Adults diagnosed with schizophrenia smoke cigarettes at excessive rates. The goal of this study was harm reduction by reducing carbon monoxide (CO) levels for 9 adults diagnosed with schizophrenia living in a semi-independent apartment complex. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Contingent monetary reinforcement (CMR), feedback, and CMR used in combination with feedback. CMR and feedback group was hypothesized to exceed the results of CMR alone and of feedback alone. CO levels were collected once a day for 4 weeks. Individualized CO reduction criteria were developed based on baseline mean CO levels. It was also hypothesized the addition of feedback would lend itself to better maintenance and generalization. Data were analyzed through visual inspection. Results suggested that CMR plus feedback does not improve the effectiveness of CMR alone to maintain reductions in CO levels for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia. Important findings from this study can help alleviate problems for future smoking reduction programs that serve this population.

The development of the appropriate behaviors necessary to initiate and maintain successful interpersonal relationships is an important aspect of successful social development in preschool children. An important subset of these are sharing behaviors. Promoting sharing behavior in children at an early age can greatly influence future peer relationships and may assist children's future social growth. An intervention based on response cost was used in three regular preschool classrooms to determine whether it would result in an increase in sharing behaviors among children ages 3 to 5. The intervention consisted of a toy time-out procedure contingent upon nonsharing behavior, and positive praise for appropriate sharing behavior. Results showed that in contrast to preschool children who did not receive the intervention, the children who did receive the intervention significantly increased their displays of working together on a common project during free play. In addition, six out of seven teachers, representing all three preschools, responded favorably to the use of this intervention and identified children in the treatment group as sharing somewhat more during free play after completion of the study. This response cost-based intervention can provide teachers with a quick and simple behavioral technique for managing free play periods while promoting sharing behavior in the classroom.

This study examined the effectiveness of group assertiveness training with individuals who are mildly and moderately mentally retarded. There were 20 participants with 10 each in the control and the experimental group. Each group received the pretest and posttest measures. The experimental group also received four sessions on assertiveness training adapted from the Elwyn Institute's Personal Adjustment Manual, Volume II, Assertiveness Training. The training was developed for moderately and mildly mentally retarded individuals using these strategies: educational lectures, modeling, role-playing, and feedback. The control group received only the pretest and posttest measures. Assertiveness was measured by using three measures: two questionnaires, one consisting of 25 situational questions eliciting individuals to respond as they would in real life and the Chapman Assertiveness Instrument; and one behavioral observation check off chart. A univariate repeated measures anaLysis of variance was completed for each measure. There were significant results with all three measures indicating that the training was effective in increasing assertiveness.

Predicted fear is the amount of fear a person expects to experience in a given situation. Predictions can be either accurate or inaccurate in comparison to what the person actually experiences in the situation. This two-part analog study was an extension of Rachman's match/mismatch model of overprediction theory. In the first part, college students who overpredicted their fear of a live snake were compared with a control group of students who either underpredicted or accurately predicted their fear of the same snake. Comparisons were made on self-report, physiological, and behavioral measures of anxiety to assess the relationship between these measures and the tendency to overpredict fear. In the second phase of the study, overpredictors and control subjects were randomly assigned to either a feedback or no feedback group. At issue was whether feedback about the accuracy of predicted fear of a snake facilitated correct matches and fear reduction on subsequent exposure trials in comparison to the effects of exposure alone. Results showed that providing feedback did not hasten correct matches. However, in keeping with the views of Rachman (1994) and others, I did find (a) a larger number of overpredictors than underpredictors, (b) an increase of accuracy of predictions over trails, (c) a decrease in the participants' levels of fear over trials.

This study analyzed the efficacy of the Performance Diagnostic Checklist (PDC) as a tool used for developing interventions for performance improvement by comparing the intervention choice rankings of a group that used it to one that did not. This comparison was made by providing professional organizational consultants or university professors and undergraduate students enrolled in related courses with a written scenario concerning an organization in need of performance improvement. These consultants and students were randomly assigned into two groups: (a) one in which the scenario was accompanied by the PDC and (b) one in which the PDC was absent. The results indicated that there was indeed some difference in intervention selection between those who received the PDC and those who did not. However, only the professionals benefited from using the PDC.

