THE CELLBLOCK TOKEN ECONOMY: TOKEN REINFORCEMENT PROCEDURES IN A MAXIMUM SECURITY CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION FOR ADULT MALE FELONS1

Two experiments were conducted (1) to explore the application of token reinforcement procedures in a maximum security correctional institution for adult male felons and (2) to determine to what extent the reinforcement procedures disrupted the day-to-day lives of inmate participants. In Experiment 1, an expanded reversal design revealed that the combination of praise and token reinforcement was more effective than the combinations of praise and noncontingent token award or direct commands on four common institutional activities. The latter two combinations were not found to be any more effective than praise alone. Experiment 2, which also employed a reversal design, indicated that the high levels of performance observed during the token reinforcement phases of Experiment 1 could be attained without subjecting participants to undue hardship in the form of increased deprivation of either social intercourse or the opportunity to engage in recreational and entertainment activities. Client safeguards are discussed in detail.     

BELIEF, PRACTICE, AND RELIGION

Abstract. How to reconcile belief in God with the worldview generated by modern science is a concern for those who see such belief as the essence of religion. Some religious traditions emphasize correct behavior, including observance of ritual, more than belief. Others stress individual pursuit of inner tranquility without prescribing particular beliefs or rituals by which that is to be achieved. Theological issues relating to "the God question in an age of science" are relevant to Christians, whose religious emphasis is on right belief as necessary to personal salvation; but science does not raise such issues for religion generally.     

The trials of childhood: The development,reliability, and validity of the daily life stressors scale

The assessment of daily life stress in youngsters is receiving extensive research attention due to its pertinence to psychological and medical problems. This investigation addressed concerns from previous studies of daily life stress in children and adolescents. These included an integration with ratings of negative affectivity, exploration of developmental changes, and presentation of psychometric data. The Daily Life Stressors Scale (DLSS) is a 30-item measure designed to assess the severity of aversive feelings and everday events for youngsters. Three groups of children and adolescents were evaluated to assess the scale's test-retest reliability and construct and concurrent validity. Developmental changes in a normative group were also examined. Results indicated the DLSS to be moderately reliable and valid for children. Also, male children reported more stress than female children, whereas female adolescents reported more stress than male adolescents. Results were discussed with respect to resilience, gender role stress, therapy implications, and usefulness for determining precursors to physiological problems.     

Board certification in health psychology

As professional practice in health psychology has matured, mechanisms for board certification through the American Board of Professional Psychology have been developed. This article describes the American Board of Health Psychology and its role in the credentialing of practitioners who demonstrate advanced competence in the science and practice of psychology related to health, including the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of illness.     

Issues associated with repeated neuropsychological assessments

Distinguishing practice effects from other factors in repeated neuropsychological assessments are discussed in the context of research studies and clinical/forensic assessments. Potential methodological procedures for reducing the impact of practice effects in research settings are outlined. In contrast, the potential clinical utility and interpretation of practice effects in clinical assessments and forensic evaluations are highlighted.     

Ethical aspects of the safety of medicines and other social chemicals

The historical background of the discovery of adverse health effects of medicines, food additives, pesticides, and other chemicals is reviewed, and the development of national and international regulations and testing procedures to protect the public against the toxic effects of these drugs and chemicals is outlined. Ethical considerations of the safety evaluation of drugs and chemicals by human experimentation and animal toxicity studies, ethical problems associated with clinical trials, with the falsification of clinical and toxicological data, and with inadequate experimental methodology, are reviewed, and the ethics of the marketing of drugs and their post-marketing surveillance, are similarly considered. These ethical problems are illustrated with many specific examples, including the drugs neoarsphenamine, chloramphenicol, thalidomide, diethyl stilboestrol and benoxaprofen.     

TEACHING DAILY LIVING SKILLS TO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM IN UNSUPERVISED SETTINGS THROUGH PICTORIAL SELF-MANAGEMENT

We investigated the efficacy of pictorial self-management to teach daily living skills to 3 low-functioning children with autism. Stimulus and response generalization, stimulus control of self-management materials, and maintenance of behavior change were also assessed. Results showed that children with autism could successfully use pictures to manage their behavior in the absence of a treatment provider, generalize their behavior across settings and tasks, and maintain behaviors at follow-up. In addition, when compared to baseline, all children showed a substantial decrease in stereotypic behaviors. When picture order was manipulated in stimulus control probes, the children followed the new picture sequence, suggesting that the pictures were controlling their behavior. Further, a savings effect was demonstrated, in that 2 subjects reached criterion on second and third behaviors within less than 25% of original training time.     

Patterns of Parental Adherence and the Association to Child and Parenting Outcomes Following a Multicomponent School-Home Intervention for Youth With ADHD

The goal of the present study was to evaluate the role of parent adherence in the Collaborative Life Skills (CLS) program, a multicomponent school-home intervention, for predicting child and parenting outcomes. A sample of 129 children (63% male; M age = 8.22, SD = 1.10; grades 2–5) with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their parents participated in CLS, which included 10 weekly behavioral parent training group sessions. Each week, parents provided information on their CLS skill use between sessions (at home) as part of the intervention. Outcome measures included parent and teacher ratings of child behavior and parenting at post-intervention and 6 months follow-up. Growth mixture models examining weekly parent skill use trajectories throughout the intervention significantly predicted parent- and teacher-reported outcomes including parent-rated child behavior, teacher-rated academic competence, and positive parenting behaviors. Fifty-two percent of parents displayed moderate skill use throughout the intervention, whereas the remaining parents had either low (20%) or high (28%) initial levels of use but demonstrated high skill utilization by the middle of the intervention. Results highlight the importance of examining individual differences in parents between session strategy use for behavioral parent training interventions targeting child and parenting outcomes.     

Moral Tuning

Can a set of musical metaphors in a treatise on ethics reveal something about the nature and source of moral autonomy? This article argues that it can. It shows how metaphorical usage of words like tone, pitch , and concord in Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments can be understood as elements of an analogical model for morality. What this model tells us about morality depends on how we conceptualise music. In contrast to earlier interpretations of Smith's metaphors that have seen music as an aesthetic object, this article sees music as a practice. Understood in this way, the analogy allows us to see morality too as a practice––as moral tuning . This in turn reveals a novel answer to the intractable problem of conventionalism: moral autonomy consists in the freedom inherent in the constant need to interpret and reinterpret the strictly formal ideal of perfect propriety.     

谈谈中国临床试验研究中受试者权益保障问题

随着国家《药品临床试验管理规范》的颁布与实施,我国新药临床试验研究水平有相当的提高,但也存在着一些问题。其中包括保护受试者权益问题。国家GCP有关章节中明确指出要保护受试者权益。并有具体规定,但在执行中尚有出入,如试验方案未经伦理委员会批准,未向受试者告知试验内容。或告知的不够充分,甚至在未签署知情同意书时就开始试验等。为此,我国采取了相应的措施,如设立药品临床研究培训中心;定期对临床试验基地的研究者以及相关人员如与试验有关的医师,药师及申办者进行GCP培训,基地审核制度,以法律手段来保证受试者权益等。