Molloy and Birnbrauer have recently exchanged views in this journal over how how many factors are necessary to provide an adequate account of human behaviour and behaviour change. Their differences apparently reflect alternative conceptualizations of the roles played by physiology and cognition in the analysis of behaviour. The present paper provides some background to these issues, showing that the current cognitive behavioural approach to physiology and cognition is but a reworking of some aspects of traditional mentalism. Following this, several alternatives to this traditional conceptualization are offered by way of (a) an analysis of how functional and structural contextual conditions affect behaviour and (b) distinctions between issues of behavioural process and content-related behavioural substance. For psychology to be a cumulative and progressive enterprise, a natural science approach to issues of physiology and cognition must be maintained, no matter how many factors may be tajcen as germane to human behaviour and behaviour change

The strong media and public interest in sport psychology has had the unfortunate effect of publicising its sensational aspects, rather than its scientific and professional substance. The articles in this issue of Behaviour Change show that sport psychology does have strong connections with the mainstream of scientific and professional psychology, and that sporting settings provide a substantial and stimulating focus for a behavioural approach. Sport psychology's subject matter has overlaps with clinical psychology and with behavioural health care, there is a large and growing research literature, and issues of accountability and quality control have received considerable attention.

Despite a well-documented record of notable success in the treatment of neuroses, behaviour therapy is little taught in academic departments. A major reason for this appears to be the existence of an unending stream of misinformation about it. This paper describes the essential features of modern behaviour therapy of the neuroses, and the range of its therapeutic effects. It outlines some major sources of misinformation and their stifling effect on the academic spread of behaviour therapy.

The direct and indirect behavioural assessment measures are outlined and illustrated with examples from research in the sport psychology field. The major issues of behavioural assessment are related to this area of research and recommendations for the future direction of this research are made.

Attributions are typically examined as dependent variables in sport-related research. As a result, the behavioural consequences of competitive attributions have been largely ignored. This paper summarizes four experiments that have attempted to manipulate attributions for competitive outcomes and assess the behavioural consequences of this manipulation. The results of these experiments are generally consistent with findings from noncompetitive settings and suggest that effort attributions may benefit competitive performance. Discussion focuses on the unrealised potential for using effort-oriented attribution training in sport.

This paper suggests ways in which videotape modelling strategies may be used in behaviour therapy. Clients can acquire new responses through observational learning, while the consequences accruing to a model from different actions can be planned to effect inhibition or disinhibition of specific client behaviours. Modelling may facilitate the performance of previously learned behaviour by identifying for the observer appropriate contexts and discriminative stimuli. Also, models can be used to present cultural norms or standards for performance. The effective and ethical use of videotape modelling strategies requires that therapists understand the theoretical dimensions of this intervention format and justify the content of modelling presentations from empirical research on the behaviours targeted for change. Particular cautions are noted in the areas of social skills training and desensitization to anxiety provoking situations.

The use of visual analysis alone to determine the presence of significant and generalizable effects in typical behavioural interventions is subject to a series of possible errors which result in high levels of unreliability when data are analysed in this way. The presence of autocorrelation in most behavioural data poses a serious threat to visual and traditional analysis of such data, a threat which can be avoided by use of the more appropriate interrupted time-series (TMS) statistics. Although previously suggested as reasons for not using TMS procedures, the issues of model-identification and number of data points required for TMS are discussed and shown to be invalid arguments against the use of TMS. A case is made for visual analysis of behavioural data as an appropriate procedure only under certain constrained clinical conditions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different goal structures on the attributional patterns of individuals involved in a sport situation. One hundred and fifty-eight male subjects played in one of two types of racquetball tournament. In the competitive tournament, the goal was to win as many games as possible, whereas in the mastery tournament the goal was to do one's best. Analyses revealed that individuals in the competitive condition tended to focus more on ability attributions than did individuals in the mastery condition. The implications of these findings for the sport practitioner are discussed.

There is growing recognition of the need for adequate procedures for evaluation of the effects of psychotropic drugs on the behaviour of individuals. Traditional methodology for drug evaluation is group based and therefore inappropriate for use with only one or a few subjects. Alternative procedures are described that are suitable for use with even a single subject, based on single-case research designs developed by researchers in applied behaviour analysis. Guidelines are given for choosing designs and methods of measurement that control for the common threats to internal and external validity and will enable clear and unambiguous conclusions to be reached regarding drug effects.

This paper reports on a study examining the relationships between self-efficacy, training performance, and competitive performance in women's artistic gymnastics. Data were collected during normal training sessions from 16 female competitive gymnasts. Efficacy expectations were somewhat more accurate than were previous competition scores in predicting competitive performance, although training performance was the most accurate predictor. The tracking of performance and efficacy for six gymnasts during the weeks prior to a major competition illustrated the development and interaction of skill level and efficacy expectations. Efficacy measures may provide information on gymnasts' states of readiness for competition, and can be assessed without interfering with normal training.

