bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Construct and Measurement of Achievement among Brazilian Children
Authors: Oakland Thomas , Stafford Mary , Wechsler Solange , Bensusan Edith
Published: March 2007

Education is viewed as the keystone for the continued development of Third World nations. Thus, considerable efforts are needed to understand features that contribute to or attenuate students' educational development. The apparent influence of intelligence, socioeconomic status, family size, health and school absences, and gender-related behaviors on achievement is examined for 214 Brazilian children. Relationships between intelligence and general achievement are strong. The relationship is especially noteworthy for reading. In addition, SES is associated with general achievement and math achievement whereas gender-related behaviors are related to achievement motivation. Relationships are drawn between literature in Brazil and the United States.
Effecting Systems Changes through Consultation and Collaboration
Authors: Ma Agnes
Published: March 2007

Two instances of psychological activities carried out in a special school for the physically and multiply handicapped children in Hong Kong are discussed to illustrate the use of consultation and collaboration for effecting systems changes in the school. Both begin with a focus on or direct work with children. Through connecting work at the level of individual children with the systems in the school, changes are instigated at the latter. Both processes depend on the adoption of an ecosystemic approach by the educational psychologist.
Parent Consultation
Authors: Loitz Pamela Ann , Kratochwill Thomas R.
Published: March 2007

We tested the effectiveness of a self-help manual-based homework intervention program for parents on children's homework problems as implemented through behavioral consultation. Parents were selected through local school psychologists' nominations based on the children's histories ofincomplete homework completion and through advertisements in the local supermarkets and newspapers. Two sets of parents were provided with a manual and instructed to implement the treatment across two academic subject areas. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed through a multiple baseline design with homework accuracy and completion rates as the primary dependent variables. The results indicated that one child demonstrated improved homework accuracy and completion rates within one academic area during the intervention. Also, one parent reported a perceived improvement in daily homework behaviors as assessed through a daily parent rating scale. However, both sets of parents reported overall improvement in homework behavior during treatment evaluation and a three-month follow-up assessment with the Homework Problem Checklist. At the completion of the intervention, the parents and children reported having positive perceptions of the manual-based homework program. The conclusions of previous research are discussed in light of our results.
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Eriksonian Psychosocial Development
Authors: Wang Wei , Viney Linda L.
Published: March 2007

An exploratory cross-cultural comparison investigation of psychosocial development in school-age children was conducted in the People's Republic of China and Australia. Erikson's epigenetic model has been tested with year 1 to year 12 children from a Chinese sample (n=360) and an Australian sample (n=150). Each research participant took part in an open-ended interview. The Content Analysis Scales of Psychosocial Maturity (CASPM) have been applied to the resulting verbalizations and the scales scores were analysed by country factor. A general pattern of similarity between the two samples was evident; no differences were found in their overall CASPM scores. However, the individual scale scores showed that the Australian sample scored higher on Affinity and Constraint while the Chinese sample scored higher on Trust, Identity, Generativity, Integrity, and at the same time higher on Inferiority, Identity Diffusion, Stagnation and Despair. Different combinations of these scores and their implications have been examined within Erikson's model, in the context of the societal and cultural differences between the two samples. Some methodological implications and limitations of this study also have been discussed.
An Essential Library in School Psychology
Authors: Kraus Tania , Mcloughlin Caven S.
Published: March 2007

A review of English-language texts outlining the purpose, structure and progression of the field of school psychology evidences significant developments. Foci have shifted from the 1960s topics of role and function, professional relationships with school staff and parents, and therapy to an emphasis in the next two decades on psychoeducational and intellectual assessment centered on disabling conditions and assessment strategies. More recently, texts emphasize on the concerns of legal issues, and a view towards the future of the profession. This work includes a comprehensive reference to the primary texts in the field of school psychology.
School Psychology in Estonia
Authors: Kikas Eve
Published: March 2007

This article describes the results of an empirical investigation, studying the expectations for school psychological services of Estonian teachers and school psychologists, and the real problems psychologists deal with in schools (as evaluated by psychologists). 190 teachers and 30 school psychologists were questioned. The results are discussed in international and historical perspective. It was found that the majority of teachers questioned considered having a psychologist in school important or very important. The problems that need the intervention of a psychologist are perceived differently by teachers and psychologists. Teachers tend to consider child-centered services (to deal with pupils' learning, emotional or behavioral problems) while psychologists also stress the importance of helping teachers-to counsel and consult. The real situation as evaluated by the psychologists is more similar to teachers' than to psychologists' evaluations.
From Keynesianism to the Third Way: Labour Relations and Social Policy in Postwar Western Europe
Authors: Visser Jelle
Published: March 2007

