Real‐world word learning: Exploring children's developing semantic representations of a science term

Assessments of lexical acquisition are often limited to preschool children on forced‐choice comprehension measures. This study assessed the nature of the understandings 30 school‐age children (mean age = 6;7) acquired about the science term eclipse following a naturalistic exposure to a solar eclipse. The knowledge children acquired about eclipses and a control term comet was assessed at three points in time (baseline‐test, 2‐week post‐test and 5‐month post‐test) using a range of assessment tasks (multiple‐choice comprehension, picture‐naming, drawing and a model solar system manipulation task). Children's knowledge at the baseline‐test and 2‐week post‐test was compared with that of 15 adult controls. The analysis focused on the range of knowledge children acquired about eclipses and the relationships between aspects of knowledge they acquired. We found that children acquired extensive knowledge about eclipses, but not comets. At the 2‐week post‐test, the majority of children were able to produce the term eclipse and provided evidence of accurate comprehension and wider conceptual knowledge about solar eclipses, which was retained at the 5‐month post‐test. Further, children's ability to produce the term was related to their acquisition of ‘rich’ semantic and conceptual knowledge.     

Identity‐based motivation: Constraints and opportunities in consumer research

This commentary underscores the integrative nature of the identity-based motivation model (Oyserman, D. (2009). Identity-based motivation: Implications for action-readiness, procedural-readiness, and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19(3) (this issue)). We situate the model within existing literatures in psychology and consumer behavior, and illustrate its novel elements with research examples. Special attention is devoted to, 1) how product- and brand-based affordances constrain identity-based motivation processes and, 2) the mindsets and action tendencies that can be triggered by specific cultural identities in pursuit of consumer goals. Future opportunities are suggested for researching the antecedents of product meanings and relevant identities.     

A task‐ and role‐based perspective on super‐recognizers: Commentary on ‘Super‐recognizers: From the lab to the world and back again’

This article provides a commentary on recent work by Ramon et al. (2019, British Journal of Psychology) on super‐recognizers. The commentary advocates a task‐ and role‐based approach to SR research and greater collaboration between researchers and the applied community.     

The role of perspective in locating position in a real‐world,unfamiliar environment

This paper reports an exploration of how perspective information contributes to localizing and orienting oneself in a real‐world, unfamiliar environment. Participants were asked to recognize their positions on a three‐dimensional map by observing real buildings from different perspectives set at viewpoints between 0° and 180° from a starting position. Results showed that participants were able to use remembered perspective information to locate their subsequent, different position in the correct area of space. They also showed a linear increase in rotation times as the angular distance increased between initially perceived perspective and test position. This finding suggests that the representation of the spatial information acquired from a real world large‐scale environment is orientation dependent. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The commodified self in consumer culture: a cross-cultural perspective

The author examined the premise that the pervasive consumer ideology in today's society has implications for the conceptions of self and others. She used structured interviews to assess conceptions of self and other and G. P. Moschis's (1978) questionnaire to measure consumer orientation among 76 U.S. and 62 Finnish college students. The principal hypotheses were (a) that the U.S. students would be more commodified than the Finnish students and (b) that the participants who were high in consumer orientation would be more likely than those lower in consumer orientation to see themselves and others in material terms and also to consider personal characteristics to have market values. The results supported both hypotheses.     

Incipient adult personality: The NEO‐PI‐3 in middle‐school‐aged children

This study administered the NEO Personality Inventory‐3 (NEO‐PI‐3), a more readable version of an adult measure of the Five‐Factor Model, to 449 boys and girls aged 12 and 13, who described themselves or a peer. Analyses of readability, reliability, factor structure, and convergent and discriminant validity suggested that the NEO‐PI‐3 can be appropriately used in this age group. Personality traits in children of this age closely resemble in structure and functioning the traits of older adolescents and adults. Most gender differences known from studies of adults are found in this age group, and mean levels show continuity with older groups. The NEO‐PI‐3 appears to be a useful instrument for research, and potentially for clinical applications, in middle‐school‐aged children.     

Justice and the belief in a just world: a developmental perspective

In the present study, the relationships among the developments of beliefs in a just world (BJW; i.e., a principle to perceive the world as orderly and just), moral development, and attitudes toward human rights were studied with Dutch adolescents. BJW were thought to be either coping cognitions or precursors of moral development that affect attitudes toward human rights. Across age such early moral conceptions were expected to be replaced by more sophisticated forms of reasoning enabling individuals to handle a world that is not orderly or just. In the study, 138 adolescents divided over three age groups participated (mean ages 13, 15, and 17 years). They were presented with the Scale for just world beliefs, the Defining Issue Test, and the Attitudes Toward Human Rights Inventory. No relationships could be demonstrated between BJW and moral development and attitudes toward human rights. The findings support the suggestion that BJW represent a coping mechanism.     

