Self-modeling and children's cognitive skill learning.

We investigated self-modeling among children who had experienced arithmetic difficulties. In Experiment 1, some children observed peer models solve fraction problems. Others were videotaped while solving problems, after which they viewed their tapes. Observing self-model tapes raised achievement outcomes as well as viewing peer models; each treatment was more effective than a videotape control condition. In Experiment 2, children were videotaped solving easier problems or solving more difficult problems, after which they viewed their tapes. The two self-model treatments promoted achievement behaviors equally well and better than the videotape control and instructional control conditions. In Experiment 3, children were videotaped while learning to solve problems or after they had learned to solve the problems. Self-model subjects demonstrated higher achievement outcomes than videotape control children. Collectively, these results show that self-model tapes highlight progress in skill acquisition, which enhances self-efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparative study of empathy training with programmed instruction for lay helpers.

55 18–63 yr old lay persons were assigned to microtraining or systematic human relations empathy training (ET) or to a no-training control group. Each group, including controls, was randomly divided into subgroups for administering programmed ET to 1 subgroup in each main group. Outcome measures were levels of empathic understanding expressed in written responses to videotaped helpees. All treatment groups scored significantly higher than controls. Those subgroups, including controls, that received programmed ET via the Empathy Enhancement Tapes (R. C. Bender, 1973), scored higher than those subgroups with microtraining alone, systematic human relations training alone, or the no-tape control. Results indicate that a large-group format for teaching the skill of empathy can be an effective method of instruction and that programmed training alone and in combination with didactic methodology can have a significant impact on the enhancement of empathy. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job-seeking interview skills training: A comparison of four instructional techniques.

56 prison inmates aged 18–47 yrs in 3 prerelease training cycles were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions or to a waiting-list control condition. The 4 instructional techniques were model exposure (MOD), role playing (RP), model exposure plus role playing (MRP), and model exposure and role playing with videotape feedback (VIDEO). Judges' ratings of videotaped simulated pre- and posttreatment interviews and personnel interviewers' ratings of follow-up interviews served as criterion measures. Posttest results indicate that both the MRP and VIDEO treatments were significantly more effective than the control procedure on all dependent variables; the RP treatment was more effective than the control on 2 criteria, and the MOD group was inferior to the MRP group on 1 criterion. On follow-up ratings, the MRP group differed significantly from the control group on 1 variable, while the VIDEO group differed significantly on 3 areas of behavior and on probability of hire. The use of numerous types of training components is superior to the use of single components in developing complex types of abilities and behavior. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evaluation of a television-delivered behavioral weight loss program: Are the ratings acceptable?

This experiment evaluated the efficacy of television delivery of a behavioral weight reduction program. Seventy-one overweight adults were randomly assigned to a live-contact weight loss group that was videotaped for viewing by other groups, a live-contact group that was not videotaped, a television-delivered group that observed the videotaped weight loss sessions, or a waiting-list control group. Participants in all 3 treatment groups lost significantly more weight during the 8-week treatment program than those in the waiting-list control group. There were no significant weight loss differences among the 3 treatment groups during the program. These weight changes were maintained at 3-month follow-up. At 15-month follow-up, the television-delivered group and the live-contact group maintained their weight losses, whereas the videotaped group did not. Cost-effectiveness analyses indicated that the television-delivered group received the most cost-effective treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive-Behavioral and Humanistic Group Treatment for Children With Learning Disabilities: A Comparison of Outcomes and Process.

The authors of this study examined the outcomes and processes of 2 types of group treatment--cognitive-behavioral treatment groups (CBTG) and humanistic group therapy (HGT)--offered to 200 elementary schoolchildren in a center for students with learning disabilities in Israel. Results indicated that the addition of either type of group treatment to individual academic assistance was more effective than the latter alone on most measures. In fact, on the majority of measures, group treatment without academic assistance was more effective than just individual assistance. Finally, HGT was more effective than CBTG on most measures. Most of the outcomes were sustained at follow-up, and some even increased from termination to follow-up, although effect sizes were quite low. Process measures included the Client Behavior System and the therapist Helping Skills System, which were measured at 5 points in time. Differences between the 2 treatment types were revealed on both process measures, including differences in the growth curve of these behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of social skill training programs for college dating inhibitions.

