Cross-cultural comparison of motivation to learn in physical education: Japanese vs Swedish schoolchildren

The present study compared differences between Japanese and Swedish schoolchildren in learning motivation-related variables in physical education. The subjects were 1,562 Japanese fifth and sixth graders (776 boys and 786 girls) ranging in age from 10 to 12 years and 573 Swedish fifth graders (306 boys and 267 girls) from 10 to 13 years (M = 11.4, SD = 0.5). They completed three questionnaires to evaluate the children's learning motivation, factors supporting motivation to learn, and preferences of learning behavior. The questionnaires were taken from Nishida's Diagnosis of Learning Motivation in Physical Education Test, a multidimensional and comprehensive test that measures learning motivation. A 2 x 2 (country by sex) multivariate analysis of variance indicated both Swedish boys and girls scored significantly higher than the Japanese children on most subscales. Results were discussed in relation to differences in the sports environment and culture of the two countries.     

Psychometric properties and correlates of the Lester-Bean Attribution of Causes to Suicide Scale (German form)

Psychometric properties and correlates of the German form of Lester and Bean's 1992 Attribution of Causes to Suicide Scale, of 18 items tapping into lay theories of suicide (intrapsychic problems, interpersonal conflicts, and societal forces as causes), were investigated in a sample of the general population in Austria (n=156). The three attributional dimensions presented moderate internal consistencies and the 18 items appeared to be factorially orderly, as indicated by exploratory factor analysis. Previous results were replicated, with positive interrelations among all three dimensions, but these were largely confined to men. Societal causes of suicide were significantly less frequently endorsed than intrapsychic or interpersonal causes. Respondents' sex, intelligence, and knowledge about suicide were unrelated, and scores on the Big Five personality factors and social desirability were largely unrelated to the three dimensions. Endorsing intrapsychic causes to suicide was correlated with advanced age, religiosity, and conservative political orientation, and the three dimensions entertained meaningful associations with locus of control (internality, social externality, and fatalistic externality). All observed demographic and attitudinal correlates were, however, of modest magnitude. Implications of the findings and directions for further inquiry are discussed.     

Suggestion overrides the Stroop effect in highly hypnotizable individuals

Cognitive scientists distinguish between automatic and controlled mental processes. Automatic processes are either innately involuntary or become automatized through extensive practice. For example, reading words is a purportedly automatic process for proficient readers and the Stroop effect is consequently considered the "gold standard" of automated performance. Although the question of whether it is possible to regain control over an automatic process is mostly unasked, we provide compelling data showing that posthypnotic suggestion reduced and even removed Stroop interference in highly hypnotizable individuals. Drawing on a large sample of highly hypnotizable participants, we examined the effects of suggestion on Stroop performance both with and without a posthypnotic suggestion to perceive the input stream as meaningless symbols. We show that suggestion administered to highly hypnotizable persons significantly reduced Stroop interference and derailed a seemingly automatic process.     

Health Beliefs and Behaviors of Women Who Have Received Genetic Counseling For Breast Cancer

There are both genetic and behavioral risk factors for breast cancer, but the interaction between these factors is not clear. Little is known about the impact of receiving genetic risk information for breast cancer on behaviors such as diet and physical activity. Seven focus groups were conducted with 23 women who had recently received genetic counseling for breast cancer, in order to explore health beliefs and behaviors following genetic counseling. Findings revealed that there was much confusion and uncertainty about the associations between health behaviors and breast cancer risk, and participants reported that receiving genetic counseling had little impact on health protective behaviors. Further research is required to understand variation in response to genetic risk information, and to assess the impact of providing additional information regarding lifestyle factors.     

