Classroom context and teachers' perceptions of problem behaviors.

73 teachers of kindergarten to 8th grade viewed disruptive- or nondisruptive-context videotaped vignettes and rated each portrayal in terms of severity, manageability, tolerance, and contagion to investigate the effects of context on Ss' perceptions of 5 problem behaviors (blaming, poor peer cooperation, negative aggression, inattention, and failure anxiety). ANCOVA showed that contagion yielded significant differences (stronger within the disruptive context), suggesting that the target child was held responsible for the classroom disorder. Correlational data explained the relationship between the 4 areas, suggesting a dichotomy between quality (type of behavior) and quantity (degree or severity of behavior) for interpreting perceptions. Low tolerance was associated with higher levels of severity and more outer-directed behaviors. Contagion had more active, observable components and was related more to the qualitative dimension. Manageability (also active, observable, and teacher centered) was strongly influenced by quantitative factors (greater extremes of atypical behavior). (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of problem ownership on teachers' perceptions of and strategies for coping with problem students.

98 elementary school teachers read vignettes depicting incidents involving (fictional) students who presented chronic behavior problems and then told how they would respond if the incidents occurred in their classrooms. Responses were coded for attributions about the students and about the Ss' roles in causing and correcting the problems. Ss attributed controllability and intentionality to students presenting teacher-owned problems but not to students presenting student-owned problems. Students presenting shared problems often were seen as able to control their behavior but not as misbehaving intentionally. The contrasting patterns of attribution seen in these 3 levels of problem ownership were associated with contrasting patterns of goals and strategies, as well. The data bear out expectations based on attributional analyses of helping behavior but raise questions about teachers' preparedness to cope with problem students. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of race and problem type on teachers' assessments of student behavior.

The authors tested the hypothesis that race bias in teacher evaluations may be problem specific by examining the extent to which ratings of child behavior were influenced by the interaction between the race of the child and the type of presenting behavior. Teachers (N=197) were presented with three vignettes (overcontrolled, undercontrolled, and "normal"), systematically paired with a photograph of a male child (African American, Asian American, or Caucasian). Respondents rated the seriousness, referability, and typicality of the behavior; the child's family life; academic ability and performance; and causal dimensions. Although results did not reveal a bias in the ratings of African American students, data suggest that stereotypes remain embedded in teachers' interpretive framework for Asian Americans, particularly regarding expectations of overcontrolled traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

First-grade teachers' goals and children's developing perceptions of school.

Used a longitudinal design to investigate how goals and practices of 1st-grade teachers influenced students' perceptions of school and their classroom behaviors. Before school began, the goals (academic vs social development) and classroom structure (strict vs permissive) of 13 teachers were assessed. 77 children were then interviewed and tested prior to 1st grade and again 7 mo later. Observations were conducted to corroborate self-report data. Results suggest that teachers' beliefs influenced classroom activities, children's behaviors, and children's perceptions of school. Certain combinations of the identified ideologies produced classroom environments which children found anxiety arousing. Clarity of teacher demands may be an important feature of supportive 1st-grade classrooms. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heredity versus environment: An integrative analysis.

C. S. Jencks's (1972) method of analysis of the heredity–environment data is presented, but with the important modification that cognizance is taken of the principle of genetic variation with age, that is, that the genotypic value (G) varies with age. As a result of this modification and a more critical examination of the IQ data, a solution is obtained that agrees with Jencks's figure for covariance, but supports C. Burt and M. Howard's (1956) and A. R. Jensen's (see record 1969-09740-001) emphasis on heredity in that it assigns 75% of the remaining variance to heredity and only 25% to environment. The present study can be regarded as integrative in that (a) it eliminates most of the discrepancies in the field and (b) it uses Jencks's approach, albeit modified, to produce what is essentially Burt's result. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term effects of behavioral versus insight-oriented therapy with inpatient alcoholics.

