Comparing interspersed requests and social comments as antecedents for increasing student compliance

Two students were alternately presented with interspersed high-compliance requests and social comments as antecedents to low-compliance requests. An initial comparison demonstrated similar positive effects on compliance for interspersed requests and social comments. A second analysis indicated that the effectiveness of social comments for increasing compliance was related to the time interval between social comments and low-compliance requests.     

INCREASING COMPLEX SOCIAL BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM: EFFECTS OF PEER-IMPLEMENTED PIVOTAL RESPONSE TRAINING

Two children with autism were taught to engage in a variety of complex social behaviors using peer-implemented pivotal response training (PRT), a set of procedures designed to increase motivation and promote generalization. Typical peers were taught to implement PRT strategies by modeling, role playing, and didactic instruction. After training, peers implemented the procedures in the absence of direct supervision in a classroom environment. After the intervention, both children with autism maintained prolonged interactions with the peer, initiated play and conversations, and increased engagement in language and joint attention behaviors. In addition, teachers reported positive changes in social behavior, with the largest increases in peer-preferred social behavior. Further, these effects showed generality and maintenance. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Resistance to reinforcement change in multiple and concurrent schedules assessed in transition and at steady state

Behavioral momentum theory relates resistance to change of responding in a multiple-schedule component to the total reinforcement obtained in that component, regardless of how the reinforcers are produced. Four pigeons responded in a series of multiple-schedule conditions in which a variable-interval 40-s schedule arranged reinforcers for pecking in one component and a variable-interval 360-s schedule arranged them in the other. In addition, responses on a second key were reinforced according to variable-interval schedules that were equal in the two components. In different parts of the experiment, responding was disrupted by changing the rate of reinforcement on the second key or by delivering response-independent food during a blackout separating the two components. Consistent with momentum theory, responding on the first key in Part 1 changed more in the component with the lower reinforcement total when it was disrupted by changes in the rate of reinforcement on the second key. However, responding on the second key changed more in the component with the higher reinforcement total. In Parts 2 and 3, responding was disrupted with free food presented during intercomponent blackouts, with extinction (Part 2) or variable-interval 80-s reinforcement (Part 3) arranged on the second key. Here, resistance to change was greater for the component with greater overall reinforcement. Failures of momentum theory to predict short-term differences in resistance to change occurred with disruptors that caused greater change between steady states for the richer component. Consistency of effects across disruptors may yet be found if short-term effects of disruptors are assessed relative to the extent of change observed after prolonged exposure.     

Some neglected problems in IRT

The paper addresses three neglected questions from IRT. In section 1, the properties of the “measurement” of ability or trait parameters and item difficulty parameters in the Rasch model are discussed. It is shown that the solution to this problem is rather complex and depends both on general assumptions about properties of the item response functions and on assumptions about the available item universe. Section 2 deals with the measurement of individual change or “modifiability” based on a Rasch test. A conditional likelihood approach is presented that yields (a) an ML estimator of modifiability for given item parameters, (b) allows one to test hypotheses about change by means of a Clopper-Pearson confidence interval for the modifiability parameter, or (c) to estimate modifiability jointly with the item parameters. Uniqueness results for all three methods are also presented. In section 3, the Mantel-Haenszel method for detecting DIF is discussed under a novel perspective: What is the most general framework within which the Mantel-Haenszel method correctly detects DIF of a studied item? The answer is that this is a 2PL model where, however, all discrimination parameters are known and the studied item has the same discrimination in both populations. Since these requirements would hardly be satisfied in practical applications, the case of constant discrimination parameters, that is, the Rasch model, is the only realistic framework. A simple Pearsonx ² test for DIF of one studied item is proposed as an alternative to the Mantel-Haenszel test; moreover, this test is generalized to the case of two items simultaneously studied for DIF.     

Content variations and performance on formal operational tasks by gender,social class and ability1

The role of task content, gender, social class and cognitive ability in performance on two formal operational tasks is explored in this paper. The participants were 110 Icelandic 12-year-olds, early and late developers, males and females from all socio-economic groups. Two tasks of variable isolation (the pendulum and three content versions of the “plant” problem) and two measures of volume conservation (three traditional tasks and three tasks formally identical whose content was pictorial social play) were presented individually in a school setting. The results suggest that content variations have differential consequences for the performance of early and late developers at age 12. Both the nature of logical competence and task content affect solutions, as suggested by Overton and collaborators in 1987. Some social class and gender differences were observed on two Piagetian tasks (pendulum and volume), which was reduced by changing the task content in the case of social class but not in that of gender. As the gender difference in volume conservation was not reflected ins chool achievement nor on other cognitive tasks it was interpreted as a gender bias. The findings are discussed in view of recent literature on the development of cognitive theory with increased emphasis on context and meaning in a post-structural intellectual climate.     

