Warmup in avoidance as a function of time since prior training

On avoidance procedures, rats and pigeons typically show warmup effects, characterized by improving performance within sessions and loss of the improvement (“warmup decrement”) between sessions. Between-session losses were examined by varying the time between periods of avoidance training. In one experiment, rats lived fulltime in conditioning chambers while intermission intervals were varied. In a second experiment, the animals lived in home cages between sessions; timeout intervals were introduced at midession, producing recurrence of warmup in the second half-session. In both experiments, the warmup decrements increased substantially as the timeout or intersession intervals were increased from zero to 30 minutes. With intervals of 60 or 120 minutes, the decrements approached or exceeded those obtained with intervals of a day or more. When avoidance was interposed between appetitive sessions, the appetitive responding was disrupted, but this seemed unrelated to the warmup or to the proficiency of avoidance. The warmup in avoidance shares characteristics with transient punishment effects, with the Kamin effect, and with habituation phenomena, but it is premature to assume that they reflect common processes.     

USE OF A SELF-RECORDING AND SUPERVISION PROGRAM TO CHANGE INSTITUTIONAL STAFF BEHAVIOR

The use of a self-recording and supervision program to increase interactions between direct care staff and profoundly retarded persons in a state residential facility was investigated. Following baseline, staff were provided with instructions regarding what to self-record, criteria for how many interactions to record, and a prepared card on which to make the recordings. Throughout the study, the staff supervisor monitored intermittently staff-client interactions. Observations indicated that when the staff recorded their interactions with clients in a loosely structured dayroom setting, the rate of interactions increased noticeably for each staff person. Behavioral ecology measures indicated that other staff responsibilities, such as maintaining the cleanliness of residents and the physical area, were not affected detrimentally when social interactions increased and actually showed small improvements. Additionally, small decreases in resident self-stimulatory and disruptive/aggressive behaviors occurred when the rate of social interactions from staff persons increased. Follow-up measures indicated that the rate of staff self-recording was variable, but when staff did self-record, the increased rate of staff-client interactions maintained.     

Standardized classroom management program: Social validation and replication studies in Utah and Oregon

A comprehensive validation study was conducted of the Program for Academic Survival Skills (PASS), a consultant-based, teacher-mediated program for student classroom behavior. The study addressed questions related to: (a) brief consultant training, (b) subsequent teacher training by consultants using PASS manuals, (c) contrasts between PASS experimental teachers and students and equivalent controls on measures of teacher management skills, student classroom behavior, teacher ratings of student problem behaviors, and academic achievement, (d) reported satisfaction of participants, and (e) replication of effects across two separate school sites. Results indicated that in both sites significant effects were noted in favor of the PASS experimental group for (a) teacher approval, (b) student appropriate classroom behavior, and (c) four categories of student inappropriate behavior. Program satisfaction ratings of students, teachers, and consultants were uniformly positive, and continued use of the program was reported a year later. Discussion focused upon issues of cost-effectiveness, differential site effects, and the relationship between appropriate classroom behavior and academic achievement.     

TEACHING COIN EQUIVALENCE TO THE MENTALLY RETARDED1

A program was designed to teach coin equivalence to mentally retarded adolescents. Coin equivalence was defined as choosing several different combinations of coins to equal specified target values. A pretest-posttest matched-groups design was employed with an experimental group receiving the monetary training, and a no-training control group. A multiple baseline across coin-counting responses was also incorporated in the experimental group. Training was divided into six stages, each teaching one specific method of combining coins to equal 10 target values from 5¢ through 50¢. A three-component response chain was used, requiring (a) naming, (b) selecting and counting, and (c) depositing target monetary values into a coin machine. Experimental subjects improved significantly in coin equivalence performance and maintained their skill on follow up tests; control subjects did not.     

SHORT- AND LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF CONTINGENCY MANAGED INSTRUCTION ON LOW,MEDIUM, AND HIGH GPA STUDENTS1

