Joseph Melnick

The effects of covert modeling with and without reply training on the development and generalization of assertive responses

The present study compared two variants of covert modeling for the training of assertion skills in a self-referred unassertive population ( n =31). Subjects were randomly assigned to covert modeling (visualization of situations in which a model behaved assertively and was reinforced by compliance with the assertion), covert modeling with reply training (visualizations of situations in which a model performed assertively but also had to respond effectively to initial noncompliance with the assertion), placebo condition (visualization of the situation only) or a no-treatment condition. The reply training condition resulted in significantly greater changes in behavioral assertion on post-test measures as well as on measures of treatment generalization. However, treatment differences were not observed on a phone-call measure collected 4 months after treatment. Treatment parameters likely to be important to the maintenance of newly developed social skills are briefly, discussed.

Empirical Guidelines for Group Therapy: Pretraining, Cohesion, and Modeling

Group therapy has traditionally been viewed as more an art than a science. This paper suggests that the field is reaching a level of empirical sophistication which permits the development of clinical models from empirical data. Pretherapy -training, cohesion, and modeling are suggested as significant parameters of effective group treatment. The evidence defining the properties and effects of those variables is reviewed and their theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Analysis of Group Composition Research and Theory for Psychotherapeutic and Growth-Oriented Groups

The research on group composition for psychotherapeutic and growthoriented groups is reviewed and analyzed. The survey of the literature consists of a sampling of clinical observations and reports and a review of premature termination studies, group-therapy process studies, and laboratory group research. The social microcosm, dissonance, cohesion, and supportplus-confrontation models of group composition are presented and evaluated. Lastly, the findings and their implications for the composition of groups are discussed.

An experimental analysis of the behavioral rehearsal with feedback technique in assertiveness training

Nonassertive subjects participated in assertiveness training in which the treatment package of behavioral rehearsal with feedback was analyzed. The experimental conditions consisted of: (1) behavioral rehearsal without knowledge of recording and without the provision of playback; (2) rehearsal with knowledge of recording and without the provision of playback; (3) rehearsal with knowledge of recording and with provision of playback. Analysis of variance for pencil and paper and behavioral pre-post measures revealed no significant between-group difference. Response feedback does not seem to add to the effectiveness of behavioral rehearsal.

Expectancy and Risk Taking Propensity: Predictors of Group Performance.

The ability to quickly and efficiently identify the type of client who will benefit from, as well as contribute to, a group experience is of prime importance to group leaders (Melnick and Woods, 1976). Yet despite the obvious value inherent in being able to predict client behavior before the start of a group, little attention has been directed, until recently, toward establishing a set of interpersonal attitudes and characteristics which might prove helpful in making important inclusion-exclusion decisions (Woods and Melnick, 1979). Two variables which have proved useful in understanding therapeutic performance are social risk taking propensity and client expectancy. The present study was concerned with the prediction of group member performance following pretreatment assessment of these two variables. Social risk taking propensity (Jackson, Hourany, and Vidmar, 1971) involves the willingness to take interpersonal risks in situations in which appropriate behaviors and responses are ambiguous or not consensually agreed upon. This

The Effects of Summated Stimuli with Retarded Children.

Abstract This study was designed to test the stimulus summation hypothesis which states that if two conditioned stimuli each of which controls a certain degree of response strength, are presented in combination, their response strengths summate and the strength of the response controlled by the compound stimulus is greater than that of the strength of the responses controlled by the individual stimuli. Twelve moderately retarded S s were given discrimination training under three different stimuli, two correlated with reinforcement and one with extinction. Stimuli were combined in all possible combinations of two during testing which was conducted under extinction and reinforcement conditions. The results supported the summation hypothesis.