Le statut de la critique en psychologie du travail : une clinique de l’activité

The first purpose of the article is to take advantage of observations made on the status of criticism in sociology. This involves a diagnosis on the state of work psychology. The aim is to alter the trend of criticism and support a clinical approach to activity derived from Vygotski's research. The idea of critical psychology as a self-sufficient line of study is invalidated. An example is developed in order to describe the operating method. The last part of the article is devoted to a brief discussion of Beauvois's recent theories.     

L’effet d’une similarité fortuite entre deux individus sur le comportement d’imitation

A host of studies in social psychology showed that we mimic the verbal and nonverbal behaviors of our counterparts, particularly when we need to interact with them or when we appreciate them. For scientists, mimicry could serve as facilitator in interpersonal relations between strangers or between people who expressed the desire to strengthen their relations. Three experiments were carried out that show that incidental similarity (same birthday date, same first-name, and same finger-prints) between a participant and a target presented on a videotape is associated with an increase in mimicry of nonverbal behavior of the target. The theory of the desire of affiliation is used to explain the link between similarity and mimicry in our social interactions.     

Communication engageante et représentations sociales : une application en faveur de la protection de l’environnement et du recyclage

The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of several communication strategies, by articulating the binding communication paradigm and the social representation theory, in order to encourage young sportsmen to act for environmental protection. A pilot study made it possible to identify central and peripheral elements of the social representation of environmental protection. An experiment was conducted and the results conform to our expectations. On one hand, the participants in the binding communication situation express attitudes and behavioral intentions more favorable towards recycling and environmental protection than those who only read the persuasive message. On the other hand, the activation of central elements involves more important changes in attitudes and behavioral intentions than the activation of peripheral elements.     

La production et la compréhension de références dans les théories psychologiques actuelles du dialogue

Dialogue is a joint activity during which at least two partners interact in order to reach a common goal. Throughout the interaction, each speaker resorts to a number of processes, which contribute to dialogue success. Several theoretical approaches have been developed in order to account for these processes. Among these approaches, the collaborative approach can be considered as the most influent one in the field. This approach offers a global framework for dialogue by pointing out that interactively building up mutual knowledge allows partners to adapt to each other during the remainder of the interaction. This implies that speakers frequently resort to costly inferential processes to determine what their partner is likely to know and what he or she is also likely to ignore. However, this approach has seriously been challenged by the egocentric approach, which suggests that speakers sometimes fail to take into account their partners’ dialogic needs. Furthermore, recent work within this approach has pointed out that adaptation is not systematically necessary for dialogue to succeed – rather, individual processes at play within each speaker incidentally contribute to mutual understanding. The probabilistic approach offers a means to overcome the apparent discrepancy between collaboration and egocentrism by showing how the processes at play during reference production and comprehension may be simultaneously affected by both kinds of influences. Moreover, the relative weighting of each kind of influence depends on the characteristics of the dialogue situation per se: speakers are more or less likely to act collaboratively depending on the situation they find themselves in. Finally, the interactive alignment model offers a qualitatively different framework for dialogue, as it suggests that most dialogic behaviors can be accounted for by one single automatic process. The aim of the current review is to provide a thorough presentation of each of these approaches, and to determine to what extent they are compatible with each other, on one hand and how they differ, on the other. We also raise the question of the apparent easiness of dialogue, looking at how – according to each approach – speakers deal with the individual and collective costs inherent in dialogue. We finally point out a number of issues that remain to be addressed in this research field.     

Plaidoyer pour une neuropsychologie interculturelle en France

By referring to historical, empirical and ethical data, this article aims primarily at encouraging the emergence of cross-cultural neuropsychology in France. In the second part of the article, we extracted meaningful data in the literature and referred to clinical practices in other countries, to propose recommendations targeting student training, clinical practice and scientific research. We also insist on the importance of privileging interactions between these three axes in order to propose training and tools in adequacy with the reality of clinical practice. These recommendations cannot as such response directly to difficulties encountered by clinicians. However, they can contribute to the reflection for rendering French neuropsychology effective in supporting ethnically diverse populations.     

