How goal instrumentality shapes relationship evaluations

Findings from 6 experiments support the hypothesis that relationship evaluations and behavioral tendencies are goal dependent, reflecting the instrumentality of significant others for the self's progress toward currently active goals. Experiments 1 and 3 found that active goals can automatically bring to mind significant others who are instrumental for the activated goal, heightening their accessibility relative to noninstrumental others. Experiments 2-5 found that active goals cause individuals to evaluate instrumental others more positively, draw closer to them, and approach them more readily, compared with noninstrumental others. Experiment 6 found that people who engage in goal-dependent interpersonal evaluations are more successful, receiving higher grades. Implications for understanding the social nature of self-regulation and the impact of personal goals on interpersonal relationships are discussed.     

The event reconstruction method: An efficient measure of experience‐based job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is predominantly measured as global attitudinal judgment which requires employees to summarize their experiences across different job situations. In contrast, experience‐based measures assess momentary thoughts and feelings of the employees in specific job situations. This paper introduces the event reconstruction method (ERM) as an efficient measure of experience‐based job satisfaction that is less invasive and less time consuming compared with traditional experience sampling methods. An initial validation study is reported with N=193 employees from a German wholesale company. As expected, job satisfaction measured with the ERM was different from attitudinal job satisfaction. Also, consistent with expectations, experience‐based job satisfaction was a better predictor of self‐reported helping behaviour, whereas attitudinal job satisfaction was a better predictor of turnover intentions. Finally, comparing the ERM results with the results of a similar study using a traditional experience sampling method ( Fisher, 2002 ) revealed very similar patterns.     

Beijing Calling... Mobile Communication in Contemporary China

Subsequently, with the recent wave of industrialization, China has become the “factory” of the globalized world. The modernization of this country, however, is not confined to the provision of production at a low added value: It also entails technological appropriation and innovation. In particular, China represents the biggest world market for mobile phones and will soon dominate the Internet market. In this country, the total number of mobile and fixed-line subscribers exceeds 750 million, and the total number of Internet users is more than 162 million. The present study focuses on how, after a decade of mobile phone use, the inhabitants of Beijing evaluate the changes in the social and communicative sphere as a result of the introduction of the mobile phone. In this paper, we present some results of a quantitative research, specifically focused on mobile communication. Based on face-to-face questionnaires administered to a convenient sample of 487 respondents, this study addresses the following research questions: After a decade of mobile phone use, how do Chinese people perceive the importance of this device? To what extent do the adoption and use of mobile phones increase or decrease social connectivity in contemporary China? To what extent does the use of mobile phones in everyday life enhance or reduce the communications – do they make you feel closer to or more distant from other people? What are the variables that predict users’ attitudes toward mobile phones in China?     

Anti-metaphysical reasoning and sociological approach: roads from nationalism to regionalism in the 19th–20th century Hungarian intellectual tradition

Some central issues of fin-de-siècle Hungarian philosophy and intellectual tradition can be retrieved from the writings of József Eötvös and his mid-nineteenth century contemporaries. An ambiguous attitude towards metaphysics, emphasis on sociological issues as well as a regional perspective are apparent in his texts prior to the emergence of the great fin-de-siècle generation of Hungarian intellectuals. They survived the Habsburg Empire thanks to the post-Monarchical literary tradition and Péter Esterházy’s works; they provided an adequate vocabulary for the Central European experience following the Soviet Era.     

On the participation of mTOR in recognition memory

Evidence indicates that activation of the neuronal protein synthesis machinery is required in areas of the brain relevant to memory for consolidation and persistence of the mnemonic trace. Here, we report that inhibition of hippocampal mTOR, a protein kinase involved in the initiation of mRNA translation, immediately or 180min but not 540min after training impairs consolidation of long-term object recognition memory without affecting short-term memory retention or exploratory behavior. When infused into dorsal CA1 after long-term memory reactivation in the presence of familiar objects the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin (RAP) did not affect retention. However, when given immediately after exposing animals to a novel and a familiar object, RAP impaired memory for both of them. The amnesic effect of the post-retrieval administration of RAP was long-lasting, did not happen after exposure to two novel objects or following exploration of the training arena in the absence of other stimuli, suggesting that it was contingent with reactivation of the consolidated trace in the presence of a behaviorally relevant and novel cue. Our results indicate that mTOR activity is required in the dorsal hippocampus for consolidation of object recognition memory and suggest that inhibition of this kinase after memory retrieval in the presence of a particular set of cues hinders persistence of the original recognition memory trace.     

