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Does functional communication training compete with ongoing contingencies of reinforcement? An analysis during response acquisition and maintenance.

We examined the effectiveness of functional communication training (FCT) in reducing self-injurious behavior (SIB) and in shaping an alternative (communicative) response while SIB continued to be reinforced. Following a functional analysis of 3 individuals' SIB, we attempted to teach an alternative response consisting of a manual sign to each individual, using the reinforcer that maintained SIB. When FCT was implemented without extinction. SIB remained at baseline rates for all participants, and none of the participants acquired the alternative response. When extinction was added to the training procedure, SIB decreased and manual signing increased for all participants. To determine if signing, when established, would compete with SIB when both were reinforced, extinction was then withdrawn. Signing was maintained and SIB occurred at low rates for 2 individuals, but SIB returned to baseline rates for the 3rd individual, necessitating the reimplementation of extinction. These results suggest that it may be difficult to establish alternative behaviors if inappropriate behavior continues to be reinforced, but that, when established, alternative behavior might compete successfully with ongoing contingencies of reinforcement for inappropriate behavior.

Adult↗

Effects of criterion-level probing on demonstrating newly acquired discriminative behavior.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether probes of the final criterion-level discrimination administered during and after training provided an accurate measure of acquisition. Training and probe stimuli were designed to make training and probe trials initially very discriminable and then progressively less discriminable as training progressed. Initially, the discrimination required on probe trials was more difficult than the discrimination required on training trials. However, this difference in difficulty was gradually eliminated as training stimuli were topographically altered and made identical to probe stimuli by the end of training. Results showed that while correct responding was maintained throughout training, error patterns occurred on all probe trials administered during training. Error patterns developed regardless of whether probe trials occurred only at the beginning of training sessions (temporally discriminable probes) or were randomly interspersed in the training sessions (temporally indiscriminable probes). Probe error patterns seemed to be controlled by the stimulus properties of training and probe trials. Thus, probes did not measure acquisition as it occurred during training. Probe error patterns were maintained when probes were administered after completion of training. This final measure of acquisition did not agree with the demonstration of acquisition provided by the final training trial. The results suggest that probe trials can measure a different stimulus-response relationship from that trained when training starts with an easier or known discrimination and probes involve a final or criterion test of a more difficult or unknown discrimination. Stimulus control of correct responses versus error patterns is discussed.

Child, Preschool↗

Time perception: effects of introversion/extraversion and task interest.

32 extraverted and 32 introverted college students rated the interest value and estimated the duration of 3-min. intervals filled with reading. There were 3 dull and 3 interesting readings. It was hypothesized that time perceptions of extraverts and introverts would differ when their interest in the task was dissimilar. But no personality differences in time perception and few in interest were found; both extraverts and introverts judged the intervals to be shorter when the reading was interesting.

Attention↗

Semantic desensitization: language conditioning or demand characteristics manipulation?

Previous studies in language conditioning, especially those called semantic desensitization, have shown changes in self-report, behavioral measures, and the semantic meaning of the target concept following treatment. This last has been proposed as a causal variable but experimental and control groups differed greatly in terms of their demand characteristics. The present study included a placebo group with demand characteristics similar to those of the control group. The target area was self-concept (18 male Ss, 9 female Ss). Significant changes in self-report and actual performance with a hand dynamometer were obtained but these were as great for the placebo group as for the experimental groups. It was suggested that factors other than conditioning are of importance in semantic desensitization.

Awareness↗

Threats and anti-semitic blaming.

A strategy for efficiently and effectively reducing anti-Semitic stereo-typing was presented, supported by the results of a questionnaire responded to by 15 randomly selected students between the ages of 18 and 32 years, at L.I.F.E. Bible College (associated with the Pentacostal Four-Square Church) in San Dimas, CA in 1993. Relationships predicted among stereotypic blaming and related threats were supported by the data--principally, that very negative combinations of common blamings called compound blamings, e.g., "Jews are rich because Jews are more dishonest," correlated significantly with a large group of far less negative anti-Semitic blamings and related threats. It was argued that a single compound blaming when deconditioned in a classroom, would be more effective in reducing over-all anti-Semitic blaming than deconditioning any other blaming or by using the more traditional group discussion or lecture methods for reducing prejudicial attitudes.

Adolescent↗

Anxiety and anxiety disorders. Toward a conceptual reorientation.

