Three metaphors can help alleviate performance anxiety: (1) a cloud as a symbol for getting rid of unwanted behavior; (2) a snowball sweeping away all obstacles; and (3) a pyramid as a symbol of unsuspected inner resources. (SK)

Responds to previous article by Haaga and Stewart on perceived self-efficacy for recovery of abstinence from smoking after lapse and success in maintaining abstinence. Identifies and addresses issues regarding application of social cognitive theory to such areas as smoking cessation. Examines distinctions between efficacy and outcome beliefs,…

Peer interaction is examined as a source of behavior change in children and adolescents. The dynamics of peer influence are discussed in terms of six issues: characteristics of the influence source; characteristics of the child or adolescent being influenced; the relationship existing between influence source and the individual being influenced;…

Videotaped self-modeling (VSM) was developed as a means to allow participants to view themselves in situations where they are performing at a more advanced level than they typically function. VSM has been used effectively to train positive behaviors and reduce unwanted behaviors across a range of ages and behaviors; however, few studies of VSM…

In this article, the author shares how she taught concert etiquette to her students. The author started by having her students research concert etiquette online. She then created a music Web site bibliography, beginning with the MENC site (www.menc.org/guides/etiquette /etiquette_home.html). She relates that the teaching approach she used has…

Stimulus fading in the form of gradually increased exposure to a fear-evoking stimulus, often combined with differential reinforcement, has been used to treat phobias in children who are otherwise normal and in children with autism. In this investigation, we applied stimulus fading plus differential reinforcement with an adolescent with autism and…

A quasi-experimental pre- and post-test design was used to evaluate the Students' Creative Response to Conflict (SCRC) program, which is based on the principles of conflict resolution education and social-emotional learning. It is predicted that SCRC will influence students to reduce their approval of aggression and associated problem behaviors…

This study investigated the influence of the intervention process on the effectiveness of a program aimed at promoting positive parenting. The study involved a homogeneous intervention sample (N = 120) of mothers and their 1-, 2-, or 3-year-old children screened for high levels of externalizing problems. The alliance between mother and intervener,…

The authors examined the subtype structure of smokers classified in the precontemplation stage of change within the transtheoretical model. From a general practice-based sample of 1,499 daily smoking patients from Germany (participation rate 80%), they used a subgroup of 929 smokers who were classified in the precontemplation stage and applied…

Social norms interventions are a common approach to addressing the problem of college student drinking. An increasingly popular but not yet well-validated social-norms-based intervention consists of providing normative feedback to students in small groups. Objective, Participants, and Methods: In this study, the authors used a randomized design to…

Supervision and coaching strategies that provide immediate feedback can help improve instruction for novice teachers. In this study, feedback was provided to teachers using "bug-in-ear" technology to coach them to deliver effective instructional interactions: "learn units." Three novice teachers in K-8 classrooms with students…

Objective: To document the lifestyle health impacts (activity, diet and physiological), along with the operational success and challenges, of a programme for families presenting one or more coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factor. Design: Data are based on a wider evaluation of a government-funded community initiative conducted in a deprived area…

Chronic dieting distorts eating behaviors and causes weight escalation. Desperation about losing weight results in pursuit of extreme weight loss measures. Instead of offering yet another diet, nutrition educators can teach chronic dieters (dieting casualties) to develop eating competence. Eating Order, a 13-week class for chronic dieters based on…

The current study evaluated the use of a manualized social skills program, Superheroes Social Skills, to increase the use of prosocial behaviors and decrease the use of aggressive behaviors for children with externalizing behaviors. The training was implemented by a school psychologist in a pullout group with four children with high-incidence…

Introduction: Diplomates in the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program satisfy the self-evaluation of medical knowledge requirement by completing open-book multiple-choice exams. However, this method remains unlikely to affect practice change and often covers content areas not relevant to diplomates'…