Blank comparison analysis of emergent symbolic mapping by young children

Eight typically developing children first learned to select pictures in response to dictated words in a three-choice matching-to-sample format. Next, the matching-to sample baseline was transformed via a stimulus control shaping procedure: Matching trials displayed two pictures and a third stimulus (termed a "blank" comparison). The blank was to be selected if the dictated sample did not match either of the displayed pictures. The blank comparison baseline was then used to evaluate the children's response to matching displays that presented novel sample and comparison stimuli. The blank comparison method permitted the children to indicate whether the novel sample-comparison pair were related (by selecting the picture) or not related (by selecting the blank). The method was used to evaluate emergent symbolic mapping and learning of new word:picture matching relations by the children. This study illustrates new, potentially more informative methods for analyzing symbol mapping in young children. The methods were shown to have considerable promise for advancing theoretical analyses of emergent mapping in both behavior analytic and developmental language research.     

Moral education and domains in the classroom: Is nothing as practical as a good theory?

Reviews the book, Education in the moral domain by L. P. Nucci (see record 2001-06857-000). In his book Education in the Moral Domain, Nucci summarizes more than two decades of developmental research indicating that it is impossible to ignore children's active understanding of sociomoral rules in search of simple "habit formation." Instead, he argues, children routinely form complex conceptions of both sociomoral events and adults' legitimate roles in those events and if adults ignore these conceptions it will only undermine their attempts at moral education. In the past, ideas like these were seen as damaging because they suggested that children should "question authority." By contrast, the recent developmental research reviewed in this book indicates that, although children and adolescents do sometimes "question authority," there is a surprising amount of consensus in children's and adults' sociomoral understanding and behavior. This book provides an intellectually compelling summary of recent developmental research on children's sociomoral development with a clear eye on the implications of that work for classroom moral education and the larger moral climate of schools. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

What motivates children's behavior and emotion? Joint effects of perceived control and autonomy in the academic domain.

Examined the contribution of perceived control and autonomy to 264 children's (aged 8–20 yrs) self-reported behavior and emotion in the classroom. Multiple regression analyses revealed unique effects of autonomy over and above the strong effects of perceived control. In addition, both sets of perceptions (and their interaction) were found to distinguish children who were active but emotionally disaffected from those who were active and emotionally positive. Specific predictions were also tested regarding the effects of (1) control attributions to 5 causes and (2) 4 reasons for task involvement that differed in degree of autonomy on children's active (vs passive) behavior and 4 kinds of emotions: boredom, distress, anger, and positive emotions. Implications of the findings for theories of children's motivation are discussed, as well as for diagnostic strategies to identify children at risk for motivational problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschool peer interactions and readiness to learn: Relationships between classroom peer play and learning behaviors and conduct.

Preschool children's competency in interacting with peers has been associated with long-term school success. Little is known, however, about how this competency relates to other learning readiness domains. The study used multivariate techniques to examine whether low-income preschool children's peer play interactions relate to learning behaviors and problem behaviors, and differ according to age and gender. Positive interactive play behavior was associated with active engagement in classroom learning activities, whereas disconnection in play related to inattention, passivity, and lack of motivation. Disruptive players evidenced conduct problems and hyperactivity in the classroom. Older children and girls demonstrated greater levels of peer play interaction, with older girls exhibiting the highest levels. Implications for future research and educational practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between peer-play interactions in the family context and dimensions of school readiness for low-income preschool children.

Relationships between parental report of children's peer play at home and indicators of children's school readiness were examined. Behavior ratings and observational data were collected for 242 preschool children from a large urban Head Start program. Relationships between children's home-based, peer-play behaviors and 4 measures of children's classroom behaviors (i.e., school-based peer play, approaches to learning, self-regulation, and behavior problems) were analyzed using bivariate correlational and multivariate methods. Play competencies exhibited in the home environment were significantly associated with prosocial behavior in the classroom, motivation to learn, task persistence, and autonomy. Disruptive or disconnected play behaviors were significantly related to patterns of disruptive and dysregulated experiences in the classroom with peers and with the learning process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences and the development of perceived control

