The circle of life: A cross‐cultural comparison of children's attribution of life‐cycle traits

Do children attribute mortality and other life‐cycle traits to all minded beings? The present study examined whether culture influences young children's ability to conceptualize and differentiate human beings from supernatural beings (such as God) in terms of life‐cycle traits. Three‐to‐5‐year‐old Israeli and British children were questioned whether their mother, a friend, and God would be subject to various life‐cycle processes: Birth, death, ageing, existence/longevity, and parentage. Children did not anthropomorphize but differentiated among human and supernatural beings, attributing life‐cycle traits to humans, but not to God. Although 3‐year‐olds differentiated significantly among agents, 5‐year‐olds attributed correct life‐cycle traits more consistently than younger children. The results also indicated some cross‐cultural variation in these attributions. Implications for biological conceptual development are discussed.     

Children use salience to solve coordination problems

Humans are routinely required to coordinate with others. When communication is not possible, adults often achieve this by using salient cues in the environment (e.g. going to the Eiffel Tower, as an obvious meeting point). To explore the development of this capacity, we presented dyads of 3‐, 5‐, and 8‐year‐olds (N = 144) with a coordination problem: Two balls had to be inserted into the same of four boxes to obtain a reward. Identical pictures were attached to three boxes whereas a unique – and thus salient – picture was attached to the fourth. Children either received one ball each, and so had to choose the same box (experimental condition), or they received both balls and could get the reward independently (control condition). In all cases, children could neither communicate nor see each other's choices. Children were significantly more likely to choose the salient option in the experimental condition than in the control condition. However, only the two older age groups chose the salient box above chance levels. This study is the first to show that children from at least age 5 can solve coordination problems by converging on a salient solution.     

An exploratory study of gender and motivation to lead in millennials

ABSTRACT

This study explores how gender predicts millennial employee motivation to take a leadership role within a work organization. Previous studies have considered multiple factors in predicting three distinct types of employee motivation to lead, but none have considered how gender may impact this relationship, specifically within the millennial population. Using a sample of 210 employees from a range of industries, results indicate that gender directly affects two types of motivation to lead. In addition to enhancing the theoretical model of employee motivation to accept organizational leadership responsibilities, the results have practical significance for organizations concerned with attracting and developing millennial organizational leaders.     

Correction to: Face Memory Deficits in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment - A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-021-09875-2     

Specifying the determinants of the initiation and maintenance of behavior change: an examination of self-efficacy, satisfaction, and smoking cessation.

Using data from smokers (N = 591) who enrolled in an 8-week smoking cessation program and were then followed for 15 months, the authors tested the thesis that self-efficacy guides the decision to initiate smoking cessation but that satisfaction with the outcomes afforded by quitting guides the decision to maintain cessation. Measures of self-efficacy and satisfaction assessed at the end of the program, 2 months, and 9 months were used to predict quit status at 2, 9, and 15 months, respectively. At each point, participants were categorized as either initiators or maintainers on the basis of their pattern of cessation behavior. Across time, self-efficacy predicted future quit status for initiators, whereas satisfaction generally predicted future quit status for maintainers. Implications for models of behavior change and behavioral interventions are discussed.     

The Influence of Early Efficacy Beliefs on Teams' Reactions to Failing to Reach Performance Goals

Although a considerable amount of theoretical and empirical attention has been devoted to understanding individuals' responses to goal–performance discrepancies (GPDs), little attention has been devoted to examining how teams respond to GPDs. The present research sought to examine how teams responded to negative GPDs. We predicted that failing to reach higher goals would be perceived as less negative than failing to reach lower goals, and we examined the moderating influence of setting higher versus lower goals on how teams responded to performance that fell short of those goals. We also examined the role that efficacy beliefs that were formed early in those teams played in further explaining these effects. Results from 94 teams who all failed to reach self‐set goals revealed that teams that failed to reach higher goals downwardly revised their goals less than teams that failed to reach lower goals. Early efficacy beliefs further explained these effects. High efficacy beliefs lessened the negative effects of failing to reach lower goals on subsequent goals. High efficacy beliefs also lessened the negative effects of failing to reach higher goals while low efficacy beliefs strengthened the negative effects of failing to reach higher goals. The implications of these findings for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

Participatory Action Research (PAR) in Middle School: Opportunities, Constraints, and Key Processes

Late childhood and early adolescence represent a critical transition in the developmental and academic trajectory of youth, a time in which there is an upsurge in academic disengagement and psychopathology. PAR projects that can promote youth's sense of meaningful engagement in school and a sense of efficacy and mattering can be particularly powerful given the challenges of this developmental stage. In the present study, we draw on data from our own collaborative implementation of PAR projects in secondary schools to consider two central questions: (1) How do features of middle school settings and the developmental characteristics of the youth promote or inhibit the processes, outcomes, and sustainability of the PAR endeavor? and (2) How can the broad principles and concepts of PAR be effectively translated into specific intervention activities in schools, both within and outside of the classroom? In particular, we discuss a participatory research project conducted with 6th and 7th graders at an urban middle school as a means of highlighting the opportunities, constraints, and lessons learned in our efforts to contribute to the high‐quality implementation and evaluation of PAR in diverse urban public schools.