This article attempts to highlight the interaction of developments in European social and employment policy-making with the changing conditions and patterns in national political economies, labour markets and labour relations. It argues that a shift is taking place from traditional social policy, aiming at equality of outcomes, to an activating employment policy, directed towards achieving equality of opportunity. This shift is analysed against the background of the demise of the Fordist model, the Keynesian compromise of the mixed economy, the increase in product market competition and internationalization of the European economy, the externalization of social policy from large firms, the rise in unemployment, Europe's continued high-cost welfare states and the decline of organized labour.
Saved by the Bell? Call Centres and Economic Development in Less Favoured Regions
Authors: Richardson Ranald , Belt Vicki
Published: March 2007

This article considers the role of call centres in the economic development of less favoured regions (LFRs). It suggests that call centres represent a new form of mobile service work which these regions are increasingly seeking to attract. It considers the factors which are important in attracting this work. It then explores the policies adopted by two LFRs which have been reasonably successful in doing so. It suggests that there are a number of benefits from the attraction of call centres, particularly employment opportunities not otherwise available in such regions. It also strikes a note of caution, however, questioning, in particular, whether these jobs will last.
The Intersection between Working Life and Parenthood: A Literature Review
Authors: Tyrkko Arja
Published: March 2007

This article aims at investigating the research concerning the interplay between working life and parenthood in an effort to sort out what is interesting to discuss and study further. The relationship between working life and parenthood is discussed focusing on the working life. Parenthood puts into focus the extent to which there is room for adjusting to demands from other life spheres when engaged in paid work. The investigation shows the importance of taking into account the gendered structures and practices in working life when trying to explain individual adjustment strategies. Approaches which are built upon a holistic research design, have proven to be valuable strategies in analyses of such complex phenomena as the adjustment between working life and family life.
Rationalization and the Behaviour of Workers Conceptual Ideas and Hypotheses for New Research
Authors: Kern Horst , Schumann, Michael
Published: March 2007

From 1964 to 1968 Horst Kern and Michael Schumann carried out a rather voluminous empirical survey published under the title Industriearbeit und Arbeiterbewuzfltsein (Ist edition 1970). This study was very intensively discussed in West Germany from both sociological and political points of view. The paper now published includes conceptual ideas and hypotheses of the authors for a new research project. This new project is connected with the previous survey in the form of a follow-up study. The first part of the paper gives an interpretation of the process of rationalization characteristic of West German industry in the last fifteen years. The second part is an attempt to describe the implications of this technological and organizational change for the forms and structure of industrial work. In both parts it is the aim of the authors not only to describe the ongoing developments but also to find a new approach for an adequate analysis of the problems.
Curricular form and the Logic of Technical Control
Authors: Apple Michael W.
Published: March 2007

Because of the current crisis in the accumulation process, within the last few years there have been significant attempts in many industrialized countries to influence the educational process directly in ways that will meet the needs of capital accumulation. However, while such overt attempts at capitalist intrusion into education are important, the logic and ideology of capital have entered into schools in more subtle ways. This article analyzes the ways the commodification process has acted on the form which curricula take in schools, ways which reinforce the system of technical control of the labour process, culture, and the state. It argues that a complex process of deskilling and reskilling exists at the level of day-to-day practice in schools today. This can signify important changes in the school's role as a site of ideological reproduction. Given the contradictory class position of teachers, and given the history of class, gender, and race resistances to the logic of capital, these changes will have contradictory effects which will open up the possibility of progressive action within the state apparatus.
Sex Segregation of the Finnish Occupational Structure: Its Implications for the Psychosocial Aspects of Women's Work
Authors: Riska Elianne , Raitasalo Raimo
Published: March 2007

This paper examines the implications of the sex-segregated character of the Finnish occupational structure. The results of a nationwide survey (N= 12,854) on the working life of Finnish men and women are reported. The results show that there was little difference between the job satisfaction reported by men and women. Nevertheless, women experienced more than men a lack of opportunity to advance and develop in their present job.
Socialist Arguments for Industrial Democracy
Authors: Street John
Published: March 2007

This article examines the arguments advanced by socialism to support industrial democracy. Three forms of argument are identified: the efficiency argument, the political argument and the moral argument. The first claims that participation increases industrial efficiency; the second argues that the equivalence of the industrial and political realms provides a case for democracy at work; and the third suggests that there are first principles from which the case for industrial democracy can be derived. The contention of this paper is that the first two arguments do not necessarily support the ends towards which they are directed. The third argument asks us to treat work as an expression of human creativity and as a source of freedom. It is this claim that seems to provide the strongest defence of industrial democracy, despite the obvious problems that accompany it.
Political Domination and Reproduction of Classless Organization
Authors: Ben-Porat Amir
Published: March 2007

