Community applications of instructional technology: teaching writers of instructional packages

A community education program, to develop a variety of performance competencies in large numbers of neighborhood residents, requires a technology for preparing learning units administerable by community members themselves. The effects of a writing manual, designed to teach nonprofessionals to prepare such instructional packages, were analyzed in two experiments. Experiment I employed a multiple-baseline design across three university student trainees. The results showed that appropriate program writing increased by 75% after completion of the manual. The results of Experiment II, with two low-income neighborhood residents serving as trainees, showed that packages produced by trained writers resulted in a greater increase in skill activities than sets of training stimuli produced by untrained writers.     

ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS OF ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF BEHAVIORAL TECHNIQUES

Several guidelines surrounding the use of behavioral procedures have recently appeared, the best of which is that of the National Association of Retarded Citizens (NARC). Some issues and implications of the establishment of guidelines are briefly reviewed in the context of the NARC guidelines. Issues include the factual versus opinion bases for guidelines and the need to continue the development of explicit behavioral criteria for assessing staff competence. Implications for programs include the impact of guidelines on professional boundaries, administrative decision-making, and budgeting, together with the dangers of expanding the regulatory bureaucracy. Several miscellaneous impacts are noted, including a potential for curbing innovative behavioral technology.     

THE ROLE OF FEEDBACK IN VOLUNTARY CONTROL OF BLOOD PRESSURE IN INSTRUCTED SUBJECTS1

Forty normal male volunteers were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions and instructed to raise and lower their systolic blood pressure. Subjects received either beat-to-beat feedback contingent on pressure changes, noncontingent beat-to-beat feedback, noncontingent feedback presented randomly with respect to the occurrence of each heart beat, or instructions alone. The order of increase and decrease trial blocks was counterbalanced across groups. Subjects receiving contingent feedback were monetarily rewarded for appropriate pressure changes. Subjects receiving noncontingent feedback received rewards and feedback equal to the mean received by the contingent group. Subjects in the instructions-only condition were also paid this bonus but were informed of their earnings only at the conclusion of the experiment. Results indicated that in the presence of instructions, feedback, whether contingent or noncontingent, added little to subjects' ability to control pressure during a single session. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

Demand for food on fixed-ratio schedules as a function of the quality of concurrently available reinforcement

Six rats lever pressed for food on concurrent fixed-ratio schedules, in a two-compartment chamber. In one compartment, mixed diet pellets were delivered on fixed-ratio schedules of 1, 6, 11, and 16; in the other, either no food was delivered, or sucrose or mixed diet pellets were delivered on fixed-ratio 8. The number of pellets obtained in the first compartment declined as a function of fixed-ratio size in that compartment in all three conditions, but the decline was greatest overall with mixed diet pellets concurrently available in the other compartment, and least with no food concurrently available. The result is discussed in terms of economic demand theory, and is consistent with the prediction that elasticity of demand for a commodity (defined in operant terms as the ratio of the proportionate change in number of reinforcements per session to the proportionate change in fixed-ratio size) is greater the more substitutable for that commodity are any concurrently available commodities.     

A comparison of frequency, interval, and time-sampling methods of data collection

Data representing high, medium, and low response rates in constant and nonconstant patterns were generated by electromechanical equipment to determine whether the same data collected by time-sampling, interval recording, and frequency recording would be represented similarly by each method. Results indicated: (1) that time-sampling provided an extremely inaccurate estimate of responding, and (2) that interval recording accurately represented responding of low and medium rates, but grossly underestimated high-rate responding.     

The design and evaluation of a worksharing system for experimental group living

Failure to share household chores equitably may be a major cause of the high failure rate of experimental group-living arrangements. A behavioral approach to worksharing based on a point system was implemented in one experimental group and its most important components experimentally evaluated. Experiment I showed that awarding credits produced more work than not awarding credits. Experiment II showed that making credits contingent on the outcome of a detailed inspection produced more work than awarding credits noncontingently. Experiment III demonstrated that awarding rent reductions contingent on credit earnings produced more work than awarding rent reductions noncontingently. Other evaluative data suggest that the resulting living arrangement is cheaper, more effective, and more satisfactory to the residents when compared to the most popular alternative living arrangements.     

Behavioral contrast as a function of the temporal location of reinforcement

Pigeons were trained on a multiple variable-interval variable-interval schedule of reinforcement. One component was then changed to a variation of a fixed-interval schedule in which the same rate of reinforcement was obtained as previously but the location of the reinforcer was fixed within the component. The effects of different temporal locations were compared. An increase in response rate for the unchanged variable-interval component (behavioral contrast) occurred when the reinforcer was located in the middle or at the end of the FI component, but response suppression occurred when it was located at the beginning of the component. The pattern of results cannot be explained by any previous theories of contrast. The overall response rates, and the pattern of local rates within the components, were consistent with the hypothesis that the major determinant of the contrast effect was the transition to a lower reinforcement rate following the unchanged component.     

Interactions in multiple schedules: the role of the stimulus-reinforcer contingency

In Experiments I and II, pigeons were exposed to single-key multiple schedules of response-independent and -dependent food presentation. Components were correlated with different keylights. When the rate of food presentation in the first component exceeded that in the second component, the local rate of key pecking was relatively high at onset of the first component. Overall rate in that component varied inversely with component duration and the rate of food presentation in the second component. When responding was maintained in the second component, the local rate of key pecking was relatively low at onset of that component. Overall rate in the second component varied directly with component duration and the rate of food presentation in that component. In Experiment III, pigeons were exposed to a two-key multiple schedule. Pecks on a constantly illuminated key produced food. Components were correlated with the color of a second key on which pecks had no scheduled consequences. The effects of component duration and rate of food presentation under the single-key response-dependent schedule were synthesized by combining response rates on each concurrently available key under the two-key procedure. The results support an account of multiple-schedule interactions in terms of the joint influence on responding of stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer contingencies.     

工作狂领导对团队绩效的双刃剑作用机制

随着行业竞争压力的加剧, 工作狂领导在职场中愈发普遍。然而对于工作狂领导在组织中的有效性, 无论是在实践界还是在学术界都尚存争议。鉴于此, 本研究基于社会信息加工理论, 分析工作狂领导对团队绩效的双刃剑作用机制。通过对某物业管理服务公司进行多时点、多来源的问卷调查, 研究结果表明：一方面, 工作狂领导会提升团队工作卷入, 促进团队绩效; 另一方面, 工作狂领导也会引发团队消极情绪, 损害团队绩效表现; 团队工作重要性能有效缓解工作狂领导对团队绩效的消极作用, 同时促进其积极作用。以上研究发现有助于辨证理解工作狂领导有效性, 为组织培育管理人才提供有益借鉴。     

不同社交媒体使用目的对员工工作绩效的影响机制

基于工作要求-资源理论, 本研究探讨了两种社交媒体使用目的对员工工作绩效影响的内部作用机制, 进而分析两种社交媒体使用目的对员工工作绩效的影响效果。通过369份“领导者-下属”匹配数据, 研究发现：(1)基于工作、社交的社交媒体使用均促进员工工作绩效; (2)基于工作、社交的社交媒体使用均通过工作投入影响工作绩效, 基于社交的社交媒体使用还通过关系冲突影响工作绩效; (3)社交媒体的工作使用和社交使用对员工工作绩效的影响存在相互替代关系。本研究结果不仅从理论上拓展了社交媒体使用的研究视角, 为后续研究提供新的理论框架, 同时通过比较分析为组织管理社交媒体使用提供了新思路。