Identity‐based motivation: Implications for action‐readiness,procedural‐readiness,and consumer behavior

Choices are often identity-based but the linkage to identity is not necessarily explicit or obvious for a number of reasons. First, identities feel stable but are highly sensitive to situational cues. Second, identities include not only content but also readiness to act and to use procedures congruent with the identity. Third, identities can be subtly cued without conscious awareness. Fourth, what an accessible identity means is dynamically constructed in the particular context in which it is cued. Because identities carry action- and procedural-readiness, the outcome of an identity-based motivation process may be similar to or different from the choices an individual would have made in another setting. Moreover, once an identity is formed, action and procedural-readiness can be cued without conscious awareness or systematic processing, resulting in beneficial or iatrogenic outcomes.     

Psychotherapy training in a changing world: A Swedish perspective

The City and Hackney Primary Care Psychotherapy Consultation Service is an innovative, public sector service designed to support GPs in meeting the needs of patients with complex psychological/physical health issues throughout the London Boroughs of Hackney and the City. This paper provides an account of how this new model for the National Health Service (NHS) developed in the context of psychotherapy provision within the NHS, within the national and local context in the UK and gives an overview of some the service's key features and how it differs from other services operating in primary and secondary care. A linked paper, in this journal, explores the reality within which the service functions and describes clinical outcomes, health economic data, the modifications to the original model and prospects for the future.     

Effects of priming self‐construals on self‐evaluations: Cultural game player perspective

This study examined the validity of situational view on culture‐specific behaviours focusing on self‐evaluation. Two experiments with American students as samples were conducted to examine whether priming their self‐construals would affect individuals' self‐evaluation. In Experiment 1, the participants' self‐evaluation was compared across different conditions of primed self‐contruals. In Experiment 2, the participants were split into 2 groups based on their initial default self‐consturals and, the self‐evaluations were compared across the 2 groups after priming self‐contruals. The results demonstrated that although the participants' self‐evaluation was initially in accord with their default self‐construal, it changed into accord with the primed self‐construals. The findings supported the proposed cultural game player view. Implications on situational view of self‐evaluation are also discussed.     

Self‐esteem: a behavioural genetic perspective

Self‐esteem, the affective or evaluative appraisal of one's self, is linked with adaptive personality functioning: high self‐esteem is associated with psychological health benefits (e.g. subjective well‐being, absence of depression and anxiety), effective coping with illness, and satisfactory social relationships. Although several pathways have been hypothesized to effect within‐family transmission of self‐esteem (e.g. parenting style, family relationship patterns), we focus in this article on genetic influences. Genetic studies on both global and domain‐specific self‐esteem and on both level and stability of self‐esteem converge in showing that (i) genetic influences on self‐esteem are substantial, (ii) shared environmental influences are minimal, and (iii) non‐shared environmental influences explain the largest amount of variance in self‐esteem. We advocate that understanding of current issues in self‐esteem research will be enriched by including behavioural genetic approaches. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

This is Not a History Lesson; This is Agitation: A Call for a Methodology of Diffraction in US‐Based Community Psychology

Agitation, as deployed by the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), occurs when imaginations and curiosities are piqued, and self‐interest is made visible. In this framework, agitation is a step in creating change. In this paper, I outline two agitations within US‐based community psychology. I then describe a third agitation that is underway; I add my voice and call for a methodology of diffraction as a contribution to critical reflexivity practices within US‐based community psychology. Consistent with the IAF framework, I do not provide solutions. I write this paper as a provocation to help us think imaginatively and creatively about our actions and future, so that we can consider the paradigm shifts needed to move into critical ways of understanding connection, responsibility, accountability, and creating change—of interest during Swampscott and today.     

Suicides in the developing world: case study from Pakistan

There are no official data on suicide from Pakistan, a conservative South Asian Islamic country with traditionally low suicide rates. Both suicide and attempted suicide are illegal acts, as well as socially and religiously condemned, making research in this area difficult. Recent reports suggest an increase in suicide rates. In this study, police data from the Sindh province were examined to provide a unique picture of trends of suicide over 15 years (1985-1999). During this period there were 2,568 reported suicides (71% men, 39% women; ratio 1.8). The lowest number was 90 in 1987 and maximum was 360 in 1999. Poisoning by organophosphates was the most common method followed by hanging. This study, although limited in scope, provides evidence of an increase in suicide rates in Pakistan, from one data source. There is urgent need for further research on suicide in Pakistan; interventions for suicide prevention in the country can then be planned.     