This article deals with the reproduction of a classless organization within a society which is dominated by a capitalist mode of production. It deals with the conditions which enable the coexistence of two or more modes of production. The problem of coexistence of two or more modes of production within the same society is known in the literature as 'the problem of articulation of modes of production'. This paper is particularly concerned with the conditions and the mechanisms which maintained articulation in the Jewish community in Palestine before and after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the articulation between the Kibbutz which can be considered a mode -and the capitalist modes of production which dominated the economy of both the pre-and post-state formations.
Trade Unions and Extra-national IndustRal Policies: A Case Study of the Response of the Brtish NUM and ISTC to Membership of the European Coal and Steel Community
Authors: Teague Paul
Published: March 2007

Three different frameworks -Europeanization, opportunistic European, and nationalistic -are developed to help explain the response of the British coal and steel unions to European Community industrial policies for these sectors. As the responses of the trade unions were highly uneven and at times inconsistent, it is argued they cannot be accommodated in any of the frameworks which assume a high degree of coherency in respect to trade union behaviour. The paper suggests that the responses lacked coherency largely because the trade unions adopted a 'naive Keynesian policy vision' which limits in-depth strategic thinking on international economic issues. The paper concludes that trade unions need to address this weakness, for the economic pressures that they are now experiencing are only going to get more intense.
The Contradictions of Business Unionism and the Decline of Organized Labour
Authors: Taplin Ian M.
Published: March 2007

This paper deals with some of the problems associated with institutionalized collective bargaining in the US. During the twentieth century this has invariably taken shape around contests over wages or distributive issues. This paper argues that such a preoccupation is largely the result of organizational and institutional imperatives that have impelled unions and management to deal with tangible, incremental issues that are not threatening the conventional assumptions about the capitalist work process. After identifying the saliency of contractual formalism in collective bargaining, the author shows how unions as organizational entities more often than not have impeded rank-and-file input into centralized policy-making and ignored worker concerns over non-economic issues. Consequently, labour-capital conflicts have often occurred outside of the established parameters over issues such as work rules and on-the-job decision-making.
Work Councils in Iran: The Illusion of Worker Control
Authors: Rahnema Saeed
Published: March 2007

Contrary to prevalent arguments in the literature on Iranian work councils ('showras'), this article contends that the push for councils was a premature initiative. While political repression was a very important factor in the defeat of council movement, the demise of the movement stemmed mainly from the weaknesses of the Iranian working class and the left, from the nature and structure of the councils and from the objective conditions in which they were operating. Questioning the theoretical and conceptual basis of workers' councils and worker control, the article points to different forms of industrial democracy as the only viable option for articulating the demands of working people.
The Effect of Unionization on Workplace Innovation
Authors: Reshef Yonatan , Bemmels Bran , Wolfe Richard A.
Published: March 2007

Understanding the factors which facilitate or hinder workplace innovation is crucial to the survival of many firms. This study focuses on one such factor workplace unionization. In this study we develop and test a theory of the effect of workplace unionization on innovation which incorporates competing hypotheses from previous studies. The extent to which the unionization-innovation relationship might be generalizable to the influence of other organizational groups on innovation is addressed.
Employees on the Capital Market
Authors: Langeland Ove
Published: March 2007

During the 1970s several proposals to set up employee investment funds were brought to the fore in Scandinavia. In 1984, wage earner funds were introduced in Sweden. The experiment, however, was short-lived and partly a failure. In Denmark, the debate on economic democracy is almost non-existent today, and in Norway, the funds idea never gained ground at all. The hypothesis stated in this article, is that collective strategies which include all employees, or large groups of employees, are hard to realize within a highly diversified labour market. It is also argued that pension funds can prove to be significant devices for industrial purposes and employment, and that employee ownership can imply co-optation or an enlargement of employee influence. If employees enter the capital market to a greater extent, it can also imply a new role for the trade unions.
The Management of Production and the Changing Character of the Kibbutz as a Mode of Production
Authors: Warhurst Christopher
Published: March 2007

