Coping as a building mechanism to explain the unique association of affect and goal motivation with changes in affective states

Background and objectives: In this study, we examined the mediating role of university students’ coping strategies in the unique/additive influence of affective states and goal motivation on upward changes in affect during a midterm exam period. Design: Using a short-term prospective design, key assumptions from the self-concordance model and the broaden-and-build theory were drawn upon to determine whether coping strategies are influenced by goal motivation and affective states, while also subsequently influencing short-term changes in affective states during a semester. Method: A sample of 272 students (79% females and 21% males) participated in a study in which they completed questionnaires twice during the semester. Results: Results of structural equation modeling, using a true latent change approach, have generally supported our hypotheses. Positive affective states and autonomous goal motivation prospectively predicted task-oriented coping which, in turn, was associated with increases in positive affect. Negative affective states and controlled goal motivation prospectively predicted disengagement-oriented coping which, in turn, was associated with increases in negative affect. Conclusion: Coping partially mediates the unique association of affect and goal motivation with changes in affective states of university students.     

Importance models of the physical self: Improved methodology supports a normative‐cultural importance model but not the individual importance model

We examine theoretical and methodological issues associated with the roles of individual and group‐normative importance in self‐esteem determination. Critical issues include multicollinearity among the physical self‐subdomains, which may have affected previous results, and the need for a multidimensional perspective on importance models. We apply state‐of‐the‐art methodologies, including exploratory structural equation modelling and the product‐of‐indicators approach to latent interactions. Positive interactions would be required to support the individually importance‐weighted average model, but none were observed in the multidimensional model estimated on the full sample. Nonetheless, some interaction effects were found in the country‐specific version of the model. Rather, we found support for the alternative group importance‐weighted average model. We conclude that domain‐specific self‐concepts are weighted differently and thus differentially affect self‐esteem, but these weights do not seem to depend on individual differences in importance. Although awaiting confirmation from further studies, our results suggest the idea that individuals use mainly normative importance processes based on cultural factors in weighting each domain‐specific component of self‐concept. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multitasking in the military: Cognitive consequences and potential solutions

Multitasking—the performance of several tasks at the same time—is becoming increasingly prevalent in workplaces. Multitasking is known to disrupt performance, particularly in complex and dynamic situations, which is exactly what most military occupations entail. Because military errors can be consequential, the detrimental impact of multitasking on cognitive functioning in such contexts should be taken seriously. This review pertains to high‐consequence military occupations that require strong multitasking skills. More specifically, it highlights cognitive challenges arising from different forms of multitasking and discusses their underlying cognitive processes. Because such challenges are not expected to diminish, this review proposes context‐relevant solutions to decrease occupational workload, either by reducing the cognitive load ensuing from the to‐be‐performed tasks or by improving soldiers' multitasking abilities. To ensure effective implementation of these solutions, we stress the need to design context‐adapted tools and procedures, and to guide human resource managers in developing particular strategies.     

Measuring working memory capacity in children using adaptive tasks: Example validation of an adaptive complex span

Working memory tasks designed for children usually present trials in order of ascending difficulty, with testing discontinued when the child fails a particular level. Unfortunately, this procedure comes with a number of issues, such as decreased engagement from high-ability children, vulnerability of the scores to temporary mind-wandering, and large between-subjects variations in number of trials, testing time, and proactive interference. To circumvent these problems, the goal of the present study was to demonstrate the feasibility of assessing working memory using an adaptive testing procedure. The principle of adaptive testing is to dynamically adjust the level of difficulty as the task progresses to match the participant's ability. We used this method to develop an adaptive complex span task (the ACCES) comprising verbal and visuo-spatial subtests. The task presents a fixed number of trials to all participants, allows for partial credit scoring, and can be used with children regardless of ability level. The ACCES demonstrated satisfying psychometric properties in a sample of 268 children aged 8–13 years, confirming the feasibility of using adaptive tasks to measure working memory capacity in children. A free-to-use implementation of the ACCES is provided.     

Can pupillometry index auditory attentional capture in contexts of active visual processing?

The rare presentation of a sound that deviates from the auditory background tends to capture attention, which is known to impede cognitive functioning. Such disruption is usually measured using performance on a concurrent visual task. Growing evidence recently showed that the pupillary dilation response (PDR) could index the attentional response triggered by a deviant sound. Given that the pupil diameter is sensitive to several vision-related factors, it is unclear whether the PDR could serve to study attentional capture in such contexts. Hence, the present study aimed at verifying whether the PDR can be used as a proxy for auditory attentional capture while a visual serial recall task (Experiment 1) or a reading comprehension task (Experiment 2) – respectively producing changes in luminance and gaze position – is being performed. Results showed that presenting a deviant sound within steady-state standard sounds elicited larger PDRs than a standard sound. Moreover, the magnitude of these PDRs was positively related to the amount of performance disruption produced by deviant sounds in Experiment 1. Performance remained unaffected by the deviants in Experiment 2, thereby implying that the PDR may be a more sensitive attention-capture index than behavioural measures. These results suggest that the PDR can be used to assess attentional capture by a deviant sound in contexts where the pupil diameter can be modulated by the visual environment.     

The Work of Words: Poetry,Language and the Dawn of Community

Topoi - This essay explores the ontological movement of poetry, its language and words, by establishing a dialogue with the thought of three Japanese thinkers, Ki no Tsurayuki, Motoori Norinaga and...     

Analyse interlocutoire d’une plainte exprimée par une équipe mobile de soins palliatifs

This article points out the merits of conducting an interlocutory analysis of a group meeting held between two administrations of a questionnaire. Here, the Company Climate Questionnaire was filled out individually by the members of the group before and after the meeting. Changed attitudes toward the supervisory staff were observed after the discussion. All participants were members of a mobile palliative care team at a university hospital. The verbal interaction analysis allowed us to identify the collaborative facet of the complaint that surfaced, and to determine what inter - subjective processes arising during the group discussion triggered the expressed changes of opinion.     

Restauration d’un contexte de libre choix et insertion professionnelle des allocataires du RMI

This study deals with the vocational rehabilitation of minimum wage integration beneficiaries (RMI) and their commitment with an assistance service of vocational rehabilitation. We postulate that these public is perceived like not very autonomous by the welfare workers and that their freedom of action is some reduced. So we studied the impact of a context of freedom on the course of these public. Two results appeared. Firstly, a high context of freedom increases the commitment of people towards the welfare workers. Secondly, we observed that context of freedom did not have impact on the vocational rehabilitation of the individuals recently registered in RMI device. Nevertheless, in a freedom context, people registered since longer had the same probability to success that people recently registered in RMI device.     

Paradoxical hypodoxes

Synthese - Most paradoxes of self-reference have a dual or ‘hypodox’. The Liar paradox (Lr = ‘Lr is false’) has the Truth-Teller (Tt = ‘Tt is true’)....