An empirical test of a comprehensive model of intrapersonal empowerment in the workplace

A comprehensive model of intrapersonal empowerment in the workplace posits that empowerment mediates the relationship between the social structural context and behavioral outcomes. The social structural context is operationalized as perceptions of role ambiguity, sociopolitical support, access to strategic information and resources, and work unit culture, whereas behavioral outcomes are operationalized as innovativeness and effectiveness. The model is examined on a sample of 324 middle managers from different units of a Fortune 50 organization. Survey data are examined using a series of regression analyses to assess the mediating effect of intrapersonal. Results suggest that intrapersonal empowerment mediates the relationship between some elements of workplace social structure and innovativeness, but not effectiveness. Although not a mediating mechanism for effectiveness, intrapersonal empowerment is nonetheless directly related to effectiveness (as assessed by the respondent's subordinates). Implications of the results are discussed as are study limitations and directions for future research. This paper is based on the author's dissertation, presented in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the doctoral degree at the University of Michigan. I am grateful to my dissertation committee which included Robert E. Quinn (chair), Susan Ashford, Richard Bagozzi, Karl Weick, and Marc Zimmerman for their thoughtful guidance. Thanks is also extended to Neil Sendelbach for his help in facilitating data collection. The University of Michigan and the University of Southern California both provided financial support for this research. This paper was prepared while the author was a Zumberge Fellow at the University of Southern California.     

A preventive,psychoeducational approach to increase perceived social support

Investigated the effects of a 13-week preventive, psychoeducational intervention program to improve perceived social support. Fifty-one, low-perceived support, community residents were randomly assigned to an intervention or wait-list control condition. Intervention subjects received training in social skills and cognitive reframing regarding the self and social relations. The intervention led to increased perceived social support from family, but not from friends. As hypothesized by social cognition models, increases in perceived support appeared to be mediated by changes in self-esteem and frequency of self-reinforcement. Further, such changes in cognition about the self were larger than the changes observed for perceived support, suggesting that it may be easier to change cognition about the self than perceptions of support.     

Cultural attitudes: in contexts of argumentation and explanation

Traditionally, attitudes are supposed to predict behavior. However, due to their poor performance, we are sometimes advised to abandon the notion. The present study attempts to preserve the concept but takes attitudes to be evaluative goals accomplished through interactional, especially argumentative and explanatory activities. The paper uses reasoned-discourse analysis and demonstrates the attainment of positive attitudes towards the Dutch by expatriate Chinese intellectuals in the Netherlands by attending to a variety of argumentative and explanatory strategies in their interview talk. Results suggest that there is good empirical reason to believe that attitudes are accomplishments of communicating actors' rhetorical contextualizations.     

Socialization for the democratic personality in modern society

A comprehensive analysis of socialization requires a complex model that both explicates and synthesizes the various subprocesses involved in this phenomenon. Traditional concerns with socialization that have focused almost exclusively on its objective functions, that is, on those which serve society and its institutions, need to be complemented by an equal emphasis on subjective functions in terms of the sociological and psychological development of the individual. Chiefly relevant in this latter respect is the production of basic human needs and the consequences that result from their inadequate gratification in unauthentic and/or unresponsive societies. One such outcome that is particularly crucial to both personal and societal function is that of alienation, which can be assessed specifically in terms of its significance for civic participation. Our model recognizes the limits of both human systems and social systems; and, in terms of the principles of authenticity and responsivity, it articulates the linkage among these systems constituting the essence of socialization. Our model also provides an implicit clarification of the nature and meaning of citizenship in a democracy, which by definition should be a responsive society, and delineates the required sociopsychological images for maximizing the role of political participation.     

Differential effects of cognitive behavior modification on seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents exhibiting internalizing or externalizing problems

This study examined the differential effects of a school-based cognitive behavior modification intervention on (a) the interpersonal/social skills and (b) the social competence and school adjustment of two groups of middle school students identified as seriously emotionally disturbed. One groups of students exhibited internalizing emotional problems and the other group exhibited externalizing emotional problems. The objective of the study was to investigate whether the effectiveness of a school-based cognitive behavior modification intervention was significantly related to the type of emotional disturbance a student exhibits (i.e. internalizing or externalizing emotional disturbance). The sample consisted of an experimental and a control group of middle school students identified as seriously emotionally disturbed. The intervention was implemented in 23 biweekly 42-minute sessions. The results indicated that teacher ratings of student social competence and school adjustment were sensitive to treatment effects, although students' social skills self-ratings were not significantly affected by the treatment. A differential treatment effect was established in that externalizing students were significantly more responsive than internalizing students.