Client speech in favor of change within motivational interviewing sessions has been linked to treatment outcomes, but a causal chain has not yet been demonstrated. Using a sequential behavioral coding system for client speech, the authors found that, at both the session and utterance levels, specific therapist behaviors predict client change talk.…

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in children and adolescents is a major public health problem. Fortunately, we can apply functional analysis, in conjunction with empirically validated NSSI assessment measurements, to precisely evaluate the biopsychosocial risk factors and reinforcements that contextualize NSSI. Empirically validated behavioral…

Undergraduates, trained to discriminate understanding from nonunderstanding statements, verbally reinforced each statement they felt to be understanding during counselor interviews. Ratings indicated that beginning counselors had increased their understanding statements, suggesting that such statements can be a function of the number of…

Two studies investigated the hypothesis that noncontingent interviewer "mm-hmms" facilitate interviewee verbal productivity. Within- and between-subjects comparisons failed to support the hypothesis, although interviewees' ratings indicate that the mm-hmms were perceived as the social reinforcers they were intended to be. (Author)

Using an interview format, an expert in behavior research discusses behavior problems in the classroom and methods by which the teacher can change the undesired behavior patterns. (CB)

This paper presents a description of the four stages of the consultation process, an examination of the interviewing behaviors used by the consultant to achieve his goals, and a discussion of the purpose of consultation. The four stages of consultation include problem identification, problem analysis, intervention, and evaluation. The interviewing…

This study examined racial experimenter effects in counseling-like interviews employing the verbal operant-conditioning paradigm. The absence of significant differences in the experimenter-subject racial interaction suggests that race, per se, may not be the most important variable in the experimenter-subject (or counselor-client) relationship.…

This is the final report of the Southern University Head Start Evaluation and Research Center. It is a statement of activities engaged in since September, 1969. Chapter I contains an introduction and a description of the centers. Chapter II presents evaluation guidelines, quality control information, evaluation design and description of evaluation…