Evaluated 3 behavioral training programs for college men with dating inhibitions and compared them to a waiting list control group. Ss were 34 male undergraduates. All treatment groups received a dating manual, contact with female confederates, and group discussion meetings. The discussion group received only these treatment components, while the other 2 treatment groups also received behavior rehearsal. For 1 group (behavior rehearsal-office group), the scenes were enacted in the office. The 2nd behavior rehearsal group enacted the scenes in various campus settings (behavior rehearsal-natural environment group). All 3 treatment groups showed significant improvements, with few differences among them. Results are discussed in terms of the effective components of social skills training programs and strategies for increasing the generalization of treatment effects. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The efficacy of cognitive behavior therapies: A quantitative review of the research evidence.

Assessed the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapies in a review of 48 studies of adolescents and adults that compared cognitive behavioral therapy with some form of control group. Analyses indicated that cognitive behavior therapies were superior to no treatment; however, there was no firm evidence that these therapies were superior to other psychotherapies. Analyses failed to find cognitive behavior therapies emphasizing behavioral techniques to be more effective than primarily cognitive approaches. Also, the efficacy of cognitive behavior therapies appeared relatively uniform across diagnostic categories and equally effective when administered in a group or individual format. There was no evidence that sex or age of patient, experience of therapist or even duration of therapy were related to treatment effects. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mother's psychophysiological reactions to contrasting affective expressions by her own and an unfamiliar infant.

Investigated mothers' autonomic reactions to their own infants' emotional states. 17 mothers of 5-mo-olds viewed 2 landscape scenes and 4 types of videotaped segments depicting their own baby and an unfamiliar baby smiling or crying. Each episode was presented for 3 consecutive 10-sec trials, and order of stimulation was varied systematically. Initial presentations of Ss' own infants evoked cardiac acceleration and large skin conductance responses (SCRs), whereas cardiac deceleration and smaller SCRs were evoked by the unfamiliar infant crying. Episodes displaying the strange infant smiling and landscapes yielded nonsignificant trends toward cardiac deceleration and still smaller SCRs. Results indicate that mothers react with excitement to images of their own child and with patterns characteristic of environmental intake or orientation when viewing unfamiliar infants. Because parent–child relations are considered transactional, physiological indices of maternal responsiveness to infant behaviors are useful as potential predictors of developmental outcome. Hence, it is concluded that the findings that mothers display differential physiological reactions to their own and unfamiliar infants are especially promising. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous and directed visual imagery: Image failure and image substitution.

40 17–29 yr old Ss were asked to visualize the scenes of 3 stimulus narratives (2 aggressive and 1 affectively neutral but implausible) and to signal successful visualization or type of disparity. Results show that both types of image disparity varied directly with blatancy of scenes depicting anger and aggression. Image failure was more closely associated with implausibility, but image substitution was more closely associated with anger-aggression. The former appeared to index interpersonal variables while the latter was consistent with repression and derivative formation. Almost all Ss signaled image disparity, and many of the image substitutes could be classified into 5 of Freud's mechanisms of defense. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of the effects of external control and self-control on the modification and maintenance of weight.

In an experimental study of weight reduction, 62 obese men and women were administered a pretreatment questionnaire and randomly assigned to 3 experimental treatment groups: (a) an external control group with a nonrefundable contingency, (b) a self-control group with a refundable contingency, and (c) a self-control group with a nonrefundable contingency. Results indicate that the self-control and external-control treatments were equally effective in producing reduction in weight. However, both self-control interventions were more effective than the external-control intervention in promoting maintenance of weight loss. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A demonstration and comparison of two types of inference-based memory errors.

