Effects of a pairing contingency on behavior in a three-person programmed environment

Four groups of three subjects resided for 10 days within a continuously programmed environment. Subjects followed a behavioral program of contingently scheduled activities that determined individual and social behaviors. A triadic condition was in effect when all three subjects were required to select simultaneous access to a group area before it became available for a social episode. A dyadic condition was in effect when access to a group area was permitted to any combination of two, and only two, subjects. The effects of these two conditions on individual and social behaviors were studied in reversal designs with several successive days devoted to each condition. Results showed that durations of social activities and synchronization of individual activities were greater during triadic conditions than during dyadic conditions. Under both conditions, wake-sleep cycles departed from a typical day-night rhythm for most subjects. Instances when subjects did not respond to each others' attempts to initiate conversations using the intercom were generally more frequent during dyadic than triadic conditions. Physical distance during triadic social episodes was found to be related to sociability levels during dyadic conditions.     

The effects of primary reward on the I.Q. performance of grade-school children as a function of initial I.Q. level

The effect of candy reward on I.Q. scores was investigated in 72 first- and second-grade children. All subjects were administered Form A of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and, based upon these scores, were divided into three blocks: low, middle, and high. From each block, subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (contingent reward, noncontingent reward, or no reward) that were in effect during administration of Form B. Results showed that candy given contingent upon each correct response increased I.Q. scores for the initially low scoring subjects, but had no influence on the scores of middle and high scoring subjects.     

The Black Church,Values, and Secular Counseling: Implications for Counselor Education and Practice

There has been a recent increase in the amount of attention given in the counseling literature to addressing clients’ religion and spirituality. However, Black American churchgoers are rarely the target population in the discourse, and little is known about how the Black church shapes their views. This article provides information on values of the Black church and the church's influence on Black American churchgoers regarding secular counseling. Implications for counselor education and practice are discussed.     

Impulsive behaviour in interpersonal encounters: Associations with quarrelsomeness and agreeableness

Associations between impulsivity and interpersonal behaviours have rarely been examined, even though impulsivity may disrupt the flow of social interactions. For example, it is unknown to what extent the commonly used Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS‐11) predicts impulsive behaviour in social situations, and how behaving impulsively during interpersonal encounters might influence levels of quarrelsomeness and agreeableness. In this study, 48 healthy working individuals completed the BIS‐11 and recorded their behaviour in social situations using event‐contingent recording. Record forms included items representing quarrelsome, agreeable, and impulsive behaviours. BIS‐11 motor impulsiveness scores predicted impulsive behaviour in social situations. Impulsive behaviour was associated, in different interactions, with both agreeableness and quarrelsomeness. Behaving impulsively in specific interactions was negatively associated with agreeableness in participants with higher BIS‐11 motor impulsiveness and positively associated with agreeableness in participants with lower BIS‐11 motor impulsiveness. Impulsive quarrelsome behaviour may cause interpersonal problems. Impulsive agreeable behaviour may have positive effects in individuals with low trait impulsivity. The idea that there are between‐person differences in the effects of state impulsivity on the flow of social interaction deserves further study.     

Influence of vowel context on the audio‐visual speech perception of voiced stop consonants

The work reported here investigated whether the extent of McGurk effect differs according to the vowel context, and differs when cross‐modal vowels are matched or mismatched in Japanese. Two audio‐visual experiments were conducted to examine the process of audio‐visual phonetic‐feature extraction and integration. The first experiment was designed to compare the extent of the McGurk effect in Japanese in three different vowel contexts. The results indicated that the effect was largest in the /i/ context, moderate in the /a/ context, and almost nonexistent in the /u/ context. This suggests that the occurrence of McGurk effect depends on the characteristics of vowels and the visual cues from their articulation. The second experiment measured the McGurk effect in Japanese with cross‐modal matched and mismatched vowels, and showed that, except with the /u/ sound, the effect was larger when the vowels were matched than when they were mismatched. These results showed, again, that the extent of McGurk effect depends on vowel context and that auditory information processing before phonetic judgment plays an important role in cross‐modal feature integration.     

Assessing preferences of individuals with developmental disabilities using alternative stimulus modalities: A systematic review

The purpose of this systematic review was to identify investigations comparing the efficacy of alternative modality (e.g., pictorial, verbal, video) stimulus preference assessments for individuals with developmental disabilities. We identified articles by searching peer‐reviewed journals using the PsycINFO and ERIC databases, conducting table of contents searches of common behavioral outlets, and conducting ancestral searches of recent reviews and practitioner summaries of preference assessment methodology. A total of 32 articles met our inclusion criteria. These studies were then coded across a variety of features to gain a better understanding of the efficacy of alternative format preference assessments for individuals with developmental disabilities. In addition, we reviewed this literature for the use of prerequisite‐skill assessments and contingent‐reinforcer access to further investigate the relation between these variables and the accuracy of pictorial, verbal, and video preference assessments. A variety of methodological concerns are discussed as well as suggestions for future research.     

The relationship between attitudes toward suicide and willingness to pay for suicide prevention: a cross-sectional study in Japan

There are gaps in our knowledge of the role attitudes toward suicide play in determining people’s willingness to participate (WTP) for suicide prevention. We conducted a large nationwide cross-sectional study with the aim of clarifying the relationship between WTP for reducing suicide risk and attitudes toward suicide. Ordinal logistic regression analyses (n = 1771) showed that there were significant associations of WTP for suicide prevention with ‘Suicide as a right’ (β = ?.15, 95% CI: ?.25 to ?.04, p = .006), ‘Preventability/readiness to help’ (β = .81, 95% CI: .69–.94, p < .001) and ‘Common occurrence’ (β = .32, 95% CI: .19–.46, p < .001). ‘Incomprehensibility/unpredictability’ did not show an association with WTP. Taxpayer acceptance for suicide prevention is more likely to be achieved through provision of information that increases endorsement of ‘preventability/readiness to help’ and ‘common occurrence’ factors, and decreases ‘suicide as a right’ scores.     

高中二年级学生双字词阅读知觉广度的眼动研究

采用“呈现随眼动变化技术”对12名高中二年级学生的双字词阅读知觉广度进行了眼动研究。结果发现：（1）高中二年级学生的双字词阅读知觉广度具有不对称性。（2）高中二年级学生的双字词阅读知觉广度为注视点左侧一个双字词到右侧两个双字词的空间。