EFFECTS OF SELF-EVALUATION ON PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S USE OF SOCIAL INTERACTION STRATEGIES WITH THEIR CLASSMATES WITH AUTISM

This study investigated effects of a self-evaluation procedure on preschool children's use of social interaction strategies among their classmates with autism. Three triads of children (comprised of 1 trained normally developing peer, 1 untrained peer, and 1 child with autism) participated. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to demonstrate that peers who were taught facilitative strategies increased their use of strategies only after the self-evaluation intervention was introduced. Improvements in social behavior of children with autism was associated with peers' increased strategy use. Untrained peers demonstrated little change in their social behavior. Treatment effects were replicated when trained peers were asked to use self-evaluation with other children with autism during other play times. Self-evaluation procedures enhanced the use of social interaction strategies on the part of normally developing peers during social skills interventions.     

TEACHING SAFETY SKILLS TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH MODERATE DISABILITIES

Teaching students with disabilities to respond appropriately to potentially dangerous situations is a useful skill that has received little research attention. This investigation taught 3 students with moderate mental retardation to remove and discard broken materials (plates, glasses) safely from (a) a sink containing dishwater, (b) a countertop, and (c) a floor. A 4th student was instructed on the sink task only. A multicomponent treatment package was used to teach the skills. Simulated materials were used initially and were replaced with broken plates and glasses. A multiple probe design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment package. The results indicated that the treatment package was effective in teaching the skills. Data were collected 1 week and 1 month following the completion of training, and indicated mixed results. No student was injured during any phase of training. Issues pertinent to teaching safety skills to students with moderate disabilities are discussed.     

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE SETTING EVENTS ON THE SOCIAL BEHAVIOR OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

We examined the effects of four combinations of setting events on the social interactions of 7 preschool children with social delays. In Study 1, the status of the teacher, activity materials, and peer varied across conditions. In Study 2, the status of the teacher and materials varied across conditions. Within the combinations of setting events, we also examined teacher behavior. Teacher presence and absence was varied in both studies. The type and rate of teacher prompting were varied in Study 2. The four combinations of setting events produced different rates of social behavior by the children with social delays. The optimal combination of setting events for promoting peer interaction and reducing teacher—child interaction included teacher absence from the activity, a limited number and form of materials, and children paired with a socially skilled partner.     

FADING TEACHER PROMPTS PROM PEER-INITIATION INTERVENTIONS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

This study examined a system for fading teacher prompts to children who served as peers in peer-initiation interventions for young children with disabilities. A teacher taught peers to direct social initiations to children with disabilities, provided verbal prompts for those initiations, and introduced a system that provided peers with visual feedback about the social interactions of the children with disabilities. She then systematically withdrew the verbal prompts to peers, and subsequently faded the visual feedback system. Peer initiations increased when the intervention began and resulted in increases in social interaction for the children with disabilities. As the teacher systematically faded the prompts and visual feedback to the peers, social interaction continued at the levels found during intervention and was maintained during a short maintenance period.     

EFFECTS OF VIDEO-ASSISTED TRAINING ON EMPLOYMENT-RELATED SOCIAL SKILLS OF ADULTS WITH SEVERE MENTAL RETARDATION

Two studies investigated effects of video-assisted training on employment-related social skills of adults with severe mental retardation. In video-assisted training, participants discriminated a model's behavior on videotape and received feedback from the trainer for responses to questions about video scenes. In the first study, 3 adults in an employment program participated in video-assisted training to request their supervisor's assistance when encountering work problems. Results indicated that participants discriminated the target behavior on video but effects did not generalize to the work setting for 2 participants until they rehearsed the behavior. In the second study, 2 participants were taught to fix and report four work problems using video-assisted procedures. Results indicated that after participants rehearsed how to fix and report one or two work problems, they began to fix and report the remaining problems with video-assisted training alone.     

Women''s yielding to social group pressure as a function of alcohol and type of pressure

Thirty-six women participated in an experiment exploring whether alcohol intoxication facilitates yielding to social persuasive information. Subjects were randomly assigned to either an Alcohol, a Placebo, or a Control Group. The alcohol dose was 1.0 ml of 100% alcohol/kg body weight. Subjects first estimated the length of a line and were then given faked feedback from either a male or a female peer reference group. This procedure was repeated 60 times. Analyses indicated that the Placebo group yielded more often than the Alcohol group irrespective of type of feedback. A measure of locus of control indicated no significant mean differences as a function of alcohol group but correlations between externality and yielding were strong for placebo subjects, that is, externally oriented placebo subjects yielded more than internally oriented placebo subjects. This was discussed in terms of feelings uneasiness caused by the discrepancy between feelings of intoxication and information about drink content.     

Subjects' inferential performance and the interaction of data and hypotheses in probabilistic inference tasks

In a recent paper, Knez (1991) showed an interaction of data and hypotheses in probabilistic inference tasks. The results illustrated two, earlier not obtained, significant main effects on subjects' hypothesis sampling , viz. the effect of different forms of data presentation and subjects' execution of cognitive control over their hypothesis pool throughout the series of trials. The present paper followed up these results in that the subjects' hypothesis testing , in Knez (1991) was subjected to an analysis. Hence, to see if the effects mentioned above significantly influenced the subjects' hypothesis testing, as they did for subjects' hypothesis sampling. The results showed a consistency with Knez (1991), i.e. the results emphasize the interaction of data and hypothesis in probabilistic inference tasks, as well as the subjects' execution of cognitive control over their hypothesis pool concerning both the subjects' hypothesis sampling and testing.     

繁殖群中婴幼川金丝猴社会关系发展的个案研究

使用瞬时取样法,对繁殖笼内出生的两只婴幼川金丝猴进行连续22个月的行为记录。结果表明,川金丝猴婴猴断乳大约在19—20月龄;断乳表现为母婴之间矛盾冲突的过程;群内其他雌性对初生婴儿表现出明显的抢婴、护婴和育婴行为;父亲对婴幼猴表现出接纳和容忍的态度;婴儿在断乳前是群内全体成员保护和爱护的对象,以后开始进入社会关系网,受到成年个体的责备,但很轻微;雌性幼猴在32月龄时尚未被记录到对群内成员表现威胁、蜷缩和匍伏等行为模式。     

MORAL INERTIA

Abstract. The phenomenon of moral inertia is often explained by reference to all-encompassing features of human nature, such as laziness and cowardice, but in fact it has many causes. A modern person may fail to "stand up" to social evil because he has difficulty seeing it-perhaps because it is deliberately hidden or because she and her neighbors cannot find ways to recognize and discuss it as a soluble problem. Fourteen factors contributing to moral inertia will be listed here under the headings of cognitive and linguistic factors. Further, a consideration of ideology's role (both liberal and Marxist) in inhibiting action against social evil will be presented.