How does it feel to become a teacher? Emotions in teacher education

Academic emotions are central ingredients in student teachers’ learning. They have been shown to affect cognitive performance, motivation and achievement (e.g. Linnenbrink-Garcia et al. in Contemp Educ Psychol 36(1):13–24, 2011). However, until recently the role of emotions in student teachers’ learning has largely been neglected (e.g. Ketonen and Lonka in Proc Soc Behav Sci 69(24):1901–1910, 2012). The study focused on exploring the spectrum of academic emotions experienced by 19 student teachers in different academic activities. The results showed that student teachers experience a wide variety of emotions during their studies. A total of 18 different positive emotions and 20 different negative emotions were reported. They explicated more positive than negative emotions. Further investigations showed that student teachers reported more emotional experiences embedded in individual activities than in social activities. The results implied that the spectrum of academic emotions experienced by student teachers is wider than previous literature suggests, and that student teachers experience a wide range of academic emotions in various academic activities provided by teacher education.     

How does it feel? Workplace bullying,emotions and musculoskeletal complaints

The present study examines experienced emotions among self-labelled victims of ongoing workplace bullying and tests whether emotions mediate the relationship between exposure to bullying and health in the form of musculoskeletal complaints. A total of 1,024 employees from a Norwegian public transport company participated in the study, in which 116 self-labelled victims were identified. Ten positive and 10 negative emotions were measured (PANAS). The results showed significant differences in emotional experiences between victims and non-victims regarding all 10 negative emotions and one out of 10 positive emotions. Victims felt less "interested" and more "afraid," "upset," "angry," "guilty," "nervous," "hostile," "frustrated," "ashamed," "scared" and "stressed" than did non-victims. Further, the results pointed to both positive and negative emotions as mediators of the relationship between exposure to bullying and musculoskeletal complaints. In particular the negative emotion "stress" acted as a significant mediator regarding this relationship. Hence, emotions seem to be central to understanding the detrimental effects of bullying on the victims' health.     

How many IRT parameters does it take to model psychopathology items?

The authors compared the fit of the 2- and 3-parameter logistic models (2PLM; 3PLM) on 15 unidimensional factor scales derived from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--Adolescent item pool. Log-likelihood chi-square deviance tests indicated that a 3PLM provided an improved fit. However, residual statistics indicated that the difference in fit between the 2 models was negligible. An unexpected finding was that from 10% to 30% of the items had substantial lower asymptote parameters (c > or = .10) when the scales were scored in the pathology or nonpathology directions. The authors argue that the large lower asymptote parameters are attributable to item-content ambiguity possibly caused by item-level multidimensionality. These findings suggest that the direction of scoring can critically affect an item response theory analysis.     

How do you feel?

Does your heart pound because you feel afraid, or do you feel afraid because your heart is racing? This question is the crux of a century-old controversy, stemming from a proposal by William James. A recent neuroimaging study addresses this issue and suggests that the functional connectivity of the insula could provide the key to resolving the debate.     

Happiness: When does it lead to self-indulgence and when does it lead to self-denial?

Previous research on self-gratification in children has found that happiness, compared to a neutral affective state, sometimes causes self-indulgence and sometimes causes self-denial. Review of this research led to the hypothesis that happiness leads to self-indulgence when children have no reason to believe that excessive self-gratification is morally wrong but that happiness promotes selfdenial when children fear that excessive self-gratification would violate a moral rule. In the present study, children were first placed in either a happy or neutral mood. They were then given an opportunity to help themselves freely to a reward supply, but half the children in each affect condition were warned that excessive self-gratification would violate a moral rule whereas the other half were not. In the absence of information that excessive self-gratification would violate a moral standard, happiness produced self-indulgence, but when children were told that excessive self-gratification would be wrong, happy children denied themselves significantly more than neutral-mood children. It was suggested that happiness motivates children to try to sustain their elevated mood; the behavioral route to maintaining positive mood, however, depends on how children perceive the moral implications of their actions.     

How does the hippocampus contribute to memory?

Recently, Wirth et al. reported that hippocampal neurons signal the acquisition of new associations by altering the selectivity of their responses to crucial stimuli. The course of these changes was gradual, with some neurons recruited before, others at the time of, and yet others shortly after learning. These observations suggest the hippocampus might contribute to memory by identifying consistencies across experiences that constitute important new associations.     

How does frustration make you feel? A motivational analysis in exercise context

Not all exercisers experience the same psychological benefits. The understanding of motivational processes and their relation with emotional consequences of exercise should be considered in the context of the exercisers motivation. This was a cross-sectional study of 153 gym users (M?=?36.21 years, SD?=?8.44; 44.9% men, 55.1% women; M years exercise?=?8). Weekly attendance averaged 4.3 (SD?=?2.6) sessions per week; reported exertion intensity was 5.6 (SD?=?2.1) (scale: 0–11). The basic psychological needs (BPNs) posited by self-determination theory, motivational regulation, and emotional response to physical activity, were measured. Possible mediators of BPN-emotion relationships were analyzed. BPN satisfaction was associated with a positive emotional response to exercise which was partially mediated by the effect of autonomous regulation on positive activation and psychological well-being. Mediation models indicated that the negative effects of BPN frustration were counteracted by autonomous regulation. Exercise professionals should be able to create psychologically supportive contexts and identify behaviors associated with need frustration so as to enhance emotional responses to exercise.     

