Childhood fears have been considered to be part of normal development. It is when these fears develop into severe fears or phobias that they become of concern to clinicians. Children's fears have varied over the years from school related fears, to political fears, to fears of danger and death in most recent years. Of the latter category, fear of fire-getting burned emerged as the second most commonly reported fear among children. The present study examines two cognitive self-instructional strategies to test their effectiveness in reducing children's fear of fire. Cognitive strategies were the ones of choice in that they remedied many of the problems found in some of the other behavioral techniques. Either of two self-instructional strategies including a fire safety training program using self-instructions and a self-instructional fear reduction strategy were taught to second and third grade children. A major hypothesis of the study was not confirmed which maintained that children who learned self-instructional fear reduction exercises would show greater reductions in fear than children who did not learn the exercises. Although these results were not evident immediately following training, a trend toward this expectation did appear at follow-up. These findings implied that although the cognitive self-control strategy was not effective in reducing children's fear immediately, it did tend to provide for greater maintenance of behavior change over time. The present study has implications for continued investigation in the areas of childhood fear reduction and the maintenance of behavior over time. / M.S.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cry pitch and attributions that crying infants had or had not been abused on the perceptual ratings of maltreating and comparison parents. Twenty maltreating parents and 20 comparison parents rated 12 cries which varied in the pattern of their fundamental frequency on (a) the cry's similarity to their own child's cry, (b) the likelihood that the crying infant would be abused in the future, (c) 5 perceptual items and (d) 7 caregiving response items. Attributions of whether the crying infant was "abused" or "not abused" were varied before each cry sound during the ratings of the perceptual and caregiving response items. Results showed that as the pitch of the cries increased, all parents rated the cries' as less similar to their own infant's cries and the crying infants as more likely to be abused. Maltreating parents, however, rated mixed- and high-pitched cries as more similar to their own child's cries than comparison parents did. Generally, more sympathetic perceptions and responses were given to "abused" infants. However, perceptions of how "arousing" and "distressing" cries sounded were equally high for high-pitched "abused" and "not abused" infants' cries. Maltreating parents were more likely to "ignore" cries, and their ratings of urgency for mixed- and high-pitched cries were lower than comparison parents' ratings. The results are discussed within the framework of how children may contribute to the development of their own abuse or neglect. / M.S.

This study examined problem-solving and causal attributional styles as possible diatheses for depression, hopelessness and suicidal ideation, given the onset of a stressor. In order to evaluate the predictive validity of these models, subjects were evaluated prospectively, before the occurrance of a naturalistic stressor, namely a midterm examination. Subjects were administered a modified version of the Means-Ends Problem Solving Scale (Platt & Spivack, 1975) to evaluate their problem-solving ability on a hypothetical task, the Problem Solving Inventory (Heppner, 1986) to evaluate perceived problem-solving ability, and the Attributional Style Questionnaire (Peterson, et al., 1982) to evaluate their causal attributional styles. The Life Experience Survey (Sarason, et al., 1978) was administered to evaluate other stressors in the subjects lives. Hypotheses included: 1) actual problem-solving deficits, 2) perceived problem solving deficits, and 3) an internal, stable and global causal attributional style will interact with both measures of stress to predict depression, hopelessness and suicidal ideation. Results supported each of the hypotheses, though the diatheses differed in their predictive ability depending upon the measure of stress used or the criteria examined. / Master of Science

The present study evaluated a commitment-based intervention to improve adherence with a 10-day antibiotic regimen. Subjects were 48 undergraduate students receiving treatment from the Student Health Services at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Adherence was assessed by pill counts obtained in unannounced home visits 7 to 10 days after the regimen was prescribed and by subjects’ self-reports. Pre- and posttest measures of self- efficacy and outcome expectancy were completed by subjects. Significantly more subjects in the intervention group were adherent (85%) than in the control group (64%) when adherence was defined as at least 80% of medication taken and nonadherence defined as less than 80% or more than 110% of medication taken. Self-efficacy and outcome expectancy scores, when multiplied together for a predictive index, were significantly correlated with self-reported adherence at pre- and posttest, but were not correlated with pill count adherence. Self-efficacy at pre- and posttest and outcome expectancy at pretest were significantly correlated with self-reported adherence. Self-efficacy at posttest was significantly correlated with pill count adherence. An intervention designed to increase commitment to medical regimen resulted in greater adherence with a short-term regimen. Self-efficacy and outcome expectancy predicted self-reports of adherence behavior, but were poor predictors of objective measures of adherence. At best, self-efficacy appeared to reflect recent behavior. / Master of Science

The present field study investigated the application of an applied behavior analysis package (consisting of Feedback and Thank You interventions) to one department of a large manufacturing plant for the purpose of increasing safe work behaviors. Safe behaviors increased following the introduction of a Feedback intervention and continued to increase somewhat following the introduction of a Thank You intervention. Safe behaviors decreased when interventions were withdrawn. Responses to a Safety Climate Survey showed employee perceptions did not change as a result of the safety interventions. Results and directions for future research are discussed. / Master of Science

En este trabajo presentamos un análisis sobre la colaboración cientifica de la psicologia social y de la personalidad, configurada desde el Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP), desde su inicio en 1965, hasta el año 2000. Lo realizamos desde una doble perspectiva: un análisis cuantitativo bibliométrico y un análisis histórico descriptivo. Además, presentamos un análisis de la colaboración institucional y los colegios invisibles desde la teoria "Small Worlds". Desde la psicologia social y de la personalidad, analizamos las teorías y los autores más significativos para su desarrollo histórico en disciplinas cientificas, y las áreas más relevantes por las que discurren. Desde una perspectiva bibliométrica, se analizan las variables habituales para un estudio bibliométrico. Para el análisis de colaboración, nos basamos en el modelo "Small Worlds". Comprobamos que puede ser un instrumento muy útil para analizar la concentración en redes sociales" y en este caso, la colaboración cientifica. / In this research we present an analysis concerning the scientific collaboration of social and personality psychology, shaped from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP) since its beginning in 1965 until the year 2000. We made it from a double prospective: a bibliometric cuantitative analysis and a descriptive historical analysis of social and personality psychology. Moreover, we present an analysis of the insti tutional cooperation and the invisible colleges of the "Small Worlds" theory. We analyse the most significative theories and authors to its historical development in some scientific subjects and the most important areas in which they are developed. From a bibliometric prospective, usual options to make a bibliometric research are studied.

