Anger and effortful control moderate aggressogenic thought–behaviour associations

The effects of anger and effortful control on aggressogenic thought–behaviour associations were investigated among a total of 311 Finnish fifth and sixth graders (mean age = 11.9 years). Self-reported aggressive cognitions (i.e., normative- and self-efficacy beliefs about aggression) were expected to be associated with higher peer-reported aggressive behaviour. Teacher reported anger and effortful control were hypothesised, and found, to moderate the effects of aggressive cognitions on aggression, such that the effects were strongest for children who were high in anger and low in effortful control, as compared to other conditions. Furthermore, under the conditions of high anger and high effortful control, self-efficacy was negatively related to aggression. Thus, aggression is a result of a complex, hierarchically organised motivational system, being jointly influenced by aggressive cognitions, anger and effortful control. The findings support the importance of examining cognitive and emotional structures jointly when predicting children’s aggressive behaviour.     

The Incremental Validity of a Short Form of the Ideational Behavior Scale and Usefulness of Distractor,Contraindicative, and Lie Scales

This article describes an empirical refinement of the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS). The RIBS seems to be associated with divergent thinking, and the potential for creative thinking, but it was possible that its validity could be improved. With this in mind, three new scales were developed and the unique benefit (or “incremental validity”) of each was assessed. The three validity scales contained (a) distractor items, (b) contraindicative items, or (c) items constituting a lie scale. Step‐wise analyses using the three validity scales indicated very little incremental validity: They were interpreted in the light of psychometric theory, which suggests that their contribution may have been on a behavioral rather than on a statistical level. One additional analysis explored the possibility that a short form could be constructed. The short form of the RIBS was highly correlated with the long form (r = .94). Thus, most decisions made by the short form will be entirely compatible with decisions that would have been reached using the long form. A second significant result was that the RIBS was highly correlated with a check list of creative activities, supporting its concurrent validity.     

Collective student characteristics alter the effects of teaching practices on academic outcomes

The goal of this study was to examine the influence of collective student characteristics (academic skills and task persistence at the beginning of first grade) and different teaching practices (child-centered, teacher-directed, and child-dominated) on the development of academic skills and task persistence during the first two years in school. We hypothesized that teaching practices would differentially impact the development of academic skills and task persistence depending on the collective needs of the classroom. Participants were 523 students (273 boys) from 32 classrooms across Estonia. By using multilevel modeling, we found several interactions indicating that both contextual influences are important in determining subsequent academic functioning and task persistence but that some teaching practices are more beneficial depending on the collective starting point of students. These findings highlight the importance of studying different contextual influences hand in hand when trying to understand what enhances young children's academic development.     

Working Memory in Nonsymbolic Approximate Arithmetic Processing: A Dual‐Task Study With Preschoolers

Preschool children have been proven to possess nonsymbolic approximate arithmetic skills before learning how to manipulate symbolic math and thus before any formal math instruction. It has been assumed that nonsymbolic approximate math tasks necessitate the allocation of Working Memory (WM) resources. WM has been consistently shown to be an important predictor of children's math development and achievement. The aim of our study was to uncover the specific role of WM in nonsymbolic approximate math. For this purpose, we conducted a dual‐task study with preschoolers with active phonological, visual, spatial, and central executive interference during the completion of a nonsymbolic approximate addition dot task. With regard to the role of WM, we found a clear performance breakdown in the central executive interference condition. Our findings provide insight into the underlying cognitive processes involved in storing and manipulating nonsymbolic approximate numerosities during early arithmetic.     

Navigating the Workplace: The Costs and Benefits of Shifting Identities at Work among Early Career U.S. Black Women

Although much progress has been made in race relations in the United States, discrimination still persists in the workplace. As a result, Black women, among individuals from other underrepresented groups, develop coping strategies, such as identity shifting, to diminish the negative consequences of discrimination. We used the phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory to examine shifting racial, gender, and class identities among early career (recent college graduates) U.S. Black women working in predominantly White environments. Drawing on ten semi-structured interviews with college-educated Black women, data were analyzed with an interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results revealed two major themes: (a) benefits of identity shifting and (b) the costs of identity shifting, the latter with five subthemes: (a) managing interpersonal rejection: frozen effect, (b) assimilation to the dominant culture and inauthenticity, (c) confronting and dismantling stereotypes, (d) model Black citizen, and (c) mixed feelings toward identity shifting. The findings indicate that Black women vacillate between the benefits and costs of identity shifting, altering their dialect and behavior to meet social norms. Our study’s implications suggest the necessity of a multicultural approach by employers to affirm their workers’ social identities, strengthen employee relationships, and lessen the need for shifting identities.     

do specific holland types prefer specific types of counseling approaches? an exploratory study

The authors examined the degree of congruency found in a sample of 61 college students between a preference for a specific counseling orientation, measured using the Counseling Orientation Scale (COS; L. C. Loesch & R. J. McDavis, 1978), and a dominant Holland type, measured using the Self‐Directed Search (SDS; J. L. Holland, 1994). Results revealed a moderate degree of congruency between the 2 scores. Implications of the findings for counselors are discussed.     

Introduction

This introduction presents the extension of Freud's instinct theory via Kohut's theory of narcissism and the self to an application of the combined theories to the political group violence racking the world scene.     

What's the Point?*

We present a theory of conversation comprehension in which a line of the conversation is “understood” by relating it to one of seven possible “points”. We define these points, and present examples where it seems plausible that the failure to “get the point” would indeed constitute a failure to understand the conversation. We argue that the recognition of such points must proceed in both a top down and bottom up fashion, and thus is likely to be quite complicated. Finally, we see the processing of information in the conversation to be dependent upon which point classification the user decides upon.