Étude des déterminants personnels du comportement scolaire de l'élève : test d'un modèle structural

This study aims to grasp and understand the role of some personal features and some dynamical mechanisms of the personality in the determination of the pupil's academic behaviour. A general model is developed and tested, on a sample of 336 elementary school pupils, with respect to three principles: causal order, association and non-artificiality. The data analysis is then refined by developing a structural model. The results prove that the dynamical mechanisms of the personality relating to the affective entry characteristics should be considered as dependent and independent variables. They allow to identify the principal personal determinants of pupil rowdyism, reaction toward class, making friends and academic achievement.     

La révision du texte : une activité de contrôle et de réflexion

Recent proposals in the field of text revision reveal significant changes in perspective concerning cognitive processes involved in writing. Whereas revision has been considered for a long time as being aimed at enhancing writing, this activity is now seen as a control of the different writing processes. Thus, planning is now added to this control process. Our review shows how results of novel studies strengthen this conception and in which way further researches should be pursued. In particular, we focus on three issues: training of control performed by expert writers, the cognitive cost of the required cognitive treatments and the conditions which permit to increase this control among writers during learning.     

Impact du type de buts et du sentiment d'auto-efficaciaté sur l'autorégulation et la performance dans une tâche cognitive

The aim of this study was to examine two hypotheses derived from theoretical models of the role of learning and performance goals in cognitive functioning. The first predicts that being highly focused on performance goals leads students to develop lower levels of self-efficacy than those who are less focused on performance. The second hypothesis predicts that the combination of high performance goals and low self-efficacy will have a negative impact on students' self-regulation and performance in a new task. After having filled out a questionnaire assessing their goals, 128 female students were met individually and asked to solve a verbal concept formation task. Self-efficacy was assessed prior to the resolution of the task during which self-regulation and performance were observed. Contrary to the first hypothesis, students having high performance goals were found to have higher self-efficacy than those having low goals. In addition, no interaction between self-efficacy and performance goals was found on self-regulation and performance on the task. The results showed that whatever students' goals, self-efficacy is a powerful determinant of self-regulation and performance. The discussion emphasizes the role of self-efficacy and the value of a motivational profile combining high concern for both performance and learning goals in cognitive functioning.     

Produire et réviser la morphologie flexionnelle du nombre : de l'accès à une expertise

To understand how children and adults produce written text, you must first be able to describe how they acquire some basic mechanisms. This is the reason to study the acquisition and use of simple orthographic principles. Following this idea, the research of Largy, Fayol et al. concerns nominal and verbal agreement in French. This article proposes a synthesis of the recent development in this domain. Through the study of two competences to be acquired by the writer — (1) to produce the flexional morphology of number in written text and (2) to revise and judge the correctness of this production — this article presents and discusses in which way the learner access to a writing expertise, always relative.     

Introduction. Esquisse d’une approche intégrative du concept d’addiction : regards croisés

Referring to the respective scientific preoccupations about the concept of addiction in the French laboratories of psychology specializing in the concept of addiction, this introduction proposes to sum up the main theoretical backgrounds in this area and to discuss its respective impact and similarities. Definitions, classifications and theoretical models are presented according to those described in the articles of this special issue. These articles mainly refer to the scientific backgrounds of psychopathology, clinical psychology and health psychology. Its respective contributions are discussed on the one hand, referring to theoretical point of views and, on the other hand, in order to propose any subsequent applications for future researches and psychological perspectives for the prevention, detection and the treatment of addictive behaviors.     

Histoire et tendances de la psychologie critique en Amérique du Nord

Critical psychology in the United States and Canada identifies psychology as inherently a political enterprise. It has developed along three overlapping but distinct lines that diverge in history, focus, and purpose: (a) building on psychology's empirical research methods, employing them to help reduce injustice and advance progressive or radical social change; (b) rejecting mainstream psychology's positivist and individualistic theoretical and empirical underpinnings and developing emancipatory theory and practices in their place; and (c) challenging psychology's institutional power over individuals, especially mentally and emotionally troubled individuals whose behavior strikes others as problematic. This article first describes each approach's history, influences, and roles in academic scholarship and institutions and in professional and nonacademic organizations. It then details recent efforts to expand and institutionalize a critical psychology presence despite mainstream North American psychology's strong resistance, while noting the central intertwining of personal networks, political leanings, and psychological theory. Finally, it briefly considers the implications and consequences of the lack of consensus about what critical psychology is and should become.