Prediction of university students' academic achievement by linear and logistic models

University students' academic achievement measured by means of academic progress is modeled through linear and logistic regression, employing prior achievement and demographic factors as predictors. The main aim of the present paper is to compare results yielded by both statistical procedures, in order to identify the most suitable approach in terms of goodness of fit and predictive power. Grades awarded in basic scientific courses and demographic variables were entered into the models at the first step. Two hypotheses are proposed: (a) Grades in basic courses as well as demographic factors are directly related to academic progress, and (b) Logistic regression is more appropriate than linear regression due to its higher predictive power. Results partially confirm the first prediction, as grades are positively related to progress. However, not all demographic factors considered proved to be good predictors. With regard to the second hypothesis, logistic regression was shown to be a better approach than linear regression, yielding more stable estimates with regard to the presence of ill-fitting patterns.     

Maternal concepts and expectations regarding a preterm infant

The objective of the present study was: (a) to identify the concerns, verbally expressed, of 50 mothers regarding their preterm infants (PT) and then compare their verbal expression with those of 25 mothers of full-term infants (FT); and (b) to correlate the mothers' verbal expressions with maternal and infant variables. The following instruments were used to compose and characterize the sample: Structure Clinical Interview for DSM III-R Non-Patient (SCID/NP), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and medical charts. Results showed that there was no difference between groups in term of mothers' expectations and conceptualizations; both groups exhibited predominantly positive expectations and concepts. In comparison with FT mothers, PT mothers verbally expressed more feelings and reactions predominantly negative or conflicting in relation to infant birth. Higher levels of maternal anxiety and depression in the PT Group were correlated with more verbal expressions about negative or conflicting emotions. In addition, lower birth weight, higher neonatal risk and longer length of stay in intensive care nursery of the infants were related with more negative or conflicting concepts by the mothers.     

A comparison of the peers method and traditional methodologies, and risk behaviors in studies of the prevalence of drug consumption in a population of female, Chilean students

The present study investigates drug consumption and risk behaviors among female students between 8th and 12th grade in two communities in the city of Santiago, Chile. Based on studies of university populations, we hypothesize that the students' reports of their consumption of licit drugs will tend to be consistent with their actual use of said drugs using two methods to investigate consumption, while their consumption of illicit drugs will be susceptible, and will tend to be under-reported when evaluated through traditional self-report measures. In order to compare the two methods, a cross-sectional study was designed that would compare reported drug consumption, first using the peers method, and then by means of traditional self-report in a group of 350 students. The results show that women's reports of licit drug consumption converge using the two methods, while as earlier suggested, women's illicit drug consumption was found to be under-reported when traditional methodologies were used.     

Comparison of single- and double-stage designs in the prevalence estimation of eating disorders in community samples

The aim of this research was to compare two different case-identification designs: (a) a one-stage anonymous design using the Eating Disorders Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q; Fairburn & Beglin, 1994) as diagnostic instrument and (b) a two-stage-non-anonymous design using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT; Garner & Garfinkel, 1979) and the EDE-Q as screening instruments and the clinical interview Eating Disorders Examination (EDE; Fairbumrn & Cooper, 1993) as diagnostic instrument, in the estimation of eating disorders prevalence in community samples. Both epidemiological designs were compared in: eating disorders prevalence, population at risk, and weekly frequency of associated symptomatology (binge eating episodes, self-vomiting) within a sample of 559 scholars (14 to 18 year-old males and females) studying in the region of Madrid. Eating disorders prevalence estimation using single-stage design was 6.2%, and 3% using the two-stage design; however, these differences were not significant (p = .067). No significant differences between the two procedures were found either in population at risk or in weekly frequency of reported self-vomiting. Reported binge eating episodes were higher in the one-stage design. The use of a two-stage procedure with clinical interview (vs. questionnaire) leads to a better understanding of the items (specially the most ambiguous ones) and thus, to a more accurate prevalence estimation.