Murray Sidman: fostering progress through foundational choices

The contributions of Murray Sidman to the field of behavior analysis have helped to put the field on a progressive path. In this paper we describe three areas as examples, drawn from the larger set of his notable contributions: the analysis of stimulus equivalence in a way that has fostered a behavior-analytic approach to derived stimulus relations and symbolic meaning; the observation and measurement of individual behavior through time; and his stance against punitive applied methods. In each of these areas Sidman was a dedicated behaviorist, avoiding appeals to mentalistic or transcendental forces, opposing hypothetical mediational accounts, and taking a functional and contextual approach. Clarity of assumptions was at the heart of Sidman's effective scientific practices and there is no reason to think that those same assumptions will not carry us further, as evidence mounts in support of these views on psychological research and practice.     

Expectations in Romantic Relations and Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents in Pakistan: Moderating Role of Parental Support

The objective of the current study was to investigate the role of perceived parental support as a moderator in the association between adolescents’ expectations in romantic relations and their psychological well-being. The sample consisted of 647 adolescents (boys = 285, girls = 362). Their age ranged from 16 to 18 years (M = 17.19 years, SD = .77) and they were regular students in different colleges of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. They completed the Perceived Parental Support Scale, the Well-being Questionnaire-W-BQ12 and the Romantic Relations Scale for Adolescents. The results showed that there were significant gender differences on expectations in romantic relations and psychological well-being with girls scoring higher than boys on expectations in romantic relations while boys scoring higher than girls on psychological well-being. The results also indicated that there was a significant negative association between expectations in romantic relations and psychological well-being. Findings of the moderation analysis showed that perceived parental support moderated the association. Simple slope analysis indicated that there was a significant negative slope for low and medium levels of perceived parental support while the slope was non-significant for high levels of perceived parental support. These results indicated that perceived parental support counters the negative effect of expectations in romantic relations on psychological well-being during adolescence. It is suggested that perceived parental support is important in planning interventions to improve the well-being of adolescents.     

Training sequence effects on emergent conditional discriminations: Replication and extension to selection-based training

We examined the replicability and generality of a previously reported training sequence effect on emergent conditional discriminations in the intraverbal naming task. In Experiment 1, a tact–intraverbal (TI) group learned first to vocally label 6 visual patterns and then to intraverbally relate pairs of verbal labels, whereas an intraverbal–tact (IT) group received the same training in the opposite sequence. Emergent conditional discriminations among pattern stimuli were assessed in match-to-sample (MTS) format. Experiment 2 was identical, except vocal tact and intraverbal training were replaced with selection-based training in which the verbal labels were text stimuli. Compared to the IT sequence, the TI sequence resulted in greater mean accuracy at test (Experiment 1), higher yields (Experiment 2), and shorter reaction times (Experiment 2). Experiment 2 data suggested the TI group's performance might be less dependent on intact intraverbal relations relative to the IT group, but related to participants' reports of visualization during intraverbal training. The results suggest the sequence effect is replicable and occurs in experimental preparations commonly used to study derived stimulus relations. They also provide novel support for the hypothesis that participant behavior during training alters sources of stimulus control available at test.     

青少年早期抑郁和自伤的联合发展轨迹：人际因素的作用

通过对859名初中生历时3年的3次追踪测量, 考察了抑郁和自伤的独立与联合发展轨迹, 并对3种重要人际关系(亲子关系、同伴关系、师生关系)在二者联合发展中的作用进行检验。结果发现, 青少年早期抑郁和自伤分别呈现4条和3条异质性发展轨迹; 二者的联合发展轨迹包含“低抑郁-低自伤-稳定”、“低抑郁-低自伤-增长”、“中抑郁-中自伤-降低”三类; 父母心理控制和同伴接纳分别为青少年早期抑郁和自伤的风险与保护性因素。     

Factors associated with the socioemotional development of preterm infants

Preterm birth is a risk factor for problems in interactions with others. We compared the difference in socioemotional development between hospital discharge and at six months of corrected age of infants born ≤32 weeks and assessed the impact of maternal and infantile factors on socioemotional development rate within a 6 month’s period. Mother-child dyads (n = 144) were assessed by the Mother-Baby Observation Protocol 0–6 months through a video microanalysis. Multivariate model was built. Neonatal, maternal and child factors were associated with interactive gaze, initiate contact, responsiveness, infantile vocalization, and thus contributed to the socioemocional development of preterm infants with their mothers.     

