Skillful instructors in combination with well-designed and appropriate training programs are critical links in improving employee performance and increasing organizational productivity. Training directors use a variety of strategies to prepare competent, confident, and resourceful instructors. The author presents the essential factors to be…

Investigated the effectiveness of a cognitive treatment, anxiety management, in reducing social anxiety in friendships, and whether the cognitive component would increase the efficacy for a Response Practice treatment designed to allow participants to practice in social environments. The combination treatment reduced social anxiety in male college…

Describes the organization and training of a parent support group to prevent child abuse. Initial training assisted group members to become aware of their attitudes toward child abusers. Training also focused on developing listening skills, procedures for making referrals, and the handling of confidential information. (RC)

A survey of managers of 44 American Bell branch offices demonstrated that the videodisc is a very efficient tool for product introduction and training. Highlights of the survey are reported, focusing on responses to four survey questions, including type of training (group/individual) and comparison of videodiscs to other training media. (JN)

Examined the effectiveness of training counselors in empathetic responding with the self-as-a-model paradigm. Graduate and undergradutate counselor trainees (N=46) were randomly assigned to three treatment conditions. Differences among treatment groups, although in the expected direction, were not significant. Graduate students, however, did…

Compared the effects of assertiveness training, power-base training, and a discussion-control group on manifest and latent power dimensions in college women (N=39). Results suggest that direct behavioral training in assertive or power-based responses does not increase the latent power of women, but does increase manifest power. (Author/JAC)

The effects of using one or two trainers to elicit verbal responses with two profoundly mentally retarded females, 15 and 22 years old, were studied. Results for both acquisition and pre- and post-training favored in the dual trainers condition. (SEW)

Three experiments examined whether the phenomena of visual search for single characters (Sternberg, 1966) generalizes to word and word-category search when target and distractor sets had varied and consistent mappings across trials. Previous results were replicated. Four principles of search are discussed within a theory of automatic/control…

With tremendous demands for application development and enhancement, maximum productivity from inexperienced programers is seen as critical to a successful operation. Some techniques and tools to improve the situation at Ball State University are described. (MLW)

Attempted to assess generalization from a child's school to a novel instructional setting by comparing training in single versus multiple rooms. Found that responses taught in school did not automatically generalize to a day care center but that four of the five boys studied demonstrated relatively high rates of responding. (CMG)

The effects of passive exercise of the extremities on peripheral vision of muscular dystrophic children aged 9 to 13 years was investigated. Compared to control subjects, those who experienced six minutes of passive exercise evidenced increased peripheral vision. Curriculum revisions for muscular dystrophic children indicate the importance of…

Visual screening, a mildly aversive response suppression procedure in which the child's eyes are briefly covered, was evaluated across two studies for its effectiveness in reducing topographically similar and dissimilar stereotypic behaviors of four moderately or profoundly retarded children (aged 9 or 13 years). (Author)

Thirty-six children between 4.4 and 5.4 years of age were assessed for understanding about the role of message ambiguity as a cause of communication failure and for level of performance in verbal referential communication tasks. Results show that training sessions illustrating when and why listeners understood or failed to understand were…

A theoretical model of an effective experiential educational program for training evaluators is described. Two operating programs are assessed against the requirements of the model. The results of a quasi-experimental evaluation of the effectiveness of the programs in producing important educational outcomes are reported. (Author/PN)

Examined the effectiveness of a skill-training method for intake interviewing skills (didactic instruction, modeling, and feedback) compared to didactic instruction alone and a delayed-training control group. No training effects were found in identifying client information, in using facilitative interview behaviors, or in client ratings of…