Extending self‐leadership research to the East: Measurement equivalence of the Chinese and English versions of the MSLQ

In response to calls regarding the applicability of self‐leadership measurement in Eastern (collectivistic) and Western (individualistic) cultures, this study examined the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the modified self‐leadership questionnaire (MSLQ). The sample consisted of 395 Chinese students and 241 Australian students. Results revealed that the modified self‐leadership questionnaire exhibited a satisfactory condition of psychometric properties across cultures. A series of multi‐sample confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the cross‐cultural similarity of an 11‐factor model across the Chinese and Australian samples. The modified self‐leadership questionnaire was also found to possess measurement invariance, suggesting that it is appropriate for cross‐cultural research assessing differences of self‐leadership behaviour across Chinese and Western cultures. Implications for future research are also discussed.     

Derived relational responding as generalized operant behavior

The major aim of the present study was to demonstrate that derived relational responding may be viewed as a form of generalized operant behavior. In Experiment 1, 4 subjects were divided into two conditions (2 in each condition). Using a two-comparison matching-to-sample procedure, all subjects were trained and tested for the formation of two combinatorially entailed relations. Subjects were trained and tested across multiple stimulus sets. Each set was composed of novel stimuli. Both Conditions 1 and 2 involved explicit performance-contingent feedback presented at the end of each block of test trials (i.e., delayed feedback). In Condition 1, feedback was accurate (consistent with the experimenter-designated relations) following exposure to the initial stimulus sets. When subjects' responding reached a predefined mastery criterion, the feedback then switched to inaccurate (not consistent with the experimenter-designated relations) until responding once again reached a predefined criterion. Condition 2 was similar to Condition 1, except that exposure to the initial stimulus sets was followed by inaccurate feedback and once the criterion was reached feedback switched to accurate. Once relational responding emerged and stabilized, response patterns on novel stimulus sets were controlled by the feedback delivered for previous stimulus sets. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1, except that during Conditions 3 and 4 four comparison stimuli were employed during training and testing. Experiment 3 was similar to Condition 1 of Experiment 1, except that after the mastery criterion was reached for class-consistent responding, feedback alternated from accurate to inaccurate across each successive stimulus set. Experiment 4 involved two types of feedback, one type following tests for mutual entailment and the other type following tests for combinatorial entailment. Results from this experiment demonstrated that mutual and combinatorial entailment may be controlled independently by accurate and inaccurate feedback. Overall, the data support the suggestion, made by relational frame theory, that derived relational responding is a form of generalized operant behavior.     

Equivalence‐based instruction of academic skills: Application to adolescents with autism

This study evaluated the efficacy of three equivalence‐based instruction procedures on the acquisition of novel academic skills by 3 adolescents diagnosed with autism in a school setting. The skills targeted for instruction were related to topics in history, science, and mathematics, and were taught using different training structures from the PEAK‐E curriculum. All participants demonstrated mastery of the trained relations and the tested derived relations following all variants of equivalence‐based instruction.     

The establishment of auditory–visual equivalence classes with a go/no-go successive matching-to-sample procedure

The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a go/no-go successive matching-to-sample procedure (S-MTS) to establish auditory–visual equivalence classes with college students. A sample and a comparison were presented, one at a time, in the same location. During training, after an auditory stimulus was presented, a green box appeared in the center of the screen for participants to touch to produce the comparison. Touching the visual comparison that was related to the auditory sample (e.g., A1B1) produced points, while touching or refraining from touching an unrelated comparison (e.g., A1B2) produced no consequences. Following AB/AC training, participants were tested on untrained relations (i.e., BA/CA and BC/CB), as well as tacting and sorting. During BA/CA relations tests, after touching the visual sample, the auditory stimulus was presented along with a white box for participants to respond. During BC/CB relations tests, after touching the visual sample, a visual comparison appeared. Across 2 experiments, all participants met emergence criterion for untrained relations and for sorting. Additionally, 14 out of 24 participants tacted all visual stimuli correctly. Results suggest the auditory–visual S-MTS procedure is an effective alternative to simultaneous MTS for establishing conditional relations and auditory-visual equivalence classes.     

