Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterized by social-communicative deficits that impair important areas of functioning. Behavior analytic interventions frequently focus on providing support and enhancing social-communicative behavior in individuals with ASD. As part of these interventions, conditioning procedures are often implemented to establish social stimuli as reinforcers and promote skill acquisition. The current study systematically replicated and extended the work of Lapin and evaluated the effects of an operant discrimination training (ODT) procedure on behavioral correlates theorized to be indicative of a high-quality relationship and therapeutic rapport between client and therapist. Two child-therapist dyads that consisted of children diagnosed with ASD and registered behavior technicians (RBTs) participated. Results indicated that the ODT procedure yielded positive changes in smiling across both dyads, with idiosyncratic changes in physical contact, approach, pointing, and showing. These findings suggest that ODT procedures may be an effective method for enhancing therapeutic rapport and promoting early social behaviors in children with ASD.

Human life is to be universally cherished and valued. Policies about how to value lives are often developed following gross human rights violations. Some of the most horrific violations have occurred under the guise of biomedical and behavioral research. As a result, policies have been developed to protect participants. Presumably, the primary responsibility of the researcher is their protection. There are, however, potential tensions between protections and research agendas, which set the occasion for over selection of participants with vulnerabilities. This dynamic may establish competing contingencies that devalue, and potentially harm, participants. Power imbalances inherent in the researcher-participant relationship establish the researcher as the dominant knowledge seeking authority and the participant as the subservient subject. Ideally, research in applied behavior analysis is driven by a steadfast orientation toward the enhancement of human life and the amelioration of suffering. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of human rights trends in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. The dependent measures are based on ethical principles established for the protection of participants and recommendations concerning participatory research practices in applied behavior analysis. The results indicate that in some cases, protections have been minimally reported. Furthermore, power imbalances are highly likely given the processes and outcomes reported. The trends appear to be moving in an unfavorable direction in most cases. Findings are discussed on three levels: 1) a conceptual analysis of potential contingencies that influence applied behavior analytic research, 2) considerations around coloniality, and, 3) recommendations to neutralize and diffuse power imbalances to ensure the applied spirit of the science is actualized.

According to self-expansion theory, there is an innate drive to gain new resources, identities, and perspectives, which causes people to seek and maintain interpersonal relationships. However, an individual’s relationship partners may come into conflict with each other. In the current research, 656 adults in established monogamous romantic relationships completed an online questionnaire about romantic partners asking them to give up a friendship. The researcher explored the prevalence of this friendship interference phenomenon and its relationship to sources of self-expansion. The amount of self-expansion provided by a friendship was manipulated through vignettes. Additional measures assessed the relationship between amount of self-expansion provided by the partner and gained independently as well as desire for self-expansion on willingness to give up the proposed friendship. Further measures assessed whether a current or previous partner had requested a friendship termination, partner’s reasoning given for the request, whether the participant acquiesced to the request, and the degree to which the request contributed to break-up. Results showed that about 1/3 of people had been asked by a romantic partner to terminate a friendship, with 73% asked acquiescing to a current partner’s request, and 34% acquiescing to a previous partner’s request. Contrary to what was predicted, no gender difference was found for rate of acquiescence to partner’s request for friendship termination. Sexual orientation, age, and desire for self-expansion significant predicted willingness to give up a friendship. Additionally, participants were mostly willing to give up the friendship when their partnership was highly self-expanding but the friendship was not, and willingness declined when the friendship was highly self-expanding, regardless of how self-expanding the partnership.

I investigated insecurity threat and its implications for employee leadership preferences. Preferences for three types of leadership style were examined: charismatic, relationship-oriented, and task-oriented leadership. It was anticipated that individuals’ salient work values would predict leadership preference more strongly after insecurity threat than under control conditions. Two different types of threats were investigated in comparison to a neutral control condition. Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences in leader ratings between threat conditions. My results suggest that threat does not significantly influence preference for charismatic or task-oriented leaders. Work values did not significantly predict a preference for a leadership type.

The current study examined the role of two different methods of sign presentation on signed and spoken language acquisition of toddlers aged two to four years with Down syndrome (DS). The aim of this study was to determine if a method commonly used by native signers/Deaf mothers (referred to in this study as signing to maintain joint attention (SMJA)) was more effective than the method commonly used by hearing mothers and speech-language pathologists (referred to in this study as the triangular method of signing). Both methods were compared in a within-subject design for effects on the participants’ total number of words signed and/or spoken, unique words signed and/or spoken, and parent report of novel word acquisition. Although the sample size was small, clear trends were seen suggesting SMJA may result in greater increases in early language acquisition for toddlers with DS. These results are consistent with considerations regarding the DS phenotype. The use of signing takes advantage of strengths in gesture and visual-spatial short-term memory. More specifically, the use of SMJA addresses weaknesses in attentional capacity by allowing the child to attend to the object and referent without disruption, thereby maintaining joint attention and supporting language acquisition.

