Individuals track probabilities, such as associations between events in their environments, but less is known about the degree to which experience--within a learning session and over development--influences people's use of incoming probabilistic information to guide behavior in real time. In two experiments, children (4-11 years) and adults…

The meaning of respect changed historically in postwar Japan, and respect as a concept is important yet unnoticed in postmodern Japanese society. Contrary to the perception of Japanese socialization as instilling conformist respect and obedience in children and adolescents, this chapter shows why one commentator predicts that Japan may be changing…

Objective: Children with ADHD experience peer problems that may place them at risk for adverse outcomes. Using a short-term longitudinal design, this study links specific behaviors to peer functioning in groups of previously unfamiliar children with ADHD. Method: The participants were 268 children with ADHD who took part in an intensive summer…

Part of a continuing study of cross-gender identified (gender-referred) children is described. The entire study compares gender-referred children (14 boys and 4 girls) with their pre-adolescent siblings and with other children displaying a variety of psychiatric problems. The first phase of the study involves retesting the gender-referred children…

A boy with severe mental retardation was unresponsive to his environment and spent 80% of his day body-rocking. Stereotyped body-rocking was greatly reduced via differential reinforcement of incompatible responding (DRI), physical restraint, and reprimand. (JDD)

The effectiveness of fenfluramine with hyperserotonergic autistic individuals (n=28 and ages 6-30) was evaluated. Evaluation of videotape recordings of individual behaviors suggested that fenfluramine failed to increase communicative behaviors or decrease stereotypic behaviors and inappropriate behaviors although a serotonergic effect was found in…

Three experiments were conducted with two participants with mental retardation that displayed property destruction and stereotypy. The experiments assessed the function of the responses, determined their relationship, and developed a treatment to reduce property destruction. Response blocking reduced property destruction (and attempts), prevented…

This paper describes the processes of Monitored Play-Therapy, a method which seeks to measure the changes which may take place over a number of play therapy sessions. The laboratory is in use at Georgia State College in Atlanta and is designed for boys seven through twelve years of age. The Monitored Playroom Laboratory consists of a control booth…

There are many unanswered questions about play therapy. Monitored play therapy is an attempt to discover answers to these questions. The main emphasis is on quantitative recording and analysis of the process and outcome of play therapy. However, because of its newness, monitored play therapy also has some weaknesses. The main strong point is the…

Reports that no short term effects were found in children's physical or verbal aggression scores as a result of their exposure to violent comic books. (Author/FL)

The role of sensory reinforcement was examined in programing multiple treatment gains in self-stimulation and spontaneous play for four developmentally disabled children (eight to ten years old). (Author/SBH)

Two contingency systems, individual and group, were evaluated for their effects on children's behavior during small group meetings. A group of 48 children, ages 8-14, attended a seven-week residential camp program operated on a token economy system. Ratings of the campers' behavior were made by the counselors on a five-point rating scale at the…

Studied the process of child psychotherapy by means of analyses of client verbal behaviors. Analyses of variables demonstrated the nature of each client's verbal responding as well as their pattern of change. Summarized the overall verbal response behavior of each client best through the factor analyses. (Author)

A pilot project was undertaken with 27 educable mentally handicapped children (9- to 12-years-old) to see if retardates could learn adaptive behavioral responses and an awareness of the consequences of behavior as a result of a sequential instructional program. (GW)