Julien Worland

Effects of positive and negative feedback on behavior control in hyperactive and normal boys.

The hypothesis that hyperactive boys have relatively less response to negative feedback than to positive feedback was studied. Sixteen hyperactive boys and 16 controls were compared on two tasks under different feedback conditions. Feedback conditions were no feedback, positive feedback, and negative feedback. Tasks were symbol encoding and correcting spelling words. Hyperactives and controls were compared in amount of time on-task and amount of work correctly completed. Hyperactives were on-task significantly more under conditions of negative feedback than under positive feedback, but negative feedback significantly increased errors on the spelling correction task. Controls were equally responsive to positive, negative, or no feedback. Hyperactives accomplished significantly less than controls on the coding task, but performed as well as controls on the spelling correction task, which was administered to each boy at his own level of spelling ability. The results imply that while consistent negative feedback can reduce off-task behavior for hyperactives, it can also decrease the accuracy of the work they are doing.

Intelligence, classroom behavior, and academic achievement in children at high and low risk for psychopathology: a structural equation analysis

The intelligence, academic achievement, and classroom behavior of 158 children were assessed in a sample that is being followed longitudinally. The sample included children at high risk for mental disorder by virtue of having a parent with a psychiatric diagnosis of schizophrenia or affective disorder, children at moderate risk, and children at low risk, A series of path analyses indicated that in this sample (1) classroom behavior was more likely an affect than a cause of academic achievement, and (2) the influence of parental psychopathology on classroom behavior was mediated by a childs intelligence and academic achievement. We were unable to substantiate an unmediated causal link between parental psychopathology and childrens academic achievement or classroom behavior.

Operant Approaches to Group Therapy and Effects on Sociometric Status

A behavior modification approach for group therapy was used with 4 hyperactive, unsocialized boys in a residential treatment center. Ss showed increased attention to tasks and interacted more frequently with each other. However, there was no change in the sociometric status of Ss in their living groups following treatment. The difficulties in changing sociometric status were discussed.

A retrospective analysis of the tats of children at risk who subsequently broke down

A retrospective evaluation of stories told to three Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards by children at risk isolated six characteristics that were associated with functioning six to 10 years later. The characteristics included lack of individual initiative, denial of mother-child relationships, denial of negative outcomes, and lack of autonomy. The TATs of children at risk (due to one parents hospitalization for a psychotic illness) who subsequently suffered major decompensations themselves (requiring hospitalization or intensive outpatient therapy) could be discriminated from those of children at risk with apparently normal development. The TAT characteristics were independent of the level of adjustment at the time the TATs were administered, not related to the childs IQ, socioeconomic status, race, or other family characteristics, and moderately negatively correlated with story length.