Historically, horse trainers have relied primarily upon repetition, negative reinforcement, and punishment to teach new behaviors. Positive reinforcement has been eschewed, largely on the basis of the wides read belief that positive reinforcement is not effective with horses. Additional difficulties in the timely application of such reinforcement have further inhibited its use. After repeated pairing of an auditory stimulus with an established primary reinforcer, the auditory stimulus was predicted to be a reinforcer. An equine subject was then successfully trained to perform five different, novel tasks using only the auditory stimulus. Subsequently, extinction of behavior was noted in the absence of the conditioned reinforcer. Implications for many phases of horse training were discussed. Some weaknesses of the present study were noted along with suggested issues for future investigations.

Depression received much attention in the professional literature as a stimulus both for experimental as well as applied research. It continued to be the subject of much controversy in respect to its definition, identification, and classification. Attempts were made to objectify the assessment of depression using self-report scales to tap various aspects though to be related to its etiology as well as its symptomology. Two of the most popular and reportedly well-validated self-report scales identified in the literature for determining and quantifying depressive symptoms were the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck) and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (Zung).The present study was designed to determine if there were factors in common between the Beck and the Zung scales and, in addition, to test whether these factors would differentiate subjects by sex class membership, diagnostic category, and by some linear combination of biographical or life-history information. The major purpose was the identification of outstanding charactersitics of depression predicted from biographical data and the determination of the relationship of these data to self-rating psychometric measures of depression. This study makes it clear that the Beck and Zung scales are measuring different aspects of depression and thus are likely based on separate constructs. The need …

A technique for altering subjects' self-evaluations and subsequent performance was developed and tested. Two types of therapist evaluative modeling, positive and critical, were compared, for effectiveness in training subjects to be assertive, with a no-modeling control and an insight treatment group. All modeling conditions used a behavior rehearsal paradigm, while the insight treatment employed a Rogerian therapy design. Dependent measures included a paper-and-pencil self-evaluation scale and a behavioral role-playing test of assertiveness. No significant differences were found among the modeling conditions, but the behavior rehearsal strategy brought about significantly greater increases in assertiveness among the severely unassertive subjects than did the insight treatment.

Increases in the number of users of the medical delivery system, along with an ever-increasing variety of available services, makes it desirable to identify those individuals who will benefit most from its services. With the growing reliance on third party payment, economic limitations no longer effectively restrict the use of the system's resources to those individuals who are truly ill. A framework is needed whereby individuals who are medically ill can be separated from those whose needs might be more effectively addressed by other services. A variety of means, including locus of control, has been used in the attempt to make such discriminations. In conclusion, it was observed that the low magnitude of obtained relationships presents opportunities for future research, but disallows meaningful prediction at the present time.

The present investigation sought to explore the efficacy of stress inoculation in the management of pain with severely burned adults. Subjects were 16 adult burn patients randomly assigned to either the stress-inoculation or no-treatment comparison group. The focus of the analysis was the amount of change or improvement from pretreatment to posttreatment periods. The stress-inoculation group showed significant improvement on all nine dependent measures, while the no-treatment group improved significantly on only two (physical and emotional self-ratings). The overall comparison of the amount of change between groups revealed that the stress-inoculation group showed significantly greater improvement in pain management than the no-treatment group during this time. It was concluded that stress inoculation, as a flexible treatment package, was efficacious in the management of pain experience of burn patients.

Child-rearing behaviors and attitudes have been implicated by some authors in the persistence of bed-wetting after the age of three. In this study, maternal child-rearing behaviors were evaluated from the point of view of the child. Perceived maternal behaviors were assessed through the use of the Child's Report of Parent Behavior Inventory. Field dependence/independence was measured by Children's Embedded Figures Test scores. Correlational analysis of the data suggested the following conclusions: 1) The rapidity of response to conditioning treatment for enuresis is not related, to scores of Acceptance, Psychological Control, and Lax Control. 2) Degree of field dependence/independence is unrelated to the rapidity of response to conditioning treatment for enuresis. 3) Child's Report of Parent Behavior Inventory factor scores of Acceptance, Psychological Control, and Lax Control are unrelated to Children's Embedded Figures Test scores. 4) Primary enuretic boys do not differ from nonenuretic boys along the dimension of field dependence/independence.

There have been various approaches to the treatment of nonorgasmic women, including psychoanalysis, desensitization, relaxation, masturbation, and group therapy. The present study was conducted to examine the efficacy of group therapy combined with home-based training in the treatment of primary nonorgasmic women. A no-treatment control group was also employed. Treatment consisted of two weekly 1- hour group sessions for 5 weeks. Educative processes were employed, such as detailed information on physiology of female sexual response. Structured homework exercises were also utilized, such as mastubatory techniques, role-playing orgasm, strengthening vaginal muscles, and assertiveness training in sexual and nonsexual situations. Results indicated an 88% success rate in the treatment group and no change in the control group.