When “different” means “worse”: In-group prototypicality in changing intergroup contexts

An experiment with 213 participants provided evidence for in-group projection—the generalization of distinctive in-group attributes to a superordinate category. The frame of reference for in-group (German) judgments was manipulated by presenting either Italians or the British as an out-group. Results showed that attributes on which Germans differed from each out-group were accentuated not only in in-group judgments but also when judging Europeans. By adapting features of the superordinate category to those of the in-group, the in-group's similarity to, and the out-group's deviation from, the prototype of the superordinate category were maintained, if not emphasized. Further, higher in-group prototypicality—compared to out-group prototypicality—for the superordinate category was related to negative out-group attitudes. In-group projection was reduced when a complex representation of the superordinate category was primed.     

“Telling tales”: Using narrative in career guidance

In this article the authors argue for the importance of narrative-based approaches in career guidance work in an uncertain, unpredictable world. This requires a paradigmatic shift in thinking that can be too difficult, at present, for some practitioners. The article reports on the first phase of a collaborative project with a group of practitioners – working in guidance in schools and with young people in public access points – to develop and evaluate narrative methods. Our analysis highlights the usefulness of the approach, but also reveals tensions derived from the working cultures of career guidance practitioners.     

Espace phobo-obsessionnel : le paradigme du taijin kyofusho

Taijin kyofusho, frequent in Japan, is a trouble characterized by fear of offending others by an inappropriate behavior or a physical appearance. We bring out three puzzles that are raised by the clinical elements and the cultural factors involved in this trouble: 1) the anxiety is for other persons and not for the Self; 2) the anxiogenic situations are concerned with a presence of acquaintances and never of complete strangers; 3) those situations are related to the spatialized image of the Self given to the others. To cast light on these puzzles, we use the conceptual framework of representational spaces, which allow to describe the subjective universe that can be displayed from memory. We underline the transcultural value of some aspects of taijin kyofusho.     

Evidence for ‘motionese’: modifications in mothers’ infant‐directed action

We investigated the possibility that mothers modify their infant‐directed actions in ways that might assist infants’ processing of human action. In a between‐subjects design, 51 mothers demonstrated the properties of five novel objects either to their infant (age 6–8 months or 11–13 months) or to an adult partner. As predicted, demonstrations to infants were higher in interactiveness, enthusiasm, proximity to partner, range of motion, repetitiveness and simplicity, indicating that mothers indeed modify their infant‐directed actions in ways that likely maintain infants’ attention and highlight the structure and meaning of action. The findings demonstrate that ‘motherese’ is broader in scope than previously recognized, including modifications to action as well as language.     

Cross-cultural differences in colour vision: Acquired ‘colour-blindness’ in Africa

We report a study of the incidence of ‘colour-blindness’ in southern and central Africa, and we compare the African data with data from various European groups. There was a surprisingly high incidence of tritan errors (yellow–blue defect). The likelihood of making tritan errors increased with age, and was greater in rural areas than in towns. In Europe, no tritan errors were made by samples from the U.K., Eire or Spain, but some tritan errors were made by a sample from southern Greece. In contrast, most of a British sample of people over sixty-five years old makes tritan errors. Although tritan errors were the most frequent, they were often accompanied by protan and deutan errors. This mixed pattern of errors is consistent with the condition being acquired rather than congenital. Many languages of southern Africa categorise blues and greens with the same term. If the tritanopia we report has been endemic, it may have reduced the ‘perceptual pressure’ to split the blue-with-green categories into separate blue and green terms; a speculation consistent with Rivers, W. H. R. (1901. Introduction to A. C. Haddon (Ed.), Reports on the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Straits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved..     

Protégés’ and mentors’ reactions to participating in formal mentoring programs: A qualitative investigation

Mentors and protégés from two formal mentoring programs were interviewed about the benefits associated with program participation, problems encountered in the program, and recommendations for program improvements. The most commonly reported benefits for protégés included learning, coaching, career planning, and psychosocial support. Mentors most frequently reported learning, developing a personal relationship, personal gratification, and enhanced managerial skills. Both groups identified a range of problems including mentor-protégé mismatches, scheduling difficulties, and geographic distance. Unique problems were also identified, including mentor neglect (by protégés), unmet expectations (by protégés), structural separation from the mentor (by protégés), and feelings of personal inadequacy (by mentors). Finally, suggestions for program improvement were identified such as clearer communication of program objectives, better matching, targeted participation in the program, and better program monitoring. Findings are discussed in terms of what we currently know about informal mentoring and implications for mentoring theory. Suggestions for mentoring practice are also discussed.     

Atlantis: a time‐value model in e‐commerce

This paper presents a model for resolving two main issues of time in e‐commerce. The first issue is the time value of e‐commerce that represents the value of each moment of the commerce time from the perspective of buyers and sellers. Buyers and sellers can use this model to calculate the time value at each moment of time and accordingly decide whether it is profitable to buy or sell at that moment. The second issue is to allow buyers or sellers to increase their savings or decrease their costs by changing each of the factors governing the time value model of the concerned e‐commerce. We present relevant model specifically for Amazon e‐commerce to present a proof of concept of our proposed models.     

儿童社会认识论:儿童对信息提供者的选择性信任

个体掌握的知识很多来自于他人的传授。从4岁起,儿童就意识到不同的信息提供者在可靠性上存在差异。他们根据与提供者间的熟悉程度、提供者过往陈词的准确性、以及来自他人的线索等策略对于信息提供者的可靠性进行评估,从而决定谁更值得信任。未来关于儿童对于信息提供者选择性信任的研究应从扩展探究的知识领域、对于信息提供者其他特征的操纵、以及潜在文化差异检验等方面进行。     

Le cartable électronique : sémantique de l'utilisabilité et aide aux apprentissages

A semantic usability approach was used for the ergonomic conception of the electronic schoolbag with Methods from Cognitive Psychology and Artificial Intelligence. A formal object-oriented analysis as well as the questioning and observing users provided principles as a guide for user-based conception. Similar results were found from both methods. They indicated how to build an easy-to-use interface that improves school apprenticeship.     

La professionnalité des psychologues : acquisition de compétences et processus de professionnalisation

The aim of this work is to study professions from a psychosocial perspective. As such, a semi-structured questionnaire was used to detect the “specific” and “transversal” competences of two professional groups: psychologists and educators. The results show the job seniority and the intervention area are the two elements, linked to the professional context, more involved into the development of the perception of oneself competence and consequently into professionalisation process. The psychologic dimensions, we supposed implied into the development of competence process - for example Self efficacy and Professional commitment - were competence premonitory elements, implied in the professionalisation process, too.