Cross-domain analogies as relating derived relations among two separate relational networks

Contemporary behavior analytic research is making headway in analyzing analogy as the establishment of a relation of coordination among common types of trained or derived relations. Previous studies have been focused on within-domain analogy. The current study expands previous research by analyzing cross-domain analogy as relating relations among separate relational networks and by correlating participants' performance with a standard measure of analogical reasoning. In two experiments, adult participants first completed general intelligence and analogical reasoning tests. Subsequently, they were exposed to a computerized conditional discrimination training procedure designed to create two relational networks, each consisting of two 3-member equivalence classes. The critical test was a two-part analogical test in which participants had to relate combinatorial relations of coordination and distinction between the two relational networks. In Experiment 1, combinatorial relations for each network were individually tested prior to analogical testing, but in Experiment 2 they were not. Across both experiments, 65% of participants passed the analogical test on the first attempt. Moreover, results from the training procedure were strongly correlated with the standard measure of analogical reasoning.     

The role of partners for employees' recovery during the weekend

We examined the effects of positive and negative experiences with the partner (absorption in joint activities and conflict with the partner) during the weekend on affective states at the beginning of the following work week and tested whether recovery experiences (psychological detachment, relaxation, and mastery experiences) mediated these effects. In total, 269 university faculty members completed online surveys before and after the weekend. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that absorption in joint activities with the partner predicted recovery experiences during the weekend and increased positive affective states (vigor, joviality, serenity) at the beginning of the following work week. Relaxation mediated the effects of absorption in joint activities on positive affective states. Conflict with the partner increased negative affective states (negative activation, fatigue), but was unrelated to recovery experiences. Our findings emphasize the importance of experiences with the partner for employees' recovery and show that the social environment of employees matters for their recovery.     

Comparative Study Between the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value–Belief–Norm Model Regarding the Environment,on Spanish Housewives' Recycling Behavior

Environmental behaviors have been analyzed from different theoretical models. The theory of planned behavior emphasizes the attitudinal aspects associated with behavior, while the value–belief–norm model regarding the environment focuses on the importance of moral components when setting environmental behaviors in motion. The objective of this study was to analyze both models, comparing both their degree of fit and their predictive power regarding recycling behavior. To do so, we used a sample made up of 154 Spanish housewives. The results indicated that despite the fact that the theory of planned behavior is a general model for predicting and explaining behavior, it has a greater degree of fit and greater capacity to predict recycling behavior than the value–belief–norm model regarding the environment.     

Temperamental profiles and language development: a replication and an extension

Individual differences in child temperament are associated with individual differences in language development. The present study examined the relationship between temperament and language ability in 109 twenty-four- to 30-month-old children. Parents and day-care teachers completed two questionnaires: the Primo Vocabolario del Bambino (Caselli & Casadio, 1995) and the Questionari Italiani del Temperamento (Axia, 2002). Researchers administered the First Language Test (Axia, 1993) to assess productive and receptive language in each child. Replicating previous research (Usai, Garello, & Viterbori, 2009), day-care teachers identified three temperamental profiles: most of the children fit into the first profile, typical of the Italian population; another profile was made up of easily distractible and not very persistent children, with a poor capacity to modulate motor activity; and the third profile of children were inhibited in new situations. A relationship was found between temperament assessed by day-care teachers and different levels of linguistic competence. In particular, the groups of "inattentive" and "inhibited" children showed poorer lexical and morphological abilities and a more immature vocabulary, characterised by the presence of more primitive components of the lexical repertory compared to the group of "typical" children. Unlike the results from day-care teachers, temperament questionnaires completed by parents revealed a 4-cluster-solution. Also, for parents, the "typical" profile is characterised by the largest vocabulary (productive and receptive) and the most mature semantic production.     

Validation of the Spanish version of the Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales

This study presents the validity and reliability analysis of a questionnaire that assesses emotion work in the service sector. Emotion work is a term introduced by Hochschild (1983) and it refers to the expression of organizationally desirable emotions to influence the interactions with clients at work. The results show a 6-factor structure: Requirement to display Positive, Negative and Neutral Emotions, Sensitivity Requirements, Interaction Control and Emotional Dissonance. The analysis of the sub-scale scores reveals that the most frequently expressed emotions are positive, whereas negative emotions are expressed less frequently.     

Creativity and innovation at work: the role of work characteristics and personal initiative

In this longitudinal study, we examined the role of work characteristics (creative requirement, job control, coworker and supervisor support) and personal initiative for teachers' idea generation, idea promotion, and idea implementation. Eighty-nine teachers responded to two surveys with an interval of two weeks. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that creative requirement and job control predicted idea generation, whereas support from coworkers and the supervisor predicted idea promotion. Coworker and supervisor support, as well as teachers' personal initiative, predicted idea implementation.     

Vulnerability of conditional NCAM-deficient mice to develop stress-induced behavioral alterations

Previous studies in rodents showed that chronic stress induces structural and functional alterations in several brain regions, including shrinkage of the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, which are accompanied by cognitive and emotional disturbances. Reduced expression of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) following chronic stress has been proposed to be crucially involved in neuronal retraction and behavioral alterations. Since NCAM gene polymorphisms and altered expression of alternatively spliced NCAM isoforms have been associated with bipolar depression and schizophrenia in humans, we hypothesized that reduced expression of NCAM renders individuals more vulnerable to the deleterious effects of stress on behavior. Here, we specifically questioned whether mice in which the NCAM gene is inactivated in the forebrain by cre-recombinase under the control of the calcium-calmodulin-dependent kinase II promoter (conditional NCAM-deficient mice), display increased vulnerability to stress. We assessed the evolving of depressive-like behaviors and spatial learning and memory impairments following a subchronic stress protocol (2 weeks) that does not result in behavioral dysfunction, nor in altered NCAM expression, in wild-type mice. Indeed, while no behavioral alterations were detected in wild-type littermates after subchronic stress, conditional NCAM-deficient mice showed increased immobility in the tail suspension test and deficits in reversal spatial learning in the water maze. These findings indicate that diminished NCAM expression might be a critical vulnerability factor for the development of behavioral alterations by stress and further support a functional involvement of NCAM in stress-induced cognitive and emotional disturbances.     

The role of optimism and pessimism in chronic pain patients adjustment

This study analyses the relationships between patients' dispositional optimism and pessimism and the coping strategies they use. In addition, the coping strategies repercussions on adjustment to chronic pain were studied. Ninety-eight patients with heterogeneous chronic pain participated. The assessment tools were as follows: Life Orientation Test (LOT), the Vanderbilt Pain Management Inventory (VPMI), the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Impairment and Functioning Inventory for Chronic Pain Patients (IFI). The hypothetical model establishes positive relationships between optimism and the use of active coping strategies, whereas pessimism is related to the use of passive coping. Active coping is associated with low levels of pain, anxiety, depression and impairment and high levels of functioning. However, passive coping is related to high levels of pain, anxiety, depression and impairment and low levels of functioning. The hypothetical model was empirically tested using the LISREL 8.20 software package and the unweighted least squares method. The results support the hypotheses formulated regarding the relations among optimism, pessimism, coping and adjust of chronic pain patients. By analysing optimism among chronic pain patients, clinicians could make better predictions regarding coping and adjustment.