Majority versus minority influence and prediction of behavioral intentions and behavior

Two experiments examined the effects of majority and minority influence on attitude-consistent behavioral intentions. In the first experiment, when attitudes were changed via minority influence there was a greater likelihood to engage in an attitude-consistent behavioral intention than when attitudes were changed via majority influence. This suggests that minority influence leads to stronger attitudes (based on systematic processing) that are more predictive of behavioral intentions, while attitude change via majority influence is due to compliance through non-systematic processing. Further support for this interpretation comes from the finding that the amount of message-congruent elaboration mediated behavioral intention. When there was no attitude change, there was no impact on behavioral intention to engage in an attitude-consistent behavior. Experiment 2 explored the role of personal relevance of the topic and also included a real behavioral measure. When the topic was of low personal relevance, the same pattern was found as Experiment 1. When the topic was of high personal relevance, thus increasing the motivation to engage in systematic processing, attitudes changed by both a majority and minority source increased behavioral intention and actual behavior. The results are consistent with the view that both majorities and minorities can lead to different processes and consequences under different situations.     

Ceteris Paribus Conditionals and Comparative Normalcy

Our understanding of subjunctive conditionals has been greatly enhanced through the use of possible world semantics and, more precisely, by the idea that they involve variably strict quantification over possible worlds. I propose to extend this treatment to ceteris paribus conditionals – that is, conditionals that incorporate a ceteris paribus or ‘other things being equal’ clause. Although such conditionals are commonly invoked in scientific theorising, they traditionally arouse suspicion and apprehensiveness amongst philosophers. By treating ceteris paribus conditionals as a species of variably strict conditional I hope to shed new light upon their content and their logic.     

Inferring the popularity of an opinion from its familiarity: a repetitive voice can sound like a chorus

Despite the importance of doing so, people do not always correctly estimate the distribution of opinions within their group. One important mechanism underlying such misjudgments is people's tendency to infer that a familiar opinion is a prevalent one, even when its familiarity derives solely from the repeated expression of 1 group member. Six experiments demonstrate this effect and show that it holds even when perceivers are consciously aware that the opinions come from 1 speaker. The results also indicate that the effect is due to opinion accessibility rather than a conscious inference about the meaning of opinion repetition in a group. Implications for social consensus estimation and social influence are discussed.     

Time management problems and discounted utility

The lens of behavioral decision theory offers a new perspective for research on time management. The basic idea of this approach is that people discount future consequences of their time management decisions, meaning that they work on tasks with smaller but sooner outcomes rather than on tasks with larger but later outcomes. The authors performed 2 experimental studies to test whether people are sensitive to differences in the discounted utility of time management decisions. In Experiment 1, they used vignettes of typical time management situations; Experiment 2 was a laboratory simulation (an in-basket task that was part of a training assessment). Participants in both studies were German students. As expected, manipulating the discounted utility of options resulted in different time management decisions. In Experiment 1, reactions to time management situations were judged as less likely if the reactions had lower discounted utilities. In Experiment 2, people spent less time on an interruption.     

Health education and agency: a comprehensive program for young women in the Mixteca region of Mexico

The Si yo estoy bien, mi familia también ("If I am OK then so is my family") is a health and agency education program that was provided over a period of 3 years to 39,000 rural women in Oaxaca, Mexico. The purpose of the article is to describe the development, implementation and evaluation of the program. The theoretical rationale and strategy of this intervention are described, as well as the construction of the program and the implementation. Moreover, an evaluation of the various stages of the program is provided, to enable an assessment of its efficacy, and the scope for dissemination and scaling up.     

Use of traditional medicine by HIV-infected individuals in South Africa in the era of antiretroviral therapy

As antiretroviral therapy (ART) becomes more available in African countries, the potential for interaction with traditional medicines becomes more important. We carried out a cross-sectional survey among individuals with moderate or advanced HIV disease attending a workplace clinic providing ART in South Africa to determine prevalence of traditional medicine use, source, recommended products and costs. Among 44 clinic attendees (100% male, median age 42 years, 30 taking ART), 37 (84%) reported ever using traditional medicines, 25 obtained from a healer or herbalist, eight from their own fields and four from a pharmacy. Fourteen of the 44 (32%) were currently using traditional medicines, most frequently African potato (9/14) and Aloe vera (3/14). Seven out of 30 persons taking ART (23%) reported currently using traditional medicines. Participants spent 4 - 27 pounds per month on traditional medicines. Traditional medicine use is common among individuals with moderate and advanced HIV disease. Concomitant use with ART has the potential for drug interactions and should be discussed routinely in ART counselling. Further work is warranted to investigate whether commonly used traditional medicines interact with ART in vivo.