In accordance with the stereotype-fit model of discrimination (Dipboye, 1985), the results of past research indicate that the extent to which jobs are sex stereotyped dictates whether or not a main effect for rate sex is present in performance evaluations. The purpose of this study was to further examine the relationship between the sex stereotype of the job and the presence of sex bias in evaluation. Two hundred and five undergraduate psychology students viewed one of eight videotapes of a confederate job applicant performing a work sample task and evaluated the observed performance. A 2 x 2 x 2 between subjects factorial design was used to test for the effects of the sex stereotype of the job, sex of rate, and level of rate performance on performance ratings. As performance was found. A significant three-way interaction was found, which implies that when rates perform a job that is stereotyped as sex role incongruent their performance is more likely to be noticed and closely evaluated than when they perform a job that is sex stereotyped as belonging to their sex. Sex bias was found only for the low performing woman on the female job, which indicates she was over-evaluated.

This study addressed the relationship among parent assertiveness, parent knowledge of special education and the handicapping condition of their child, and parent participation in the annual meeting of the School-Based Admissions and Release Committee (SBARC). Fifty-one (51) parents of learning disabled and mentally handicapped children in a suburban area of Kentucky participated in the study. The effects of the child’s handicapping condition and the number of years the child’s handicapping condition and the number of years the child had received special education on parent assertiveness, knowledge, and participation were also analyzed. Parents were given the Special Education Knowledge Survey, and experimenter developed measure of knowledge of special education and various handicapping conditions, and the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule. These parents’ interactions were observed during the annual SBARC meeting for their child and the amount of participation and topics of their contributions were recorded by an observer. It was found that the degree of parent assertiveness was significantly predictive of total parent participation in planning the handicapped child’s education, while parent knowledge (knowledge of special education and knowledge of the child’s handicapping condition) did not predict the total amount of participation by the parent. Parent knowledge and the actual number of years the child had received special education were predictive of parent participation in the discussion of some topics regarding the child. The child’s identified handicapping condition was also found to affect total parent participation in the SBARC meeting. The child’s handicapping condition and the number of years the child had received special education were found to have an interactive effect on parent assertiveness and parent discussion of the child’s past educational history. Parents of mentally handicapped children classified for two years or less and parents of learning disabled children classified for more than two years were more assertive than parents of mentally handicapped children classified for more than two years and parents of learning disabled children classified for more than two years were more assertive than parents of mentally handicapped children classified form more than two years and parents of learning disabled children classified for two years or less. The findings specified above were discussed as well as 1) topics in which parents were observed to participate most; 2) the relationship between parent participation and the request of information by professionals, the length of the conference, and the number of people present at the SBARC meeting; 3) the correlation between knowledge and assertiveness; and 4) suggestions for further research.

Improving patient safety through reduction of medical errors is a national priority. One of the strategies widely utilized to address this issue is the use of incident reporting systems. The purpose of this study was to describe factors that predict the likelihood that Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) will use incident reporting systems, guided by the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991). A non-experimental, correlational research design was utilized to achieve the study aims. Following IRB approval, a cross-sectional survey was administered electronically to a random sample of practicing CRNAs. Correlational analyses and a standard logistic regression were utilized to determine the relationship between cognitive factors and CRNAs' use of incident reporting systems. Two hundred and eighty-three practicing CRNAs participated in this study. These CRNAs value incident reporting, perceive social pressure to report, and feel in control over reporting, yet had not consistently used existing incident reporting systems in the past 12 months. A CRNA’s attitude toward reporting and the degree to which he or she perceived social pressure to report, were determined to be significant predictors of the likelihood that a CRNA would use an incident reporting system. Social pressure to report was the most important factor in the prediction model. The results of this study revealed that there are missed opportunities for learning from patient safety incidents in anesthesia practice. The information gained in this study has the potential to assist organizations in the design of strategies to promote incident reporting by practicing CRNAs.

