Teaching Counseling Skills Through Self-Management Procedures

Counseling skills can be learned through self-management programs, as well as through more traditional methods. The benefits of self-management in counselor training are discussed, and an outline of an applicable procedure for self-change projects is detailed. Two examples of completed self-managed change in counselor behavior are included.     

The stimulus-response overshadowing phenomenon with VI versus FI schedules of reinforcement

Previous research has shown that response rates on a variable interval (VI) schedule of reinforcement decrease if a brief response-produced signal is given prior to reward. One explanation is that the signal overshadows the response because it is a better predictor of reinforcement. The S-R overshadowing effect does not occur with variable ratio (VR) schedules, however. Tarpy, Lea, and Midgley (1983) explained this fact by suggesting that the signal functions to enhance the salience of the temporal interval offset on the VI schedule (a characteristic not possessed by VR schedules), which then overshadows the response. In this experiment, the salience of the temporal interval was enhanced in another way: signaled or unsignaled reward was provided to rats responding on either a VI or fixed interval (FI) reward schedule. As predicted, rates were lowest for animals receiving signaled reinforcement on an FI schedule and highest for those receiving unsignaled reinforcement on a VI schedule.     

Effects of perceptual salience on the matrix task performance of four- and six-year-old children.

The effects of salience on 4- and 6-year-old children's ability to classify multiplicatively was investigated. A rank-ordered salience hierachy consisting of 3 dimensions was first assessed for each S. Several weeks later half the Ss of each age group were presented with a series of 9 3 times 3 matrix problems consisting of values from 2 dimensions ranked high in salience. The remaining half received identically structured matrices consisting of values from 1 highly salient dimension and of others from a dimension ranked low in salience. The goal in each problem was to select that compound stimulus from a set of alternatives that appropriately filled an empty cell in the matrix. Prior to the matrix problems, half the Ss in each matrix condition received sensitization training designed to increase the salience of the relevant dimensions in the matrix problems. The results showed that the pre-assessed salience of the relevant dimensions affected matrix solution in that more accurate performance was associated with those problems with both relevant dimensions relatively high in salience than those with one high and one low. Although the older Ss solved more problems, the evidence for coordination in the younger Ss was clear. No effects of sensitization training were found.