During the 1980s, the Israeli economy suffered near financial collapse and the kibbutz movement and its industry became heavily debt bound. As a result, significant changes in the social and economic organization of the kibbutz were implemented. It is argued here that the changes in economic organization are the more significant. Industry is the critical point of articulation between the kibbutz and the market economy. Ensuring commensurability between market exigencies and the organization and control of the kibbutz labour process is an imperative and yet few substantive data have emerged examining the transformation of the kibbutz labour process. Drawing upon data from a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of a case study kibbutz plant, as well as other secondary material, this paper examines the changes in the management of production, suggesting a formal managerial appropriation of a previously socialized kibbutz labour process with a complementary (quasi-) commodification of labour. Such changes facilitate greater market commensurability but also, importantly, have serious consequences for the reproduction of the kibbutz as a mode of production.
Women as the Paradigmatic Trade Unionists? New Work, New Workers and New Trade Union Strategies in Conservative Britain
Authors: Howell Chris
Published: March 2007

The British labor movement has responded to a lengthy period of economic restructuring, state hostility and a consequent decline in union membership and influence, with a wide-ranging strategic reevaluation of the relationship between women and trade unions. It is primarily the nature of the locations in the labor market occupied by women, and not the specific interests or experience that women bring to collective organization or action at work, that has driven British union strategy. As a result, the major strategic union innovation of the past decade has been an enhanced emphasis upon legislation, as both a substitute and a support for trade union action.
Democratic Hierarchies in the Workplace: Structural Dilemmas and Organizational Action
Authors: Viggiani Frances A.
Published: March 2007

Case data from an ethnographic study of six experimental firms illustrate characteristic dilemmas and patterns of action in organizational groups espousing participatory democracy. The article explores what the author calls 'democratic hierarchies' through vignettes from each case that highlight a particular dilemma or pattern of behavior. Three problematic aspects of democratic hierarchies discussed include hierarchy and accountability; hierarchy and authority; and hierarchy and ownership. Three recurrent behaviors include holding democratic values and business decisions in tension; participating in multiple forums, including attention to group process; and developing democratic repertoires and rituals.
Institutional Transfer and Effectiveness of Employee Representation: Comparing Works Councils in East and West Germany
Authors: Frege Carola M.
Published: March 2007

This study investigates the functioning of the new works council institution in post-Communist east Germany. Two major characteristics, cooperative relations with management and an effective representation of workers' interests, are examined in a comparative analysis in the east and west German clothing and textile industry. A survey of the works councillors provided some initial indication that works councils do not significantly differ in the west and east and have in general cooperative attitudes towards management. Moreover, a survey of unionized workers in these firms revealed an overwhelming awareness of the necessity of the works councils and a conviction that their limited effectiveness is mainly caused by the current economic constraints rather than by internal deficiencies of the new institutions. Overall, the data suggest that the works council institution in the east is developing, in only a very short time period, in essentially similar ways to works council representation in west Germany.
The External Validity of Behavioral Fear Assessment
Authors: Lick John R. , Unger Thomas E.
Published: March 2007

This article reviews the literature relevant to the external validity of laboratory tests: (a) the degree to which the fear-eliciting stimuli in behavior tests adequately represent the phobia-relevant situations that subjects encounter in the natural environment, and (b) the effects of measurement reactivity on subjects' responses to these stimuli. We then review the small amount of empirical research correlating subjects' performance on laboratory tests with information about their naturalistic functioning. Our conclusion, based on both conceptual and empirical considerations, is that laboratory tests do not provide data that currently allow us to predict how subjects will function in naturalistic situations targeted by treatment; thus, research using these tests as major outcome criteria cannot be used to argue for the clinical effectiveness of change techniques. Finally, we present methodological suggestions designed to (a) encourage research cross-validating subjects' laboratory performance with information about naturalistic functioning, and (b) facilitate the development of laboratory tests with greater external validity.
The Sequence and Distribution of Behavioral Disordered Adolescents' Disruptive/Inappropriate Behaviors
Authors: Strain Phillip S. , Ezzell Debbie
Published: March 2007

An 11-category observation system was employed to measure the disruptive/inappropriate (D/l) behavior patterns of 18 behavioral disordered adolescents in a residential psychiatric facility. Disruptive/inappropriate behaviors of each subject were recorded for four consecutive minutes in each of three treatment settings (Classroom Instruction, Afternoon Rap, and Transactional Analysis) each day across a six-week period. A series of sequential lag analyses of the observational data indicated that the duration and pattern of D/l sequences of behavior varied as a function of the specific subject response that initiated such activity. Although the duration and pattern of D/l behavior did not vary as a function of observation setting, dramatic differences were noted in the overall frequency of occurrence of all behavior categories across settings. Specifically, the largest proportion of D/l behaviors occurred during Transactional Analysis and the least amount of D/l behavior occurred during Classroom Instruction.
Behavioral Treatment of Anexoria Nervosa
Authors: Ollendick Thomas H.
Published: March 2007

