DISTRACTION: ITS UTILIZATION AND EFFICACY WITH CHILDREN UNDERGOING DENTAL TREATMENT

We investigated the utilization and efficacy of distraction in reducing the anxious and disruptive behavior of 4 children undergoing dental treatment. During the distraction procedure, the children were shown a poster and told a story about it during dental treatment. They earned a prize if they attended to the poster and story and could correctly answer questions about them following each intervention visit. The children's disruptive behavior was assessed via direct observation, and results were analyzed within a multiple baseline design. The children exhibited high levels of anxious and disruptive behavior across baseline visits, regardless of the length of time in treatment or number of visits. Anxious and disruptive behavior decreased upon introduction of the intervention for all children. This was accompanied by the children meeting the criterion for correct answers on the distraction quiz. However, 2 of the children demonstrated an increase in their anxious and disruptive behavior across intervention visits. Results are discussed in terms of the need to evaluate treatment strategies that promote maintenance as well as initial changes.     

Aparametric investigation of multiletter matches

Proctor (1981) presented a theoretical framework that distinguishes factors contributing to disparities in time to classify physical-same, name-same, and different letter pairs as a function of three variables: method of presentation (simultaneous vs. successive), case relationship (samecase vs. opposite-case pairs), and blocking (blocked vs. mixed presentation of same-case and opposite-case pairs). He also argued that these variables were critical in multIletter matches, and performed a between-study comparison of existing data to support his contention. Because comparison across studies is always a tenuous process and because the absence of several relevant conditions precluded a complete analysis of predictions, a within-experiment manipulation of the three relevant variables was desirable. The present study reports such an experiment. In general, the factorial manipulation of variables supported predictions of Proctor’s framework and indicated that many phenomena of multiletter matching, including the widely studied fast-“same” phenomenon, are attributable primarily to differences in the rate at which component letter pairs are matched.     

Dressing up with Disney and Make-Believe with Marvel: The Impact of Gendered Costumes on Gender Typing,Prosocial Behavior,and Perseverance during Early Childhood

Wearing costumes is a common experience during early childhood and is often important to sociodramatic play. Costumes tend to be highly gendered for both girls and boys (such as princess and superhero costumes). However, there is very little research on the impact that wearing costumes has on gender-differentiated behavior, such as toy preference, prosocial behavior, or perseverance during early childhood. The current study included 223 U.S. children, aged between 3 and 5 years-old. Children were assigned to wear either a gendered, counter-gendered, or gender-neutral costume, and they then took part in three gender-related tasks. There was no impact of wearing costumes on any task for girls. However, boys preferred feminine toys significantly more when wearing a neutral costume when compared to a masculine-typed one. Additionally, boys were significantly less likely to help when wearing a masculine-typed costume compared to a feminine-typed costume. There are several implications of these findings that are discussed in the paper. Parents may wish to purchase a wide range of costumes for their child for sociodramatic play, particularly for boys. Therapists could also potentially use costumes during play therapy to discuss gender issues. Additionally, costume producers could consider marketing a wide range of costumes for children as opposed to largely focusing on gendered ones.

     

Children’s Acceptance of Others with Disability: The Influence of a Disability-Simulation Program

Elementary school is a transitional and impressionable period for any child. In inclusive classroom settings, children with disabilities may experience the challenges of acceptance and integration into peer relationships. The experience of children with disabilities in such classrooms can be positive if their classmates are accepting and open. One way to encourage these attitudes is by increasing awareness through disability-simulation. This study evaluates an existing school program, whose goal is to increase acceptance of others with disability. We surveyed students to assess the influence of the program. An adapted acceptance scale was distributed to students before and after participation in the program. Our hypothesis was that student acceptance would increase after participating in the program. Additionally, we hypothesized that physical, visual, and auditory disabilities would be easier for students to understand, making acceptance scores for these disabilities higher than those for a learning disability. We report changes in acceptance using group means. Our results reveal that post-survey responses showed higher acceptance than pre-survey responses, especially for auditory disabilities. Other significant findings include differences in attitudes between the two schools and differences based on prior experience with someone with a disability. By evaluating the effectiveness of this type of program (whose efficacy has been controversial in the literature), this study can provide teachers, administrators, genetic counselors, and parents with a better idea of how to address children’s attitudes towards peers. In our study, the effectiveness of promoting understanding through disability-simulation has proven its worth to improve children’s acceptance.     

Do nice guys--and gals--really finish last? The joint effects of sex and agreeableness on income

Sex and agreeableness were hypothesized to affect income, such that women and agreeable individuals were hypothesized to earn less than men and less agreeable individuals. Because agreeable men disconfirm (and disagreeable men confirm) conventional gender roles, agreeableness was expected to be more negatively related to income for men (i.e., the pay gap between agreeable men and agreeable women would be smaller than the gap between disagreeable men and disagreeable women). The hypotheses were supported across 4 studies. Study 1 confirmed the effects of sex and agreeableness on income and that the agreeableness-income relationship was significantly more negative for men than for women. Study 2 replicated these results, controlling for each of the other Big Five traits. Study 3 also replicated the interaction and explored explanations and paradoxes of the relationship. A 4th study, using an experimental design, yielded evidence for the argument that the joint effects of agreeableness and gender are due to backlash against agreeable men.     

Student-Teacher Relationships and Early School Adaptation of Children with ASD: A Conceptual Framework

In this conceptual article, we integrate existing literature on early school transitions, ecological systems theory, and student-teacher relationships to propose a framework for investigating the transition to school for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A review of the literature suggests that the quality of early student-teacher relationships may play an important role in this process for young children with ASD. Factors important in predicting student-teacher relationship quality, and ultimately, early school outcomes, are derived from the existing literature, which is heavily focused on the experiences of typically developing children. Hypothesized direct effects of child characteristics, teacher factors, classroom/school characteristics, and parent-school connectedness on student-teacher relationship quality are set forth. Potential moderators of the relation between student-teacher relationship quality and child outcomes are proposed, including child cognitive functioning, child relationships with other school staff, classroom placement, and parent involvement. Continued research on these factors will help identify malleable targets for school-based intervention with teachers and children with ASD to enhance student-teacher relationship quality and, in turn, school adjustment for this student population.     

QUAL and the dynamics of evolution

The emergence of the first structures that are capable of “replication” is a mysterious problem of evolution. The majority of the scientists dealing with evolution agree on the point that this is the very property that differenciate animate and inanimate beings. The main purpose of the present paper is to prove that the phenomenon of replication cannot be forced into frames of the Bios, but is an inherent attribute of the material, and the biological replication is a more advanced and perfect manifestation of this attribute.

The cohesion and resistance, in a general sense, is the attribute of any material system, i.e. it is an attribute of coexistence that makes possible its life. This may be the property that was identified as Jacob Böhme's mystic concept “Qual”. The self‐preservation, the cohesion in a general sense is manifested against the different destructive effects by scattering the “attacked” system into successor systems. This process makes possible for the different successive systems to get among other, differing circumstances than they were before the destructive forces began to exercise their impact. These other circumstances however include the possibility of the emergence of other systems of interrelatedness, and the successive system may become different from the parent system. The multiplication and scattering, due to the impact of destruction, at the same time increase the system's surface of interaction, and this leads to an organization of higher level.