Asperger syndrome: How does it relate to non‐verbal learning disability?

The syndrome of non‐verbal learning disabilities (NLD) is associated with prominent non‐verbal deficits such as reduced perceptual and spatial abilities, against a background of relatively intact verbal abilities. Asperger syndrome is one of the several developmental disorders for which Byron Rourke has claimed that almost all the signs and symptoms of NLD are present. This study investigated the claim utilizing a battery of neuropsychological tests that were found to be sensitive to NLD in the original learning disordered populations used to describe the syndrome. Children aged between 8 and 14 were recruited to form two groups: (1) children with Asperger syndrome (N=14) and (2) normal healthy schoolchildren (N=20). By contrast to the main principle outlined in the NLD model, children with Asperger syndrome did not display a relative difficulty with spatial‐ or problem‐solving tasks; indeed, they displayed significantly higher performance on some non‐verbal tasks in comparison with verbal tasks. It was only in relation to their high levels of psychosocial and interpersonal difficulties, which are also predicted on the basis of their psychiatric diagnosis, that the children with Asperger syndrome were clearly consistent with the NLD model in this study. These results raise questions about the relevance of the syndrome of NLD for children with Asperger syndrome.     

What does it mean to trust blockchain technology?

This paper argues that the widespread belief that interactions between blockchains and their users are trust-free is inaccurate and misleading, since this belief not only overlooks the vital role played by trust in the lack of knowledge and control but also conceals the moral and normative relevance of relying on blockchain applications. The paper reaches this argument by providing a close philosophical examination of the concept referred to as trust in blockchain technology, clarifying the trustor group, the structure, and the normatively loaded nature of this trust relation. The paper ends by critically reflecting on two of the most promising values (decentralization and transparency) that can invite users’ trust in blockchain technology, arguing that there is a tension between the pressing values that are intended to be achieved by developers and the predicament situations caused by current blockchain implementations.     

Social understanding: How does it fare with advancing years?

Until recently, theory of mind abilities have received little attention beyond the childhood years. However, pioneering work carried out by Happé, Winner, and Brownell (1998) has opened the doors on a new and exciting area of research that examines theory of mind abilities in later years. Happé et al. reported that theory of mind performance was superior in the elderly. Yet, in direct contrast to these findings, Maylor, Moulson, Muncer, and Taylor (2002) report a decline in theory of mind abilities with advancing years. We used Happé et al.'s task and, like Maylor et al., found a decline in theory of mind abilities in the elderly. Yet this deficit was related to a decline in fluid abilities. We then examined whether deficits in social understanding in the elderly could also be independent of fluid abilities. We used two new tasks; identifying emotions from still photos and identifying emotions and cognitions from video clips. Again we found a decline in social understanding in the elderly, and in this case, the decline was independent of changes in fluid abilities.     

What does it mean to be human? How salience of the human category affects responses to intergroup harm

Two studies explore how salience of the human category influences responses to intergroup harm and how different images of humanity modify these effects. In Study 1, British participants (n = 86) contemplated acts of terrorism against their group. When the human category (versus intergroup distinctions) was salient and when the prevailing image of humanity was malevolent (versus benevolent), participants were not only more understanding of terrorism, blamed this less on religious group memberships, but also more strongly endorsed the use of extreme force by countries to defend their boarders, preserve the peace and prevent future attacks. In Study 2, British participants (n = 83) contemplated the torture of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers. When the human category was salient and the prevailing image of humanity was malevolent, participants experienced less guilt and justified torture more. We conclude that the effects of human category salience on interpretations of intergroup harm depend on what it means to be human. When human nature is perceived negatively, thinking in terms of the human category can normalise intergroup harm regardless of whether the outgroup or the ingroup is the perpetrator. Implications for re‐categorisation approaches to conflict reduction are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What does it take for context to support action memory?

Previous research on the relation between context and action memory has given ambiguous results. Some experiments have found positive context effects, whereas other experiments have failed to demonstrate a context effect in action memory. Under nonmotor encoding conditions orderly action-locus pairings have been found to yield better recall than random pairings, this not being the case with motor encoding (Helstrup, 1989 a ). Three new experiments explored whether memory for loci could be linked with memory for action–using modified replications. The first experiment provided item-specific reasons for the action-locus connections, whereas the second experiment used a whole-list relational context task. Both experiments indicated that contexts can influence action memory also under enactment conditions, with strongest effect for whole-list contexts. The third experiment demonstrated how a positive context effect can be removed when the functional value of whole-list relational support cues is reduced.