Data on rate and qualitative features of social interactions and on peer social involvement in play were obtained from repeated observation measures taken across 14 to 23 weeks on two children randomly selected from each of 6 kindergartens. Session-by-session variability was found to be a feature of the social interaction and social play data, and there was evidence that social behaviours may vary systematically across different kindergarten settings. A case is made for obtaining normative data in each setting of interest in order to identify atypical behaviour and to evaluate the social validity of intervention outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between attentional style profiles of cricketers as measured by Nideffer's (1977) Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) and a performance component, playing level. A method of scoring and comparing attentional style profiles was developed. Cricket players (N = 68) at three different skill levels served as subjects. Results revealed that higher level players exhibited a higher proportion of profiles predicted to be associated with superior performance in fast-ball games, and lower proportions of inappropriate profiles, than the lowest playing levels subjects. The present results provide support for the use of attentional profile scores as a predictor of sport performance.

Although career exploration is essentially a process for the individual, behavioural counsellors may become involved in its planning, ordering and evaluation. The purpose of the present study was to provide some initial data on a standardised behavioural checklist of career exploration activities — FINDING OUT FACTS ABOUT JOBS. The checklist was designed for use in vocational guidance and research. It contains 40 career exploration activities grouped into six response classes e.g., reading, writing, talking etc. The checklist was administered to 196 vocational guidance and senior high school students. Subjects reported an average of 14.3 career exploration activities, with talking to friends being the most frequent (83%) and writing to unions, the least frequent (2%). Hierarchical cluster analysis of the 40 by 40 squared Euclidean distance matrix betwen items, identified fourteen optimum groups of activities. These were generally grouped together on the basis of level of response. Overall, it was found that activites involving talking and reading were most highly correlated (r = 0.570 p<.001). It was argued that preliminary data from this study provided practitioners with a standardised list, a measure of current achievements, and some basis for individual comparisons in career-exploration. The role of the checklist in behavioural assessment was also outlined.

In focussing on the relationship between cognition and sports performance, sports psychology is following a trend evident in other areas in psychology. Sports psychology research has borrowed conceptually and methodologically from cognitive-behavioural researchers within clinical psychology. This article reviews five areas of research: imagery; self talk; self efficacy; attentional focus and concentration; and decision making. Of these topics, imagery has attracted the most research interest, and strategies of mental rehearsal are frequently used by athletes.

Attempts to apply the theories of self talk and self efficacy to sports performance appear promising. The self efficacy research has demonstrated that expectations of success influence performance. As yet, little attention has been paid to the second part of Bandura's theory: the effect of outcome expectations on performance.

The sporting environment is often complex with the athlete frequently required to make numerous decisions. Decision making has been studied in a range of settings (e.g., medical decision making, jury decisions etc.) but has been largely ignored by sports psychologists. Issues relating to the decision making of the athlete are discussed.

Classroom management rates highly as one of the major concerns and problems experienced by techers. Unfortunately, evidence of the extent and nature of management problems, particularly data related to behaviourally and emotionally disturbed children in classrooms is conflicting. The result is that differences in opinion exist as to the complexity and magnitude of the interventions required to deal with such children. This study investigates the proposition that extreme behaviour problems are rare in primary classrooms and that procedures for preventive management are sufficiently powerful to alleviate most classroom behaviour disturbances.

Many psychologists are becoming involved in helping sportspeople to prepare for competition. These psychologists have a number of techniques at their disposal and one of these is hypnosis. There are benefits in using hypnosis with sportspeople but some misconceptions about its nature need to be overcome. This article outlines how hypnosis has been introduced and used at the South Australian Sports Institute and consideration is given to how it can be used with other techniques, to help sportspeople achieve their goals. Two case studies are presented, together with guidelines on the use of hypnosis in an applied sport psychology setting.

A home-based reinforcement programme was implemented to decrease classroom rule violations by a 16-year-old boy with a long history of disruptive behaviour in a secondary school classroom. The critical features of the intervention are described and discussed, including the fading procedure employed to maintain the behavioural gains exhibited during the programme's operation. The usefulness of minimal interventions, such as home-based reinforcement programmes, in the management of problem behaviour in schools is discussed, and comment is made on some possible benefits to behavioural practice of the collaborative style of intervention exemplified.

Self-help books on behavioural and general psychological techniques for sport competitors have proliferated in recent years. As with self-help books in general, there is concern over the validity of these books and their ability to help an athlete develop positive and lasting changes in cognitive and behavioural control skills. This article looks at some of the current issues for behavioural self-help in general, and examines three popular self-help books for athletes. They are examined both from the point of view of independent use by the athlete, and from that of their use as adjuncts to face-to-face therapy.

Two case studies are described where in vivo practice was applied to needle phobia and associated vasovagal fainting. Substantial improvements in self-efficacy, anxiety and performance were obtained. Treatment gains generalised to other settings and were maintained at three to six months foliowup. In vivo practice is recommended for further research into needle phobias.

The membership of the ABMA was analysed by way of profession and this showed that the membership was comprised mainly of psychologists. The issue of whether psychologists ought share their behavioural skills with other professions was addressed with reference to the literature on training in behavioural skills. The conclusion was drawn that it was appropriate for a variety of professional groups to be trained in behavioural skills that are typical of the function of what Bernstein (1982, 1984) called the “the behavioural engineer” or what Gardner (1973, 1976) called the “behavioural technician”. Finally it was argued that the ABMA should be actively involved in the teaching of these skills.