Thinking styles, self-esteem, and socio-economic status

The present study aimed at examining the nature of thinking styles. Six hundred and ninety-four students (ages ranging from 17–45) from the University of Hong Kong participated in the study. The participants responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory and the Self-Esteem Inventory (Adult Form) and provided a range of socio-economic status (SES) indicators. It was found that when age was controlled, thinking styles and self-esteem overlap. Furthermore, regardless of age, those students who reported using thinking styles that are creativity-generating and more complex, and those who reported higher self-esteem tend to be students from higher SES families. Discussion was made in relation to these findings' practical implications for teachers.     

School socio-economic status and student socio-academic achievement goals in upper secondary contexts

In recent years motivational researchers have spent considerable time examining race/ethnicity and gender differences in academic and social achievement goals, but little time examining the influence of socioeconomic status (SES). This lack of attention is surprising given that both student motivation and SES have been shown to predict academic attainment. This study surveyed the academic and social achievement goal orientations of 16–17 year old students (n = 130) attending two schools with markedly different socioeconomic profiles. Analyses showed significant differences between the schools on the academic achievement goal scales, with students at the low SES school less likely to endorse adaptive combinations of mastery and performance goals than their high SES counterparts. Students who did not expect to finish senior high school also endorsed social goals that may manifest as disruptive behaviours in the classroom. The findings suggest that SES may influence the adoption of academic achievement goals but not necessarily social achievement goals. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

Modification of coronary-prone behaviors in coronary patients of low socio-economic status

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a group cognitive-behavioral treatment to modify coronary-prone behaviors in patients from a fairly low social and educational level. Participants were 98 male coronary patients randomly allocated to one experimental and two control groups. All groups received standard medical treatment. The experimental group received an additional psychological treatment and one of the two control groups received a health education treatment. Results showed that only the psychological treatment group significantly reduced Pressured Drive and Speed-Impatience after treatment, and at 1- and 2-year follow-ups. Depression was also significantly reduced only in this group at 2-year follow-up. The results are considered a reliable first step in the process of validating this program designed to improve coronary heart disease patients' quality of life.     

Further consideration of the role of socio-economic status in memory performance

In his commentary, Richardson criticizes the analysis of the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and memory performance as presented by Herrmann and Guadagno (1997). Richardson's criticism addresses Herrmann and Guadagno's procedures for classifying economic backgrounds of subjects and the statistics they used to analyze the effects of SES and memory. We believe that all of these points are worth considering but suggest that it is too early in this research area to definitively settle on either (a) the best procedure for classifying SES or (b) the most effective statistical method for post-hoc analysis of memory data. The underlying issues are too complex and the number of investigations too few to argue that one procedure or method is right and the other wrong. Alternatively, Richardson's commentary agrees with ours in two important ways. Richardson's article and ours both assert that economic background is clearly a relevant variable in explaining memory performance. In addition, both articles recommend that memory and cognitive researchers take account of economic well being in future memory research. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infants’ behavioral styles in joint attention situations and parents’ socio-economic status

In this study the eco-cultural model of parenting (Keller, H. (2007). Cultures of infancy. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum) was applied to the study of joint attention behavior of children from families with different socio-economic status (SES). It was hypothesized that infants’ early communication styles would differ with SES reflecting more independent or interdependent interactions with their caregivers. It was also hypothesized that infants would use the same types of behaviors whether they have declarative or imperative communication goals. The Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS, Mundy et al., 2003) was administered to 103 typically developing infants of 12 months (approximately half of them siblings of children with autism). A factor analysis, yielding four behavioral factors, namely pointing, eye contact, actions and following points, confirmed the hypothesis that infants use behaviors consistently across situations independent of their communicative intent. MANOVAs (comprising parental education and income) revealed that higher SES infants showed actions more frequently in the ESCS whereas lower SES infants followed experimenter's points more frequently. The results are discussed in the context of presumably differing socialization goals for infants and the divergent contribution of parental education and income that seem to have additive contribution to some factors (actions, following points) but divergent contributions to others (pointing, eye contact).     

Speech style and occupational status affect assessments of eyewitness testimony

This study examined how speech style and occupational status affect mock jurors' assessments of eyewitness testimony. Mock jurors (n = 120) watched a video of a man testifying about witnessing an attempted robbery. The eyewitness exhibited either a powerless or powerful speech style and reported either a high or low (or no) status occupation during his testimony. Results indicated that high occupation status and powerful speech style led to more favorable evaluations of the eyewitness's testimony and of the case against the defendant than powerless speech style and low/no occupation status. Implications of these results on considerations of eyewitness testimony and future research are discussed.     

