What Does “Mind-Wandering” Mean to the Folk? An Empirical Investigation

Although mind-wandering research is rapidly progressing, stark disagreements are emerging about what the term “mind-wandering” means. Four prominent views define mind-wandering as (a) task-unrelated thought, (b) stimulus-independent thought, (c) unintentional thought, or (d) dynamically unguided thought. Although theorists claim to capture the ordinary understanding of mind-wandering, no systematic studies have assessed these claims. Two large factorial studies present participants (N = 545) with vignettes that describe someone's thoughts and ask whether her mind was wandering, while systematically manipulating features relevant to the four major accounts of mind-wandering. Dynamics explains between four and 40 times more variance in participants' mind-wandering judgments than other features. Our third study (N = 153) tests and supports a unique prediction of the dynamic framework—obsessive rumination contrasts with mind-wandering. Our final study (N = 277) used vignettes that resemble mind-wandering experiments. Dynamics had significant and large effects, while task-unrelatedness was nonsignificant. These results strongly suggest that the central feature of mind-wandering is its dynamics.     

The Role of Individual Characteristics in Predicting the Stability of Party Identification: A Cross-Cultural Study

The present study examined political partisanship stability in the context of transitional and consolidated democracies. We hypothesised that (a) in both democratic systems, personality differences as well as socialisation patterns and socioeconomic factors would be related to the stability of party identification directly, and that (b) the relationship between individual factors and party identification patterns would be moderated by democracy type and by socialisation strength. A total of 521 participants (293 American, 228 Romanian) completed surveys assessing partisanship stability, individual dispositions, socialisation strength, and socioeconomic status. In support of hypothesis (a), the stability of party identification was significantly predicted by socialisation, desire for control, and positive economic perceptions. In support of hypothesis (b), type of democracy moderated the relationship between economic perceptions and partisanship stability, and parental socialisation moderated the relationship between desire for control/self‐consciousness and the stability of party identification. La présente étude examine la stabilité de la préférence politique dans un contexte de démocraties en transition ou consolidées. Nous faisons l’hypothèse que (a) dans les deux systèmes démocratiques, les différences de personnalité, comme les modèles de socialisation et les facteurs économiques sont directement liés à la stabilité d’identification à un parti et que (b) la relation entre les facteurs individuels et les modèles d’identification à un parti est affaibli par le type de démocratie et la force de la socialisation. Un total de 521 participants (293 Américains et 228 Roumains) ont répondu à une enquête évaluant la stabilité de la préférence, les dispositions individuelles, la force de la socialisation et le statut socio‐économique. En accord avec l’hypothèse (a), la stabilité d’identification à un parti est significativement prédictible par la socialisation, le désir de contrôle et la perception positive de l’économie. En accord avec l’hypothèse (b), d’une part, le type de démocratie affaiblit la relation entre les perceptions de l’économie et la stabilité de la préférence, d’autre part, la socialisation parentale affaiblit le lien entre le contrôle/la conscience de soi et la stabilité de l’identification à un parti.     

SELF-PERCEPTION IN WRITING: THE EFFECTS OF WRITING WORKSHOP AND TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTION ON INTERMEDIATE GRADE STUDENTS

This study compared the self-perception - specifically in terms of writing - of fourth- and fifth-grade students whose teachers used a writingworkshop approach with those whose teachers used a traditional approach. The measure used was the Writer Self-Perception Scale (Bottomley, Henk, & Melnick, 1997/1998). No significant differences were found between the scores of students who had been taught by the two teaching approaches. The findings of this study suggest that individual teachers are more important than strategies or approaches in affecting the writer self-perception of intermediate-grade children.     

Kierkegaard on the Problems of Pure Irony

Søren Kierkegaard's thesis, The Concept of Irony, contains an interesting critique of pure irony. Kierkegaard's critique turns on two main claims: (a) pure irony is an incoherent and thus, unrealizable stance; (b) the pursuit of pure irony is morally enervating, psychologically destructive, and culminates in bondage to moods. In this essay, first I attempt to clarify Kierkegaard's understanding of pure irony as “infinite absolute negativity.” Then I set forth his multilayered critique of pure irony. Finally, I consider briefly a distinctly theological component in Kierkegaard's critique. I argue that this feature of Kierkegaard's account can and should be distinguished from the broadly ethical critique of pure irony that I sketch in the second section, even if these components of Kierkegaard's position are found together as a unified whole in The Concept of Irony. My overall goal in this essay is to reveal the subtlety and plausibility of Kierkegaard's critique of pure irony. I also attempt to disclose the richness of the Hegelian account of ethical life to which Kierkegaard recurs in his thesis.     

Institutional Productivity Ratings and Publishing Trends in Nine Literacy Journals: 1972–2012

This study examined the productivity of faculty members who published in nine leading literacy professional journals from 1972–2012. Those universities with the greatest number of articles written by literacy faculty members are listed. This listing was also adjusted according to number of literacy faculty members at each institution, resulting in a productivity index that shows the average number of articles published per faculty member. Results from this study extend the work of four previous studies on institutional productivity in literacy journals.