A 16-year-old adolescent male was treated with systematic desensitization and cognitive restructuring for anorexia nervosa over a five-year period. Results were evaluated by means of a single-subject design. Introduction and withdrawal of systematic desensitization had a clear and systematic effect upon weight gain. Introduction of cognitive restructuring also had a clear effect on weight gain. Moreover, when cognitive restructuring treatment was withdrawn, weight gain was maintained. Results were discussed in terms of clinical and experimental control of behavior and the need for extended follow-up studies.
Stimulus Control and Chronic Pain Behavior
Authors: Cinciripini Paul M.
Published: March 2007

This study evaluated the effects of several situational contexts on the behavior of pain patients with chronic low back pain or head, neck, and face pain. Subjects participated in an interview in which questions relevant to both pain and nonpain- related experiences were asked. Subjects were also instructed to walk, bend, and pick up a small object. Target behaviors, (e.g., pain gestures and ordinal pain ratings) were measured throughout the interview. The results showed a clear differentiation between the frequency of gestures, touching, and grimacing between the pain and nonpain events for the low back pain patients. Behavior during the motor task for the back patients was similar to the pain situations. Head, neck, and face pain patients showed similar trends in differential pain display, but these differences were significant only for grimacing behavior.
Social Skills Training with Hearing-Impaired Children and Adolescents
Authors: Lemanek Kathleen L. , Williamson Donald A. , Gresham Frank M. , Jensen Bernard J.
Published: March 2007

Social skills training has been used with a variety of adult and child populations. This article describes the use of social skills training with hearing-impaired children. Data related to the treatment of four hearing-impaired children were presented for illustrative purposes. For all cases, social skills training resulted in improved social behavior during role play. Treatment effects also generalized to novel role-play scenes and an analogue situation. Social validation measures (subjects' and parents' satisfaction with training) supported the effectiveness of treatment. The effects of training were generally maintained at a 2-month follow-up. The potential effectiveness of social skills training with hearing-impaired children and methods to enhance treatment maintenance were discussed.
Psychiatric Aides' Perceptions of a Patient's Assertive Behaviors
Authors: Dura Jason R. , Beck Steven
Published: March 2007

A rapidly expanding area of research on assertiveness concerns the reaction of others to assertive behaviors. The present study examined psychiatric aides' and college students' reactions to four different types of assertive behaviors. Subjects viewed videotapes of a psychiatric inpatient responding either assertively, assertively with extra consideration, aggressively, or passively to a psychiatric aide's request to get out of bed. Unexpectedly, psychiatric aides rated the patient more favorably than college students in the aggressive, and to a lesser degree, in the assertive scene. Blacks also differed from whites in their perceptions of assertive behaviors, rating the patient in the assertive and aggressive scenes more favorably than whites. Generalization issues and the clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
Being Assertive or Being Liked
Authors: Lowe Michael R. , Storm Margo A.
Published: March 2007

Several studies have found that observers view assertion as more "competent" but less "likeable" than passivity. However, all of these studies have examined the effects of different assertive styles in the absence of other personality-related information about the assertor. In the present study, passive, assertive, and assertive-empathic responses to a series of unreasonable requests were embedded within a more fully developed personality designed to be either "warm" or "neutral." Videotapes of two women portraying each combination of personality and assertion styles were shown to male and female raters. The results indicated that assertion had a negative effect on ratings of "consideration" but little main effect on ratings of "likeability." An assertion style X sex of rater interaction indicated that women liked the model better when she asserted herself than when she was passive, whereas men felt just the opposite. Adding empathy to assertion had no effect on the interpersonal impact of assertion. The present results suggest that the methods used to study the interpersonal effects of assertion may have cast assertion in an unduly negative light.
Methodological Considerations in Enuresis-Treatment Research
Authors: Hanson Ronald H. , Thompson Travis , Wieseler Norman A.
Published: March 2007

Three treatments for enuresis were evaluated: (a) immediate detection with a urine-sensing alarm with additional operant training procedures, (b) delayed detection with staff activating the alarm and conducting the procedures in the morning, and (c) yoked-schedule awakenings when the awakening times were determined by the performance of a randomly matched participant from the immediate-detection group. Twenty seven people with mental retardation (most profoundly or severely handicapped), whose ages ranged from 13 to 29 years, participated. Nine of the participants were noncompliant with the linen changing and practice walks to the bathroom and thus did not receive consistent treatment. All 7 of the compliant members of the immediate-detection group improved, 2 of the delayed-detection group worsened while 2 improved, and 6 of 7 yoked awakenings participants improved. Improvement negatively correlated with the frequency of baseline bed-wetting. Several methodological issues are raised concerning enuresis treatment.
An Extension and Refinement of Telephone Emergency-Skills Training
Authors: Rivera-Tovar Luis A. , Jones Russell T.
Published: March 2007

