The Cognitive Ability Test as a Predictor of Job Performance: Is its Validity Affected by Job Complexity and Tenure Within the Organization?

Two measures of job performance of 301 employees of a manufacturing enterprise in Québec (the criteria) were used to assess the stability of predictive validity over time of two specific intelligence tests, OTIS and BETA, whilst the moderating effects of two other variables, tenure and job complexity, were also examined. The predictive validity of the tests was not time-based but when job complexity was considered, the validity increased in relation to the complexity of the job.     

Teaching college students to pour accurately using behavioral skills training: Evaluation of the effects of peer modeling

Excessive alcohol consumption among college students is a serious problem. Alcohol education courses, during which students are taught to free‐pour accurate servings of alcohol, have been proposed as one strategy to reduce this problem. However, few studies have evaluated the effects of peer models on free‐pour skill maintenance. We used a nonconcurrent multiple‐baseline across subjects design to assess the effects of peer modeling on maintenance of college students' (N = 19) pouring skills of a standard serving of beer immediately following Behavioral Skills Training (BST). Results indicated participants who inaccurately poured a standard serving of beer at baseline (n = 17) accurately poured following receipt of BST, and all participants (N = 19) maintained accurate pouring in the presence of peer confederate models who poured inaccurately or accurately. Results suggest BST is an efficient (i.e., low to no‐cost, requires no sophisticated laboratory space or software, and makes use of available and affordable materials) and effective tool for teaching college students to pour standard servings of beer and that the immediate introduction of inaccurately pouring peer models has little or no effect on skill maintenance.     

The effects of a high-probability instruction sequence and response-independent reinforcer delivery on child compliance

We compared the effects of a high-probability (high-p) instruction sequence and a fixed-time (FT) schedule of reinforcement on the compliance of 2 typically developing children. A multielement experimental design with a reversal component was implemented according to a multiple baseline across participants arrangement. Both the high-p and FT conditions resulted in increased compliance for both participants during the multielement sessions. These results suggest that it may be possible to increase compliance without a response requirement of the type arranged in the high-p instruction sequence.     

Christian Mysticism and Science: The Phenomenological Dimension

Abstract

In this second of three papers, I identify three fundamental phenomenological themes that have informed Christian mystical theology and then explore how these themes might be given further understanding via natural science. The first theme, detachment, minimizes any association with the secular world in favor of humility and openness to God. Detachment is chosen in consciousness using a resonant global workspace linked through the hippocampus to reconstructions of both declarative and emotional memory. The second theme, infused contemplation, is concerned with God's top-down revelation to the recollected mind of the mystic. The resulting top-down resonance creates an appropriate theory of mind for infused contemplation, as the human mind is now more perfectly linked with the mind of God. The third theme is mystical union, which both theology and science claim occurs within consciousness. Starting in intentional consciousness, the mystic undergoes an unmediated surrender beyond cognition to non-intentional consciousness. Because God fills the center of our being, a resonating luminosity can thus occur arising from the union of God and self within pure consciousness.     

Do Ante Rem Mathematical Structures Instantiate Themselves?

Ante rem structuralists claim that mathematical objects are places in ante rem structural universals. They also hold that the places in these structural universals instantiate themselves. This paper is an investigation of this self-instantiation thesis. I begin by pointing out that this thesis is of central importance: unless the places of a mathematical structure, such as the places of the natural number structure, themselves instantiate the structure, they cannot have any arithmetical properties. But if places do not have arithmetical properties, then they cannot be the natural numbers. The self-instantiation thesis turns out to be crucial for the identification of mathematical objects with places in structures. Unfortunately, we have no reason to believe that the self-instantiation thesis is true.     

PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF AN OBSERVATION SYSTEM FOR RECORDING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN CHILDREN

Although mechanical means of measuring physical activity are available, they cannot provide information about the context in which such activity occurs. Therefore, direct‐observation systems remain essential tools for studying physical activity. The Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children (OSRAC) is a direct‐observation system for recording physical activity and associated environmental variables. We evaluated the concurrent validity of the OSRAC physical activity codes with two types of mechanical measures of physical activity: pedometers and heart‐rate monitors. The results indicate that heart rates and step totals generally covaried with the OSRAC activity‐level codes, suggesting that these codes are valid measures of physical activity in preschool children. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL: A REVIEW OF CHANCE'S THE TEACHER'S CRAFT: THE TEN ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING

Paul Chance's most recent book is The Teacher's Craft: The Ten Essential Skills of Effective Teaching (2008b). Written primarily for teachers of Grades K through 12, the book is organized into 10 lessons that are designed to focus on separable aspects of an effective teaching repertoire. Overall, Chance's book is well written and should appeal to teachers of all levels. Although it could be strengthened by the inclusion of more research and exclusion of weak research or suggestions not currently supported by research, it is certainly a welcome addition to the how‐to‐teach books that currently flood the market.