The long-term evaluation of a behavioral treatment program for child molesters

Recidivism data derived from various sources over a follow-up period of 1–11 yr, provided the basis for appraising the effectiveness of a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment program for familial and nonfamilial child molesters. Unofficial records held by police and Children's Aid Societies proved to be the best data for estimating recidivism. These data revealed increases in recidivism with longer follow-up periods, but there were consistent advantages for the treated over the untreated patients. Men who had sexually abused the daughters of other people demonstrated the clearest treatment benefits. The younger offenders and those who had engaged in genital-genital contact with their victims were more likely to reoffend even if they were treated. Contrary to the expectations of behavior therapists, indices of deviant sexual preferences did not predict outcome.     

Generalization of treatment effects in training public speakers

Three studies compared the efficacy of various treatments for public-speaking incompetence. These effects were evaluated for the target behavior as well as for generalization effects across situations (conversations), settings (different sizes and types of audiences) and time (6-month follow-up). The first study showed that Self-instructional Training, either alone or in combination with other procedures, produced little or no benefits. The second study demonstrated the superiority of a Skills Training program over flooding therapy, while the final study failed to detect any enhancement of treatment benefits for the addition of home-practice to the Skills Training. In the first two studies generalization occurred across the three dimensions (settings, situations and time), while in the final study it was shown that the program was effective for a clinical population as well as recruited volunteers.     

A study of presidential assassins

Twenty-two people who were presidential assassins and other similarly dangerous persons were assessed from information contained in Secret Service files and in published accounts. These documents were studied in order to determine common characteristics as well as other clues to the identification of potentially dangerous persons. Although there was no single pattern of development, there was a pattern of maladjustment that embraced common feelings of inadequacy or persecution, which led to similar patterns of behavior when attempting to resolve frustration. In practical terms, these profiles show:

• 1 A systematic pattern of inadequacy in dealing with social, intellectual, and vocational challenges.
• 2 A corresponding absence of any positive channel for achieving satisfaction or a sense of accomplishment.

In uniquely personal ways, each of these chronically frustrated individuals came to view his or her target either as the personification of the oppressive system, or as the agent through whom he or she could achieve “one great act,” or otherwise gain instant attention and status.     

The speed of visual processing in children and adults: Effects of backward and forward masking

Children, 4-5 and 9-10 years old, and college-age adults were tested on two visual masking tasks. The first task required the Ss to identify whether a tachistoscopically presented bar was horizontal or vertical The second task, also using tachistoscopic presentation of stimuli, required Ss to locate a horizontal (or vertical) bar in a matrix of vertical (or horizontal) bars. In both tasks, backward masking produced greater disruption than did forward masking, and the amount of disruption induced by both backward and forward masking decreased as age increased. An Age by Masking Condition interaction was found only in the location task and reflected a much greater difference between backward- and forward-masking conditions for the youngest group than for the older groups. On the basis of these findings and other considerations, it was concluded that only in the location task, which presumably required visual search, was the speed of visual processing slower in the younger group.     

Interference with memory for lifted weight

An adaptation-level model for memory was tested by interpolating different weights between the standard and comparison weights. The results suggest that the model should be modified to account for the general tendency to use alternative categories of judgment with equal frequency. In terms of the modified model, memory for the standard shifts toward the value of the interfering stimulus, the magnitude of shift being proportional to the difference between the interfering stimulus and the value the memory would otherwise have had.     

Performance objectives in the stance phase of human pathological walking

Permanent disruption of aspects of a highly learned skill such as walking force adaptations to occur to the movement. Firstly the body must determine what factors will guide the formation of the new walking pattern, and secondly that new movement pattern must be learned. Frequently the questionable assumption is made that the performance objectives of the new skill are the same as the original. This work used non-linear optimal control and multiple segment simulation to evaluate the ability of several possible objective functions to predict pathological walking patterns. These predictions were then also compared to the results from normal walking. Preliminary results indicate the performance objectives of pathological gaits may be quite different from those of normals. Some support was also provided for the existence of simultaneous multiple performance objectives in complex movements.