Elson M. Bihm

Depression, anxiety, and relevant cognitions in persons with mental retardation

We assessed depression, anxiety, and relevant cognitions in persons with mental retardation by administering modified versions of the Reynolds Child Depression Scale, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, and the Cognitions Checklist to 46 persons with borderline to moderate mental retardation. Consistent with research with other groups, self-reports of depression and anxiety were highly correlated (r = .74) in these individuals, and cognitions were strong predictors of negative affect. Subscales measuring cognitions related to depression and anxiety were also highly related, limiting the “cognitive-specificity” hypothesis. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses offered mixed support for cognitive-specificity. We discuss the implications of these findings for the cognitive and affective assessment of persons with intellectual limitations.

FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE MOTIVATION ASSESSMENT SCALE FOR PERSONS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

The rating scale used to assess the motivators of maladaptive behaviors in persons with mental retardation was the Motivation Assessment Scale. In the current study, we validated the factor structure of the scale on a sample of 118 subjects with predominately severe or profound mental retardation. They exhibited deviant behaviors such as self-injurious and tantrum behavior, aggression, and passivity. The results of the factor analysis with varimax rotation validated the assumptions of the developers of the scale that the motivators could be grouped into sensory, escape, attention, and tangible reinforcers. These four subscales are easily interpretable and should continue to provide valuable information.

Aggression and psychopathology in persons with severe or profound mental retardation

We examined aggression and psychopathology in persons with severe or profound mental retardation. Most aggressive episodes were directed toward other clients, and ratings of aggression were positively correlated with self-injury, stereotypic behavior, and being ambulatory. In a linear regression analysis of psychopathological correlates, aggression was most consistently predicted by dependent personality and psychosis. To better describe the construct of aggression, we also developed an Aggression-psychopathology scale. Persons with mental retardation and aggression were more likely to be impulsive, attention-seeking, dependent, socially inadequate, and anxious. Intensive efforts to modify the psychopathological correlates of aggression may improve treatment planning and outcome.

Staff Perceptions of Reinforcer Responsiveness and Aberrant Behaviors in People with Mental Retardation.

Perceptions by staff of the classes of reinforcers and aberrant behaviors of a sample of 470 people with predominantly severe or profound mental retardation were explored. Principal components analysis of a 45-item survey suggested eight classes of reinforcers: consimable, verbal-speaker, visual-motor, social, physical-contact, passive-observer, play, and academic reinforcers. Stepwise multiple regression was used to predict five classes of maladaptive behaviors as measured by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (irritability, lethargy, stereotypy, hyperactivity, and inappropriate speech) from the eight classes of reinforcers. Each class of psychopathology was related to a unique set of predictors. All classes of psychopathology could be predicted by staff perceptions of underresponsiveness to social reinforcers and overresponsiveness to consumable reinforcers. The findings of organized structures of reinforcers and their covariation with pathological behaviors have implications for research and intervention as well as theoretical value in defining aberrant behaviors in people with mental retardation.

Defensive Egotism and Bullying: Gender Differences Yield Qualified Support for the Compensation Model of Aggression

According to the compensation model of aggression (Staub, 1989), some people bully to defend against their own feelings of weakness and vulnerability. Classmates and teachers rated a sample of American sixth graders in terms of trait: defensiveness (i.e., defensive egotism), self-esteem, bullying, and related behaviors. Consistent with the model, students’ peer- and teacher-rated defensive egotism were positively associated with bullying and physical and social aggression, respectively. Students’ peer- and teacher-rated self-esteem was negatively correlated with bully victimization and positively correlated with defending victims. Some findings were qualified by regression analyses using personality, gender, and their interaction as predictors of focal behaviors. The positive association between defensive egotism and bullying held only for boys; yet, at higher defensive egotism, girls were more socially aggressive than boys. The findings, along with previous research, suggest that bullying-reduction programs in schools include a component on the personality and motivational dynamics of bullies, victims, and victim defenders.

Defensive egotism and self-esteem: A cross-cultural examination of the dynamics of bullying in middle school

Abstract The revised compensation model of aggression posits that bullying is driven by defensive personality, not low self-esteem. Supporting research has failed to distinguish bullies vs. bully-victims (i.e., bullies who are also victims). In three studies with middle school students on two continents, pure bullies and bully-victims scored higher in defensive egotism than pure victims and controls but, unexpectedly, did not differ from each other. Low self-esteem was linked with victimization, high self-esteem with defending victims. Boys were higher than girls in bullying and physical aggression; girls were higher in social than physical aggression. Part of the lack of success of anti-bullying programs may be their failure to accommodate different types of bullies and different forms of bullying.

IQ Zoo and Teaching Operant Concepts.

Psychology texts often cite the work of Marian and Keller Breland and their business, Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE), to demonstrate operant conditioning and the “misbehavior of organisms” from an evolutionary perspective. Now available on the Internet at the official IQ Zoo website (http://www3.uca.edu/iqzoo/), the artifacts of ABE’s work, in the form of photographs, documents, and audio/video recordings, provide a wealth of concrete examples of operant and evolutionary contingencies. Included in this site is the related work of Robert E. Bailey. These exhibits and their associated learning materials are relevant to many courses, including introductory psychology, psychology of learning, behavior modification, and history and systems of psychology.

More Misbehavior of Organisms: A PSI Chi Lecture By Marian and Robert Bailey

In 1992, Dr. Marian Breland Bailey, assisted by her husband Robert E. Bailey, gave the following presentation at the Psi Chi Banquet of the University of Central Arkansas. She and her first husband, Keller Breland, were students of B. F. Skinner and established Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE) in 1947 and the IQ Zoo in 1955. Unknown to many historians of psychology, most of ABE’s projects extended outside the confines of the IQ Zoo and included work for the military, fairs, parks, businesses, and entertainment venues. Dr. Bailey’s Psi Chi lecture should prove invaluable to students, researchers, and scholars, for it is one of the few places where the extensive nature of ABE is described in an overarching fashion.