Assessed the relative effects of behavioral treatment involving both covert sensitization and relaxation training vs insight-oriented treatment consisting of transactional analysis (TA) with 113 male and female alcoholic inpatients (21–73 yrs). Ss were assigned in randomized blocks to 1 of 4 groups: (a) milieu treatment control group or 1 of 3 experimental groups, each of which included the milieu treatment, (b) behavioral group, (c) TA group, (d) combined group, involving both TA and behavioral treatment. Four-year follow-up interviews yielded data on the Quantity Frequency Index scale, abstinence, and an overall clinical adjustment scale for 5 posttreatment periods. Differences between behavioral and TA treatment were significant or approached significance at 6 mo and 1? yrs after treatment, but not thereafter. Strong and consistent trends were evident favoring the behavioral approach on all 3 measures across all 5 follow-up periods. The strength of the milieu treatment was also supported, and the need for long-term follow-up studies beyond 6 mo is stressed. (70 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender difference as a factor in teachers' perceptions of students.

Elementary school teachers' perceptions of students were assessed by having teachers rate 157 boys and 127 girls in their 1st–6th grade classes on the School Behavior Check List. Multiple regression was used to examine the relationship between the student characteristics of sex, IQ, reading achievement, and grade level and teacher ratings of students on the Check List. This technique was used because sex, academic ability, and achievement are confounded variables in elementary school populations. Results show that student ability and achievement were more potent factors in teacher perceptions than gender per se. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of different units of measurement on instructional decision making.

Sought to replicate the results of C. Darch and R. Gersten (1985), to determine if different units of time measurement yield different decisions regarding the relative effectiveness of instructional procedures for teaching sight words to students diagnosed with a specific learning disability in reading. The authors also sought to provide a heuristic for other school psychologists who are researching and measuring the effects of applied academic interventions. Four 7–8 yr olds who met the diagnostic criteria for learning disabled in reading were assessed to determine the effects of 2 varying presentation rates (immediate and 5 sec) on sight word recognition. No consistent differences between the immediate and 5 sec conditions were found for 3 of the 4 participants, which is contrary to the findings of Darch and Gersten. However, when measuring learning as a function of instructional time, immediate presentation resulted in a faster learning rate than the 5 sec condition for 3 of the 4 participants. Implications for the role of school psychologists in instructional decision making is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of behavior perceptions and gender on teachers' judgments of students' academic skill.

Evaluated the hypothesis that gender and behavior, as perceived by teachers, affect judgments of the academic skill of their students. A path model was proposed to describe the relationships among tested academic skill, gender, behavior grades, and teachers' academic judgments. The model was evaluated separately in each of 3 grades (kindergarten–2nd) in 2 locations, with scholastic grades and structured ratings in specific academic skill areas as the dependent variables. Results showed that, after tested academic skill and gender were controlled for, teachers' perceptions of students' behavior constituted a significant component of their scholastic judgments. This effect was more pronounced for the judgments of boys because, in Grades 1 and 2, their conduct was perceived as less adequate than was girls' behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The smoking problem: A behavioral perspective.

A review of behavioral work on cigarette smoking indicates that behavioral analysis of the determinants of smoking has lagged far behind pharmacological research and, partly as a result of cessation/maintenance strategies, still lacks adequate empirical and theoretical bases. Multicomponent programs that include aversion seem most effective. However, nicotine chewing gum has a theoretical base, shows promising results in clinical trials, and may be a useful adjunct to behavioral strategies. Much progress has been made in developing biochemical measures of smoking, of which saliva thiocyanate is the most useful. Preventive interventions with adolescents provide an opportunity for behavioral contributions to the etiology of smoking. (109 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of internal versus external information processing on symptom perception in an exercise setting.

Determined the effects of internal vs external attentional focus on symptom perception and performance in an exercise setting. 15 undergraduates ran 1 mi under each of 3 experimental conditions: "word-cue," in which Ss were required to focus externally by listening for a target word heard repeatedly over headphones; "breathing," in which Ss were directed to attend to their own breathing and heart rate; and a control. Ss reported significantly less symptomatology, particularly exercise-relevant symptoms (as measured by a symptom/emotion checklist), in the word-cue condition than in the breathing or control conditions. Findings are discussed with reference to previous theory, and methodological differences between this and earlier research by J. W. Pennebaker and J. M. Lightner (see record 1981-22664-001) are delineated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of situational and instructional demand on indices of speech anxiety.

