Ett ökande antal barn diagnostiseras med autismspektrumtillstånd, (AST). Allt fler av dessa elever inkluderas i den ordinarie skolan istället för att undervisas i särskilda undervisningsgrupper eller lärcentra. Ångest, mobbing och psykisk ohälsa drabbar många elever med AST framför allt under övergångar, exempelvis mellan stadier i skolan. En interventionsmetod  för personer med AST som är väl utforskad under de senaste fyra decenierna är Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). I denna uppsats undersöker jag hur ett ”Learning Center” (en specialskola för barn och ungdomar med autismspektrumtillstånd) i Mellanöstern, via ABA som en huvudsaklig interventionsmetod,  arbetar för att via ett övergångs-  och inkluderingsprogram, överföra elever från en särskiljande skolform till ordinarie undervisning i vanlig skola. Jag har intervjuat tre personer av personalen och studerat dokumentation från centret för tre elever för att undersöka hinder och framgångsfaktorer med deras program. Resultatet av denna studie visar på att framgångsrik inkludering till stor del är beroende av samverkan och samarbete mellan den mottagande skolan och specialskolan, hög specialistkompetens på specialskolan, samt att inkluderingsprocessen ofta hindras av regler och lagar kring skoltillhörighet, betyg och bedömning.

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether rats’ preference to freeload (eat food pellets from a food cup) or to work for food (obtain food pellets by bar pressing) could be influenced by observing either a working or freeloading model in an adjacent operant chamber. Following equal amounts of bar press and freeloading training, 18 male Sprague-Dawley rats approximately 100 days cold were divided into three experimental groups. The first group was permitted to view a working model while being presented a choice between bar pressing and free-loading. A second experimental group was exposed to a freeloading model while also being presented a choice between bar pressing and freeloading. A control group was permitted to make a choice between working and freeloading with no model present. Two measures of the dependent variable were taken: the ratio of the amount of food earned by bar pressing to the total amount of food consumed and the number of food pellets obtained by bar pressing. The results of the study indicated that across testing days, there was a trend for the three groups to perform as expected. The group expose to the freeloading models earned only about one-third of its total food consumption while preferring to freeload the remainder. The group exposed to the working models preferred to earn more than half of its total food consumption via bar pressing. The total amount of food earned by the control group, predictably, fell between the amounts earned by the other two groups. The results are interpreted in terms of social facilitation.

This study examines the impact features of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) have on predicting a suicide attempt in a sample of young adult self-injurers. Participants completed the Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury, the Self-Harm Behavior Questionnaire and demographics questionnaires to assess lifetime self-injury frequency, number of different methods used, severity of methods, the desire to stop self-harming, functions, the experience of pain, and response latency. Results indicated that NSSI frequency, high severity methods, and endorsing more intrapersonal functions predicted the presence of a suicide attempt. Additionally, those who experienced pain while selfinjuring were found to be significantly more likely to report a history of suicide attempt compared to those who did not feel pain. Given extant literature, these findings suggest that in general the relationship between NSSI and suicidality is more complex than suggested and differs depending on which feature of suicidality is being measured (e.g. ideation, threats, gestures, plans, or attempts). Aside from other important implications discussed, researchers should individually evaluate facets of suicide when establishing risk.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a behaviorally-based intervention that emphasizes psychological processes related to mindfulness, values, committed actions towards values, defusion from troubling thoughts, and acceptance. ACT is often used with populations who experience psychological inflexibility or stress, but not much research has been done understanding how ACT processes may affect everyday tasks within the common public or within business practices. The present study used a randomized controlled trial to determine the effect that statements related to ACT processes given while receiving a bar tending service altered the outcome tipping percentage from guests. The current research also discussed how each statement used relates back to the various components of ACT. The current study suggests a potential way to increase tips that a bartender or server can receive by providing a simple ACT-based statement to their customers while still maintaining an inviting and friendly environment for entertainment. Results of this study indicated that the use of mindfulness statements was statistically significant, t(53) = 1.68, p < .098. While one of the six prepared and randomized mindfulness statements, “It’s it a nice night for a drink?” used was statistically significant in increasing tip revenue when compared to all other mindfulness statements used and the low-quality control statements used in a one-way ANOVA analysis, F(6, 48) = 1.799, p = .11. Results of this study were not significant for a t-test comparing statements and total tip value received compared to total bill amount t(5) = 0.887, p < .378. Additionally, results of a two-way ANOVA comparing male and female and tip value also displayed no statistical significance F(1, 51) = 0.051, p = .82, F(1, 51) = 1.106, p = .29, with no significant interaction, F(1, 51) = 2.467, p = .12. Lastly, a two-way ANOVA comparing male and female and total tip value received compared to total bill amount displayed no significance as well F(1, 51) = 0.448, p = .50, F(1, 51) = 1.439, p = .23, with no significant interaction F(1, 51) = 0.693, p = .40. Organizational behavior management (OBM) is an area of behavior intervention ripe for ACT research. Future OBM research could extend upon by incorporating the use of ACT, or ACT related processes into everyday business models and behaviors.

The area of childlessness, particulary voluntary childlessness, has been virtually ignored by most researchers. Pohlman claims to have been unable to find research which supports the popular idea that intentionally childless husbands and wives tend to be emotionally disturbed. However, he does note that he was able to find numerous statements from medical and social science publications which in various ways imply that the deliberately childless are usually maladjusted.