Undergraduate students had been assigned to a contingency managed course or a conventional lecture course (Du Nann and Fernald, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1976, 9 , 373–374). Two years later, some 35% (N = 86) of the original classes responded to a letter offering them $2.00 to participate in a study of their educational experiences. These students completed a multiple-choice test on material from the course, and answered questions about activities and attitudes that might have been affected by the experience in Introductory Psychology. In the contingency management course 2 yr past, students were tested each week on a chapter of textbook material with 10-item multiple-choice quizzes. The course employed a modified “Doomsday Contingency”, requiring each student to achieve 80% mastery on one of the four weekly quizzes or drop the course. Quizzes were given in small groups and scored individually, while the student stood near, by an undergraduate proctor assigned to that group. The proctor was asked to show interest in the students' quiz performances, help clear up difficult areas, and develop a friendly working relationship with each student. While many students passed the quiz on the first attempt, others were given individual tutoring, so that no one was in fact forced to drop the course. In addition to the weekly quiz assignment, students in the contingency managed group were asked to attend one lecture each week. While the contingency management course procedures had much in common with PSI (Keller, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1968, 1 , 79–89), several departures made them unique. First, self-pacing was curtailed because students were required to master one unit per week or drop the course. Second, proctors met with students in small groups, usually giving individual tutoring only to those students who did not pass the quiz on the first attempt. Finally, students were asked to attend one lecture per week. Students in the conventional lecture group were not asked to pass weekly quizzes, but instead attended three 50-min lectures each week. Two of these lectures followed the textbook material closely, while the third, which was also attended by students from the contingency management course, covered material only indirectly related to the text. This partition of lecture content allowed material to be similar across the two instructional groups. Although students in the lecture condition were told they could obtain copies of the quizzes, few of them did so. Course grades were determined by scores on two 45-item multiple-choice hourly exams, each covering half the semester material (each worth 25%), and by a 90-item final exam, which served as a measure of short-term retention. Before analyzing the follow-up data, several characteristics of the returning students were compared to determine the comparability of the sample from the two original classes. Most important, both attrition and the current mean GPAs of students from the two classes were very similar. These considerations, and others, suggested there was no systematic sampling bias to confound comparisons of student performance. A 2 (contingency management versus traditional lecture) by 3 (high, medium, and low GPA) analysis of variance was computed on the course final-exam scores and the follow-up measures. Instructional procedure and GPA interacted on the final exam such that low and medium GPA students performed significantly better under contingency management, but there was no significant effect of instructional procedure with high GPA students. On the 2-yr retention measures, students from the contingency management course performed significantly (p < 0.01) better on items drawn from quizzes used in their original course, and marginally better (p < 0.10) on items drawn from the final exams, but no interactions with GPA appeared. Furthermore, instructional method produced no significant main effects or interaction with how many students became majors or minors in psychology, how many psychology courses were later taken, how many books in psychology were reported to have been read, or on students' evaluation of the interest and importance of psychology.     

MODIFICATION OF THE EXCESSIVE INAPPROPRIATE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR OF TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS USING HOME-BASED CONSEQUENCES AND DAILY REPORT-CARD PROCEDURES1

Two experiments investigated home-based reinforcement contingencies to control excessive behavior in normal classrooms. Subjects were, respectively, a 12-yr-old fifth-grade boy and a 9-yr-old fourth-grade boy, each in a separate classroom and with a different teacher. Following baseline observations in which observers recorded several categories of student behavior and teacher-student interaction, separate conferences were held including parents of the two children, the principal, teachers, and experimenters. A daily report-card procedure was agreed on, stipulating a one-day suspension from school following three successive “undesirable” daily report cards as well as the supervision of home-based privileges and other reinforcers usually contingent on satisfactory daily reports. Measurements of daily rates of teacher attention indicated no important change in this variable throughout the various experimental conditions. The daily report procedure significantly reduced disruptive classroom behavior. In a second experiment, a teacher-operated timer cued her own time-sample observations. Reliability measures revealed that the teacher could accurately measure the child's behavior while she was teaching the class. The procedure was ultimately successfully expanded to the teacher's total contact hours each day.     

管理者影响策略的结构

本研究根据中国企事业组织内管理者对他人发挥影响力的特点 ,选取反映中国文化的影响计策编成题目 ,并与西方背景下构建的组织影响策略量表汇编成问卷。 2 1 8位中国管理者用汇编的问卷评定他们与直接上司和直接下属在工作中相处时使用这些计策的频率。结果发现 ,在因素水平有“应变控制”和“温情说服”两个正交因素。这两个因素跨影响方向一致。对各因素内的题目做聚类分析 ,发现大多数聚类的内容跨影响方向的一致性不高。与西方的组织策略量表对照 ,因新题目的加入 ,汇编的影响计策量表内的聚类更好地反映了中国管理者使用影响计策的特点。     

团队决策及其影响因素

随着组织结构的变化,团队决策为越来越多的组织所采用。该文将团队决策的研究范式概括为以下四类：社会决策图式（social decision scheme, SDS）、信息取样模型（information sampling model）、项目排序任务（ranking item task）团队以及组织中以安全优先的团队（safety priority team）;并从影响团队决策的因素,提高团队决策质量的策略等角度分别对四类团队决策的研究进行探讨,在此基础上本文对未来研究进行了展望     

创新管理理念对于我国创新型医药企业发展的启示

近年来我国医药工业取得了突出成绩,但医药企业面临复杂的内外部环境,需尽快打破同质化严重、竞争力不足的格局,向创新驱动转型。创新管理的理论观点对于创新型医药企业有借鉴意义,分析了尚处于发展阶段的创新型医药企业在文化、组织和创新能力建设等方面的一些问题,参考创新理论的一些观点,认为创新型医药企业可在不断追求技术、产品创新的同时,思考对企业文化、组织管理、创新能力方面的变革,从而有效地推进创新战略实施。

     

重构叙事病历在银屑病患者健康管理中的应用

通过阐述重构叙事病历在银屑病患者健康管理中的应用,探讨了重构叙事病历在银屑病患者健康管理中应用的模式和意义,并分析了该模式存在如部分患者对参与重构叙事病历的必要性认识不足等问题。认为将重构叙事病历应用于银屑病患者的健康管理中,有利于医务人员通过叙事医学为患者提供帮助,改善患者的沟通能力和认知能力,使患者保持良好的心理状态,以正确、积极的态度面对周围环境,提高了银屑病患者的临床疗效与生存质量,拓展了叙事医学及重构叙事病历的临床领域。