In the Winter 2013 issue of "Independent School," Richard Barbieri considered some of the distressing news about humanity being discovered by various physical and social scientists. Barbieri asserts in this issue that there are countervailing views and discoveries about our minds and our mores, enough for us to hope for the frequent, if…

Worry has been shown to predict a variety of health behaviors, such as cancer screening, yet there are few studies linking worry and nutrition. This study used nationally representative data from National Cancer Institute's Food Attitudes and Behavior Survey ("n" = 3,397) to examine the association between health-related worry and a variety of…

Gathering time-series data of behaviors and psychological variables is important to understand, guide, and evaluate behavior-change campaigns and other change processes. However, repeated measurement can affect the phenomena investigated, particularly frequent face-to-face interviews, which are often the only option in developing countries. This…

Dynamic factor models have been used to analyze continuous time series behavioral data. We extend 2 main dynamic factor model variations--the direct autoregressive factor score (DAFS) model and the white noise factor score (WNFS) model--to categorical DAFS and WNFS models in the framework of the underlying variable method and illustrate them with…

This paper describes the results of a study to: (1) design and evaluate three clinically practicable (e.g., non-analogue) regimens which emphasize treatment components of either behavioral rehearsal and feedback, anxiety management, or a combination of anxiety management and behavior reversal/feedback, and (2) examine the relative effectiveness of…

Three environmental elements--messages, events, and perceived consequences of choices--cause varying amounts of stress on an individual and affect his capacity to deal with his environment. There is a nonmonotonic relationship between environmental pressures ("event press") and persuasibility in that the number and importance of…

It has been the experience of most adult basic education teachers that their students are apprehensive about taking tests. The study evaluates the effects of training adult basic education teachers in behavioral attending skills. Two basic questions were investigated: (1) Would the training of instructors in the use of behavior attending skills…

Using Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness, which postulates that the behavior of a leader depends on the interaction between leadership style and the degree to which the environment gives the leader control and influence, a study investigated the effects of training and changes in position power on the behavior of three types…