Participants viewed slides depicting ordinary routines (e.g., going grocery shopping) and later received a recognition test. In Experiment 1, there was higher recognition confidence to high-schema-relevant than to low-schema-relevant items. In Experiment 2, participants viewed slide sequences that sometimes contained a cause (e.g., woman taking orange from bottom of pile) but not an effect scene (oranges on floor), or an effect but not a cause scene. Participants mistook new cause scenes as old when they viewed the effect; false alarms to cause scenes and high-schema-relevant items increased with retention interval. Experiment 3 showed that the backward inference effect was accompanied by false explicit recollection, whereas false alarms to schema-high foils were based on familiarity. This suggests that the 2 types of inferential errors are produced by different underlying mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses of behavioral marital therapy as an addition to outpatient alcoholism treatment

Thirty-six newly abstinent married male alcoholics, who had recently begun outpatient individual alcoholism counseling, were randomly assigned to a no-marital-therapy control group or to 10 weekly sessions of a behavioral marital therapy (BMT) or an interactional couples group. The cost-benefit analysis of BMT plus individual alcoholism counseling showed (a) decreases in health care and legal costs in the 2 years after as compared to the year before treatment, (b) a positive cost offset, and (c) a benefit-to-cost ratio greater than 1 indicating that health and legal system cost savings (i.e., benefits) exceeded the cost of delivering the BMT treatment. None of the positive cost-benefit results observed for BMT were true for participants given interactional couples therapy plus individual alcoholism counseling for which posttreatment utilization costs increased. Thus, adding BMT to individual alcoholism counseling produced a positive cost benefit, whereas the addition of interactional couples therapy did not. Individual counseling both alone and with BMT added showed substantial and significant cost savings from reduced utilization that substantially and significantly exceeded the cost of delivering the treatment; and the two treatments did not differ significantly on these cost savings and cost offsets. Individual counseling alone did have a significantly more positive benefit-to-cost ratio than BMT plus individual counseling due to the lower cost of delivering the individual counseling which was about half the cost of delivering BMT plus individual counseling. Cost-effectiveness analyses indicated that BMT plus individual counseling was less cost effective than individual counseling alone and modestly more cost effective than interactional therapy in producing abstinence from drinking. When marital adjustment outcomes were considered, the three treatments were equally cost effective except during the active treatment phase when BMT was more cost effective than interactional couples therapy. Study limitations are discussed.     

Matching alcoholics to coping skills or interactional therapies: Posttreatment results.

This study tested the hypothesis that patients could be matched to effective treatments on the basis of certain pretreatment characteristics. Specifically, it was hypothesized that those Ss who showed more sociopathy, more psychopathology, and greater neuropsychological impairment would have better outcomes when treated with coping skills training and, conversely, that those with less impairment in these areas would have better outcomes with interactional treatment. Ninety-six male and female Ss were recruited from an inpatient alcoholism treatment program and randomly assigned to 1 of these 2 types of aftercare group treatment. Linear and logistic regression analyses partially confirmed the hypotheses. Coping skills training was more effective for Ss higher in sociopathy or psychopathology, and interactional therapy was more effective for Ss lower in sociopathy. Generally, both treatments appeared equally effective for Ss lower in psychopathology. Contrary to expectations, those more neuropsychologically impaired appeared to have better outcomes after interactional therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The instructive animation: Helping students build connections between words and pictures in multimedia learning.

In 2 experiments, Ss studied an animation depicting the operation of a bicycle tire pump or an automobile braking system, along with concurrent oral narration of the steps in the process (concurrent group), successive presentation of animation and narration (by 4 different methods), animation alone, narration alone, or no instruction (control group). On retention tests, the control group performed more poorly than each of the other groups, which did not differ from one another. On problem-solving tests, the concurrent group performed better than each of the other groups, which did not differ from one another. These results are consistent with a dual-coding model in which retention requires the construction of representational connections and problem solving requires the construction of representational and referential connections. An instructional implication is that pictures and words are most effective when they occur contiguously in time or space. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aspects of social and emotional competence in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Social and emotional competence were evaluated using self-report and behavioral measures in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and controls. Adults with ADHD viewed themselves as less socially competent but more sensitive toward violations of social norms than controls. Films depicting emotional interactions were used to assess linguistic properties of free recall and perceived emotional intensity. Although adults with ADHD used more words to describe the scenes, they used fewer emotion-related words, despite rating the emotions depicted as more intense than did controls. In contrast, no group differences for words depicting social or cognitive processes were observed. Overall, adults with ADHD appear more aware of their problems in social versus emotional skills. Findings may have implications for improving the psychosocial functioning of these adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of integrated systemic and emotionally focused approaches to couples therapy.

