Education in the United States for most of the last 50 years has built its knowledge base on a single dominating foundation--behavioral psychology. This paper analyzes the history of behaviorism. Syntheses are presented of the theories of Ivan P. Pavlov, J. B. Watson, and B. F. Skinner, all of whom contributed to the body of works on behaviorism.…

Oxendine (1970) hypothesized that the arousal-performance relationship varies across tasks, such that gross motor activities will require high arousal for optimal performance while fine motor activities will be facilitated by low arousal, but adversely affected by high arousal. Although the effects of preparatory arousal on strength performance…

Second-order change is a dramatic instance of personal change in which a person's structure of experience changes radically, rather than incrementally and gradually. Suggests that creating therapeutic contexts that enable second-order change to occur naturally may be more productive than making second-order change the goal of therapy. (Author/KS)

Assigned 40 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients to stress inoculation training (SIT), which included cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy and progressive deep-muscle relaxation training adapted for MS patients, or current available care (CAC), which provided the usual clinic services. The SIT group was significantly less depressed, anxious and…

Historical and present-day ideas concerning recovery of higher brain functions and cognitive retraining after traumatic brain injury are considered. Clinical guidelines for helping patients understand and compensate for residual higher cerebral deficits are suggested. A holistic- or milieu-oriented program is considered the most helpful…

Counselors (N=40), ranging from novice trainees to experienced professionals, conducted counseling interviews with a female client and then completed instruments measuring frequency of task facilitative and task distractive self-talk and quality of clinical hypothesis formulation. A positive relationship was found between higher quality clinical…

Presents a conceptual reformulation of the self-concept and its applications for counseling. Provides an overview of current theory and findings about the structure and function of the self-concept in cognitive information processing and social interaction terms from the areas of basic and social cognition. Examines cognitive process in…

Assigned 29 test-anxious students aged 50-67 to stress inoculation training, placebo, or control conditions. Results suggested that while stress inoculation training was not singularly effective, variations only were correlated with improvements in performance on a measure of fluid ability. No such interactions occurred in the placebo or control…

Presents a case study involving the use of self-instructional training with an adolescent schizophrenic boy. Changes initiated in his internal and external dialog with himself improved his self-control and task performance. (JAC)

Empirically observes psychotherapeutic content themes in two distinct group psychotherapies (cognitive treatment following Beck's theory and behavioral treatment following Lewinsohn's model) conducted with 16 Puerto Rican women. Reveals no significant differences in findings between treatment groups. Discusses content themes in context of Puerto…

Playful wrestling, splashing, fidgeting, chair-tilting, and a number of other behaviors by children often result in injuries, tantrums, or conflicts in families. Exact limits can be established in these instances with an intervention which integrates strategic, structural, and cognitive-behavioral approaches. Two case examples are presented and…

Assessed the effects of two interventions on hyperactive children's (N=24) social behavior. Results indicated that both methylphenidate (Ritalin) and reinforced self-evaluation were superior to the contrast treatments. Medication plus cognitive-behavioral self-evaluation proved optimal, and placebo plus reinforcement alone was significantly worse…

Examined the effects of a psychoeducational program on employability enhancement of 23 rehabilitation clients. The program had a significant, positive impact on clients' thinking, feeling, acting, and vocational outcome and reduced task-interfering beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and problem behavior. Participants had a lower vocational training…

Examined the relative effectiveness of self-instruction training and rational-emotive counseling in alleviating test anxiety in 50 high school students. Results indicated both experimental treatments in both experiments were more effective than the control condition. In Experiment Two, the rational-emotive group was superior to the…

Compared the effectiveness of cognitive restructuring (CR) and a structured group discussion (SGD) in preventing stress and improving self-concept in 209 high school freshmen. Results showed posttreatment attitudes were equal for both programs. The CR homework produced a significant decrease in students' perceived level of emotion. (JAC)