Digital behavior change interventions (DBCIs) provide customized advice, ongoing support, and Web- and mobile-based platforms for learners who want to change their undesirable behaviors. DBCIs have been successful in the past for delivering interventions that support sustained changes to health behaviors, such as disease prevention and health…

The scientific process is nonlinear, unpredictable, and ongoing. Assessing the nature of science is difficult with methods that rely on Likert-scale or multiple-choice questions. This study evaluated conceptions about the scientific process using student-created visual representations that we term "flowcharts." The methodology,…

Students enrolled in a college success course were assigned to (a) a cognitive intervention using the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) workbook (Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1996b), (b) an occupational research project involving an oral report, and (c) a control condition. The workbook condition had a significant effect on the…

Dormitory residents were trained in first aid procedures, and assigned to lecture-only, lecture plus modeling and rehearsal, or no-lecture groups. As predicted, lecture plus modeling and rehearsal group was superior to the lecture-only, which was superior to the no-lecture group. (NG)

Male and female bystanders witnessed a violent theft in the course of a bogus "ESP Experiment." In addition to the subjects' sex, two experimental manipulations were orthogonally crossed. The subject was either the only one to witness the emergency, or witnessed it with an additional participant (diffusion of responsibility), and the subject's…

This study evaluated three major models currently used by crisis-intervention centers to train and supervise nonprofessional counselors. Training groups included preservice training only (PSO), preservice training and delayed supervision (PSD), and preservice training and immediate supervision (PSI). Findings indicate most learning by…

Investigated effects of interviewer use of positive or negative self-disclosure and interviewer-subject sex pairing on subjects' perceptions of the interviewer and of their own behavior. Results indicated interviewers disclosing negative information about themselves were perceived as significantly more empathic, warm, and credible than…

A Sex of Subject x Sex of Counselor interaction in the desensitization of test anxiety among 44 college students suggested consideration of the sex variable. Results showed significant treatment effects by both male and female counselors and a significant interaction effect by the male counselor with female subjects. (Author)

The relationship between trial-to-trial changes in free recall and eight intelligence and memory abilities was investigated in a sample of 72 college students. Despite identical acquisition curves under immediate and delayed recall, differences between the two groups in correlational pattern between recall performance and abilities were striking.…

This study reports how often residence hall personnel felt potential problems occurred among residents and also how interested they were in receiving help on the problems. The general problems that emerge are career preparation and choice, personal and social adjustment, and behavioral control. (Author)

The articles in this special issue explore the connections between the dual disabilities of alcohol abuse and physical impairment, and reflect progress made in exploring the causes and treatments of alcohol abuse among the physically impaired. Selected articles include: "Results of a Model Intervention Program for Physically Impaired…

This study focused on course completion by students enrolled in a psychology course. The course was offered to students through television and a computerized system for instructional feedback. Those students who were systematically contacted by the instructor by telephone showed greater course completions than those who were not contacted. (Author)

A study was conducted at the University of Maryland to determine how consistently students perform on examinations in a given class and whether it is possible to alter this relationship through the introduction of an intervening variable, such as a reinforcing and encouraging letter from the instructor. Letter grades and test scores were obtained…

Subjects were 46 undergraduates attending a major West Coast university who self-monitored their study behavior for four weeks under one of four conditions: (1) expectation of reactivity; (2) cumulative charting, (3) combined expectation and charting; and (4) control group (given no expectation or cumulative chart). Although definitive conclusions…