The context of therapist behavior and outcome prediction.

A review of the research on the relation between therapist behavior and psychotherapy indicates that outcome should include the context of therapist behavior. The context has been deemphasized by measuring therapist behavior alone, sampling the session nonintensively at random or fixed points, and using statistics that focus on proportions or averages of ratings within a given time. The context of therapist behavior can be examined by measuring patient behavior, studying critical incidents or whole sessions, and using statistical analyses that focus on the probabilities of transitions between behaviors. Further development of existing theories of psychotherapy may provide guidelines for studying context. In particular, more emphasis should be placed on the patient–therapist interaction. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The human context of agency.

The issue of human agency has been confused with the question of determinism vs indeterminism. The author takes the position that to argue for agency is not necessarily to argue for indeterminism. Once the agentive position is freed from the burden of indeterminism, it becomes a serious possibility. It is further argued that the notion of freedom as choice from among alternatives is conceptually flawed. A conception of freedom as "having the world truthfully" is presented as an alternative to freedom conceived as choice. This view of agency, drawing chiefly on the philosophy of M. Heidegger and E. Levinas, suggests that the proper grounding for the understanding of human freedom is in morality, rather than in the "metaphysic of things." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship quality and relationship context as antecedents of person- and task-focused interpersonal citizenship behavior.

A model hypothesizing relationship quality and relationship context as antecedents of two complementary forms of interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB) was tested. Measures with coworkers as the frame of reference were used to collect data from 273 individuals working in 2 service-oriented organizations. As hypothesized, variables reflecting relationship quality were associated with person-focused ICB, as mediated by empathic concern. Also as hypothesized, a relationship context variable, network centrality, exhibited a direct relationship with task-focused ICB. Unexpectedly, network centrality was directly associated with person-focused ICB, and empathic concern was associated with task-focused ICB. The results are discussed, and implications for research and practice are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The teacher-student relationship as a developmental context for children with internalizing or externalizing behavior problems.

Children with significant behavior problems are at risk for poor school adaptation and a host of deleterious school outcomes. Given the time children spend in school, there is a need to better understand the normative contexts and processes within schools that may enhance the positive adaptation of children with significant behavior problems. This study evaluated one such context, the teacher-student relationship, specifically, the degree of closeness and conflict in the relationship, between urban, American elementary schoolchildren with significant externalizing or internalizing behavior problems and their teachers. The results suggest that the qualities of the teacher-student relationship predict children's successful school adjustment. Having a relationship with a teacher characterized by warmth, trust, and low degrees of conflict was associated with positive school outcomes. Some moderation effects were noted, including differential effects for warmth on the reading achievement of children with externalizing distress, and conflict on the school adaptation of children with internalizing problems. Results are discussed in light of theory and school-based intervention and prevention efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The human experimental subject in context.

Safety, comfort, privacy and personal dignity are the ethical dimensions which have dominated discussions about the role of humans in experimentation. These dimensions are reviewed from a psychological perspective. However, research conducted within educational settings alters ethical problems greatly. Decisions can be made which permit experimentation to be a device promoting methodological education. Suggestions concerning the role human experimentation should play within the University context, discussion of the relevance of issues such as deception to proper educational experimentation, and scrutiny of the traditional laboratory concept of experimentation, are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of sharing behavior.

"The purpose of this experiment was to study sharing behavior in children as it is affected by age, sex, and only or other-than-only status." Age seemed to be the most significant factor affecting sharing behavior. Sharing was not affected by the sex or presence or no of siblings. These findings are discussed in light of previous research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early language and intelligence development and their relationship to future criminal behavior.

Investigated the relationship between intelligence, measured regularly from the ages of 3 to 17 yrs, and registered criminality in 122 boys in a birth-to-maturity study. Significant negative correlations appeared at several ages, even for intelligence assessed as early as at the age of 3 yrs. The hypothesis was advanced that the early language development of the Ss would be negatively associated with future criminality. Information on language development, obtained by applying the Brunet-Lézine psychomotor developmental test for infants, substantiated this hypothesis. Significant correlations with registered criminality appeared for language development at 6, 18, and 24 mo. Further support for the hypothesized link was provided by psychologists' ratings of children's verbal behavior and by maternal reports of their child's speech at ages 3–5 yrs. The role of early language retardation in contributing to later criminality is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

B. F. Skinner's legacy in human infant behavior and development.

B. F. Skinner's legacy to human behavioral research for the study of environment–infant interactions, and indeed for the conception of development itself, is described and exemplified. The legacy is largely the practicality, the efficiency, and the comparative advantage (relative to diverse other behavioral and nonbehavioral approaches) of using the operant-learning paradigm to organize and explain many of the sequential changes in behavior patterns conventionally thought to constitute infant development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of behavior before birth.

Study of the fetus in vivo provides a simple system for experimental study of early neurobehavioral development. This review summarizes research on the development of behavior before birth including studies where fetuses are exposed to stimuli that mimic features of the neonatal environment, such as milk and an artificial nipple. These stimuli reliably evoke responses from fetal subjects, including species-typical behavior such as the stretch response and oral grasping of the artificial nipple. Contingent presentations of the nipple and milk can result in classical conditioning, including activation of the endogenous opioid system. Quantitative analysis of fetal motor behavior coupled with the use of ecologically relevant sensory manipulations provide a means for assessing integrated output of the developing nervous system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development and use of nonprescription behavior therapies.

The current proliferation of self-administered behavior therapies raises questions regarding the development, marketing, and clinical applications of these programs. The present paper suggests that a committee within the American Psychological Association might usefully be formed to consider these issues. A set of standards to guide professional developers and protect future consumers of self-help programs may also be desirable. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspectives.