Facing the challenges brought by Higher Education growth, the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) created the Psychological Support Services. They seek to help the adaptation to the university setting, enhancing the overall students´ development and their integration in the labor market. This qualitative research studies the structure of the Psychological Support Services in HEIs of Portugal and the main activities developed by educational psychologists. Interviews were conducted with eight services and showed that all services are designed for students. Although the most frequent activity is the students' psychological consultation, educational psychologists also develop a variety of interventions: skill development programs, support to students with special needs, and mentoring programs to welcome new students. Traditionally the services were oriented by an individual intervention and in response to the students' problem. Nowadays they are working with other agents and in a preventive way. Actions directed to educational projects and the institutional evaluation could promote a qualitative change in services. / Con el fin de afrontar los desafíos del aumento demográfico de la educación superior, las Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES) crearon los Servicios de Apoyo Psicológico buscando:(a) ayudar a la adaptación a la universidad, (b) mejorar el desarrollo de los estudiantes y (c) favorecer su integración en el mercado laboral. El presente estudio investigó la estructura de los Servicios de Apoyo Psicológico en las IES de Portugal, así como las principales actividades desarrolladas por los psicólogos escolares. A partir de las entrevistas realizadasen ocho servicios de apoyo psicológico, se observó que todos ellos están diseñados para los estudiantes. Si bien la actividad principal es la consulta psicológica para los estudiantes, los psicólogos educacionales desarrollan también una variedad de actividades de intervención, tales como: programas de desarrollo de competencias, apoyo a los estudiantes con necesidades especiales y programas de tutoría para dar la bienvenida a nuevos estudiantes. Asimismo, en la actualidad los servicios están trabajando con otros agentes y de manera preventiva. Se propone que las acciones dirigidas a los proyectos educativos y la evaluación institucional podrían promover un cambio cualitativo en los servicios.

Up to date anatomical and biochemistry studies related to Brain mechanisms of behavior are reviewed. This type of research shold be work up in clinical psychology related to prevention, diagnostic and therapy of behavior disorders. In this way, the clinical psychology should make clinical research at differents age groups of the population. He will be able to study epidemiological risk factors together with neuropsychologycal tests and Brain imagind studies. / Se presentan los avances en Psicofisiología, destacando los estudios anatómicos y bioquímicos de los mecanismos cerebrales que intervienen en la conducta. Estas investigaciones permiten ampliar el campo de la Psicología Clínica, tanto en la prevención como en el diagnóstico y terapéutica de los desórdenes de la conducta. En este objetivo, el psicólogo clínico podrá realizar estudios de investigación en la comunidad con la metodología de correlacionar factores de riesgo epidemiológicos, tests neuropsicológicos y estudios por imágenes.

eligranados@nysnet.com.ar; marferahumada@yahoo.com.ar / Las investigaciones específicas en torno a la concepción de la Psicología han indicado que uno de los atributos esenciales que se le asigna es su carácter científico. Acceder a las concepciones de ciencia y método científico que tienen un colectivo social posibilita aproximarnos a representaciones cognitivas con el objeto de comprender los supuestos que subyacen y determinan un hacer particular. En esta investigación lo realizamos con 169 estudiantes de la carrera de Psicología, a los cuales se les administró Redes Semánticas Naturales. Para precisar las fundamentaciones que sobre ciencia y método científico presentan los alumnos durante tres momentos de su formación (al principio, a la mitad y al final) se aplicaron entrevistas en profundidad y cuestionario. Los resultados muestran escasas variaciones del concepto ciencia, presentando una fuerte impronta del modelo tradicional. Respecto al método científico, se destaca la incorporación de terminología específica y alusiones a procedimientos metodológicos, según corrientes teóricas de la Psicología. La investigación aporta elementos conceptuales para favorecer la reflexión docente en torno a la enseñanza de las competencias en el área de la investigación en Psicología. / Revisión por pares

Solicitud de embargo por publicación en revista indexada. / El estudio correlaciona inteligencia emocional y afrontamiento al estrés. Se trabajó con 546 estudiantes de psicología, usando muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia. Tiene un enfoque cuantitativo de tipo relacional, utilizó Escala de inteligencia emocional percibida (Wong & Law, WLEIS) y escala de modos de afrontamiento al estrés (COPE-28). Los resultados indicaron correlaciones positivas entre inteligencia emocional y afrontamiento centrado en el problema (p 0,01), así como correlaciones negativas entre inteligencia emocional y afrontamiento centrado en la evitación (p 0,01). Estos resultados están en la misma dirección de estudios previos. / The study correlates emotional intelligence and coping with stress. Working with 546 psychology students, using non-probabilistic convenience sampling. It has a quantitative relational approach, using the Perceived Emotional Intelligence Scale (Wong & Law, WLEIS) and the Coping Modes of Stress Scale (COPE-28). The results indicated positive correlations between emotional intelligence and problem-focused coping (p 0.01), as well as negative correlations between emotional intelligence and avoidance-focused coping (p 0.01). These results are in the same direction as previous studies. / Tesis