First‐perspective alignment effects in a computer‐simulated environment

In Experiment 1, participants explored two desktop, virtual environments (VEs), each comprising three city streets connected at right angles; for each participant one VE was open and one was enclosed. Following the first VE exploration, orientation estimates to remembered test locations were most accurate when participants imagined themselves aligned, rather than 90° misaligned or 180° or contra‐aligned, with the first part of the route. In the second VE, the effect was attenuated and the data pattern conformed to that anticipated from an orientation‐free memory. Experiment 2 followed the procedure of Experiment 1, but omitted the alignment tests after the first VE; following the second VE exploration, orientation estimates presented a similar pattern to those in first test of Experiment 1. These data are discussed in terms of cognitive load.     

Poverty in developing nations: a cross‐cultural attributional analysis

A survey of anti‐poverty activists and non‐activists in Canada and the Philippines was conducted to assess their beliefs about the causes of poverty in developing nations. Principal components analysis revealed that the respondents' poverty attributions could be distinguished along five main dimensions: exploitation, characterological weaknesses of the poor, natural causes, conflict, and poor government. Group breakdowns revealed several significant differences related to respondents' countries of residence and social ideologies. A path analysis suggested that attributions fully mediated the relationship between social ideology and participation in anti‐poverty activism. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The persons‐in‐relation perspective: Towards a philosophy for counselling in society

This paper is the first in a planned series, which aims to articulate and synthesise the persons‐in‐relation perspective in counselling and psychotherapy, drawing together the contributions of the philosopher John Macmurray, the psychotherapist Ian Suttie and the psychoanalyst Ronald Fairbairn. The paper introduces the persons‐in‐relation perspective, derived from Macmurray's work. It outlines the historical and cultural context leading to the emergence of modernism, and the response of personalism. It summarises John Macmurray's life and philosophy, focusing on his account of knowledge, its relation to the senses and the emotions, and his view of persons, society and religion. The paper goes on to develop a hypothesis about the rise of counselling in Britain, linking it to the decline of religion, the conflict between individualism and collectivism, and the re‐emergence of the persons‐in‐relation perspective. It concludes by posing challenges for the person‐centred and psychodynamic orientations, and for counselling as a whole.     

Occupational stereotypes: activation of male bias in a gender‐neutral world

The goal of the present study was to determine whether gender‐neutral language, used to replace male‐biased language, carries an implicit male bias. Participants read passages in which a target occupation was introduced using either male‐biased or gender‐neutral nouns. A target sentence followed defining the gender of the occupational character. In Experiment 1, participants read target sentences defining the character as a woman more slowly following passages that contained male‐biased nouns and gender‐neutral nouns. In Experiment 2, an additional sentence was added that defined the occupational character as a woman. This information eliminated the reading disruption in Experiment 1 demonstrating that gender‐neutral language can moderate against activation of gender stereotypes when combined with an explicit mention that the occupational character is female.     

Exploring consumer adoption of a high involvement eco‐innovation using value‐belief‐norm theory

Environmental problems are increasingly becoming everyday issues of international organizations, national governments, and individual consumers. In consumer behavior research considerable effort has been focused on understanding environmentally significant behaviors. One such research stream uses the value‐belief‐norm theory (VBN) to explain and predict a number of relatively low involvement proenvironmental consumer behaviors such as household energy use. However, many consumer behaviors with significant impact on the environment are categorized as high involvement behaviors where VBN theory has not yet been employed. The aim of this paper is to arrive at a better understanding of consumer adoption of a high involvement eco‐innovation using VBN theory. As an example of a high involvement eco‐innovation the alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) which runs on fossil oil‐alternative fuels such as electricity and biofuels is used. A representative sample of adopters and non‐adopters of these vehicles in Sweden were surveyed. Differences between adopters and non‐adopters on sociodemographic and VBN factors were analyzed and the explanatory ability of the different factors on adoption was analyzed using logistic regression. The results showed that early adopters had a higher level of education and were much more likely to live in multi‐person households compared to non‐adopters. In terms of attitudinal factors, adopters exhibited higher levels of proenvironmental values, beliefs, and personal norms (PNs). Furthermore the results established that VBN factors were successful in explaining the early adoption of a high involvement eco‐innovation such as the AFV. The implications for consumer research, public policymakers, and for marketers of eco‐innovations are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.