Counterexample Search in Diagram-Based Geometric Reasoning

Topological relations such as inside, outside, or intersection are ubiquitous to our spatial thinking. Here, we examined how people reason deductively with topological relations between points, lines, and circles in geometric diagrams. We hypothesized in particular that a counterexample search generally underlies this type of reasoning. We first verified that educated adults without specific math training were able to produce correct diagrammatic representations contained in the premisses of an inference. Our first experiment then revealed that subjects who correctly judged an inference as invalid almost always produced a counterexample to support their answer. Noticeably, even if the counterexample always bore a certain level of similarity to the initial diagram, we observed that an object was more likely to be varied between the two drawings if it was present in the conclusion of the inference. Experiments 2 and 3 then directly probed counterexample search. While participants were asked to evaluate a conclusion on the basis of a given diagram and some premisses, we modulated the difficulty of reaching a counterexample from the diagram. Our results indicate that both decreasing the counterexample density and increasing the counterexample distance impaired reasoning performance. Taken together, our results suggest that a search procedure for counterexamples, which proceeds object-wise, could underlie diagram-based geometric reasoning. Transposing points, lines, and circles to our spatial environment, the present study may ultimately provide insights on how humans reason about topological relations between positions, paths, and regions.     

职场排斥对员工家庭的溢出效应：归属需求和工作家庭区隔偏好的作用

以往研究证实了职场排斥会对员工组织内诸多方面产生危害, 然而关于职场排斥向组织外部特别是家庭领域的溢出效应还知之甚少。本研究基于资源保存理论构建了一个有调节的中介效应模型, 探讨职场排斥对员工家庭贬损和家庭满意度的溢出效应和具体机制, 研究结果表明：(1)职场排斥对员工家庭贬损有显著正向作用, 对家庭满意度有显著负向作用; (2)工作压力中介了职场排斥与家庭贬损和家庭满意度的关系; (3)员工归属需求调节了职场排斥对工作压力的影响, 同时调节了工作压力在职场排斥与家庭贬损、家庭满意度之间的中介效应; (4)员工工作家庭区隔偏好调节了工作压力对家庭贬损和家庭满意度的作用, 并且调节了职场排斥通过工作压力对家庭贬损和家庭满意度的中介效应。     

职场排斥对培训行业员工建言行为的影响——有调节的中介作用模型

研究采用问卷法,以安徽、天津的培训机构中的401名在职员工为研究对象,以组织支持感作为中介变量,以积极心理资本作为调节变量,从资源保存理论的视角探讨了职场排斥对员工建言行为的影响。研究结果表明:(1)职场排斥对员工的建言行为具有负向预测作用,职场排斥水平越高,其建言行为水平越低。(2)组织支持感在职场排斥与建言行为之间起中介作用,职场排斥通过组织支持感影响员工的建言行为。(3)组织支持感的中介作用受到积极心理资本的调节,积极心理资本会增强组织支持感的中介作用。     

Alcohol use and dating violence among college students

IntroductionNumerous studies have focused on the association of dating violence (DV) and alcohol use. However, little research has as yet assessed their co-occurrence in short timeframes.ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate alcohol use in the two hours preceding DV and in the two hours following DV.MethodCollege students (n = 649, 71% females, mean age = 19.8) reported their experience of DV and their hazardous drinking on self-administered questionnaires. They also reported their alcohol use in the two hours preceding – as well as following – a specific DV event (i.e. insult between dating partners).ResultsChi-square tests outline that alcohol use in the two hours preceding an insult is associated with alcohol use in the two hours following an insult. Regressions show that higher scores of hazardous drinking puts students at risk of insulting or being insulted in a context of alcohol use.ConclusionThe findings can contribute to DV prevention programs among college students.     

Risques de violences externes au travail et facteurs de protection

Violence external to work is a risk that is difficult to reduce for professionals in certain business sectors. This study (N = 447) assessed two conflict management resources never studied to our knowledge (social support and professional training). The study showed that the search for social or emotional support is linked to exposure to external-to-work violence. Additionally, training moderated the perception of individual capacities to manage certain component of external violence at work, with some gender differences. This research highlights the importance of the availability of these resources in collective strategies to combat the stress generated by external-to-work violence risks.