There has been recent interest in the field of applied behavior analysis in language as an independent variable. This study constitutes the second study in a line of programmatic research investigating the influence of the practices of the verbal community, or language, on children's preferences and reinforcers. Stimulus and language preferences of four children with disabilities who were exposed to Spanish and English in their natural environment were evaluated during three sequentially administered paired-stimulus preference assessments across three contexts: attention/talking, tangible/playing, and demands/working. The purposes of this study were to (a) identify whether participants displayed a language preference and if so, if their language preference was consistent across the three social contexts; (b) evaluate the interaction between language and stimulus preference within each context; and (c) descriptively compare whether participants' language proficiency in their L1 and L2 was related to their language preferences. The results of this study showed that (a) children demonstrated language preferences for their L1 or L2, and these preferences were not always consistent across social context; (b) all children showed displacement of stimuli across the preference hierarchy due to language, but the magnitude of the displacement varied across context and participant; and (c) participants' language proficiency as reported by their mothers did not always predict the participants' language preference. These results extend the preference assessment literature by suggesting that the language of presentation may influence the results of preference assessments and that the influence of language may vary across context. The results also suggest that the influence of cultural practices, such as language, on behavioral assessments should be evaluated at the individual level.

Students at Western Kentucky University were asked to participate in a three week relaxation training program. The program focused upon relaxation as a coping skill and employed the Lazarus series of relaxation tapes, bio-feedback mediated relaxation training, and presentation of a relevant hierarchy in the form of an abbreviated systematic desensitization procedure. Subjects were measured prior to and following the relaxation program. It was hypothesized that subjects undergoing such a training procedure would experience gains as demonstrated by a measure of self-actualization when compared to individuals receiving no such treatment. A multivariate discriminant analysis indicated that the training program had an effect upon the global index of psychological functioning. Four out of the twelve scales on this index were found to be significant; those being Inner-Directed, Synergy, Acceptance of Aggression, and Capacity for Intimate Contact. Potential relationships of these subscales to the relaxation process were discussed and suggestions were offered for additional research.

Previous research concerning the relative strengths of women's achievement, affiliation, and nurterance needs is reviewed. eased on Bardwick's theories, it was predicted that the need to achieve would be significantly higher for married than for single women and significantly higher, the older the age group. It was also Predicted that the need to affiliate would be significantly higher for single than for married women and significantly higher, the younger the age group. Based on Benedek's theories, it was predicted that the need to nurture would not differ significantly between married and single women and that it would not differ significantly among age groups. In order to measure these needs the Personality Research Form-E was given to 120 married and single women. As predicted, results showed that achievement needs increased as a function of increasing age, and affiliation needs decreased as a function of increasing age. In addition, it was found that affiliation needs are significantly lower for married than for single women. It was concluded that affiliation is of central importance in the adolescent period and that adolescent females are preoccupied with meeting this need. Achievement becomes the focus of attention as women grow older. Contrary to prediction, the nurturance need does not appear to have consistent strength in women and seems to decrease with age.

In Experiment I, contingency management was employed with five non-institutionalized trainable retardates (mean MA=4.l, CA=9.9, and language age=2.6) in a classroom situation. Empirically determined high probability behaviors were displayed as colored cartoon figures in a reinforcement menu. Tasks from the Peabody Language Development Kit defined the behavior strengthened during 15 one-hour sessions. A quantity of low probability task behavior had to occur in order for subjects to emit 4 minutes of high probability reinforcing activity. Through contingency management, amount of task per reinforcement was shaped from a low ratio to a high ratio. Significant gains in language age (p In Experiment II, the five children of Experiment I and another trainable retardate served as subjects. Dependent upon the behavioral change desired of the subject in the classroom situation, each subject had to meet the criterion of increasing or decreasing the specified behavior to receive the reinforcement menu and engage in 4 minutes of high probability reinforcing activity. Contingency management over 15 one-hour sessions was successful in reducing and possibly extinguishing the rate of aggressive acts, delays in starting work, shouting, leaving the desk during lessons, and refusing to obey teacher instructions. Frequency of task relevant vocalizations was also increased by this technique. During an unsystematic observation of the subjects 6 months after termination of the experiment, the undesirable behaviors occurred once an hour on the average, a rate far below the baseline frequency. Task relevant vocalizations which had been shaped to a high frequency during the experiment were emitted at a rate higher than the rate obtained during the baseline period.

Research on components of habit reversal suggests that awareness training alone may be an effective and efficient intervention for reducing nervous habits. This study evaluated the effectiveness of awareness training for the reduction of three nervous habits that manifest in public speaking: filled pauses, tongue clicks, and inappropriate use of the word "like." Four university students delivered short speeches during baseline and assessment sessions. Awareness training consisted of response description and response detection. Awareness training resulted in meaningful reductions in target behaviors for all participants. Booster awareness training sessions were necessary for all participants to achieve further reductions in target behaviors. Generalization probes conducted in front of a small audience indicated that treatment effects generally maintained at low levels. Social validity scores indicated that the treatment was acceptable, and participants indicated not only decreased use of verbal fillers, but also improved overall public speaking ability post-treatment. Although awareness training was effective, it was not more efficient than simplified habit reversal.