Three experiments were carried out to teach children how to respond to home emergencies. Experiment 1 compared the effectiveness of three training procedures, self-instruction training/ self-reward, self-instructional training/ external-reward, and behavioral training, in the acquisition and maintenance of emergency telephone-dialing skills. While all three training procedures were effective in enhancing performance, the self-instructional/self-reward group appeared to perform somewhat better during the follow-up phases. Experiment 2 compared the effectiveness of the above-mentioned training procedures on teaching subjects how to respond to problem situations likely to be encountered when making a telephone call. The problem situations trained were no dial tone and party line. Although all training groups performed similarly, initially following training, the self-instructional/self-reward group again performed somewhat better over time. In Experiment 3, a discrimination-training procedure was initiated to teach children when to make an emergency telephone call. Subjects were taught to respond differentially to fire-emergency, nonemergency, and neutral situations. In a multiple-baseline design this training procedure was shown to be effective in teaching discriminations and in promoting response generalization to untrained scenes. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of the future research efforts in the area.
A 6-Year Follow-up of the Effectiveness of Respiratory Retraining, In-situ Isometric Relaxation, and Cognitive Modification in the Treatment of Agoraphobia
Authors: Franklin John A.
Published: March 2007

A multiple baseline design across behaviors was used with 8 agoraphobics to evaluate respiratory retraining (RR), in-situ isometric relaxation (I IR), cognitive modification (CM), and a placebo treatment, imaginal rehearsal (IR). As hypothesized, RR significantly reduced psychophysiological accomplements of panic, I IR reduced anxiety, and CM reduced cognitive distress. The placebo treatment IR had a moderate but transitory effect. RR was the most effective component, and also reduced panic frequency, catastrophic cognitions. anticipatory anxiety, and behavioral avoidance. I IR also reduced panic frequency. The combined treatment components produced dramatic reductions in situational avoidance and anxiety, free-floating anxiety, panic frequency, and SCL-90R scores. All behavioral measures improved, as did work adjustment and marital satisfaction. These gains were maintained over the 6-year follow-up; however, 7 partial but temporary relapses occurred. The implications of these relapses for both theory and treatment are discussed, together with the role of exposure and anxiety management.
Pediatric Feeding Disorders
Authors: O'Brien Shirley , Repp Alan C. , Williams George E. , Christophersen Edward R.
Published: March 2007

Feeding problems occur in children who have normal development, who have failure to thrive, and who have developmental disabilities. This article focuses on the latter two groups. The characteristics and developmental concerns include family characteristics, parent-child interactions, cognitive development, and oral-motor development. The evaluation process for children with feeding problems should include an interdisciplinary approach with a medical, nutritional, occupational therapy, and behavioral evaluation. The behavioral treatments include the Premack principle, time-out plus reinforcement, and negative reinforcement. Future research should focus on the parent-child interaction process in both mealtime and nonmealtime situations, along with demonstrating parents' and teachers' ability to implement mealtime treatment protocols.
Incorporating Personality Trait Measures in Behavioral Assessment
Authors: Haynes Stephen N. , Uchigakiuchi Patrick
Published: March 2007

Articles by Collins and Thompson, Staats, and Williams and Thompson have taken different tracks, but all advocate the integration of "personality" measures with behavioral assessment. This article addresses several issues that have hindered such integration. First, many traits are poorly defined, inconsistently applied, and excessively molar. The concept of trait communicates a useful idea -that there are meaningful consistencies in behavior across situations. However, the concepts of personality and personality traits are superfluous. They are imbued with semantic imprecision, redundancy, and unwanted psychodynamic and causal connotations. Also, trait measures are insensitive to the dynamic aspects of behavior. Finally, personality assessment questionnaires are frequently used in behavioral assessment but most often for client or subject selection and molar therapy outcome evaluation. The goal of research in this area should be to determine the persons, situations, purposes, particular traits, and measurement methods affecting the utility of trait measures in behavioral assessment.
Behavioral Assessment of Anxiety in Older Adults
Authors: Hersen Michel , van Hasselt Cvincent B. , Goreczny Anthony J.
Published: March 2007

The behavioral assessment of anxiety in older adults is reviewed in this article. Despite the high rate of anxiety symptoms uncovered during the course of large-scale epidemiological studies, the comprehensive evaluation of anxiety in this age group (55 and over) is not highly sophisticated at this juncture. In this review, diagnostic issues, psychometric evaluation, motoric assessment, and psychophysiological assessment are considered. Throughout the articles, gaps in the extant research are identified, and a research agenda for the future is developed.
Origins of Antisocial Behavior
Authors: Snyder James , Schrepferman Lynn , St. Peter Carolyn
Published: March 2007

