Few studies have proposed or evaluated methods to teach telling time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of differential reinforcement of student responding in the form of response cards to teach three middle school students with intellectual disability to tell time. Participants worked through six training phases. Results showed that correct responding increased from pre-assessment (range of 5.71-14.29% correct) to post-assessment (range of 85-100% correct). Preliminary evidence shows promise in the application of these procedures to teach telling time to middle school students with intellectual disability.

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A study into the factors that affect power in an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) design were examined. Four factors - sample size, significance level, dependent variable-covariate correlations and homogeneity of regression - were varied in a population study. Results indicate that power increased when the dependent variable-covariate correlations increased and when sample size increased. Power also increased when a less stringent alpha level was used. Homogeneity of regression did not effect power. Implications and recommendations for the applied researcher are discussed.

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Four types of schedule interactions have been defined: positive contrast, negative contrast, positive induction, and negative induction. Most work has centered on the necessary conditions for positive contrast. One position states that a reduction in reinforcement frequency is necessary; the other view states that a reduction in response rate is necessary. Neither view can account for the occurrence of induction. The present experiment tests the hypothesis that stimulus control effects the occurrence of either contrast or induction. Three pigeons were trained to respond for primary reinforcement (strong stimulus control condition), and three pigeons were trained to respond for conditioned reinforcement (weak stimulus control condition). A response rate decrease was caused by changing the schedule of reinforcement from MULT EXT, VI 1-min, EXT, VI 1-min to MULT VI 1-min, VI 1-min, VI 1-min, VI 1-min for primary reinforcement birds, and to MULT (Chain VI 1-min, VI 1-min), (CHAIN VI 1-min, VI 1-min for conditioned reinforcement birds. Negative contract was observed for all birds receiving primary reinforcement, but positive induction occurred for two of three birds receiving conditioned reinforcement. In the next phase a response rate decrease was caused by changing the schedule to MULT VI 1-min, VI 1-min, DRO 20-sec, VI 1-min for primary reinforcement birds , and to MULT (CHAIN VI 1-min), VI 1-min, CHAIN DRO 20-sec , VI 1-min) for conditioned reinforcement birds. Two of the primary reinforcement birds showed positive contrast, while the third showed negative induction. Two of the conditioned reinforcement birds showed negative induction, while the third showed no effect. Gradients of stimulus control showed no difference between the groups due to the prolonged training before testing for stimulus control. It was concluded that differential amounts of stimulus control can account for the differences in the schedule interactions in this experiment and those observed in previous research.

Past research has shown that there are many factors that influence projective test responses. This is especially true of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Certain variables that have been found to influence the TAT response were studied in this experiment. These variables included the subjects’ scores on purported measures of the personality trait of aggression, and various parameters of the TAT cards themselves. This experiment included three studies which investigated the relationship between test measures of aggression and aggressive behavior. The three studies were conducted concurrently using the same subject population: forty-two male inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary. They were divided into two groups of aggressiveness according to the crime they had committed; 21 inmates had committed aggressive crimes and 21 inmates had committed non-aggressive crimes. The subjects wrote stories for eight TAT cards; completed a questionnaire including items of aggression, guilt, and defensiveness; and provided personal information such as age, educational level, and amount of time in prison.

A treatment program was designed to enable subjects to lose weight through the use of self-confrontation as described in Saslow (1969), and the use of the General Relationship Improvement of the Human Development Institute (HDI), Berlin and Wyckoff (1964). Self-confrontation is a programmed rehearsal of a specific problem by one person alone, for a five-minute period. The rehearsal, or self-confrontation is to be as vivid as possible, intellectually, emotionally, visually and physically. The General Relationship Improvement Program is a 10-week text, worked in pairs, which is aimed at better intrapsychic and interpersonal communication and understanding. Four matched groups were used in the study. Group I, N=10, used nutritional information. Group II: N=8, used the HDI program. Group III: N=9, used the self-confrontation technique. Group IV: N=12, used a combination of the self-confrontation technique and the HDI program. The mean weight losses were as follows: Group I: 1.25 lb. Group II: 2.75 lb. Group III: 10.89 lb. Group IV: 5.91 lb. Approximately 6 hours of experimenter time were spent in actual contact with the subjects. Only 2 weights were recorded by her, the first and the final. The others weights were self-recorded. The study was designed to continue for 12 weeks.

The purpose of this study was to determine which of 3 instructional activities, when combined with behavioral skills training (BST) was the most effective at eliciting prosocial behaviors, decreasing maladaptive behaviors, and increasing the occurrence of a target social skill. Additionally, this study sought to determine if this model of group intervention (combining BST with various activities) was an effective approach at addressing social skills deficits of elementary-aged children. Four children, ages 6 to 8 years old, participated in this study, which took place at a university-based school psychology services clinic in the Southeastern United States. Overall, results of this study were variable in that different instructional activities impacted dependent variables in different ways for each participant. When comparing the 3 instructional activities, there were minimal differences in the impact each had on the display of prosocial and maladaptive behaviors. However, parents of the participants in this study reported that this social skills intervention was acceptable and beneficial at addressing social skill deficits in children. Similarly, the participants themselves reported that they liked coming to the group, made new friends in this group, and that they would be happy if they could keep coming to this group. Overall, the findings of this study revealed implications about the inclusion of activities into group social skill intervention sessions as well as the utility of this model of group intervention delivery. Limitations to this study as well as recommendations for future research in this area are discussed.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the emergence of convergent intraverbals through prerequisite skills training identified by Sundberg and Sundberg (2011) and assessed by DeSouza and colleagues (2019). Further, the study explored the emergence of convergent intraverbals amongst individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through several variations of prerequisite skills training and to determine if fewer than all four prerequisite skills could facilitate the emergence of convergent intraverbals. Two children, ages 13 to 15 years old, participated in the study, which took place at a university-based school psychology services clinic in the Southeastern United States. Results suggest the sequence of prerequisite skills training identified by previous literature can facilitate the emergence of convergent intraverbals in individuals diagnosed with ASD. However, based on the results of the study, there is little evidence to support the notion that training these prerequisite skills in a varying sequence can facilitate the emergence of convergent intraverbals. Overall, the findings of this study revealed several implications about facilitating the emergence of convergent intraverbals with individuals with ASD. Limitations to this study as well as recommendations for future research in this area are discussed.