Compared couples receiving 2 marital therapy approaches and a control group over a 10-wk treatment period. Integrated systemic therapy (IST) and an emotionally focused approach were both found to be superior to the control and to be equally effective in alleviating marital distress, facilitating conflict resolution and goal attainment, and reducing target complaints at termination. IST couples, however, showed greater maintenance of gains from termination to 4-mo follow-up on marital satisfaction and goal attainment. Clients' perceptions of how change occurred and issues related to the use of a team of observers in IST are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Video tape and other therapeutic procedures with nude marathon groups.

Describes the introspection, speculation, and preliminary planning for a videotaped nude group therapy marathon. The marathon lasted 24 continuous hrs during which the group remained intact with no subgrouping. During the session, participants were given several opportunities to view their behavior and physical appearance through videotape playbacks. Data suggest that nudity as a facilitator in the group process can be significantly effective with some therapists and some clients in some settings. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of biofeedback and psychotherapy on patients with myofascial pain dysfunction who are nonresponsive to conventional treatments.

Assessed the effects of biofeedback (BF) alone or BF with psychotherapy on 18 adult patients with myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome who did not respond to conventional physical treatments. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatment conditions: (1) masseter muscle BF on the symptomatic side of the face, (2) frontalis BF, or (3) frontalis BF plus psychotherapy. Findings indicate that (a) frontalis BF with psychotherapy was more effective than frontalis BF alone, (b) frontalis and masseter BF were about equally effective with these Ss, and (c) frontalis or masseter BF as well as frontalis BF plus psychotherapy, was more effective with these Ss than was escalated treatment or no further treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treatment of female sexual dysfunction through symbolic modeling.

Presents an evaluation of treatment programs for women suffering from debilitating sexual anxiety. Attitudinal and behavioral indices of sexual adjustment and sexual anxiety, including a card sort, a sexual semantic differential, and the Bantler Heterosexual Behavior Hierarchy, were obtained from 22 21–39 yr old inorgasmic women to assess effects of individual and group graduated symbolic modeling through videotapes, with concurrent behavioral tasks as treatment procedures. All Ss had reported severe anxiety that precluded sexual enjoyment or activity. 16 Ss were randomly assigned to 2 groups receiving either individual or group treatment, which consisted of relaxation training followed by viewing 45 videotaped vignettes depicting graduated sexual behaviors. Five sessions were held twice weekly. The other Ss were subjected to identical measurement without treatment. Results show that significant decreases in anxiety and increases in behavioral and attitudinal measures were evidenced for both treatment groups; however, a trend toward greater improvement was observed for those receiving group treatment. Improvement remained stable through a 1-yr follow-up. Control Ss showed no improvement and trends toward deterioration. The treatment regimen appeared to produce positive changes in attitudinal, behavioral, and anxiety indices simultaneously. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of cognitive/relaxation therapy and study-skills training in reducing self-reported anxiety and improving the academic performance of test-anxious students.

Determined whether study-skills training contributed to a treatment program that included relaxation training and cognitive therapy. 45 test-anxious undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: (a) relaxation/cognitive therapy, (b) study-skills training, (c) a combination of relaxation/cognitive therapy and study-skills training, or (d) no treatment. Pre- and posttreatment measures were collected on self-reported state anxiety and classroom examination performance. Findings show that relaxation/cognitive therapy was effective in reducing anxiety but failed to improve classroom test scores. Study-skills training had no significant effect on either measure. The combined therapy both reduced anxiety and improved performance relative to the no-treatment control condition and was significantly more effective than was either treatment alone. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)