Traditionally, it has been assumed that there is only one type of anxiety; recent pharmacologic evidence suggests that there may be several. The psychoanalytic concept of "neurotic" symptoms as depressurizing mechanisms is out of keeping with most evidence now available. Spontaneous or "free-floating" anxiety may be partly biologic and genetic in origin. Anxiety symptoms evoked by specific stimuli behave in part like conditioned responses. Where conditioning theory has failed to propose a plausible unconditioned stimulus for pathologic anxiety, biology, ethology, and psychoanalysis may have been more successful.

Agoraphobia↗

Deprivation, psychological distress, and consultation length in general practice.

BACKGROUND: Recent research has shown the benefits of longer consultations in general practice. Approximately 40% of patients presenting to general practitioners (GPs) are psychologically distressed. Studies have shown that psychological morbidity increases with increasing socioeconomic deprivation. The combined effects of psychological morbidity and socioeconomic deprivation on consultation length are unknown. In addition, though it is known that doctors correctly identify half their distressed patients as such, the effect of consultation length on identification is unknown. AIM: To examine factors associated with presentation and recognition of psychological distress in GPs' surgeries and the interaction of these factors with consultation length. DESIGN OF STUDY: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: Nine general practices in the West of Scotland, involving 1075 consultations of 21 full-time GPs. METHOD: The main outcome measures were patient psychological distress (measured by General Health Questionnaire-12), doctors' identification of psychological distress, consultation length, and Carstairs deprivation category scores. RESULTS: The mean consultation length was 8.71 minutes (SD = 4.40) and the prevalence of positive GHQ scores was 44.7%. Increasing GHQ (greater psychological distress) and lower deprivation category scores (greater affluence) were associated with longer consultations. Positive GHQ scoring increased with greater socioeconomic deprivation and also peaked in the 30 to 39 years age group. Recognition of psychological distress was greater in longer consultations (50% increase in consultation length associated with 32% increase in recognition). CONCLUSION: Increasing socioeconomic deprivation is associated with higher prevalence of psychological distress and shorter consultations. This provides further evidence to support Tudor Hart's 'inverse care law' and has implications for the resourcing of primary care in deprived areas.

Adolescent↗

Psychiatric morbidity in medical and surgical wards of a Nigerian general hospital.

Psychological disorders among 275 medical and surgical in-patients was assessed by a two-stage screening procedure, using the GHQ-30 and the PSE. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 30.2% with an additional 9.8% reporting distressing psychiatric symptoms. The morbidity rates among medical (30.6%) and surgical (29.6%) patients were comparable. Older patients and females were found to be more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders. It is suggested that the paramedical personnel in general hospital wards of developing countries could be taught psychosocial intervention techniques necessary in the management of emotional complications of physical disorders.

Adjustment Disorders↗

Patient-rated therapeutic relationship and outcome in general practitioner treatment of psychological problems.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between therapeutic relationship and clinical outcome in general medical practitioner (GP) treatment of emotional problems. DESIGN: Correlational analyses of patient and observer measures of GP consultations with 3-month clinical outcomes. METHOD: Patients of nine GPs, presenting with emotional problems as assessed by the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30), were interviewed and completed a questionnaire about their experience of their consultation with the GP. The audiotaped consultations were coded by external observers for patient involvement, doctor empathy and amount of the consultation that involved listening interactions (patient talking and doctor listening). After 3 months the patients completed a postal follow-up questionnaire including the GHQ-30 and a single item measure of patient perceived change. RESULTS: Fifty-seven patients provided follow-up data. Interview and questionnaire measures of patient perceptions of their relationship with the GP in the consultation predicted both GHQ-30 outcome at 3 months (partial correlations controlling for initial GHQ-30, r = .30 and r = .36) and patient perceived change on the single item measure. Observer ratings of patient involvement and doctor empathy predicted patient rated change on the single item measure, but not follow-up GHQ-30. Observer coded listening interactions were unrelated to both outcome measures. CONCLUSION: The results indicate an association between patient perceptions of how GP and patient related in the consultation and reduction in symptom severity 3 months later.

Adult↗

Psychological disturbance in a general practice setting.

One hundred consecutive patients who consulted a general practitioner in Sydney with a new complaint completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), a self-administered instrument designed to assess psychological dysfunction. Although all patients presented somatic symptoms as their principal complaint, 39 per cent scored positively on the GHQ. A direct relationship between severity of psychological disturbance as clinically assessed and GHQ score was observed, while the relationship between the clinically assessed severity of physical dysfunction and GHQ score was an inverse one. At the 10 week follow-up, psychological morbidity had fallen to 23 per cent, a figure akin to a Sydney general population norm. Some implications of these findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