A análise do comportamento tem tido sucesso no ensino de comportamento verbal de ouvinte e falante para o público autista. Parte dos resultados positivos que têm sido obtidos são atribuídos ao efeito do reforçamento das respostas corretas treinadas. Porém, é importante também a investigação dos efeitos das consequências que se dão às respostas incorretas. Uma das consequências que pode ser prevista é a correção de erro. Alguns estudos têm sido feitos nesse tema, sendo que alguns tratam da topografia com que se fornece a essa correção e outros tratam do esquema de reforçamento que se pode dar após a resposta comparada ao reforçamento dado a respostas corretas independentes. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi comparar uma condição que fornecia reforçadores de mesma magnitude para respostas corrigidas e independentes com uma segunda condição que fornecia reforçadores de diferentes magnitudes para estes dois tipos de respostas. Foram medidas as taxas de respostas corretas no ensino de tato e discriminação auditivo-visual para três crianças com desenvolvimento atípico. No ensino das respostas de tato, todos os participantes obtiveram melhores resultados na condição de diferentes magnitudes. Para respostas de discriminação auditivo-visual, dois participantes obtiveram melhores resultados com a condição de diferentes magnitudes e um obteve melhores resultados com mesma magnitude / Behavior analysis has been successful in teaching verbal behavior listener and speaker responses to the autistics children. Part of the positive results that have been obtained are attributed to the reinforcing effect of the correct trained response. However, it is also important to investigate the effects of the consequences of incorrect responses. One of the consequences that can be predicted is the error correction procedure. Some studies have been done on this theme, some of wich deal with the topography that is provided to this correction and others deal with the reinforcement scheme that can be given after the correct or incorrect responses. The objective of the present study was to compare a condition that provided reinforcers of the same magnitude for corrected and independent responses with a second condition that provided reinforcers of different magnitudes for these two types of responses. The rates of correct responses in the teaching of listen responses and tact were measured for three children with autism. In the teaching of tact responses, all the participants obtained better results in the participants obtained better results in the condition of different magnitudes. For listen responses, two participants obtained better results with the condition of different magnitudes and one obtained better results with the same magnitudes

Estudar o comportamento humano é uma tarefa desafiadora pela sua complexidade e multideterminação. Dentre as relações comportamentais complexas estão as relações verbais. A Análise do Comportamento estuda tais eventos destacando as variáveis fundamentais envolvidas, analisadas pela tríplice contingência. Uma das maiores características de uma criança com atraso no desenvolvimento é o atraso ou prejuízo em aquisição ou expansão da linguagem. Nesse sentido, estudos anteriores buscaram identificar procedimentos efetivos na aquisição e expansão de operantes verbais. Dentre os procedimentos efetivos, estão aqueles que empregam dicas. Já se sabe que a história de reforçamento com determinada dica influencia a velocidade de aquisição do operante intraverbal, outros estudos apontam a hipótese de que o tempo de permanência da dica exposta aos participantes pode influenciar na aquisição do operante intraverbal, porém, essa variável não havia sido mensurada e controlada até o momento. O objetivo do presente estudo foi comparar se o aumento no tempo de apresentação das dicas textuais e de tato tem efeito sobre o responder intraverbal. Os resultados demonstraram que para três dos cinco participantes, o tempo de permanência das dicas teve efeito no aumento da velocidade de aquisição de respostas intraverbais, já que para esses participantes, ocorreu diminuição no blocos de tentativas para atingir o critério de aprendizagem quando houve a manipulação do tempo de apresentação das dicas / Studying human behavior is a challenging task because of its complexity and multi-determination. Among complex behavioral relationships are verbal relations. Behavior Analysis studies such events prioritizing the fundamental variables involved, analyzed by the three term contingency. One of the greatest characteristics of a child with developmental disorder is the delay in language acquisition or expansion. In this sense, previous studies have sought to identify effective procedures in the acquisition and expansion of verbal operants. Among the effective procedures are those that employ prompts. It is already known that the history of reinforcement with a certain prompt influences the speed of intraverbal operant acquisition. Previous studies point to the hypothesis that the time of exposed prompts to the participants may influence intraverbal operant acquisition. However, this variable did not exist been measured and controlled so far. The objective of the present study was to compare increased time of exposed presentation of textual and tact prompt and verify effects on intraverbal responses acquisition. The results showed that for three of the five participants, the time of presentation of the prompts had an effect on the speed of acquisition of intraverbal responses, one can conclude this because there was a decrease in the blocks of attempts to reach the learning criterion when there was manipulation of the time of exposed of the prompts