Religious syncretism as a sociocultural factor of social security in cross-border regions

This research rationalises the need to consider religious syncretism a crucial factor of social security in cross-border regions. Special attention is paid to determining and studying the specificity of religious syncretism in the conditions of cross-border regions and analysing the role of religious syncretism in the social security of such regions. We used the combination of the different methodological approaches, it is possible to determine the role of religious syncretism as a sociocultural factor of social security in cross-border regions. Religious syncretism creates firm intercultural and interreligious bonds between the ethnic groups that populate cross-border regions; such bonds are notable for a certain historically established system of ordered and stable interactions, which virtually rules out the emergence of conflicts and helps to preserve the functional integrity of state borders.     

Parental attitudes, attachment styles, social networks, and psychological processes in autism spectrum disorders: a cross-cultural perspective

In this study the authors used a cross-cultural approach to examine parental attitudes, attachment styles, social networks, and some of the psychological processes involved in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Fifty-two children (aged 4-11 years) took part in the study: 30 Italians (15 with ASD and 15 controls) and 22 Cubans (11 with ASD and 11 controls). Findings indicated significant differences between the two cultural groups in terms of the structure of the children's social network and parental attitudes toward their children. However, the mother-child attachment relationship and cognitive and emotional functioning of the study participants were independent of culture.     

The ability model of emotional intelligence: Searching for valid measures

Current measures of ability emotional intelligence (EI) – in particular the well-known Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) – suffer from several limitations, including low discriminant validity and questionable construct and incremental validity. We show that the MSCEIT is largely predicted by personality dimensions, general intelligence, and demographics having multiple R’s with the MSCEIT branches up to .66; for the general EI factor this relation was even stronger (Multiple R = .76). As concerns the factor structure of the MSCEIT, we found support for four first-order factors, which had differential relations with personality, but no support for a higher-order global EI factor. We discuss implications for employing the MSCEIT, including (a) using the single branches scores rather than the total score, (b) controlling for personality and general intelligence to ensure unbiased parameter estimates in the EI factors, and (c) accounting for measurement error. Failure to correctly model these methodological aspects may severely compromise predictive validity testing. We also discuss potential avenues for the improvement of ability-based tests.     

Embodied cognition and skilled health behaviour

The present research examines health persuasion from an embodied cognition perspective by proposing that engaging the motor system during presentation of a health message will lead individuals to become more skilled at performing the prescribed behaviour. Participants watched a video on the importance of flossing while either imaging themselves flossing or imaging themselves flossing while minimally engaging the motor system (i.e. touching a piece of floss). Females (but not males) who touched an individual floss while watching the video demonstrated better flossing skills 1 week later. Over time, participants (both males and females) who engaged the motor system also developed more accessible attitudes and had a stronger relationship between their perceived flossing efficacy and actual flossing skill. Implications for the theories of embodied cognition and health interventions are discussed.     

Seeking social connectedness: interdependent self-construal and impression formation using photographic cues of social connectedness

Impression formation research has traditionally focused on either the characteristics of the target or of the participant, failing to examine their interplay. In the present study, we explored the role of interdependent self-construal on ratings of others who are portrayed as alone or connected. We hypothesized that participants with an interdependent view of the self would prefer others who are portrayed as socially connected, while the opposite would be true for participants low on interdependence. Results showed that college students high on interdependence rated a university professor photographed with another person relatively more positively than a professor photographed alone. This pattern was reversed for participants low on interdependence.     

Exploring the effects of similarity on mapping spatial relations

Solving a map task requires transferring information acquired in one spatial context to another context, an ability that marks an important step in cognitive development. This study investigated how preschoolers’ mapping performance was affected by the extent of similarity between spaces. Whereas prior work examined effects of similarity in tasks involving matching individual objects, our tasks required considering spatial relations among objects. We found that the accuracy of mapping between two spaces with somewhat different perceptual features was higher than the accuracy of mapping between spaces with identical features. Yet, a further increase in differences between the two spaces had a detrimental effect on mapping. The results suggest that some degree of similarity between spaces is beneficial to children’s ability to transfer relational information. However, when the spaces have the same surface features, it may draw children’s attention to individual objects and inhibit their ability to focus on common relations across contexts.     

The Role of Maternal Verbal, Affective, and Behavioral Support in Preschool Children's Independent and Collaborative Autobiographical Memory Reports

The authors investigated the individual and relative contributions of different aspects of maternal support (i.e., verbal, affective, and behavioral) in relation to children's collaborative and independent reminiscing. Four-year-old children discussed personal past experiences with their mothers and with a researcher. In collaborative recall with their mothers, children's narrative behavior was regulated best by maternal use of specific elaborative components, such as affirmations. In contrast, in children's independent recall, affective and behavioral qualities of maternal support were related to children's memory performance. Specifically, during free-recall, the dimensions of quality of instruction and respect for autonomy were significant predictors of children's narratives. In the context of prompted recall (supported by wh-questions), respect for autonomy was the only significant predictor of children's involvement in the conversations and of the amount of unique content they provided. The findings suggest that different aspects of maternal behavior facilitate different components of children's reminiscing skills, which children might apply depending on demands of the autobiographical memory conversation.