Reviews laboratory research on behavioral momentum conducted with pigeons and summarizes its findings and their generality to people, including those with mental retardation. Discusses the high-probability procedure used to establish compliance in clinical settings and based in part on an extension of the momentum metaphor. (CR)

This commentary discusses John Nevin's article on establishing compliance via behavioral momentum involving high-probability procedures, and questions whether applications of behavioral momentum can be derived from the theory, whether applications could have been developed if the theory not been formulated, and whether the theory will add…

Discussion of behavioral interventions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) notes new understanding, including that memory is not a unitary phenomenon, that certain types of memory are relatively spared in AD, and that conceptual knowledge is largely intact. Intervention techniques that capitalize on spared memory systems and take advantage of principles…

Discusses links among religion, language, and culture in a case study of a Hmong refugee, his family, and community. Argues that religious conversion facilitates the extension of literacy. Points out that before national school systems, the church was the primary site for literacy education. Documents changes the conversion brought to family…

Basic and applied research on variables that influence the extinction of operant behaviors is reviewed and applied to the treatment of behavior disorders. The potential value of a general technology for the use of behavioral extinction is discussed. The paper concludes that current research findings are not sufficient for the development of a…

Presents an experimental study designed to investigate the influence of message design strategies on cognitive processing and changes in attitudes, behavioral intentions, and behavior in relation to marijuana use. Explains that in the experiment, college students viewed four anti-marijuana public service announcements. Notes that results provide…

Finds dissatisfaction among professionals in social psychology with the style, focus, and caliber of research. Suggests that understanding knowledge production among academics should include influences on research, such as political ideologies of professors, student selection and socialization, and system survival demands. Provides a four-page…

Discussion of expert and novice performance and the organization of knowledge focuses on a study that investigated the influence of mental models on performance differences between expert and novice service technicians who troubleshoot faculty generator sets. Behavioral and cognitive methods of analysis are described, and implications for…

Describes what is involved in the Congressional policy-making process, and describes the Capitol Hill community. Discusses the human element that is inherent in understanding and representing constituencies and in attempting to translate the constituents' concerns into policy. Considers what role psychologists might play in this policy-making…

Describes study that examined the effect of mood on college students' grading of 13-to 14-year-old students' essays. Research involving mood and behavior is discussed, the mood inducing films and feelings checklists used in the study are described, and an analysis of the results is presented that does not support a mood effect in essay assessment.…

Two federal agencies proposed conflict-of-interest guidelines that would require scientists supported by government money to file financial-disclosure forms and universities to review those forms and eliminate conflicts of interest. The National Institutes of Health and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration proposed the…

This article proposes a model for the functional analysis of aggression in school-age children and youth. The model incorporates multimodal data collection and data triangulation to generate credible hypotheses regarding the functions of aggression. Key features include operational definitions of target behaviors, examination of the environmental…

Generalization across three stimulus parameters (therapist, setting, and demands) was examined for five men with severe/profound mental retardation whose self-injurious behavior was maintained by escape from task demands. Variables were held constant during the escape extinction treatment. Full or partial generalization to novel situations was…

Describes the core constructs of attachment theory, namely, the attachment system and secure-base behavior. Discusses contextual factors thought to be crucial in development of individual differences in attachment, especially maternal sensitivity, and considers child characteristics, especially temperament, that may contribute to the attachment…

Two studies had parents describe the characteristics of the most prosocial two- and five-year olds they knew and rate the relative importance of each attribute in defining a child as prosocial. Results indicated more similarities than differences between the two age groups and suggested that research has underrepresented the rich repertoire of…