Theoretical models specifying the contribution of two social-familial mechanisms, negative reinforcement and affect dysregulation, to the development of child antisocial behavior were tested using a sample of 57 8-to 13-year-old boys referred for treatment of conduct problems. Negative reinforcement of boys' aggressive behavior and boys' affect dysregulation were found to covary with the boys' irritability toward parents and siblings and were reliable predictors of a composite measure of child antisocial behavior, defined by out-of-home placement, arrests, and school discipline incidents 2 years later. Reinforcement of aggression and affect dysregulation during family interaction may play complementary roles in the development of antisocial behavior by fostering the use of coercive means of dealing with social conflict. The findings are discussed in terms of research strategies for identifying social mechanisms contributing to child psychopathology and of implications for modification of cunrent family interventions targeting child antisocial behavior.
A Behavioral Approach to Identifying Sources of Happiness and Unhappiness among Individuals with Profound Multiple Disabilities
Authors: Green Carolyn W. , Reid Dennis H.
Published: March 2007

This investigation evaluated a behavioral means of identifying sources of happiness and unhappiness among individuals with profound multiple disabilities. Indices of happiness and unhappiness were defined, and a corresponding observation system was developed and implemented with five students in an adult education classroom. Each student was observed while participating in two separate classroom activities. Results indicated the definitions and the observation system reliably identified different frequencies of happiness and/or unhappiness indices for each student across separate activities. Results are discussed regarding routine use of the observation system to evaluate classroom activities for effects on student happiness as a measure of quality of life. Future research needs are discussed in terms of determining means to alter certain classroom procedures that are accompanied by indices of student unhappiness.
Knowing Me, Knowing You: Anonymity Effects on Social Identity Processes within Groups
Authors: Lea Martin , Spears Russell , de Groot Daphne
Published: March 2007

The Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE) proposes that depersonalization of self and others is responsible for the effects of visual anonymity on group behavior. The authors investigated these mediating processes by assessing the effects of group-based self-categorization and stereotyping of others on group attraction within visually anonymous or video-identifiable groups communicating via computer. Structural equation modeling showed that visual anonymity increased group-based self-categorization, which directly increased attraction to the group and indirectly increased group attraction by enhancing group-based stereotyping of others. Visual anonymity had no effect on self-categorization in terms of a wider social category (nationality). Predictions derived from alternative perspectives that visual anonymity decreases group attraction by increasing impersonal task focus or by attenuating evaluation concerns were not supported.
Hopes Dashed and Dreams Fulfilled: Contingencies of Self-Worth and Graduate School Admissions
Authors: Crocker Jennifer , Sommers Samuel R. , Luhtanen Riia K.
Published: March 2007

James (1890/1950) argued that self-esteem fluctuates around a typical level in response to successes and failures in domains on which self-worth is staked. In a test of James’s hypothesis, 32 students applying to graduate school completed a measure of contingencies of self-worth, and then for 2 months reported global self-esteem twice a week and any day they heard from a graduate program. As predicted, participants who were higher in basing their self-esteem on academic competence showed greater increases in self-esteem on acceptance days and greater decreases in self-esteem on rejection days than participants low in this contingency of self-worth. Daily affect was significantly related to daily self-esteem, but this association was stronger for students who based their self-esteem on academic competence, suggesting that affect and self-esteem are more strongly related when events are relevant to one’s contingencies of self-worth. Implications for research on stability of self-esteem are considered.
Sour Grapes, Sweet Lemons, and the Anticipatory Rationalization of the Status Quo
Authors: Kay Aaron C. , Jimenez Maria C. , Jost John T.
Published: March 2007

Integrating theories of cognitive dissonance, system justification, and dynamic thought systems, the authors hypothesized that people would engage in anticipatory rationalization of sociopolitical outcomes for which they were not responsible. In two studies, the authors found that people adjusted their judgments of the desirability of a future event to make them congruent with its perceived likelihood, but only when the event triggered motivational involvement. In Study 1, a political survey administered to 288 Democrats, Republicans, and nonpartisans prior to the Bush-Gore presidential election manipulated the perceived likelihood that each candidate would win and measured the subjective desirability of each outcome. In Study 2, 203 undergraduate students rated the desirability of a large or small tuition increase or decrease that was low, medium, or high in likelihood. Under conditions evoking high motivational involvement, unfavorable as well as favorable outcomes were judged to be more desirable as their perceived likelihood increased.
Changing Majority and Minority Positions within a Group Versus an Aggregate
Authors: Prislin Radmila , Brewer Marilynn , Wilson Daniel J.
Published: March 2007