Equivalence relations and the contextual control of multiple derived stimulus functions

Contextual control is a key aspect in equivalence research to support the claim that stimuli may have multiple functions or symbols may have multiple meanings. The present study investigated the contextual control of multiple derived stimulus functions in two experiments. In Experiment 1, equivalence classes were formed and one stimulus set from each class was used to establish two different functions: one via positive reinforcement (key-pressing) and another via negative reinforcement (button clicking), both under contextual control of two different background colors. Later, other stimuli from the equivalence class were presented on those background colors and contextual control of multiple derived stimulus functions was assessed. Experiment 2 added a third background in which no programmed response was reinforced, that is, responses were extinguished. Transfer-of-function tests revealed contextual control of three different functions, including derived extinction. Implications for equivalence relations as a behavior-analytical model of symbolic functioning are discussed.     

Equivalence class formation when responding is separated from sample and comparison stimuli: Working memory,priming, and sorting

The experiment determined whether equivalence class formation required overlap of comparison stimuli and responding. Each trial contained a sample first, a single, nonoverlapping comparison second, and a nonoverlapping response-window (RW) third, during which the participant made one of two responses (2R). All 11 participants formed two 3-member ABC equivalence classes using these “trace-stimulus-pairing two-response with response window” (TSP-2R-RW) trials. After adding a fourth stimulus (D) by CD training, ABCD tests showed immediate expansion to 4-member ABCD classes. When 4-member probes (AD, DA, BD, DB, CD, DC) were administered without 3-member probes, many participants showed decrements in class-indicative responding that then resurged to mastery with test repetition. Thus, 3-member probes enhanced class expansion. Class formation occurred for all participants when responding was temporally dissociated from the comparisons. In a matched, contemporaneously published experiment, where responding occurred during comparisons, only 54% of participants formed the classes. Thus, the comparison-response-separation nearly doubled class formation. Additionally, a special post-class-formation sorting test documented the emergence of two explicit equivalence classes. Finally, we noted a 1:1 correspondence for TSP-2R-RW and priming trials. Since priming measures neural substrates of equivalence classes, TSP-2R-RW trials should do the same.     

Expansion of arbitrary stimulus classes and function-transfer measured by sorting performances

Sorting (SRT) and matching-to-sample (MTS) tests have measured the formation of arbitrary stimulus classes. This experiment used SRT and MTS tests to document the expansion of class size. Thirty-two participants learned 12 conditional discriminations with a linear series training structure (A➔B➔C➔D➔E). SRT tests documented the formation of 5-member classes by 17 of the participants. Thereafter, 6-member class expansion was implemented by FC training. Nine of these 17 participants showed class expansion when tracked with a sequence of an SRT, MTS, and a final SRT test, and the other 8 showed expansion when tracked with a sequence of MTS and SRT tests. Thus, SRT tests documented class expansion, and the sequence of tests did not influence class expansion. The 15 participants who did not form the 5-member classes learned the baselines for new 3-member classes (A➔B➔C) and formed them as documented by an SRT test. Then, 4-member class expansion was implemented by FB training. Expansion was assessed using the above-mentioned testing sequences. All 15 showed class expansion with 100% correspondence between the SRT and MTS performances. Sorting documented the expansion of arbitrary stimulus classes, while the MTS tests showed that the stimuli also functioned as members of equivalence classes.     

AN EVALUATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RECEPTIVE SPEECH SKILLS AND EXPRESSIVE SIGNING

We examined the effects of receptive speech on the acquisition of manual signing among three mentally retarded children. In an alternating treatments design, we compared the acquisition of expressive signs that were, versus were not, in a child's receptive vocabulary. The children were trained via total communication in which pictorial referents were named during sign training. Signs corresponding to known words were generally acquired faster and retained better than signs corresponding to unknown words. We conducted posttests to assess the stimulus control of signing and any changes in expressive and receptive signing and speech. Observed changes in performance could be accounted for by attention to aspects of the stimulus complex during training and functional equivalence of stimuli established by training.     

Equivalence class formation in language-able and language-disabled children

Stimulus equivalence seems to have relevance to the study of semantics and of language more generally. If so, there may be a relation between language use and the demonstration of stimulus equivalence. This was examined in three groups of children ranging in chronological age and matched on a conventional measure of mental age: normally developing preschoolers, retarded children who used speech or signs spontaneously and appropriately, and retarded children who did not. All children were taught a series of four related discriminations and were then tested to determine if classes of equivalent stimuli had formed. All of the language-able children (retarded and normal) formed equivalence classes, whereas none of the language-disabled children did so. Although the exact nature of the relation between stimulus equivalence and language remains to be clarified, these results support the view that stimulus equivalence is a phenomenon with relevance to language.