Motivational climate and coaches' communication style predict young soccer players' commitment

The purpose of this research was to study the role of coaches' communication style and coach-created motivational climate in young soccer players' enjoyment and commitment. Four hundred and fifteen young soccer players of high competitive level in the age range from 14 to 16 completed the following questionnaires: a) coach-induced perceived motivational climate (PMCSQ-2), b) coaches' behaviour perception (CBAS-PBS), and c) sport commitment (SCQ). Results showed that coach-created motivational climate correlated highly with the perception of coaches' communication style. Moreover, coach-created motivational climate and communication style significantly determines players' sport commitment and enjoyment. Discussion focuses on the importance of seeking and training credible coaches that favours athletes' commitment.     

Change of attitudes towards disability in primary school students

In this paper, the development and results of a program are presented, carried out with students in 3rd and 4th grade of primary school, 128 children aged from 8 y 10 years old, 75 assigned to the experimental group and 53 to the control group. In order to assess the changes achieved and whether they were maintained, a pre- and post-treatment Likert-scale of adjectives describing discapacities and a 3-year follow-up measure were applied. As in the previous applications of the program, the results suggest the efficacy of the program, that is, positive changes were achieved in the rating of terms related to disability as well as in the attitudes towards disabled people and these changes were maintained throughout the follow-up. In order to test their influence on attitudes, some variables considered determinants of attitudes toward disability were also contrasted, such as gender, age, acquaintance and experience with the topic of disability, disabled children's integration, and disability type.     

Drug consumption and perception among Latin American immigrants

The aim of this study is to obtain information about drug consumption, leisure activities and knowledge of community services among Spanish-speaking immigrants to prevent drug abuse in this population. Quantitative methodology was used. The field work of this study has two phases: in the first stage (2003), a survey of social perception of drugs was administered to 147 subjects. During the second stage (2004), 610 surveys were administered. Data were analysed by bivariate analysis. Usual consumption of alcohol was 40.1%, usual consumption of tobacco was 31.3%, and usual consumption of cannabis was 3.4%. Drug users considered that the main reason for drug consumption was "to have fun" (p<.03). There is a relationship between leisure time and drug use. Family plays an important role in drug abuse prevention and preventive drug abuse programs must be adapted to this population.     

Influence pattern effectiveness

Managers apply different influence tactics to get subordinates to perform their tasks. For a better understanding of the influence process dynamics, it has been recommended to consider the combination of different tactics instead of analyzing them separately. (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). The present study has analyzed the effectiveness of various influence tactics combinations used by superiors with their subordinates. We identified four influence patterns: hard pattern, rational pattern, active pattern and passive pattern. Pattern effectiveness was analyzed in terms of subordinates' satisfaction, commitment and well-being. We found that superiors who used a broader range of tactics were more effective than those using a single range of tactics. Practical implications are discussed.     

Posttraining activation of CB1 cannabinoid receptors in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus impairs object recognition long-term memory

Evidence indicates that brain endocannabinoids are involved in memory processing. However, the participation of CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors in recognition memory has not been yet conclusively determined. Therefore, we evaluated the effect of the posttraining activation of hippocampal cannabinoid receptors on the consolidation of object recognition memory. Rats with infusion cannulae stereotaxically aimed to the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus were trained in an object recognition learning task involving exposure to two different stimulus objects. Memory retention was assessed at different times after training. In the test sessions, one of the objects presented during training was replaced by a novel one. When infused in the CA1 region immediately after training, the non-selective cannabinoid receptor agonist WIN-55,212-2 and the endocannabinoid membrane transporter inhibitor VDM-11 blocked long-term memory retention in a dose-dependent manner without affecting short-term memory, exploratory behavior, anxiety state or the functionality of the hippocampus. The amnesic effect of WIN-55,212-2 and VDM-11 was not due to state-dependency and was completely reversed by co-infusion of the CB1 receptor antagonist AM-251 and mimicked by the CB1 receptor agonist ACEA but not by the CB2 receptor agonists JWH-015 and palmitoylethanolamide. Our data indicate that activation of hippocampal CB1 receptors early after training hampers consolidation of object recognition memory.     

Creating new social identities in children through critical multicultural media: the case of Little Bill

Multicultural education emerged from the political struggles of the 1960s and 1970s and advocated the inclusion of women and ethnic and racial groups in school curricula and children's media. Recently multiculturalism has evolved to include a critical perspective by focusing on stigmatized social identities such as race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, and disability. Little Bill, a children's animated television series, is an example of applied critical multiculturalism. In this chapter, we present a case study of one episode, "A Ramp for Monty," to illustrate the merits of this approach, which may increase the number of social identities children relate to and increase the degree of understanding they may bring to the differences inherent in social identities.     

Disconnection, Depression, and Spirituality: A Study of the Role of Spirituality and Meaning in the Lives of Individuals with Severe Depression

This qualitative study explores the role of spirituality and meaning among 15 participants suffering from severe depression. During the time of this study, all the participants were in treatment at Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center. The emerging themes are: (1) depression creates a sense of spiritual disconnection. Participants indicated feeling disconnected from God, the community, and oneself; (2) spirituality plays an important role in coping with the pain of depression; (3) there exists a deep yearning for a sense of meaning and a struggle to make sense of one’s pain; and (4) coming to terms with one’s circumstances and one’s depression at some level assists in the healing process.     

Intersubjectivity as Co-phenomenology: From the Holism of Meaning to the Being-in-the-world-with-others

I outline in this paper a pragmatical approach to meaning. Meaning is defined as a phenomenologically experienced construal. As such, it is a dynamic object whose first evidence comes from the first person rather than the third one. At the same time, the approach assumes that meaning is not an individual creation, but rather an intersubjective one. Origins of meaning are also to be founded not ‘in the head’ of a cognitive system or subject, but in the intersubjective space contingently formed between a subject (S), an other (O) and a common object (R), which they talk about. Approaching this minimal communicative situation therefore requires realizing that the phenomenological dimension is always implied in any intersubjective encounter. The observed synchronized co-feeling among subjects, upon which language comprehension takes place, I call ‘co-phenomenology’. When analyzed in this way, intersubjectivity shows at the same time its social, phenomenological and biological dimensions.

A comparison of implicit memory tests in schizophrenic patients and normal controls

The objective of the current study was to compare the performance of schizophrenic patients and normal controls on implicit memory tests. Two neuropsychological tasks were administered to 29 patients and normal participant samples. The implicit tests were: Word fragment completion and Word production from semantic categories. The priming score was the variable of interest. Priming effects are obtained in normal subjects and schizophrenia patients, regardless of the implicit test used. However, a dissociation in priming between normal and patient groups was observed, depending on the test used. For word fragment test, priming was identical between the two groups. However, for word production, priming obtained in schizophrenics was lower than priming in normal controls. Results confirm a dissociation effect in implicit memory tests. These results could be explained in the context of the Roediger and Blaxton (1987) distinction between data-driven and conceptually-driven processing. This evidence suggests that a complete neuropsychological assessment of memory in schizophrenia should include different kinds of implicit memory tests (procedural, perceptual, and conceptual tasks).