Profil motivationnel et performance sportive

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between motivation and performance in the sport domain based on self-determination theory (Deci, E.L., Ryan, R.M., 1985a. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Plenum, New York). Cluster analysis revealed the presence of three motivational profiles in a sample of French national tennis players (N = 127). Then, an analysis of variance revealed that sport performance differed across these three clusters. More specifically, results showed that a motivational profile characterized by moderate to high levels of autonomous and controlled motivations both at contextual and situational levels was conducive to the worst performances. Implications for future research as well as for athletes and their coaches are discussed.     

Étude comparative des profils motivationnels d’adolescents scolarisés en lycée d’enseignement général,technologique et professionnel

The present research investigated motivational profiles of high school students following general, technological or vocational education. The French educational system is defined by an implicit hierarchy: the general education is considered as the most prestigious one, while specific education such as technological or vocational education is perceived as more appropriated for students with learning difficulties. Those representations could induce differences in academic engagements’ reasons. Nine hundred and forty-seven French students (552 following general, 222 following technological and 173 vocational education) completed the French version of the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS, Vallerand, Blais, Brière, & Pelletier, 1989). The AMS assesses various types of motivation defined by self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2002). Cluster analysis revealed three distinctive motivational profiles present in all three types of education. In the first cluster, students’ scores were moderate in autonomous and controlled motivation and low in amotivation (moderate autonomous – controlled profile). The second cluster was characterized by high levels of autonomous and controlled motivation and a low amotivation (high autonomous – controlled profile). Finally, the third cluster was defined by a low autonomous motivation, a moderate controlled motivation and high level of amotivation (controlled profile). In addition, we found an impact of secondary education's type on academic motivation. Technological education was associated with the controlled profile, whereas adolescents involved in vocational education were more numerous in the high autonomous-controlled profile. Students following the general education were over-represented in moderate autonomous-controlled profile. The results presented above might be of a great interest to career counseling professionals and professors, especially if discussed in line with self-determination theory, in terms of motivational remediation.     

Généralisation de propriétés biologiques, physiques et comportementales chez l’enfant de cinq à neuf ans

This study is designed to examine how biological knowledge is organized and structured in children. Five- to nine-year-old children's interpretations of biological phenomena are studied by examining to what extent the transmission of different kinds of properties is perceived as being causally related to birth origins. A property generalization task is used, in which biological relations (birth origins) are pitted against adoptive relations. The characteristics to be generalized correspond to non-obvious biological characteristics, visible physic characteristics or behavioural characteristics. Our results show that five-year-old children do not understand the origin of these characteristics. A conceptual change seems to be at work by the age of seven but the delimitation of biological categories remains imperfect.     

Influence de la préparation d’une atteinte manuelle sur l’orientation initiale de l’attention lors d’une tâche de recherche visuelle

This paper deals with the links between spatial attention and reaching movement's motor preparation. During a visual search task, participants prepare to manually reach a button of the numeric keypad and execute it when they find an intruder on the screen. The experimental devices allowed us to control two directions: on the one hand, the direction of the response button's manual reach (on the horizontal plane) and on the other hand, the direction of the intruder's direct attentional reach, starting from the fixation point (on the vertical plane). The results show that: (a) reaction times are shorter when there is a directional congruence between these two directions than when there is incongruence; (b) this effect is significant when attention is voluntarily shifted, whereas it is no longer significant when attention is automatically captured by an intruder. These results suggest that visual search's initial direction is determined by the prepared manual reach. These data are discussed in the premotor theory of attention's framework.     

Le rôle de l’implication et des systèmes de croyances au sein des représentations sociales

The study presented in this article concerns the functioning of representational mechanisms in social thought. More specifically, its objective is to identify the role of variables covering psychosocial involvement and systems of belief within social representations. At the interface between the individual and the group, these variables are considered here because of their status as explanatory variables of social thought. By analyzing the representation of human rights, we hypothesize that the level of involvement and the type of beliefs developed toward the state (concepts of a democratic state versus a safe state) impact on the expression of this representation and the standpoints it creates. The survey was conducted by questionnaire with a student population (315 participants). The main results, which are consistent with our hypotheses, provide evidence of an influence of the variables tested on the expressiveness of the representation of human rights. On the one hand, they reveal how an involvement developed in this subject and the social beliefs attached to the role of the state come to particularize the meaning of this representation, especially concerning its principles of equality. On the other hand, the results demonstrate the activity of ideological processes – political in content – which intervene in the realization of the representation. Through these processes, the results show a stronger influence of social beliefs than of psychosocial involvement on the representation studied.     

Effets de l’âge et de la capacité de mémoire de travail sur l’exécution d’instructions de complexité variable chez des adultes jeunes et âgés

Technical devices are part of elderly people's daily life. Meanwhile, research has not yet systematically explored how old people understand procedural instructions accompanying these devices. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate how age and memory span affect how people follow procedural instructions. To do so, the Reading Span Test of Daneman & Carpenter (1980) and an adaptation of the Kaplan & White's (1980) following directions game were administrated to young and older adults. The Reading Span Test was administrated in order to determine the participants’ memory span size. Then, participants had to follow procedural instructions with a growing complexity displayed on a computer screen. Results show that participants’ age and instructions complexity affect how the instructions are performed. Old adults encounter more difficulty performing the task than young adults. Furthermore, whatever the age, as the complexity of instructions increases, low-span participants have more difficulty performing instructions than high-span participants do.     

Qualité de vie des enfants asthmatiques : impact du sentiment d’efficacité personnelle, du ressenti des enfants, et de la gestion de l’asthme par les parents

The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of children's self-efficacy, attitudes and their parent's asthma management on quality of life among children suffering from asthma. One hundred and forty-six children (8-12 years old) with moderate to severe asthma filled in a quality of life questionnaire, and a self-efficacy and attitudes scales; 92 parents completed the childhood asthma self-management scale. Results show that the children's negative feelings about asthma and the parents’ difficulties to manage asthma are linked to a worse quality of life; the children's self-efficacy influences both positively and negatively children's quality of life. The development of parents’ asthma management program should enhance their children's quality of life.