Assessed the effects of contextual (experimental location) and instructional cues on behavioral, self-report, and physiological indices of speech anxiety. 42 male and 48 female undergraduates were randomly assigned within sex to 1 of 4 conditions in the 2 * 2 design: (a) fear-anxiety clinic, (b) fear-speech laboratory, (c) simulate relaxation therapy-anxiety clinic, and (d) simulate relaxation therapy-speech laboratory. The clinic setting produced more behavioral anxiety than the laboratory setting. The fear test instructions produced both more behavioral and self-report anxiety than the simulate relaxation therapy instructions. The fear-clinic condition produced the greatest behavioral anxiety. No significant differences were obtained for the physiological measures. The demand and expectancy effects were comparable to those obtained for rat, spider, and snake phobic Ss in earlier studies. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinctiveness of behavioral versus insight-oriented marital therapy: An empirical analysis.

The present study determined whether behavioral and insight-oriented marital therapy could be rendered in a distinct and uncontaminated fashion in manual-guided outcome research in which therapists were crossed with treatment condition. Results indicated that therapist interventions could be reliably coded into techniques specific to the respective approaches and into additional interventions not specific to either treatment modality. When provided with explicit treatment manuals and ongoing case supervision, therapists were able to administer both treatment conditions faithfully without contamination from techniques that were inconsistent with that theoretical approach. Behavioral marital therapy (BMT) was shown to be highly structured, with 93% of therapist interventions reflecting techniques specific to that approach. In contrast, insight-oriented marital therapy (IOMT) comprised a large percentage of nonspecific interventions (62%) compatible with but not unique to a psychodynamic orientation. Implications for the two treatment approaches and for future marital therapy outcome research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transgenerational effects of social environment on variations in maternal care and behavioral response to novelty.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 122(2) of Behavioral Neuroscience (see record 2008-03769-025). Figure 1 on Page 1356 was incorrect. The correct figure is printed in this correction.] Cross-fostering studies in the rat have illustrated the importance of the postnatal environment in mediating the transmission of maternal licking/grooming (LG) from mother to offspring. The authors addressed the question of how postweaning social conditions can alter the patterns of maternal behavior. Juvenile female offspring of high LG and low LG mothers were placed in either standard, enriched, or impoverished postweaning environments for 50 consecutive days and then mated and observed with their own litters. Analysis of LG behavior indicated that the effect of postweaning environment was dependent on the level of postnatal mother-infant interaction. Postweaning isolation reduced exploratory behavior, maternal LG, and oxytocin receptor binding in the offspring of high LG mothers, whereas social enrichment enhanced exploration, LG behavior, and oxytocin receptor binding of low LG offspring. These effects were also transmitted to the next generation of offspring. Thus, maternal LG and the neural mechanisms that regulate this behavior exhibited a high degree of plasticity in response to changes in environment both within and beyond the postnatal period, with implications for the transmission of behavioral response to novelty and maternal care across generations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Importance in instructional text: Teachers' and students' perceptions of task demands.

History teachers (N=22) and their 11th-grade students (N=451) rated the relative importance of sections of an instructional text on which teachers would be giving a test. Multilevel analysis revealed only a moderate correspondence between teachers in their importance ratings. This suggested that there were large differences between the task demands of individual teachers; therefore, students needed to attune to the demands their own teacher set. However, only a moderate correspondence was found between ratings of individual students and those of their teacher. Although this correspondence varied between teachers, between students, and between text sections, results suggest that in general, the participating students did not have a very clear or sound perception of task demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of treatment strength information on knowledgeable teachers' pretreatment evaluations of social skills training methods.

Examined knowledgeable teachers' evaluations of pretreatment acceptability and perceived effectiveness for 2 social skills treatment procedures. Target problems, treatment methods, and strength of outcome were systematically manipulated to test influence on teachers' pretreatment evaluations of modeling-coaching and overcorrection via a behavior intervention rating scale. 133 elementary school teachers participated, including regular education teachers, special education teachers, and teachers of behaviorally disordered/emotionally disturbed students. Teachers' ratings (a) indicated a strong and significant preference for the modeling-coaching treatment when compared with the overcorrection treatment and (b) were significantly affected by reported strength of treatment outcome. Implications for consultative interactions with teachers are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The behavioral effects of sugar: A comment on Buchanan.

Contends that studies undertaken to systematically examine the effects of sugar ingestion on the behavior of both hyperactive and normal children have failed to document any consistent adverse effects that would justify S. Buchanan's (see record 1985-25856-001) labeling of sugar as a toxin. It is suggested that unsupported statements do much to reinforce the fears of both parents and professionals, at the expense of reason. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)