Reviews research on the influence of external environments on the functioning of families as contexts of human development. Investigations of the interaction of genetics and environment in family processes; transitions and linkages between the family and other major settings influencing development, such as hospitals, daycare, peer groups, school, social networks, the world of work (both for parents and children), and neighborhoods and communities; and public policies affecting families and children are included. A 2nd major focus is on the patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course as these affect and are affected by intrafamilial processes. External systems affecting the family are categorized as meso-, exo-, and chronosystem models. Identified as areas for future research are ecological variations in the expression of genotypes, relations between the family and other child settings, relations between family processes and parental participation in other settings of adult life, and families in broader social contexts. (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of context sensitivity in children's graphic copying strategies.

The authors report on a series of 5 experiments in which 462 5- to 10-year-old children and 109 adults were required to copy geometric figures either with no constraints or following prior exposure to primes consisting of different parsings of the figures. The analysis focused on the graphic strategies adopted by the participants to copy the models. Three developmental steps were revealed in the baseline copying condition. Priming experiments demonstrated that the age-developmental step correspondence varied as a function of the type of prime used. However, the impact of priming differed according to age. It was limited at 6 years, whereas its size was noticeable at the other ages. These results are discussed in the light of developmental models that hypothesize a major role either for endogeneous factors in cognitive development or for exogeneous and contextual factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotypic behavior and development.

Evidence was presented to show that some reflexes of the neonate are organized in rhythmical patterns of high frequency; that stereotypic mannerisms are organized in similar high frequency rhythms; and that under conditions of functional and structural regression, both rhythmical reflexes and stereotypic mannerisms may reappear in their archaic forms and frequencies. With respect to neonatal motor rhythms, it was proposed that development implies a phase interaction of two or more fixed frequencies giving rise to qualitatively different temporal patterns. This proposition was opposed to the suggestion that neonatal motor rhythms are suppressed by central nervous system maturation and replaced by learned sequences which in turn are reinforced by environmental contingencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dialectics of human development.

Criticizes the preference for traits and abilities on the one hand, and balance and equilibrium on the other. Instead, emphasis is given to the study of the temporal order of concrete events brought about by conflicts and contradictions. In order to analyze event sequences and contradictions, the dialogue should serve as a basic topic and form of inquiry. Dialogues represent short-term changes. They need to be supplemented by studies of long-term changes during the life span of individuals and the history of society. A dialectical theory emplasizes contradictions and their synchronizations in short- and long-term development, both in the individual and in society. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The normative development of child and adolescent problem behavior.

The aim of this study was to identify normative developmental trajectories of parent-reported problems assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; T. M. Achenbach, 1991) in a representative sample of 2,076 children aged 4 to 18 years from the general population. The trajectories were determined by multilevel growth curve analyses on the CBCL syndromes in a longitudinal multiple birth-cohort sample that was assessed 5 times with 2-year intervals. Most syndromes showed a linear increase or decrease with age or a curvilinear trajectory, except for thought problems. Trajectories for most syndromes differed for boys versus girls, except those for withdrawn, social problems, and thought problems. These normative developmental trajectories provide information against which developmental deviance in childhood and adolescence can be detected. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reproductive behavior in the context of global population.

In 1900, the world's population was estimated at about 1.6 billion. With improved health and a youthful population, the world's total population more than tripled to 6 billion by 1999. There is consensus that the world's population will reach about 8.9 billion by 2050. Despite the persistent growth of population, the reproductive behavior of individuals and couples has changed significantly over the past 50 years with smaller families and lower fertility becoming the norm in many countries. Psychology not only may provide the theoretical frameworks and empirical insights into reproductive behavior but also can foster ways in which the debate on these highly personal issues can be productive for the welfare of people around the world. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The operant conditioning of human motor behavior.

"This paper reports procedures for the direct application of the variables defining the paradigm for operant conditioning to human behavior, and shows that human beings act very much indeed like experimental animals when they are subjected to the same experimental treatments. It suggests that direct application of conditioning principles to some categories of human behavior may be justified. The procedures are simple, and they may be followed by anyone, with a minimum of equipment." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of altruistic behavior: Empirical evidence.

Placed 124 kindergartners, 2nd, and 4th graders in situations in which they had an opportunity to share. Five situations were constructed and ordered according to the sequence of stages of helping behavior development suggested by D. Bar-Tal et al (1977); each situation differed according to the conditions in which the sharing could be performed. Ss who did not share in an advanced experimental situation were provided with an opportunity to share in progressively lower level experimental situations. After sharing, Ss were queried regarding their motives for sharing. Results show that the older the Ss, the more who shared in the advanced experimental situation and the more advanced the level of motivation for helping behavior expressed; the more advanced the experimental situation in which they shared, the more advanced the level of motivation for helping behavior expressed by Ss. Results are explained in the framework of a theory suggesting that the quality of helping behavior, as expressed in the motivation to perform it, develops with age. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The context of aggressive behavior in marriage: A longitudinal study of newlyweds.

Under what circumstances are spouses more or less likely to engage in aggressive behaviors? To address this question, the current study drew on multiple longitudinal assessments of 1st-married newlyweds to examine correlates of within-subject variability in aggressive behavior. Controlling for marital satisfaction, the authors found that spouses were more likely to engage in physical aggression at times when they engaged in higher levels of psychological aggression. Additionally, husbands reporting higher levels of chronic stress were more likely to engage in physical aggression overall and were more likely to engage in physical aggression when they were experiencing higher than average levels of acute stress. These results highlight how demands and supports in the context external to a marriage may affect processes within the marriage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)