Research on individual differences demonstrates that children's perceived control exerts a strong effect on their academic achievement and that, in turn, children's actual school performance influences their sense of control. At the same time, developmental research shows systematic age-graded changes in the processes that children use to regulate and interpret control experiences. Drawing on both these perspectives, the current study examines (1) age differences in the operation of beliefs-performance cycles and (2) the effects of these cycles on the development of children's perceived control and classroom engagement from the third to the seventh grade. Longitudinal data on about 1,600 children were collected six times (every fall and spring) over 3 consecutive school years, including children's reports of their perceived control and individual interactions with teachers; teachers' reports of each student's engagement in class; and, for a subset of students, grades and achievement tests. Analyses of individual differences and individual growth curves (estimated using hierarchical linear modeling procedures) were consistent, not only with a cyclic model of context, self, action, and outcomes, but also with predictors of individual development over 5 years from grade 3 to grade 7. Children who experienced teachers as warm and contingent were more likely to develop optimal profiles of control; these beliefs supported more active engagement in the classroom, resulting in better academic performance; success in turn predicted the maintenance of optimistic beliefs about the effectiveness of effort. In contrast, children who experienced teachers as unsupportive were more likely to develop beliefs that emphasized external causes; these profiles of control predicted escalating classroom disaffection and lower scholastic achievement; in turn, these poor performances led children to increasingly doubt their own capacities and to believe even more strongly in the power of luck and unknown causes. Systematic age differences in analyses suggested that the aspects of control around which these cycles are organized change with development. The beliefs that regulated engagement shifted from effort to ability and from beliefs about the causes of school performance (strategy beliefs) to beliefs about the self's capacities. The feedback loop from individual performance to subsequent perceived control also became more pronounced and more focused on ability. These relatively linear developmental changes may have contributed to an abrupt decline in children's classroom engagement as they negotiated the transition to middle school and experienced losses in teacher support. Implications are discussed for future study of individual differences and development, especially the role of changing school contexts, mechanisms of influence, and developmentally appropriate interventions to optimize children's perceived control and engagement.     

Prediction of children's academic competence from their effortful control, relationships, and classroom participation.

The authors examined the relations among children's effortful control, school relationships, classroom participation, and academic competence with a sample of 7- to 12-year-old children (N = 264). Parents and children reported on children's effortful control, and teachers and children reported on children's school relationships and classroom participation. Children's grade point averages (GPAs) and absences were obtained from school-issued report cards. Significant positive correlations existed between effortful control, school relationships, classroom participation, and academic competence. Consistent with expectations, the teacher-child relationship, social competence, and classroom participation partially mediated the relation between effortful control and change in GPA from the beginning to the end of the school year. The teacher-child relationship and classroom participation also partially mediated the relation between effortful control and change in school absences across the year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alternative approaches to deindividuation.

Reviews two approaches to deindividuation research and theory. One approach has been to view deindividuation as a loss of restraints, afforded by anonymity and other forms of depersonalization. Theorists adopting this perspective, which has its origins in crowd theory, view the experience of deindividuation as a positively affective event. Theorists adopting the other view predict that deindividuation arouses negative affect and serves as a stimulus for behavior that establishes the uniqueness and continuity of a person's self-conceptions. Research testing each approach is reviewed, and areas for possible integration are posited. (104 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus classes in matching to sample and sequence production: the emergence of numeric relations

We investigated interrelationships among stimulus classes established in matching-to-sample and sequence-production tasks. The analysis focused on the matching and sequencing of quantities, numerals, and arbitrary forms in two individuals with mental retardation. The basic protocol involved: (a) establishing both matching and sequencing performances with some stimuli, (b) training sequencing with a new set of stimuli and assessing whether new matching performances emerged, and (c) training matching with a new set of stimuli and assessing whether new sequencing emerged. The results showed that sequence training did not readily lead to new matching performances, unlike prior research with college students. In contrast, training in matching to sample yielded emergent sequence production; these data support prior studies involving children and adults without developmental disabilities. The results extend prior stimulus class research and suggest an important role for stimulus control processes in the production of generative numeric performances.     

