is encouraged. Six of the books cover all components deemed necessary for a multimodal cognitive-behavioral treatment package, and five of these are recommended. The reviews are followed by a brief summary of published bibliotherapy studies in which a selection of the books has been used. The results of these studies suggest that bibliotherapy is effective, with an effect size ranging from d = 0.5 to d = 1.5.     

A Randomized Trial of Internet-Delivered Treatment for Social Anxiety Disorder in High School Students

Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has been shown effective for university students with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and public speaking fears. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the promising results can be transferred to high school students suffering from this condition. A total of 19 speech-anxious high school students with SAD were randomized either into 9 weeks of Internet-delivered CBT or to a wait-list control group. Significant improvements were found on measures of social anxiety, general anxiety, and depression. Effects were maintained at 1-year follow-up. The average within- and between-group effect sizes (Cohen's d) for the primary social anxiety scales at posttest were 0.98 and 1.38, respectively. However, the average number of completed modules in the CBT program was low. Although compliance can be improved, the results suggest that Internet-based guided self-help is effective in the treatment of high school students with SAD.     

The Development of a Code for Australian Psychologists

Section 35(1)(c) of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act (2009 Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act of 2009. (Queensland).  [Google Scholar]) requires the newly formed Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) “to develop or approve standards, codes and guidelines.” In 2010 the PsyBA decided to initially adopt the Australian Psychological Society's (APS) Code of Ethics (2007 Australian Psychological Society. 2007. Code of ethics, Melbourne, , Australia: Author.  [Google Scholar]) and develop a new code in the future with the involvement of key stakeholders without deciding what the nature of this code will be. The PsyBA now has to decide exactly how it will proceed in future. My aim in this article is to examine the options available to the PsyBA by exploring the definition and function of codes; presenting a history of the APS Code; and considering approaches that had been followed in Europe, Israel, New Zealand, and South Africa.