The study examined reactions to stable and reversed majority and minority positions within a group or an aggregate of individuals. In support of the hypothesized asymmetrical reactions to changes within a group, it was found that change away from the majority position within a group decreased attraction and expectations for beneficial interactions with others, whereas change toward the majority position did not increase them. Change away from the majority position also increased appreciation for differences in opinions and perceptions of others’ mutual conformity within a group. As expected, preference for the majority position was weaker in an aggregate than in a group; in addition, there was no significant difference in the measured reactions to changes away and toward the majority position within an aggregate. Implications of changes for the functioning of social groups are discussed.
Group Membership and Preference for Information about Others
Authors: Wilder David A. , Allen Vernon L.
Published: March 2007

This experiment tested the hypothesis that preference for information about persons is affected by the structure of the social environment. Subjects were either categorized into one of two competitive groups, one of two noncompetitive groups, a single group, or not assigned to a group at all. Each subject ranked his preference for seeing information concerning the similarity or dissimilarity of other persons' attitudes to his own. Subjects in the ingroup/outgroup conditions preferred information indicating similarity with the ingroup and dissimilarity with the outgroup. Subjects who were either all members of a single group or who were not categorized into a group expressed no preference regarding information about others.
Audiences Can Inhibit or Facilitate Competitive Behavior
Authors: Grush Joseph E.
Published: March 2007

Individuals played a Prisoner's Dilemna Game against a confederate. Individuals with a dominant response of competition when playing under alone conditions were exposed to a Previous Winners, Human Relations, or No Audience condition. Results showed that compared to the No Audience, the Previous Winners audience facilitated and the Human Relations audience inhibited competition. Discussion suggested that cognitive and learning models could account for the findings and that more research should be devoted to inhibition effects. Examples were given of inhibition effects that may occur within and outside the laboratory.
On Social Psychology and Obesity Research: A Final Note
Authors: Rodin Judith
Published: March 2007

Further evidence for the importance of continued social psychological research into the cause and consequences of human obesity is presented. This brief note also comments on Krantz's (1977) preceding paper on the social context of obesity and obesity research.
On the Importance of Self-Determination for Intrinsically-Motivated Behavior
Authors: Zuckerman Miron , Porac Joseph , Lathin Drew , Deci Edward L.
Published: March 2007

Yoked pairs of subjects solved puzzles such that one member of each pair was given choice about what puzzles to work on and how much time to allot to each, while the yoked subject was assigned the same puzzles and time allotments as those chosen by the first subject. It was predicted and found that subjects who chose the activities and time allotments -in other words, who had additional self-determination--would be more intrinsically motivated than subjects doing the same activity without choice.
Social Psychology in Poland
Authors: Derlega Valerian J.
Published: March 2007

The status of social psychology in Poland is examined. The social and political context within which social psychology operates is described, with a summary of major research activities. Research in Poland covers a broad range of topics, including helping behavior, game theory, punishment, aggression, objective self-awareness, and scientific method. The intents of this paper are to increase professional contacts among social psychologists in Poland and in other countries and to com- pare social psychology in Poland to theoretical and social problems studied by social psychologists in North America.
The Effect of Competitive and Cooperative Instructional Sets on Children's Generosity
Authors: Barnett Mark A. , Matthews Karen A. , Corbin Charles B.
Published: March 2007

A total of 72 children between 6 and 13 years of age were instructed that they were going to either compete, cooperate, or play alone on an electronic "pong" game. Each child was given 30 prize chips and the opportunity to donate to a charity following the instructional set manipulation but prior to playing the game. Children anticipating a competitive encounter responded less charitably than children in the other conditions. No significant sex or age differences in donation behavior were found.
Status and Evaluation Potential in the Social Facilitation and Impairment of Task Performance
Authors: Miller Franklin G. , Hurkman Marion F. , Robinson Jennesse Barker , Feinberg Richard A.
Published: March 2007

The study investigated the effects of status and surveillance in the induction of social facilitation. The mere presence of an experimenter affected task performance, but the presence of an expert only influencedperformance when task surveillance was possible. The results are interpreted in light of Cottrell's (1968) theory.
More on the Endogenous-Exogenous Distinction: A Reply to Romer
Authors: Zuckerman Miron
Published: March 2007

Romer's critique indicates that the endogenous-exogenous model has largely ignored an important attributional problem; namely, how does one define the boundaries of the behavior that is to be attributed? It was argued, however, that the failure to consider this problem implies that the attributional model in question is incomplete but not inconsistent.