Origins and pawns in the classroom: Self-report and projective assessments of individual differences in children's perceptions.

Two studies examined the significance of children's perceptions of their classroom environment along autonomy vs external control dimensions. Study 1 related a self-report measure of the perceived classroom climate—R. deCharms's (1976) origin climate questionnaire—to other self-related constructs. Among 140 4th–6th graders, the more "origin" the Ss perceived in their classroom, the higher their perceived self-worth, cognitive competence, internal control, and mastery motivation, and the lower their perceived control by unknown sources or powerful others. These relationships were primarily due to individual differences within classrooms rather than average classroom differences. Ss also wrote projective stories about an ambiguous classroom scene. Ratings of these stories indicated that originlike behavior in Ss' fantasy was associated with autonomy-oriented teachers and low aggression. Self-report and projective methods converged, particularly for Ss whose self-reported perceptions were extreme. In Study 2, with 578 Ss, relative contributions of classroom and individual difference effects were further examined. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of perceived autonomy and issues in assessment strategies. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Isolation rearing enhances the locomotor stimulant properties of intra-perifornical sulpiride, but impairs the acquisition of a conditioned place preference

This article synthesizes theoretical material from psychology research into a practical model for conceptualizing violence in psychiatric settings. Relevant research and theory are reviewed, focusing on two important behavioral models of aggressive behavior, hostile aggression and instrumental aggression. The concepts of reinforcement, anticipated rewards, specific and nonspecific stimulus-driven aggression, intermediary emotional states in aroused persons, and the aggression stimulus threshold are developed into a bimodal model applicable to the clinical management of violence. The model provides a broad framework for categorizing, understanding, and addressing aggressive behavior in clinical settings.     

Causal attributions of learning-disabled children: Developmental patterns and relation to academic progress.

The relation of school-identified learning-disabled (LD) children's achievement attributions to their academic progress and an examination of developmental patterns of their attributional styles were investigated in these longitudinal studies. Attributions were measured with two scales on which children attributed hypothetical academic failure situations to causes that varied on dimensions of locus, stability, and controllability. Academic progress was indexed by changes in achievement test scores over a 2-year span and by teachers' ratings of students' success and classroom behavior. In accordance with Weiner's theory of achievement motivation, LD children who attributed failures to variant, controllable causes made the greatest achievement gains and were rated by teachers as exhibiting the most appropriate classroom behavior. Comparison of developmental patterns of attributions between LD and nondisabled children did not support the hypothesis that LD children enter a self-perpetuating failure cycle; nor were previously reported findings of sex differences within the LD group replicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical behavior therapy and the experimental analysis of behavior

Advances in areas of behavior analysis are discussed to show the relevance of experimental science to behavior therapy. It is concluded that there are many areas of mutual interest between experimental operant psychologists and behavior therapists that may serve to enhance the clinical efficacy and range of behavior problems addressed by behavior therapists. Specific examination is given to areas of experimental behavior analysis such as reinforcement, including schedules of reinforcement; the matching law; advanced issues in stimulus control; the interaction between operant and classical conditioning; behavioral momentum; rule-governed behavior; and stimulus equivalence. The argument that behavior therapists are not knowledgeable about behavior analysis is disputed, and it is concluded that behavior therapists are in a unique position to be the practice professionals best able to utilize the principles of learning and behavior analysis in the service of adaptive behavior change.     

Individual differences in perceptual reactance: A review of the stimulus intensity modulation individual difference dimension.

A. Petrie (1967) proposed a general theory of individual differences in stimulus intensity modulation. The present article reviews and assesses research that has proceeded from Petrie's theorizing. Findings seem to support the concept of a central stimulus intensity control mechanism; correlations among measures that purport to measure stimulus intensity modulation are generally high in normal populations. Predictions made from Petrie's theory have met with moderate success. The final judgment on Petrie's theory, however, awaits the application of the newer methods of testing stimulus intensity modulation to the critical areas for evaluating Petrie's theory. Suggestions for future research are provided. (French abstract) (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation in the classroom: Reciprocal effects of teacher behavior and student engagement across the school year.

