Internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the Dutch translation of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity among adolescents

A sample of 1,021 young people attending Years 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 at Catholic secondary schools within the state-maintained sector completed the Dutch translation of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. The data support its reliability and validity and commend it for further use in studies conducted among young people in The Netherlands.     

A mixed methods research study on the video‐based counselling method Marte Meo

Marte Meo is a video‐based counselling method founded by Maria Aarts in the Netherlands and now in worldwide use (Aarts, Aarts Production, 2008). Marte Meo has been adopted and put into practice by a large and diverse network of trained and certified counsellors across the world. It was invented, developed and spread by a vanguard of practising counsellors who have adapted it to a variety of contexts. This is a classic example of research and theory emerging from and following practice; we first need to synthesise the lessons the practitioners and families have learned. We need to better understand how it is implemented; how it is viewed by its practitioners and recipients; and the extent to which variability in implementation may be an asset or a drawback in the continuing evolution of the programme, and in any eventual attempt to document its effects. Therefore, the present article aimed to address this important and hitherto unexplored research topic of the Marte Meo method in counselling and to describe the current state of use of Marte Meo. How is Marte Meo used and applied in a counselling and therapeutic context? Who uses Marte Meo in professional practice? Which function and which meaning does Marte Meo have in general practice and especially in counselling and therapy? What are typical concerns, goals or areas of application? We report on an ongoing mixed methods research project which began in 2015. This paper focuses on the research methods. We will explain why an integrated exploratory sequential design (Cresswell, 2017) is best suited to our purposes. The exploratory sequential design of the Marte Meo project has five phases: as the first phase, we conducted a systematic literature review, analysing the status of existing research. The staged qualitative research consisted of designing, conducting and analysing semi‐structured interviews with parents and Marte Meo counsellors (phase 2), and then using that analysis to inform the design, the conduct and the analysis of videotaped observations of everyday situations in day‐care centres to examine the process and effects of Marte Meo interaction elements on children (phase 3). Combining these qualitative analyses then became the basis for the development of an online questionnaire that could enable us to collect quantitative data on the current use of Marte Meo in practice by experts (phase 4). This builds into the fifth phase in the final interpretation. One of the key findings of the qualitative parts is that Marte Meo is perceived as advantageous. The experts reported more joy and success in their work. In particular, in the pedagogical context, the daily, resource‐oriented ‘Marte Meo view’, which was sharpened by the training, seems to be essential, as it enables an awareness of the needs of the interaction partners and the beneficial interaction elements. Moreover, for some interviewees the use of Marte Meo does not seem to be limited to professional practice, but is expressed in a general humanistic attitude towards interpersonal relationships of all kinds. The quantitative survey has confirmed and supplemented these results. On the other hand, we found that Marte Meo is most often used in addition to the systemic approach. A later article will focus more on the findings. This article will conclude with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the research design—concerning this special research project and concerning counselling research in general.     

Context Matters,but How Much? Latent state–trait analysis of cognitive ability assessments

Cognitive abilities are thought to represent temporally stable constructs, however, accumulating evidence suggests that effects of the measurement situation could affect its measurement (e.g., effects of test motivation, stress level). The present study modeled these effects explicitly in a latent variables approach. In contrast to previous studies, we investigated participants (job candidates) in repeated high‐stakes settings (N = 188). We found that cognitive ability measurements in high‐stakes settings not only reflect a stable latent trait and random measurement error, but also systematic effects of the test setting. Our results support the application of cognitive ability tests in organizational contexts but have implications for its use in applied settings such as personnel selection.     

The extreme-right and enfranchisement of immigrants: Main issues in the public “debate” on integration in Belgium

In Belgium, the issue of (local) enfranchisement of foreign residents has without any doubt become the most salient topic of public debate on integration of immigrants and their descendants. Although debate about the issue dates back to the early 1970s, at the start of the 21st century it is still one of the hottest topics in Belgian politics. A second salient topic concerns the strategy against the Flemish extreme-right wing party the Vlaams Blok, or the debate about the so-called ‘cordon sanitaire’ since the 1990s. This contribution wants to discuss the public debate on voting rights for non-Belgians and the strategy against the Vlaams Blok as the most contentious issues in the wider debate about (the future of) immigrant incorporation in Belgian society. Thus, we hope to be able to clarify the (absence of) debate on integration and multiculturalism in Belgium.     

Metropolitan migration in the past: Labour markets, commerce, and cultural interaction in Europe, 1600–1914

This article challenges the “imaginary ethnography” of European urban population as monocultural and non-migrating. Pre-1800 European migrations are discussed first, next changing patterns in the 19th century are summarized. In the third section immigration to industrializing cities at the height of nationalism is exemplified by Czech migration to Vienna, Polish migration to the cities of the Ruhr District, and the multicultural and immigrant character of Budapest and of Paris. Immigrant insertion, conflict, migrants, and economic niches, as well as the reaction of host societies and community formation are discussed. In conclusion, older theories of disorganization are contrasted with recent concepts of acculturation and transcultural lives.     

On the predictive validity of indirect attitude measures: Prediction of consumer choice behavior on the basis of affective priming in the picture-picture naming task

Recent studies have revealed that robust and replicable affective priming of naming responses can be obtained when pictures are used as primes and targets. The aim of the present research was to examine the predictive validity of affective priming effects that are obtained with the picture-picture naming task. In two studies that were modeled after [Karpinski, A., & Hilton, J. L. (2001). Attitudes and the Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 774-778], we observed that individual difference scores that are obtained with the naming task exhibit good predictive validity. Both practical and theoretical implications of this finding are discussed.     

The repeated confrontation with videotapes of spiders in multiple contexts attenuates renewal of fear in spider-anxious students

In a treatment-analogue experiment, extinction of fear of spiders was investigated in a group of spider-anxious students. Two groups were created: in the single extinction group the extinction trials consisted of repeated presentations of a videotaped spider in one specific location of a house, whereas in the multiple extinction group the trials consisted of videotapes of the same spider in three different locations of a house. Also a control group was included that was exposed to videotapes of the location but without the spider. As reflected in skin conductance responses and self-report data, fear of spiders was significantly reduced in the two extinction groups compared to the control group. Moreover, when the extinction groups were confronted with the videotape of the spider in a new location, the single extinction group did not show generalisation of extinction, whereas the multiple extinction group did. These results corroborate the existing evidence for context dependence of extinction of fear and provide new evidence that the use of multiple contexts during extinction might improve the generalisability of extinction in humans. Implications for exposure therapy are discussed.     

Extended mathematical cognition: external representations with non-derived content

Synthese - Vehicle externalism maintains that the vehicles of our mental representations can be located outside of the head, that is, they need not be instantiated by neurons located inside the...     

The challenge of measuring immigrant origin and immigration-related ethnicity in Europe

Different European nation-states use the most diverse statistical constructions of foreign origin or ethnic minority populations. Several countries traditionally even shun from producing such data. This makes international comparison a very difficult endeavour. Anyone wanting to perform comparative research on immigrants or (immigrant origin) ethnic minorities in Europe is unavoidably confronted with the most diverse types of national statistical data and has to opt for ad hoc solutions. Attempts at international comparison can thus be very tricky due to data characteristics. It is important that researchers are aware of these problems and do not simply accept data (especially in comparisons) at face value. In this article we embark on a comparative explorative study of the way in which immigrant background and immigration related ethnicity is taken stock of by national statistical institutes in a set of European nation-states.