Ego identity status, identification, and decision-making style in late adolescents

Measures of identification with same-sex parent and decision-making style were administered to 30 male and 30 female late adolescents who had been classified by Marcia's (1964) criteria as either identity achieved, foreclosed, moratorium, or diffused. As predicted, male and female foreclosed subjects were more impulsive than were those in the other statuses, and male moratorium subjects were more reflective than others. However, female moratoriums were impulsive, and male and female diffused were reflective, findings which contradict theoretical expectation. Similarly, data on identification were mixed; female achieved subjects scored (as predicted) with higher identification than female moratorium or diffused subjects, while diffused males were highly identified with their fathers. One reason offered for the conflicting results is that identity formation is, as some have suggested, a different process for women than it is for men. Therefore, study of both genders with the same measures and hypotheses is not recommended.     

Thinking about smoking: A novel approach to describing cognitive style profiles

Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory (CEST) emphasizes the dual roles of rational and experiential thinking, with individuals having varying preferences for each style. This study explored the relationship between these constructs, illustrating the value of the derived model in addictive behavior, as illustrated by smoking. Data were extracted from a study of the predictors of men’s health behavior. Participants comprised 212 Australian men (aged 25–65 years) who completed a self-report questionnaire which assessed thinking styles and recorded smoking status. Rational and experiential data were subjected to cluster analysis and median splits to identify logical subgroups based on participants’ dual responses. The four derived clusters were more representative of smoking status than groups defined by median splits. In general, both smokers and ex-smokers preferred experiential thinking and non-smokers preferred rational thinking. There was a strong tendency for smokers to report both low rational and high experiential thinking. The use of cluster analysis advanced the evaluation of the interactive nature of rational and experiential thinking by allowing an empirical test of their potential relationship. The thinking profiles reported represent an advance in the assessment of CEST which may provide a useful model for applications in fields both related to, and beyond, addiction.     

Identity status and perceived parenting style in adolescents living in central South Africa

This study investigated the relationship between black South African adolescents’ identity statuses and their perceived parenting styles. Participants (n = 188; 66% = females) were from central South Africa. They completed the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status and the Parental Authority Questionnaire in addition to a biographic survey that included questions on their family structures (nuclear, extended, other types). Findings suggest that diffused and achieved identity statuses relate to perceived authoritative and permissive parenting styles respectively. Results bring into question the universality of Western identity development and parenting style theories.     

Personality,socio-economic status and education: factors that contribute to the degree of structure in homeschooling

Homeschooling has been expanding in many countries in the western world, especially in the United States and in England. Studies have shown that there are different types of homeschooling, with different influences on the outcome of the educational process. However, the research to date has ignored the effects of parents’ personality and background on the practice of homeschooling, despite extensive evidence of the important role of these factors in shaping the educational orientation of parents. The present study focused on the impact of different aspects of parents’ personality and socioeconomic status on the type of homeschooling they chose. The findings indicated, among other things, that mother’s education correlated positively with more structured homeschooling, and family income and conscientiousness both correlated positively with more structure in daily routine and in homeschooling.     

How predictions of economic behavior are affected by the socio-economic status of the target person

We investigate how the stereotype of the poor (vs. middle class) influences behavioral predictions. In Study 1, participants made predictions regarding another person’s economic behavior in scenarios pertaining to rate of time preferences (loss, gain of smaller and larger amount). We find that participants, across scenarios, expect individuals with low SES to show more short-sightedness—i.e., steeper temporal discounting. This pattern persisted until strong diagnostic information about previous economic behavior was provided. These results are novel but consistent with previous work on stereotype application. Study 2 probed stereotype accuracy. Participants with lower vs. higher SES reported how they would act in scenarios matching those of Study 1. We find that they respond very similarly, which is in contrast to the stereotype that poor people are more short-sighted and may possibly be taken to suggest that the association between low SES and short-sightedness is biased.     

Thinking disposition,thinking style,and susceptibility to causal illusion predict fake news discriminability

Acceptance of fake news is probably modulated by an intricate interplay of social, cultural, and political factors. In this study, we investigated whether individual-level cognitive factors related to thinking and decision making could influence the tendency to accept fake news. A group of volunteers responded to a COVID19-related fake news discrimination scale as well as to questionnaires assessing their thinking style (reflective vs. intuitive) and thinking disposition (actively open-mindedness). Furthermore, they completed a computerized contingency learning task aimed at measuring their tendency to develop a causal illusion, a cognitive bias leading to perceive causal connections between non-contingent events. More actively open-minded and more reflective individuals presented higher fake news discrimination scores. In addition, those who developed weaker causal illusions in the contingency learning task were also more accurate at differentiating between fake and legitimate news. Actively open-minded thinking was the main contributor in a regression model predicting fake news discrimination.