On the basis of a new model of motivation, the authors examined the effects of 3 dimensions of teacher (n?=?14) behavior (involvement, structure, and autonomy support) on 144 children's (Grades 3–5) behavioral and emotional engagement across a school year. Correlational and path analyses revealed that teacher involvement was central to children's experiences in the classroom and that teacher provision of both autonomy support and optimal structure predicted children's motivation across the school year. Reciprocal effects of student motivation on teacher behavior were also found. Students who showed higher initial behavioral engagement received subsequently more of all 3 teacher behaviors. These findings suggest that students who are behaviorally disengaged receive teacher responses that should further undermine their motivation. The importance of the student–teacher relationship, especially interpersonal involvement, in optimizing student motivation is highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Asthma training in third-year medical students

In response to the increasing use of children's trade books in school reading programs, this article reviews the use of real text, drawing on the application and interaction of two distinct perspectives: reader response theory and comprehension instruction. The authors propose the need to combine knowledge of instruction with the new focus on the role of the reader within response theory and within comprehension research. This article suggests how comprehension instruction and response to literature activities can intersect in the classroom for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Explicit models and instructional strategies are discussed in the framework of this bimodal approach to reading. A sample list of high quality children's books, including several trade books that feature deaf or hard of hearing characters and issues, is provided as a resource for teachers.     

Verbal relations and the evolution of behavior analysis.

Human Ss often show performances that differ in important ways from those of nonhumans. Over the past decade, many behavior analysts have concluded that many of these differences are due to human verbal behavior. Human behavior analytic research has evolved largely into the study of the nature of verbal events. New and exciting research methods, findings, and theories have emerged that are quite unlike stereotypical views of behavior analysis. This article reviews the literature, especially the work on stimulus equivalence, and describes relational frame theory, a behavioral perspective that distinguishes direct and derived stimulus functions at the level of psychological process. It is argued that at least 1 new behavioral principle (verbal or relational control) has been uncovered. This analysis is applied to issues of verbal meaning and rule following. These developments demonstrate the vitality of contemporary behavior analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's classroom behavior: The unique contribution of family organization.

Sixty-three 2-parent families participated in a study examining whether family organization—cohesion, parental leadership, and strong family subsystems—is related to teachers' perceptions of children's classroom behavior in 1st grade. Independent observers assessed whole-family organization and the quality of the interaction process in marital and parent-child dyads from videotapes of mothers, fathers, and children working together on a structured (difficult puzzle) and unstructured (building a model) task. Results indicate that adaptive family organization during the difficult puzzle task makes a significant, unique contribution to the prediction of children's externalizing behavior, over and above the quality of marital interaction and parenting style. No significant relationship was found between adaptive family organization in either task and teachers' perceptions of children's internalizing behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contemporary research on parenting: The case for nature and nurture.

Current findings on parental influences provide more sophisticated and less deterministic explanations than did earlier theory and research on parenting. Contemporary research approaches include (a) behavior-genetic designs, augmented with direct measures of potential environmental influences; (b) studies distinguishing among children with different genetically influenced predispositions in terms of their responses to different environmental conditions; (c) experimental and quasi-experimental studies of change in children's behavior as a result of their exposure to parents' behavior, after controlling for children's initial characteristics; and (d) research on interactions between parenting and nonfamilial environmental influences and contexts, illustrating contemporary concern with influences beyond the parent–child dyad. These approaches indicate that parental influences on child development are neither as unambiguous as earlier researchers suggested nor as insubstantial as current critics claim. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cognitive–social learning model of social-skill training.

Explores the purposes, methods, major findings, and future directions of social-skill training research with children from the perspective of a cognitive–social learning explanation of behavior change. Social-learning principles are used to provide both an explanatory framework and a potential technology for social-skill training methodology. Attention is devoted to conceptualizing skill-training methods in terms of theoretically derived variables and components as well as formal properties of training. Findings from empirical research are reviewed with respect to important or promising variables, their hypothesized function in behavior change, and their demonstrated effects on children's social behavior. Current and future research trends are discussed in light of the proposed model and available empirical evidence. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)