There is growing research suggesting that individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia are impaired in their ability to recognize and express facial emotions. However, research examining the effects of treatment on facial emotion expression and recognition deficits is extremely limited. This study examined the effects of a brief training program on the ability to express and recognize facial emotions among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia ( N = 6). Assessment procedures included identification (photo and in vivo models), imitation, and simulation. The training program consisted of 8 sessions, lasting approximately 20–30 min. The first training session consisted of a discussion about the six basic emotions (happy, sad, surprised, fearful, angry, disgusted). The next seven training sessions included identification (photo and in vivo models), imitation, and simulation of each of the six basic emotions. Verbal reinforcement and feedback were used to increase performance. The results indicated that performance improved for all tasks from baseline to treatment, and maintained during a 3-week follow up period.

This study was a systematic replication of the work of Carels, Sherwood, and Blumenthal (1998) who studied white coat hypertension (WCH) in adults with suspected hypertension. The present study utilized healthy African American and Caucasian young adults. Fifty-seven male and female high school and college students (34 Caucasians and 23 African Americans) had their blood pressure screened three times on three separate occasions. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Arousal Predisposition Scale (APS) were administered at the first visit to assess anxiety and arousal. A 3-way multifactorial mixed design ANOVA and multiple regression analyses were performed separately for systolic BP and diastolic BP. Significant main effects for trials, gender, and ethnicity for systolic BP were revealed. Significant main effects were not found for diastolic BP measures, and no interaction effects were revealed for systolic or diastolic measures. Participants' systolic BP decreased from the first screening to the second and third screenings. The main effect for gender indicated significant differences in systolic BP between males and females, with males having higher systolic BP over trials. The significant main effect for ethnicity revealed that African Americans had higher systolic BP than Caucasians. The regression analyses using the scores from the APS, STAI, and BP trial change scores revealed that none of the variables contributed significantly to the change in BP across sessions. The results replicate the finding of Carels et al. (1998) who found SBP declined from Trial 1 to Trials 2 and 3, and provide partial support for a small white coat effect in healthy Caucasian and African American young adults.

The efficacy of risperidone (Risperdal) for the treatment of 3 chronically aggressive children was evaluated using an open-label, multiple-baseline design in a private practice setting. Results of both parent and teacher ratings demonstrated a reduction in aggressive and delinquent behavior in 2 of 3 participants upon introduction of Risperdal, with the third responding in similar fashion upon final dose adjustment. Each participant reported no occurrences of side effects. These findings suggest that Risperdal was well tolerated, and may serve as a safe and effective treatment modality for this challenging population.

The effectiveness of errorless learning, trial-and-error learning (i.e., errorful learning), and a traditional method for recalling face-name associations was compared in early Alzheimer's disease patients. Alternating treatment designs were used to assess method effects for each participant. Face-name associations were learned using pictures from the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test, six pictures for each of the three learning procedures. The results of the study showed that the errorless learning procedure had a larger number of face-name associations learned in 2 out of the 3 participants, compared to the trial-and-error learning and the traditional method.

Over the last 30 years, organ transplantation has become a common life saving surgery. However, organ transplantation is still limited by a lack of viable organs due to the small number of individuals who sign a donor card or agree to donate their next-of-kin's organs. What has been found to be effective to increase donation rates is to bring donation “closer to home” by using public awareness campaigns, and by increasing the emotional connect between the donor and the recipient. The current study attempted to increase the emotional connection between the donor and the recipient by providing the donor family with general, anonymous demographic information about potential recipients at the time of the request for a next-of-kin's organs. Both the control group ( N = 169) and the experimental group ( N = 162) viewed an educational video about organ donation, followed by a dramatization of an organ procurement coordinator requesting participants to donate their next-of-kin's organs. The dramatization for the experimental group contained general, anonymous demographic information (e.g., age, gender, number of children) about potential recipients. The control group dramatization did not contain any demographic information about potential recipients, which is similar to the actual request process currently used by the organ procurement coordinators. As hypothesized, providing general, anonymous demographic information about potential recipients increased the willingness of the donor family to donate their next-of-kin's organs as measured by a significantly higher score on the experimental group's Willingness to Donate a Next of Kin's Organs Survey. Furthermore, providing recipient information also increased the willingness for the participants of this study to take action towards becoming organ donors. Finally, both groups showed an increase in knowledge about organ donation as well as an increase in positive attitudes and a decrease in negative attitudes toward organ donation. The implications of these results are discussed.